Saturday 30 June 2018

Emergent news: Monster Atlas

Hi, Everybody!

Two posts in a day? What a country!

The Monster Atlas Kickstarter is ending in 24 hours.

It has reached the stretch goal of Gerhard artwork, so if you're interested, you got less than a day. Here's our good buddy Greg Hyland:
Last Day!
Posted by Greg Hyland (Creator)
We're less than 24 hours away from the MONSTER ATLAS Kickstarter campaign ending. Thanks to everyone that's backed us so far. It's been overwhelming! This is a project that I thought about doing years ago, and I seriously started working on it last spring. Last year at FanExpo I was walking around showing people a stack of black and white pages I printed out of my computer and talking about it to anyone that would listen. Now it's pretty exciting that in a few months it will be a real colour book that people all around the world will have! We're at 97 backers (as I write this) and the goal in my mind was to hit 100. It could happen!
My plan is to have the book done and printed by the time FanExpo Canada happens at the end of August. Glenn just finished writing the last pass at South American monsters and I just finished laying out the Mexican, Caribbean, and Central American pages, and generating the South American maps. I want to spend the first two weeks of July finishing the South American artwork, then the last two weeks doing final layout, editing, and proofreading, then get it to the printers at the beginning of August. This will surely make sure I have the book for sale at FanExpo Canada and all backers will have their books in September, as promised.
 You remember Greg right?
Yeah, him.
Next Time: Whatever's Emerging, it'll be on Emergent News!

The Old AMOC Mailbag: Sean Robinson Edition (part 1)

Hi, Everybody!

Don't forget to give your hickies to the Living Tarim! Matt  (Some of these might be ending, I'll have to update it soon.)

Anyway, 

Everybody's friend, Sean Michael Robinson, sent in a load of links to the ol' AMOC Mailbag at 
momentofcerebus@gmail.com.

Which has made him our second "AMOC Special Friend of the Day":
Suitable for framing...


What'd he send in?

First, this:
Fairly silly commentary from Jeet Heer (who should know better.) Includes a statement "from a friend" who is clearly one of two people. (You guys! Jeet Heer has IMPORTANT FRIENDS).
https://twitter.com/heerjeet/status/1007002556537737221?lang=en
And for those of you who don't wanna click over to "Tweeter",



Next Time: Sunday. Dave. Religion.

Thursday 28 June 2018

Not That Rick Nash

MARGARET LISS:
A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

So last week we looked once again at Dave Sim's thirteenth notebook, which was mostly used for Cerebus #112 / 113, but also had some other items in it. Like this sketch for the cover to Goddess, Untold Tales of Zolastraya #1:

Notebook #13, page 77
Looks pretty close to the final product, but not quite the same:

Goddess, Untold Tales of Zolastraya #1
Who is this Zolastraya and how did she get Dave Sim to do her cover? Well, it turns out the woman behind the pen name was dating Dave at the time.  In fact, her birthday was a few days ago. And yes, it appears that Dave named Rick Nash after her, well, at least her last name, and not Rick Nash the hockey player. Well, seeing as how Rick Nash was only almost five years old when this comic came out.

Rick Nash the hockey player, not Jaka's husband, actually played for the Boston Bruins last season. I was tempted to get his sweater because you know, Rick Nash! But I'm still holding out for a Fred Hammer sweater instead.

Wednesday 27 June 2018

THE UN-BEDABLE VARK #1 Cover Correction!


Benjamin Hobbs:

Today is the last Wednesday of the month, and THE UN-BEDABLE VARK #1 should be in stores!

If you compare the cover of the comic you pick up today at your LCS:

And the version that's been posted on here before:

You might notice that something is different. Somewhere in the process, the blurb "CELIBACY AS YOU LIKE IT!" disappeared off the front cover.  This wasn't a creative decision, nor was it an issue with the printers.  In fact, I'm not 100% sure where in the process the mistake occurred.

However! If you really want to have that blurb on your comic, so you have the comic as it was intended to be, there is a solution!

INTRODUCING:
"CELIBACY AS YOU LIKE IT" 
THE CUT AND PASTE PROJECT!
INTENDED FOR AGES 5 AND UP



Instructions for use:

1-Print out the above image. Make sure to use glossy photo paper for optimum glare and highest cost.  

