Wednesday 31 July 2019

On sale this week: FORNICATORS INC


Benjamin Hobbs:

Run, don't walk to your nearest LCS, because today is THE day that FORNICATORS INC comes out! (Unless, like Jeff, you have a pull file, and CIH? is in the file, then I suppose you could walk.  But it would really help us out if you'd walk at a brisk pace to give the impression that there is SOME urgency to get your books.)



Now available for order from Diamond, COLOUR YOUR OWN CEREBUS IN HELL? #1! 
Promo strip provided by David Birdsong.
Next Week: More CIH? fun!

Tuesday 30 July 2019

"Time Machine and a Coat Hanger!" "Manly" Matt Dow's FIRST glamourpuss pitch

Hi, Everybody!

LET'S DO THIS:
I'm giving away free @#$%! 
Send pics of your @#$%ING Flimsy postcards From Hell? to momentofcerebus@gmail.com. Most bent to @#$% postcard wins a valuable prize from Dave Sim! (Is this still a thing? I'm thinking it's gonna end the next time I talk to Dave...)  
You should order a COLOUR YOUR OWN CEREBUS IN HELL? #1 Diamond Order Code AUG191433
Also, the EXPERTLY REMASTERED CHURCH AND STATE VOL II is available to order NOW (Diamond Order Code JUL191359) Submit your ideas for the bookplate contest.

_______________________________

Hey! 'emember glamourpuss #25/Zootanapuss #4? Specifically, the page I plotted and co-scripted?

Well, from the depths of the AMOCHIVE, I bring you an excerpt from “Time Machine and a coat hanger!” The Making of glamourpuss #25/ Zootananpuss #4, page 9*:
_______________________________

So, how did Iguana and Beer end up in glamourpuss #25?  Well, my sophisticated friend, therein lies a tale…

It all started August 2011. I got off of work and called my house to tell my mom, who was babysitting my daughter, something or other.  And the phone was busy.  “Why would Mom be on the phone?” I wondered. 

So I get home and mom says, “You’ll never guess who I just talked to…Dave Sim.”

Apparently Dave called for me, and ended up talking to my mom for ten minutes.

“Why would Dave be calling for me?” I wondered.  It was unusual for Dave to call, but not unprecedented. Dave had called back in 2007 when he was gearing up for the glamourpuss virtual tour and asked my advice on where he should go to promote glamourpuss.

 But why now?

(I think,) I called Dave back and left a message letting him know I was home and what times I’d be available to talk for the next few days.

And later that night, while I was doing the dishes, Dave called back.

He told me that he really liked Racecar Comics #5 (still available *hint hint*) and thought it was really funny, especially the bit with the Uncanny Farmcats. (What am I talking about? I guess you should buy an issue and find out, huh?) …and, that he was wondering if I would like to pitch a 5 page story for glamourpuss?

Would I?

Does the Pope know a lot of pedophiles?

You bet your sweet bippy I would like to pitch a story for glamourpuss.

We talked for a little bit about ideas. 

There was one idea about babies that were “glamourpusses (glamourpi?) in training.” (My wife and I, having just had our first child, had a large stack of baby-photo-filled magazines.)

Then Dave had to go, and I had to finish the dishes.

Well that night and the next day I started plotting.:
“Double-page spread: Image of a baby carriage in the distance on the left-hand-side of page one.  On right-hand-side of page two, hand holding a half-full champagne glass with a pacifier in it. Text glamourpuss: “glamourpuss thought babies were helpless little bundles of joy until one of her new rent-a-kids threw her ‘bibby’ twenty feet into glamourpuss’ $6000 dollar-a-bottle glass of 1977 Chateau du Fourmilier…” 

“Nope, that’s two pages, and we’ve only got five to work with…”

And plotting:
“Maybe Dave will recognize my genius and hire me on full-time to do the glamourpuss half of the book.”

“Money and Power, and Money and Power…”
So between delusions of grandeur and work and life and stuff a month went by.

My third or fourth idea was “glamourpuss VS Iguana VS Beer”.  Looking back, I suppose it was inevitable.  My mini-comics career had started with “Cerebus VS Iguana VS Beer” (no longer available as a flipbook to Racecar Comics #1, so I guess your back issue’s worth some money now!) So teaming my two morons with gp seemed like a good idea.

