Sunday 6 March 2016

On Sale 25 Years Ago: Cerebus #144

Cerebus #144 (March 1991)
Art by Dave Sim & Gerhard

10 comments:

Barry Deutsch said...

Another ridiculously beautiful cover.

Jeff Seiler said...

I said to Ger, back in St. Louis, last year, when we (he and Shelly and I) were at dinner at Shannon's (yeah, dropping names a bit), that I thought his Melmoth covers was the best sequence of covers he ever did.

He responded, "Really?" and looked at me as if I were crazy.

"Why?" he asked, either verbally or with his eyes.

"Well," I responded, a bit uncertain now, "because of how you drew the streetlamps and the buildings, and how the street and the buildings went, you know, uphill and all that...

"Oh! And! That gorgeous sunset!"

Taking my measure, slowly (as is his wont), he responded, "Thanks."

Later, I paid a lot of money for the display print of the 360° design of the room in which Cerebus died, which comprised the covers of the last ten issues of "Cerebus". Jeff Tundis mocked it up years ago, Ger framed it so that could stand up on the display table, and I bought it, out of shame, as well as an honest desire to, you know, *have* it.

I thought that paying a lot of money to purchase the display print that Ger had put effort into, you know, making it a display print, was the least I could do for ameliorating my having gotten it wrong about what was the best series of covers Gerhard ever did.

Disagree? Let's discuss!

Travis Pelkie said...

Hmm, looking through them all, I can't really decide.

Melmoth vs. The Last Day -- perhaps I'd give the edge to Melmoth, because those ones definitely didn't utilize computer aid (I'm assuming there was some assistance with The Last Day, but I may be making an ass...y'know).

They're all great! I can't decide! I'm a total fence sitter!

Ger was probably wondering why you paid a lot for the Last Day display when you gushed so much about Melmoth... ;)

Jeff Seiler said...

Mm.

I think Ger was astonished that I would offer to take them out to dinner, until I told him that I would only tell him my best off-the-field baseball story if they went out to dinner with me at the place where it happened.

They listened, they laughed, and we had a REALLY good bottle of wine. Ger knows his white wine.

Oh, and some superb steaks.

The Last Day print is, perhaps, the best one for displaying. Plus, he had it already made up for display--little wings on the back to make it stand up on the table or bookshelf, with a hard backing board and heavy white-tape borders. A nice piece.

He sold me some of his other nicely "framed" prints, too, but wouldn't sell me the amazing, jaw-dropping print of The Knick, because he's not allowed to.

Good times. Can't wait to see them again, here in Minneapolis, in May!

Sandeep Atwal said...

Gorgeous. Really need to get that Gerhard print of the Melmoth street.

http://gerhardart.com/home-2/melmoth-street/

Dave Kopperman said...

The Melmoth covers get the leg up over the Last Day covers because the hand-coloring is just more aesthetically pleasing to my eye than the digital.

Ray Cornwall said...

Since I started reading Cerebus at the end of Melmoth, this means I've been reading for nearly 25 years.

Thanks for making me feel old.

Steve said...


Nothing but nothing beats #114, with #121 and #217 a close second.

After those I'd have to go with Melmoth; there's a uniformity to Last Days I don't care for.

Steve

Jeff Seiler said...

114 is the best, hands down. Gerhard has it for sale as a print at gerhardart.com

Jeff Seiler said...

Well, Dave K., also, the Last Day covers are sort of sepia-toned, so they don't "pop" like the Melmoth covers.