Saturday 25 November 2017

Dave Sim's Answers to Five Questions about Flight, part 1

Kickstarter ends 2 December!

Hi, Everybody!

As we close in on the last week for the Kickstarter for Cerebus Archive Number 7: Flight, I thought we should take a look back on Dave's answers to the Cerebus Yahoo Group's five questions. Specifically, his answers regarding Flight.

Preamble: So a few years ago (2005, I believe,) The Cerebus Yahoo Group started a re-read of the whole series. And then we'd discuss an individual volume and come up with five questions and send them to Dave, and he would respond. These are those questions and answers. (Please note, most questions were multi-part in nature, and Dave would break them down as he answered them.)

Q1a. The Coins: We see coins decaying at the bottom of the ocean. Is it correct to assume the nine bubbles emanating from one of the
coins are meant to represent the nine spheres?

DAVE: Yes. And the planets in the solar system. Mercury, Venus, the Earth, etc. The first coin basically just lets off a shower of sparks and the second coin generates these perfect spherical shapes. I was labouring under the misapprehension that the planets were formed of matter "thrown off" by the sun. Which I'm not sure isn't at least partly true. The planets coalesce in much the same way that the sun coalesces and a planet, it seems to me, signifies a greater level of coherence than does a ring. I suspect that's one of the messages of the solar system. Out of the nine planets, only Saturn and Uranus have rings (or is it Neptune?). Planets and moons are more common. Of those entities orbiting the sun, only the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is largely incoherent. The system which we inhabit is 80 to 85% coherent and 15 to 20% incoherent. There is hope.


Next: Question 1, part 2...

6 comments:

Jeff said...

Oh, you tease, you...

And I thought I was the one with that rep.

Damian T. Lloyd, Esq. said...

Dave said he had a keen interest in astronomy for a while, but (as usual when he discusses scientific matters) his knowledge is either wrong or out of date. Planets are not formed from matter thrown off by the sun. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all have rings. Astronomy is fascinating, and we're learning more all the time!

-- Damian

Travis Pelkie said...

What are you saying, I don't wipe? Maybe Uranus has rings, man!

This juvenile pun brought to you by...

Damian T. Lloyd, Esq. said...

I haven't had that problem since I switched to the 00-grit toilet paper.

-- Damian

Jeff said...

Our newest supervillain--TMI-MAN!

Travis Pelkie said...

"He'll wipe (the floor with) you!"