The initial idea was written down on a note at my day job. “gp VS Iguana VS Beer. Beer (to gp): I want you to have primary custody of my babies” and “GP talks in third person Iguana imitates her: ‘Iguana likes taquitos. Iguana thinks we should get Mexican”

So, here’s pitch one:
This is the cover sheet.

Which is a parody of Cerebus VS Iguana VS Beer #1:



And yes, my drawing of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King is saying "Whatchu talking about Dave Sim?" 'cause I'm classy...



This is where the title "Time machine and a coat hanger." comes from.
See, the joke is that it IS a Dream and a hoax, and an Imaginary Story...

The big problem, was I assumed Dave had a stockpile of images of models to use as reference, he did not.

Next Time: Dave's response to this pitch. Wait, no. Tomorrow is Wednesday, Hobbs does Wednesdays. Then it's Margaret and the notebooks, then Friday is the Weekly Update, then Saturday should be August's Please Hold For Dave Sim, so...Sunday?

*Advance praise for glamourpuss archive:

"Up until an hour ago, I would have stated for a fact that [Jeff] Seiler's CEREBUS READERS IN CRISIS was the most uncalled-for example of Dave Sim Ephemera to hit the market, but I think you have him beat with this one."
Dave Sim
Creator- Cerebus, glamourpuss, Judenhass, The Strange Death of Alex Raymond

Monday 29 July 2019

"Manly" Matt Dow's Suggested Church & State Volume II Bookplates

Hi, Everybody!

The Rigmarole:
I'm giving away free @#$%! (And NOT "pulling a Hemingway" and rushing to get done "so I can go down to La Floridita and drink my body weight in margaritas" (metaphorically speaking) (And I'm pretty sure La Floridita was were Hemingway drank daiquiris, but I digress...)
Send pics of your @#$%ING Flimsy postcards From Hell? to momentofcerebus@gmail.com. Most bent to @#$% postcard wins a valuable prize from Dave Sim! (Is this still a thing? I'm thinking it's gonna end the next time I talk to Dave...) 
You should order a COLOUR YOUR OWN CEREBUS IN HELL? #1 Diamond Order Code AUG191433 

Also, the EXPERTLY REMASTERED CHURCH AND STATE VOL II is available to order NOW (Diamond Order Code JUL191359) Submit your ideas for the bookplate contest.

_______________________

Speaking of the bookplate contest, here's MY picks (In the order I found them in Church & State Volume II):
I'm using my old and busted digital copy of Church & State II...
Partly, because it's the only thing I have...
And partly because...
it makes Sean Robinson's eyes bleed...
I think it works better cropped...
Bit of a spoiler...
Of course, if Dave wanted to keep the theme of the Jaka's Story bookplate in mind, then he should use a commission piece, like this one:

That has a caption from David Birdsong, that reminds everybody that I'm talking to Dave on Thursday, so last chance to get your questions in for this month.

(Obviously, I'd run the commission piece WITHOUT the caption balloon.)

Make it so Robinson!

Next Time: I pull something out of my @$$ at the last minute...

Sunday 28 July 2019

The Ol' AMOC Mailbag: Dave Sim and Travis Pelkie

Hi, Everybody!

We got a marole, we got a whole Rig'a' marole:
I'm giving away free @#$%! (And NOT "pulling a Hemingway" and rushing to get done "so I can go down to La Floridita and drink my body weight in margaritas" (metaphorically speaking) (And I'm pretty sure La Floridita was were Hemingway drank daiquiris, but I digress...) 
Send pics of your @#$%ING Flimsy postcards From Hell? to momentofcerebus@gmail.com. Most bent to @#$% postcard wins a valuable prize from Dave Sim! (Is this still a thing?) 
Also, the EXPERTLY REMASTERED CHURCH AND STATE VOL II is available to order NOW (Diamond Order Code JUL191359) Submit your ideas for the bookplate contest.


And you should order a COLOUR YOUR OWN CEREBUS IN HELL? #1 Diamond Order Code AUG191433
__________________________________

The ol' AMOC mailbag got this in:
Hey Matt,


I have 3 photos of Dave signing the latest CIH? issue. Dave wants these photos posted on the Moment of Cerebus website.