2-Cut out the image along the dotted line. (Kids: Make sure to ask your parents for help with the scissors!)

3-Apply the image to the cover of your mint copy of THE UN-BEDDABLE VARK #1 using some sort of adhesive.  Elmer's glue will probably wrinkle the image too much and spray adhesive will get everywhere.  Some slightly chewed mint gum ought to do the trick. 

4-Try to convince the guys at CGC that your comic really IS in mint, cause the guy online who worked on the book said the book wasn't complete if the blurb wasn't attached. (As far as I'm concerned the book can be no more than a 5.0 without the blurb. It's like having a hole cut in the middle of your comics cover...but the opposite.) Point out that the gum you used to adhere the blurb was mint as well. That will knock the socks off those CGC guys!

5-Run back to your LCS and pick up a second copy of the book, because the CGC gave your first copy of THE UN-BEDABLE VARK #1 a low grade due to the technically complete, but officially altered, cover.

6-Sheepishly return to CGC with your new unaltered (and therefore, not complete) copy of THE UN-BEDABLE VARK #1.

7-Paste the "CELIBACY" blurb to the outside of the clam shell of your high-graded, but technically incomplete, copy of THE UN-BEDABLE VARK #1.

8-Enjoy looking at, but not reading, your now complete copy of THE UN-BEDABLE VARK #1!


Next week: Find out how many of MY 25 copies of THE UN-BEDABLE VARK #1 were destroyed trying to adhere the "CELIBACY" blurb!  

[And don't forget to give your hickies to the Living Tarim! Matt]

Tuesday 26 June 2018

Cash for Cerebus

Hi, Everybody!

Ya don't want GREEN WARTS do you?


So instead of posting the links to all the Comiclink auctions, I'm going to just post a link to a post that lists all that stuff.

This post.

Comiclink!

STUDIO COMIX PRESS T-SHIRT PROTOTYPE

SWOON AND SNUFF SANDMAN PARODY DRAWING

SWOON SANDMAN PARODY DRAWING

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION VOL. 2 (SIGNED DAVE SIM CONTRIBUTOR COPY) #NO NUMBER, 9.4 NM

CEREBUS VOLUME 10 MINDS REMASTERED EDITION #NO NUMBER, 9.4 NM

And if you're looking for Dave's Stuff, search for "Cerebus Archive.

And here's Gerhard's "Moments of Cerebus" art auction.

Then there's Ger's Hunchback of Notre Dame prints.

And Greg Hyland's "The Monster Atlas" Kickstarter has reached the stretch goal, so Ger's art is in it now. (It ends on June 30th).

Reader Tim P. is selling off his Cerebus/Dave Sim stuff Including a copy of issue #1 (May be a  counterfeit, Margaret can tell you if it is or not. ) (Looking close, I'm 90% sure it's real, Mags? Hon? Could you verify? Please? If you read the comments, she did. It's not. Once again, I don't know what I'm talking about...)

And George Gatsis has all sorts of fun stuff for sale over at CerebusDownloads.com

Buy! Buy! Buy!

Bye,

Next Time: Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Benjamin Hobbs stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished... He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Cerebus, an obnoxious aardvark from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Ben can see and hear. And so Benjamin Hobbs finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home. 

Monday 25 June 2018

In Soviet Russia, Cerebus Reads YOU!!

Hi, Everybody!

Your pal and mine, David Birdsong sent in the following to the Ol' AMOC Mailbag:
Hi Matt,

It's funny what's lurking around on the internet.  I found a copy of Cerebus #1 in Russian.  The art isn't reproduced all that well, but the lettering is pretty good.

David B
Courtesy of David Birdsong...I just said that...
I forwarded that message to everybody's friend, Sean Robinson, and he said:
Weird!! That's digital lettering FYI. The file metadata says it was generated in Photoshop, in April 2013!
Courtesy David Birdsong and some Russians (I presume...)
Sean continued:
And the title of the file means "Bi-weekly" in Italian.
The file is titled: "Bi-Settimanale" (Which makes this a TRI-lingual post. NEAT!)

