Monday 23 February 2015

Cerebus Archive Number Three: Bookplates

Cerebus Trade Paperback Personalised Bookplate
Art by Dave Sim, Tone by George Peter Gatsis
'Unsigned', 'Signed' & 'Your Name Hand-Lettered By Dave Sim' Options Available
Kickstarter Ends Saturday 21st March

DAVE SIM:
(from Cerebus Archive Number One Kickstarter Update #6, 21 May 2014)
...The gag actually goes back almost 50 years now, back, back, into the Vanished Mists of Ancient Times to when men used to wear…hats! See, when you went indoors, you took off your hat. As deference to what were then known as "Ladies". I still do this compulsively in the winter even when I'm only going indoors for five minutes. Anyplace that had a cloak room also had a shelf for hats. And a lot of hats looked alike. So gentlemen tended to put an identifying label in the inside of the brim with their name on it. So it was not unknown for you to pick up a hat and check inside to see if it was yours. So, my Dad got this joke label from someone that said "The HELL it's yours. Put it back. This hat belongs to…" and then he wrote Ken Sim in it. His hat would often get a good workout with guys laughing and then pretty much having to show it to other guys to explain, you know, what EXACTLY did you find particularly funny about someone else's hat? As soon as I needed a gag for an identifying label -- well, what could be more a more Cerebus-like sentiment regarding YOUR personal property?)...

Cerebus Archive Number Three: Bookplate Options
 CAN1 Tone by Sean Michael Robinson (left); CAN2 Tone by George Peter Gatsis (right)
(Click image to enlarge)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why the darker tone on the new ones?
Honestly, it does not really look like Cerebus when it is that dark.

Max West said...

Somehow, I'm not inclined to argue with an angry aardvark wielding a sword.

JLH said...

I agree that the second one looks like Cerebus has been hitting the bronzer a little hard. I wonder how the third one is going to differ from these two? Can't go darker, maybe completely tone-less this time?