Thanks,


DS
Well, as you all know, "whatever Dave wants, Dave gets..."
Hi Dave!

That's alot of Tales of Sophistication...

Wait a minute..."Don Heck"?!? 
 _____________________________________

And Travis Pelkie sent in:
Hey Matt




I was reading some recent issues of MAD magazine after hearing it’s ending and in the new #7, in the Avengers movie parody by writer Ian Boothby and artist Gideon Kendall, this appears on the first page:



Thought you and Dave and everyone would like to know.

Here is the cover of the issue


Also in the latest previews, Gerhard and Grant Morrison’s the smile of the absent cat is reoffered from heavy metal and marvel is doing a new issue of Crazy with story and art by Dandy Don Simpson!

Take care man!

Travis Pelkie
_________________________
Well, thanks Dave and Travis!

Next Time: "Manly" Matt Dow's ideas for the Church & State II bookplate...

Saturday 27 July 2019

One of those "quick" posts that takes Matt four hours to write because he can't find that file he was looking for...


Hi, Everybody!

What Rigmarole do we got currently?
I'm giving away free @#$%! (And NOT "pulling a Hemingway" and rushing to get done "so I can go down to La Floridita and drink my body weight in margaritas" (metaphorically speaking) (And I'm pretty sure La Floridita was were Hemingway drank daiquiris, but I digress...)

Send pics of your @#$%ING Flimsy postcards From Hell? to momentofcerebus@gmail.com. Most bent to @#$% postcard wins a valuable prize from Dave Sim! (Is this still a thing?) 
Also, the EXPERTLY REMASTERED CHURCH AND STATE VOL II is available to order NOW (Diamond Order Code JUL191359) Submit your ideas for the bookplate contest.

And you should order a COLOUR YOUR OWN CEREBUS IN HELL? #1 Diamond Order Code AUG191433
 _____________________________________

Oh boy, is this gonna be a good one...

So, back in 2013, in the updates for the CEREBUS: High Society - Special Audio/Visual Digital Edition Kickstarter, Dave wrote:
Making slow progress on THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND No.2. I've got the cover, inside front cover and page one done and page two half-pencilled. It's coming out pretty good. I'd be a little further along, but I'm also digging up more "cover stuff" for the IDW CEREBUS COVERS books. Just today, going through the entire 40-year "81/2 by 11 and smaller" file drawers (six of them) for anything related to the covers. And this morning, thinking to myself, "Wait a minute. What about my THAT HELLISH LAST YEAR OF CEREBUS pile?" Which is on the top shelf in my office. I remember thinking, "This deserves to be a book on its own: THAT HELLISH LAST YEAR OF CEREBUS." Well, I'm over that now. Too many hellish years since CEREBUS ended to make all the rest of them feel deprived by devoting a book to only one of them. You know, 2007 saying "What am I? Chopped liver?" The thing is, though, it's only when I'm finally sitting down and working on an ALEX RAYMOND page that I think of these things. But I'm pretty sure I'm coming to the bottom of the CEREBUS COVERS book(s) problem(s). Actually I'm hoping I'm already there. We'll see. The next thing will be waiting for Scott Dunbier to send me the updated spread sheet of what covers we have covered and what covers we don't have, uh, covered. And then tackle THAT problem. Okay, how many are we missing and how difficult will it be to do recreations of them? I even thought of doing FUN things, like maybe acting out a missing cover with sock puppets or getting Matt Feazell to do one as stick figures. Um, okay. You're right. Forget fun. What was I thinking?
Well, back in 2013 when the Earth was young and dinosaurs roamed the earth, I read that, and thought: "Gee, I'm not Matt Feazell, but I am A Matt..."

So I decided to do a Cerebus cover. In my own..."special" style.

Unfortunately, the only covers I KNEW that Dave was missing, were the Wolveroach ones (Cerebus #s 54, 55, and 56.)
Yeah, them.

which Dave had already recreated:



So groovy...
But, because I had this KILLER idea for the cover to Iguana VS Beer #1 that I could "rip off" for a Cerebus Cover Recreation, I did it anyway:


Then I made some copies and colored one:

The copyright bit always makes me chuckle: "IGUANA and BEER ©2013 MATT DOW, THE Wolverine ©2013 Marvel Comics, but since this is A wolverine, they can't do squat!"
And then made copies of that.