Courtesy David Birdsong, some Russians, and the Italians. And originally, Dave Sim...
And Sean finished:
Def. not a scan of a printed issue. The compositing on the cover indicates it's digital lettering over a scan. Probably a fan translation, using an Italian fan translation/scan as a jumping-off point.
Which just goes to show, you can take the Man out of the Art Hunt, but you can't take the Art Hunt out of the Man!

I asked David where he found this so I could share a link instead of posting twenty-three images, and he said:
You have to be careful downloading anything from a site like this so I used a piece of junk tablet I don't need and then scanned it.  It checked out ok so it's a true rarity...

...but not as rare as a printed copy.

David B
So, if you want a digital copy of Cerebus #1 in Russian, email momentofcerebus@gmail.com with the phrase "What A Country!" as the subject, and I'll send one back to you.

Next Time: Wait til you see what "Unca" Sean Robinson has for you guys!?!

Sunday 24 June 2018

TL:DR: The Genesis Question part nine

Hi, Everybody!

Comiclink!

STUDIO COMIX PRESS T-SHIRT PROTOTYPE

SWOON AND SNUFF SANDMAN PARODY DRAWING

SWOON SANDMAN PARODY DRAWING

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION VOL. 2 (SIGNED DAVE SIM CONTRIBUTOR COPY) #NO NUMBER, 9.4 NM

CEREBUS VOLUME 10 MINDS REMASTERED EDITION #NO NUMBER, 9.4 NM

And if you're looking for Dave's Stuff, search for "Cerebus Archive.

Sunday Funday:

1 April 18

Hi Matt!

You must be running out of my Biblical commentaries along about now. So…

Courtesy of CerebusDownload.com 
Okay, back to Appendix A.  Mr Ross writes:

Biblically, the "foundations of the earth" indeed are "immovable" in spite of any revolution of the earth about the sun or rotation of the earth about its axis because the Bible verses making such statements always are from the perspective, or point of view, of an observer on the surface of the earth.
 It seems to me that all that does is to establish that "immovable" can only be used accurately in quotation marks.  If what you are discussing is the earth as a physical object.  Not only isn't the earth as a physical object immovable -- it's moving at tens of thousands of miles per hour -- it's not even immovable in the larger temporal sense if you want to modify your meaning to "the earth follows the same period of rotation and the same trajectory for billions of years".  That's true, but, ultimately to call that "immovable" requires discounting the effect the sun going nova is going to have on the earth's rotation and trajectory.  Which will be profound. Billions of years from now but, in a cosmological sense, the day after tomorrow.

I think this suggests God's larger point as well:  that the "immovable" "foundations of the earth" are not primarily physical in nature, while still having physical properties.

I would theorize that -- like the Giant Stars formed after the Big Bang and everything that came after them -- everything that is physically incarnated in the universe is an enactment of the seminal processes that formed the Giant Stars which were already in process of being "hurled outward" from the Big Bang Ground Zero point.

They attempted to imitate the Big Bang and failed to do so, but in their failure to do so, engaged in centrifugal and centripetal physical enactments.  The bad news (for the Giant Stars) was: no Big Bang, the good news was: the centrifugal and centripetal physical enactments proved propulsive in nature which allowed for -- and actually compelled -- accelerated outward-bound movement.  The Giant Stars expired, but in expiring, hurled outward Less Giant Stars and ultimately entire galaxies.

Which rather solves, to me, the question of why the universe is expanding and, in fact, accelerating in that expansion rather than decelerating (seemingly contrary to the laws of entropy):

God planned it that way.

The Big Bang is a good example of the Genesis concept of "created to make": the Big Bang was "created to make" the Giant Stars;  the Giant Stars were "created to make" the Lesser Giant Stars; the Lesser Giant Stars were "created to make" galaxies; the galaxies were "created to make" solar systems, etc. etc. until ultimately the individual stars were "created to make" planets, asteroids and comets and planets -- some of them -- were "created to make" animals and people. So, in that sense, the foundations of the earth are, indeed, immovable as are the foundations of the "everything between the earth and the Giant Stars" out of which the earth originally came.  God knew that none of his creations would be able to imitate the Big Bang but that the compulsion to imitate the Big Bang on the part of His creations would create the accelerating expanding universe as a giant tapestry/canvas of enactments. Compulsion resulting in propulsion.

Be fruitful and multiply.

That part, I'm pretty sure, is Immovable.

