Comics Blog: Best. Email. Ever.

March 16th, 2011

Okay, I officially love these guys now.

Got this letter this morning.

Dear Scott,

Mind if I call you Scott?

Oh, Scott, you have done so much for us comic geeks.
Reading comics is no longer childish. It’s «de la culture» !
One book and everything changes. *sigh*
Thank you for that.

I have to tell you first how much my friends and I like you. We admire you.
But I have something else to say, and it won’t please you. Ooooh no.

Do you like french people, Scott?
You don’t have to answer. We know how Americans see us… They think they know us, they think froggies are full of self-esteem, arrogant… even rude sometimes.
Do YOU think we are? Do you, Scott?
You are so far from the truth.
We are worse.

This «24 hour comics day» you created, you know… it was a really good idea. Congrats for that.
But, eventually, we realised it was way too easy.

We decided to do the same, but in 23 hours.
Yep, 23 hours.
Because we choose the shortest night of the year, when daylight savings time begins.

And we did it. We’ve been drawing faster than you and your pals for 3 years now.

We just wanted you to know. We are just the best.

And on march 26th, we’ll do it again.
In your face!
But with respect.
And a lot of compassion.

Yours faithfully,

Zia, for the amazing Turalo, Piak, Paka, Kéké and hundreds of french comics artists.

(So who else is surprised they even *have* daylight savings time?)

Good luck from all us slowpokes!

Posted in Community, Inventions
Discussion (42)¬

basest says:March 16, 2011 at 7:51 am

this makes me so proud of 1/4 of my lineage. Vive la France!

Zia says:March 16, 2011 at 9:31 am

“Merci beaucoup !”

Asia says:March 16, 2011 at 4:03 pm

also 1/4 French. unrelated: my nickname growing up was ZsaZsa. not sure if it is pronounced the same way.

Zia says:March 18, 2011 at 7:05 am

I am 1/4 dutch and 3/4 french ^^
Zsazsa is a funny nickname ; your parents were big fans of Madame Gabor I guess ?

Zia is my nickname, most people think it comes from “The Mysterious Cities of Gold” but no ^^

Lori says:March 16, 2011 at 7:56 am

“In your face! But with respect. And a lot of compassion.”

That is wonderful.

Zia says:March 18, 2011 at 6:52 am

(+_-)

CLR says:March 16, 2011 at 7:59 am

What do you mean, “even *have* daylight savings time”?

A proud France/US hybrid.

Scott says:March 16, 2011 at 8:50 am

Meaning I always thought Daylight Savings Time was a dumb idea!

I’m always surprised when other countries use it.

Noid says:March 16, 2011 at 2:35 pm

Well DST works if office buildings are designed to take advantage of daylight and if employees don’t leave all the lights on all the time.
Of couse, many times this isn’t the case.

Boro says:March 16, 2011 at 8:00 am

..daylight savings time
We should be afraid

bahraini says:March 16, 2011 at 8:09 am

Following, we show the barbaric acts done by Bahrain riot police. The officers are shown in their uniform beating an unarmed citizen beside their car. The officer is kicking the citizen lying on the ground, stepping his foot on his head, and then dragging him from his foot to the police car.
That happened in Sitra Island in Bahrain, on March 15th, 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&feature…e&v=pNH1OGUcaBM

HAMMER says:March 16, 2011 at 8:15 am

Huh. I thought the French Muslims had already outlawed time for religious purposes. A report should be sent immediately.

Zia says:March 18, 2011 at 6:56 am

OMG ! YOU are soooooo a cliché ! French muslims are more numerous in your head than in France !

NEOkeitaro says:March 16, 2011 at 8:17 am

French fan here: I can tell you, we definitely LOVE you here.

Much like in cinema, I guess we like to over-intellectualize stuff, because we’re so proud of our “exception culturelle” (cultural exception), and so we’re always glad when somebody gets smart about a topic that is seen as somewhat “secondary”.

Plus, you’re plain awesome, so really, it’s easy to like you. And yes, you’ve done a lot for us, and we’re forever grateful!

(and we have dst… and it sucks.)

Scott says:March 16, 2011 at 8:53 am

Needless to say, the feeling’s mutual.

France’s brilliant cartoonists have been a world treasure for decades.