Then I sent the original and the original hand colored copy up to Dave with some other stuff and a letter: 
Which I can't find a copy off... 
 And got a reply from Dave:


Wow. A lot to unpack here:

1st paragraph: Dave had sent me a package with the Off-White House address, and I had said that it felt like knowing the location of the Batcave. And I swore to never reveal it.

2nd paragraph: I was wondering what my "credit" would be for page 9 of glamourpuss #25 if glamourpuss/zootanapuss were ever collected. (I think my credit should be plotter and co-scripter.)

3rd paragraph: I had sent Dave my second copy of Mad's Star Wars Spectacular from 1999 when Episode 1 had come out. It had three(?) Mort Drucker parodies, and I know Dave was a sucker for Mort Drucker.

4th paragraph: Blair and Mike Kitchen had done a jam of Possum and Spyguy with Iguana and Beer. I sent Dave a copy.

5th paragraph: The REASON why I'm posting the letter. I think I was gonna try and sell prints of my cover... Anybody wants one, send a message to momentofcerebus@gmail.com and let me know. (They come in two sizes, 11" by 17" and 8 and a 1/2" by 11". Also,colored or not (It's okay for me to say "colored", my cousins are black...).) I'll have to figure out costs and shipping and stuff.

6th paragraph: This is part of a long running Strange Death of Alex Raymond research joke Dave and I had.

Okay, this has been WAY too long to even remotely be considered "quick".

Next Time: Dave sent me an e-mail...

Friday 26 July 2019

Agents of Facebook (Dave's Weekly Update #297)/C + S II ... almost there!/ Help Wanted/Who the sweet @#$% is running this $#!* show?!?

Hi, Everybody!

Heeeeeere's...Sean?

What the fuck?
_______________________
Sean Michael Robinson:

Hello friends!

Welp, the race against time to get C + S II to the printers in its best form possible continues!

To that end—

1. Does anyone out there (comic shop owner) have a copy of the most recent C + S II printing? According to a certain Cerebus super-fan named Nat, it is most likely the tenth printing. If you DO have such a mythical item, what is the DATE listed next to the printing on the indicia?

2. We still need your bookplate image suggestions! Any ideas welcome—post them here and I'll round up all the ideas and send them to Dave for his evaluation!

Now, off to address Dave's faxed C +S II notes! More on this next week. Now get out there to your local comic store and order a good dozen copies of C + S II and Jaka's Story!
_______________________

Okay, Heeeeeere's Dav...id Birdsong?

What the shit?
_______________________

If look at the AMOC sidebar you'll see that we've added a link to the ordering information for COLOUR YOUR OWN CEREBUS IN HELL?  If you click on any of those cover images you will link to Diamond's Preview page for that issue.  We encourage anyone that wants to share the links to do so, but we are now looking for an Official Twitter and Facebook Linker.  (Hey, we just invented that!). The idea is that the day David Birdsong updates the AMOC sidebar he will also send a clickable link to the volunteer(s).  You can do one or you can do both.  All we ask is that you are willing to add the link for each new issue as it comes out as soon as you can to give everyone looking for information on the new issues as much time as possible to alert their LCS and get their hands on the latest CIH? issues.  All you need is an email and an addiction... errrr an account at Twitter and/or Facebook.  The job pays tremendous satisfaction, inclusion in an ever-shrinking circle of Dave Sim fans and the heartfelt thanks of the entire team (and Dave might say your name on one of the Weekly Updates).  Man, how can anyone turn that down?

Please send your resume (well, maybe just say you'll do) it to: cerebusinhell@gmail.com
(this is NOT Dave's email [Dave has no email and will probably not have email ever], please do not send messages to Dave there.)

Thanks from Dave, Sean, Benjamin & David

(Stay tuned for Dave's Weekly Update later today!)

UPDATE:  Three cheers for Brian W. who is now the "Agent Of Twitter". Facebook is still open for anyone that wants to jump onboard.  Thanks, Brian!
_______________________
I can do it:
If Facebook asks, my name is Ron. Also, I'm a girl.
ANYWAY...