But, it seems to me, accepting that requires accepting that we are limited in our perceptions, that each generation in our epoch has been convinced that they have attained to absolute irrefutable knowledge, scriptural, scientific, philosophical or all three.  And each generation has ultimately been proved wrong because there are very few "facts" that are refuted within a single human lifetime of 70 or 80 years.  We get to view part of the jigsaw puzzle being assembled but only part.  More theories prove to be just theories than prove to be verifiable facts.

Galileo was certainly right in criticizing the Church for not recognizing the new facts which his telescope revealed but even his own conclusions were far from "immovable".  Einstein's Theory of Relativity proved far from "immovable" even as he developed it.  What appears "immovable" in our own context, breaks down as you approach the speed of light.  We are still engaged in attempting to find "immovable" scientific facts to plug the ensuing scientific leaks.

We have proven the existence of the God Particle.  But, now that we know that, what do we know?

It seems to me that God makes His Point through science that a large body of irrefutable facts are not the same thing as knowledge -- let alone Knowledge.  There is God and there is the Big Bang and, arguably, everything after that is erosional failure, subject to entropy (not, so far, generally, with the expanding outward bound accelerating universe a product of God's will, but specifically with each "created to make" enactment which is finite in form and finite in lifespan from the Giant Stars on down).

We aren't here, I don't think, to Figure Things Out in a purely literal factual sense -- the implicit ambition of the sciences: to build an impervious construct of irrefutable facts that explain all observed phenomena -- although it is a given that we will expend a great deal of time and energy trying to figure things out in a purely literal factual sense.  I think my theories "hold water" but even the extent to which they "hold water" seems to me to be completely immaterial when placed alongside how I behave, what I choose to do and what I choose not to do, my worship of God and the -- God willing, lifelong -- enactment of my faith.

Because it seems to me that the construct itself is very basic:  God created His first creation prior to the Big Bang and that creation immediately decided that he/she/it was God -- and wanted to create his/her/its own creation.

Creation being the sole province of God, God in a good example of "undeserved kindness" created the illusion of creation in His creation:  birth.  Women do not create babies. Women gestate babies and give birth to babies.  Babies, set in motion by the fertilizing of the female egg by the male sperm, create themselves using their mothers for raw materials. If you're basically ignorant -- and it seems to me that the YHWH was always basically ignorant -- it's a distinction without a difference.  Creation or birth.  Same thing.

This,  it seems to me, is the small-scale enactment of the process by which the seminal YHWHs, the Giant Stars came into being prior to their actual physical incarnation after the Big Bang.

They didn't create themselves (although they thought they did) and they didn't create each other and they didn't create God (although at least one of them thought he/she/it did). The seminal YHWH was created by God and God imbued the seminal YHWH with the ability to gestate YHWHs -- birth -- "created to make".   And God created the "trigger" which would set that in motion:  the Father and the "seed" within the Father. And said to the Father and to the seminal YHWH, "Be fruitful and multiply".

Had any one of those seminal YHWH's been God or Other God, they would have, by now, created another Big Bang.  They haven't.  So, the Big Bang proves God's point:  that only God is God and everyone else purporting to be God is just a self-deluded YHWH of some kind.

Best,

Dave  

Next Time: IN COMMUNIST RUSSIA, CEREBUS READS YOU!! 

Saturday 23 June 2018

The Ol' AMOC Mailbag: Wally Wood's 22 panels that always work

Hi, Everybody!

Unfortunately, AMOC never gets invited anywhere cool...
So the Ol' AMOC Mailbag received the following:
Dear Moment of Cerebus,

Out of respect for creator rights, the truth, dignity, and all that is good, 
would you please delete the inaccurate, disparaging, slanderous, negative, remarks by "Odkin"under your Wood Panels That Always Work post.

It would also be appreciated if you would note that,
Panels That Always Work is © & TM the Wallace Wood Estate.

Thank you,

The Wallace Wood Estate
Executor, Jack Robinson
Deputy Executor, Glenn Wood 
Director, J. David Spurlock 
Director Emeritus, Bill Pearson
This is referring to this.

I responded (not ten minutes ago,) thusly:
Hello Misters Robinson, Wood, Spurlock, and Pearson,

Matt Dow, the Interim Editor of A Moment of Cerebus, here.

