24 Hour Comic Day 2025 - The Rat's Groom

24 Hour Comic Day has arrived!

Each year, I try to adapt a classic fairy tale or folktale into a charming little comic. This year’s tale is The Rat’s Groom, a fairy tale that originated in Japan.

I first encountered “The Rat’s Groom” in a storybook collection when I was about eleven years old. The story stuck with me because it was simple and easy to follow, but it had its own kind of logic to it, which ultimately led to an appropriate and satisfying ending. I used to tell this story to the kids in my family, back when they were small. I hope they will enjoy seeing it in comic form.

As usual, I do my own variation of the 24 Hour Comic Day rules. Instead of doing absolutely everything on the day itself, I only do the story boarding and and drawing. My script has been written in advance and I have a plain square template for each comic panel. Also I’m not aiming for 24 pages in 24 hours, I just want to tell a complete story. Finally, I don’t work from Noon on Saturday to Noon on Sunday, I just start early and try to finish before 24 hours are up.

(EDIT: I’ve been informed that 24 Hour Comic Day doesn’t need to run from noon to noon. That’s just the way I’ve always seen the in-person events do it, so I mistaken thought that was an offical part of the challenge.)

By the way, If you were a fan of any of my previous fairy tale comics, both The Musicians of Bremen (2023) and Chanticleer Raises the Sun (2024) are both available in my shop.