Zia says:March 16, 2011 at 9:34 am

Yep. DST sucks. But YOU rock !!!
Thank you Neo for this (not so) virtual love !

Lee Edward McIlmoyle says:March 16, 2011 at 8:18 am

Methinks they somewhat miss the point, in that it actually CAN be done in less time than 24 hours. Not everybody spends that much time at it (I did, the one time I got it more or less right), but it certainly isn’t a hard number that everyone has to use the whole 24 hours. Heck, I’m pretty sure I remember some of the people who completed theirs saying they even allowed time for food and sleep. Perhaps I misremember.

Still, it’s cute that they decuded to ride your coattails while being cheeky about it. Also, a nice way to remind folks about The Challenge.

Zia says:March 18, 2011 at 6:58 am

“Oh, honey…”

Zia says:March 16, 2011 at 8:24 am

I blushed (^_^)
Thank you Scott !

Scott says:March 16, 2011 at 8:55 am

Thanks for giving me something fun to write about this morning, Zia.

Good luck with the challenge!

Zia says:March 16, 2011 at 9:00 am

Will you join us ?

Scott says:March 16, 2011 at 9:05 am

I’ll be there in spirit, but alas, I need to work on my graphic novel!

gio says:March 16, 2011 at 8:36 am

Beware of these people. I know what I mean!

Tanashi says:March 16, 2011 at 8:48 am

The main point is to finish a comic? I always thought you just have to draw for 24 hours and happens what happens. Shortening it sounds like cheating from this point of view XDDD
But they’re fun. Sorry for my Blondeness though.

Scott says:March 16, 2011 at 8:58 am

Actually the original challenge is to finish a complete 24 page story in 24 hours, so assuming they kept the page count the same, it is in fact harder (4% harder!).

Tanashi says:March 16, 2011 at 9:08 am

Wah, I see now! Thanks a lot for the info! <3

Arie says:March 16, 2011 at 1:55 pm

And then they have A4 instead of letter sized paper: that’s 3.5% more surface area…

King Turalo says:March 17, 2011 at 2:36 am

E-xa-ctly !

Nat Gertler says:March 16, 2011 at 9:34 am

I actually thought about scheduling one of the 24 Hour Comics Days on the end of Daylight Saving Time, giving people an extra hour not to draw (that’d be a cheat), but to recover before work on Monday.

As for thinking that Daylight Saving Time is a bad idea, just wait ’til the sun goes out, Mr. McCloud! You’ll be in the dark, but I’ll have all this daylight saved up, just waiting to be used!

Bluus says:March 16, 2011 at 11:01 am

Oh Daylight savings time…you are a dumb idea.

Also, how cute and cheeky! I quite enjoy the combination of respect and disrespect of the letter XD

Piak says:March 16, 2011 at 4:32 pm

We officially love you too. So much love!

King Turalo says:March 17, 2011 at 2:37 am

Watch your back !

Mookie says:March 16, 2011 at 4:50 pm

Apprendre l’ouverture des 23H de la BD version 2011 sur le blog de Scott McCloud, ça me rend tout chose.
A tel point que j’écrit en Français, tiens donc !

King Turalo says:March 17, 2011 at 2:38 am

Oui mais là plus personne va rien comprendre

Zia says:March 18, 2011 at 1:29 am

On peut re-dire que c’est une belle bande de poules mouillées alors… en espérant qu’ils utilisent Google Translate pour traduire et qu’ils relèvent le gant ?

Kéké says:March 17, 2011 at 12:10 am

On t’aime Scott. If you knew.

Dom says:March 17, 2011 at 5:59 am

Now that’s what I call Daylight Saving Time:

http://www.xkcd.com/673/

Fred Boot says:March 17, 2011 at 9:25 pm

ME, I am proud to be a true lazy French cartoonist, not like these bloody betrayers ! I’m going to create the “25 hour comic day” for the winter time !

In your faces !

HAhahahahahHAHAHAHAHHAhahAaaaaa aaa !
Ha.
Ha.
Ha.

Zia says:March 18, 2011 at 1:33 am

How do you say that in english ?
http://translate.google.fr/#fr|en|poules%20mouill%C3%A9es

Zia says:March 18, 2011 at 1:34 am

http://translate.google.fr/#fr|en|poules mouillées