Having received your message regarding the "Wally Wood's 22 panels that always work" post on AMOC, I reviewed the post and the ensuing comments.

As to the request to delete the comments of "Odkin", I'm afraid that as a blog devoted to celebrating the works of Dave Sim, a staunch supporter of Freedom of Expression and Free Speech, that I can't in good conscience engage in an act of outright censorship. But, I do encourage you to post any comments you may wish to make to correct what you perceive as "inaccurate" about "Odkin's" comments. (As to "Odkin's" comments being "disparaging, slanderous," or "negative," I find that that is an "eye of the beholder" situation, and really not under my control.) Since your request has come three years after "Odkin" made these comments, which were made three years after the initial post (by my predecessor founding editor Tim W.), I reasonably expect that any response from "Odkin"  to anything you post wouldn't show up for another three years.

Also, according to http://www.comicsbeat.com/wally-woods-22-panels-that-always-work-unlimited-edition/ "In the blog posting, Johnson reveals the history of the famed piece, including writer/editor Larry Hama’s account of its creation: I worked for Wally Wood as his assistant in the early ’70s, mostly on the Sally Forth and Cannon strips he did for the Overseas Weekly. I lettered the strips, ruled borders, swipe-o-graphed reference, penciled backgrounds and did all the other regular stuff as well as alternating with Woody on scripting Cannon and Sally Forth. The “22 Panels” never existed as a collected single piece during Woody’s lifetime. [Emphasis mine. MD]  Another ex-Wood assistant, Paul Kirchner had saved three Xeroxed sheets of the panels that would comprise the compilation. I don’t believe that Woody put the examples together as a teaching aid for his assistants, but rather as a reminder to himself. He was always trying to kick himself to put less labor into the work! He had a framed motto on the wall, “Never draw anything you can copy, never copy anything you can trace, never trace anything you can cut out and paste up.” He hung the sheets with the panels on the wall of his studio to constantly remind himself to stop what he called “noodling.”" As the AMOC post specifically uses the Hama "22 panels," I'm not sure that adding "Panels That Always Work is © & TM the Wallace Wood Estate" is entirely accurate. 

But do note that I am posting this message to AMOC with a link to the original post, so the copyright/trademark notice will be posted in some form.

You're so very welcome,

Matt Dow
Interim Editor, A Moment of Cerebus
 Having looked into "The Wally Wood Estate," and their dealings, I believe I've made the right call.

Next Time: I wonder if the Kirby estate wants to #@$! with me?

Thursday 21 June 2018

The Start of Rick

MARGARET LISS:
A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

We just looked at Dave Sim's notebook #13 last week in What About Trying That? The notebook that was mainly about Cerebus #112 / 113 also had some items on Jaka's Story. Like these two pages with some sketches of Rick:

Notebook 13, page 35
Does this version of Rich have a mullet? And what is up with that mustache?

Notebook 13, page 36
There we go, that is a bit more like the Rick we all know.

Wednesday 20 June 2018

De-toning Cerebus


Benjamin Hobbs:

Have you placed your order for NICK CALM, AGENT OF C.O.D.P.I.E.C.E yet?  If not, do so today! No excuses!  It's Wednesday, so I KNOW you'll be at your LCS.



Last Friday, Sean Michael Robinson posted a request for help removing Cerebus' tone in HIGH SOCIETY.  I figured I'd try my hand at a couple of pages.  It was a bit of a challenge. To remove the tone with any accuracy, I had to be zoomed in fairly close on the image. The image became SOOOO large on the screen, it was difficult to tell which dark areas were tone and which were ink lines. 

In this image, Cerebus has tone.  Lots of tiny little bits of tone.

In this image, the tone has magically disappeared, turning Cerebus into "Cerebus the Albino".

It seemed like big areas of tone should be easier to remove in this image than the relatively tiny areas in the first example, but that wasn't really the case.  All the tiny crosshatch lines made it tricky to mask around.


I'm sure everyone is just DYING to see what this image would look like with just the white out.  So here it is:
My computer is the most expensive bottle of white out I've ever purchased.  

Next Week: It's the last Wednesday of the month! Don't walk, RUN to your LCS to pick up THE UN-BEDABLE VARK #1!