This could be a pretty cool idea if done correctly. It’s not something you can do on your own, it requires lots and lots of people collaborating.
The world consists of people. If one wishes, these people can be grouped into several categories based on their similarities. For example, you could group them by their profession, or by their nationality, or by their political views… It’s up to you, really.
Sit down and group people into different categories. For optimal results I think you should have between a hundred and two hundred categories, so I’d recommend either going for different professions (teachers, nurses, engineers, scientists, politicians…) or nationalities. Of course, to avoid too much work you must be selective: Some professions are similar enough to put in the same category, others are small enough to leave out completely.
The next step is even more work: find creative people in all of these categories. Creative people exist everywhere, so I don’t think you’ll have much of a problem getting people to join in.
Then you contact all of these people, and ask them all the same question. If you go with the professions idea, this could be
If you have to shorten it down to a couple of sentences, what would you say your job consists of, and what is the key ingredient to succeeding in your line of work? Would you mind writing down this in the form of a one-page comic book script?
If you prefer going with different nationalities, it could be
If you have to shorten it down to a couple of sentences, what would you say defines your country? Not only the touristy stuff, what is it like to actually live there? Would you mind writing down this in the form of a one-page comic book script?
Of course, you could also leave out the whole “in the form of a one-page comic book script”, and adapt their thoughts and ideas to comics yourself. You can also add puns and gags, and things like that.
You should now have the script for a pretty cool anthology about how an intersection of the world works. Draw it. Ask all your participating scriptwriters to supply you with lots of photo references so that everything you do looks about right for those actually involved in it.
You now have a collection of different pieces in the big puzzle of how the world works. Put them together, publish the book, and I promise I’ll buy a copy.
For a simpler solution, you could start out with a smaller area than “the whole world”. For example, if you want to do something similar about Norway, you could have nineteen contributors make scripts about the county they live in. Or you could have eight or more people make scripts about the political party they vote for and why they vote for it. The possibilities are endless (but this would still require some work).
37 down, 63 to go.