Friday 13 February 2015

CANAR: Isolation

Dave Sim contributed to all 32 issues of CANAR (Comic Art News And Reviews) published by John Balgé (1954-2014) between September 1972 and April 1976. Balgé had got to know the sixteen year old Dave Sim through Harry Kremer’s Now & Then Books comic shop in Kitchener, Ontario. Balgé, Sim and Kremer travelled together to comics conventions in the US and Canada interviewing many prominent comic creators of the day, making the back issues of CANAR a treasure trove of interviews with the likes of Will Eisner, Russ Heath, Harvey Kurtzman, Barry Windsor-Smith, Mike Kaluta, Gil Kane, Berni Wrightson, Howard Chaykin and others.

CANAR #11, July 1973
Isolation: Strip by Dave Sim
All contents of CANAR © John Balgé Estate.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just picked up my CANT from the post office and am enjoying the prints and commentary very much!

- Reginald P.

I think I'd rather this post be anonymous said...

My CANT arrived yesterday but I've just opened it today, and it's really bringing back a flood of memories about the first night I met both Cerebus the Aardvark and Cerebus the funnybook. It was spring 1982. I arrived at a party already very high and pumped full of speed, then started on beer at the party. In the living room a small group was focused on the coffee table which had several comic books on it and saying things like, "I just finished 31. Who has 32?" "Wait, I'm still reading it, you can have it in a minute." The issues were 28 through, I think, 36. I picked one up at random and started reading. 28 wasn't the first one I read but it (for obvious reasons) left the most lasting impression. Of course I had no idea that "Mind Game II" was, as Dave writes in the CANT notes, supposed to be a departure - out of character - for Cerebus. I didn't find out till quite a bit later that he was really an ignorant Northern barbarian sword-for-hire…when I met him he was a savvy, high-rolling figure with a quick mind and a taste for intrigue...