Wednesday 23 January 2013

Jeff Seiler: A Cerebus Reader In Crisis

Cerebus Readers In Crisis #1 (2006)
Cover art by Jeff Seiler
Cerebus Readers In Crisis #1 is based on a true story, as told by Larry Hart, that happened to Jeff Seiler when he went to south Texas to work his summer, non-teaching job in 2005. This comic was written by Jeff Seiler and penciled and inked by Larry Hart.  Jeff Seiler did the cover art, which was computer colorized by Jeff Tundis. Dave Sim contributed one page of interior art and the cover lettering. Cerebus Readers In Crisis #1 is published by Effing Magnifier Publishing and is available from Cerebus Fan Girl.

JEFF TUNDIS:
(from a fax to Dave Sim, 13 April 2007)
There seems to be a little misunderstanding concerning the "Effing Magnifier" phrase as it applies to Jeff Seiler's project. The nickname applies to Jeff Seiler, not to you. At SPACE 2005 we met up with a young woman who was crying over her boyfriend. She had gotten leave from the military and spent all her money on a bus trip from, I think, Illinois -- only to be blown off by her boyfriend who had apparently moved on. She was at the hotel because that's where said boyfriend worked. So, Jeff Seiler befriended her, apparently because he likes short blonde girls with double jointed knees -- hey, who doesn't? Anyway, we (Jeff, me, Margaret, Matt Dow and Paula) became responsible for this "lost soul" and our morning turned into an effort to raise money for her return trip bus ticket, and Matt Dow ended up giving her a ride part way home on the way back to Minnesota. During this time I turned to Seiler and, in joking fashion, called him a "f#@%ing magnifier" because, obviously, we were all in super geeked out Cerebus mode.

Amusingly (to me anyway) your post from yesterday threw Seiler into a tizzy for neglecting to tell you the inside joke/story behind the "Effing Magnifier" company name and having possibly offended you, or at least caused you to reach an incorrect conclusion through the power of assumption. And now it's a matter of public record that Seiler was an unwitting tool of YHWH, etc, etc, etc

Anyway, I tried to tell him that it would at least be an interesting topic for conversation at SPACE and not get all worked up over it, but, well... you know Seiler:)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Tundis got that story mostly right. That was the first of five consecutive years of our little Cerebus Yahoo group--Tundis, Dow, Margaret, Larry Hart, Lenny Cooper, me and a few others here and there (hope I didn't leave anyone out and sorry if I did)) hanging out at SPACE. Three of those years, Dave and Gerhard hung out with us, too. Amazing, fun, great times, til Dave stopped doing conventions. Those Saturday evenings at The Sausage Haus and the motel room debriefings later will live on in our memories as long as there are first-generation Cerebus fans alive.

Unknown said...

I should add that the title and logo of that annual Cerebus Readers in Crisis comic was designed by Dave Sim. The comic itself came about because Larry Hart read my letter to Dave at SPACE '05 and said (in his uber-laconic manner), "you know, this would make a good comic book." I demurred, saying that I couldn't draw a straight line to save myself, let alone a comic book and then Larry famously said, "Well, I can draw. . ." Thus was born what Dave said in 2013 was "the biggest Cerebus-related waste of time ever". It was a lot of fun and could be revived if any Cerebus fan out there wants to send me a story of his or her particular crisis!