Heeeeeere's Dave:



And Heeeeeere's Superman (it's cool, the Fleischer Studios cartoons are in the public domain...)


And you can get your VERY OWN "Matt D's A Moment of Cerebus" T-Shirt by going to Cafepress and giving them money.
______________________________________

I'm giving away free @#$%! (And NOT "pulling a Hemingway" and rushing to get done "so I can go down to La Floridita and drink my body weight in margaritas" (metaphorically speaking)

Send pics of your @#$%ING Flimsy postcards From Hell? to momentofcerebus@gmail.com. Most bent to @#$% postcard wins a valuable prize from Dave Sim! (Is this still a thing?)

Also, the EXPERTLY REMASTERED CHURCH AND STATE VOL II is available to order NOW (Diamond Order Code JUL191359) Submit your ideas for the bookplate contest.

And you should order a COLOUR YOUR OWN CEREBUS IN HELL? #1 Diamond Order Code AUG191433
________________________________

Whoa, Deja Vu.

And next Thursday is:
So, PLEASE post any questions you have, and I'll send them up to Dave...

Next Time: A post I've been holding off on because I'm a lazy fuck...

Thursday 25 July 2019

A Real Mommy Type

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 last saw the 2nd to last notebook Dave used in the production of Cerebus in Cerebus of 2018 in Running Upstairs in the Dark. The notebook had 36 pages scanned and was labeled Spore & Konigsberg by Dave.

On page 25 and 26 of the notebook is some dialogue about what happened to Konigsberg. Which in the Latter Days phonebook, starts on page 421.

Notebook 35, page #25

Notebook 35, page #25
The dialogue is pretty close to the finished dialogue in the comic. Though on page 25 when talking about Konigsberg's girlfriend, Dave had written "Oh, a real baby factory. You know the type she must've ha-" and then crossed it to be replaced with "Oh, a real mommy type. Just what he was looking for." However, in the book, both of those were replaced by "She was a lot like Louis Lasso Louis-Lasso...only with normal-sized teeth...and Annie Hall's hairdo. A really "mummy" type - just what Konigsberg". Yes, it cuts out there.

Wednesday 24 July 2019

The Iron Manticore Theme Song!


Grammy Nomination? (we're NOT holding our breath)

The Iron Manticore's Iron Throne... of Comfort


Benjamin Hobbs:

A big THANKS to all the backers of the POSTCARD FROM HELL NO.3 Kickstarter campaign! The campaign ended Saturday and was a rousing success.



My copies of TALES OF SOPHISTICATION (on sale in August!) arrived from the printer yesterday. Pages 22-24 feature the first appearance of the Iron Manticore's Iron Throne of Comfort.  It looks like this:

It's not ACTUALLY named the Iron Throne of Comfort in the comic. We're saving that reveal for the OFFICIAL CIH? HANDBOOK. It's also not made of Iron.

The digital file of the chair I sent to the printers looks like this:

Nice crisp tiny little lines.

When I opened the comic, the hatching on the chair -that is, the IRON THRONE OF COMFORT- seemed to blur to grey.  (Which is the intended effect, but I wanted to see ALL the tiny little lines!)  I was worried that all the tiny little lines were lost at such a small size. (Less than a square inch on the page.) However, after scanning the page in, and zooming in, I see that the hatching IS visible in print:

Seen here: a quick scan of the panel. 
There's probably an argument to be made for NOT evaluating the print quality of comics in a poorly lit room.

Next Week: FORNICATORS INC #1 hits stores! Run to your LCS to pick it up!

Tuesday 23 July 2019

What new strange new horrors lurk in the Ol' AMOC Mailbag?

Hi, Everybody!

"Manly" Matt Dow,
yeah, that's me...
back ONCE AGAIN(!), with a dip into the Ol' AMOC Mailbag (which you can reach at momentofcerebus@gmail.com):

First: Larry Wooten (who got THIS for free:

Jingles shirts arrived today. Will send the medium to Dave at some point. Thank you again for the shirt size help.

Thanks Larry!
 ______________________________________________

And then..."Battling" Benjamin Hobbs (I dunno, maybe that isn't gonna be his AMOC nickname...) sent in:
Hey Matt!

I just saw this for sale on ebay! Might it be of use to AMOC?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-Dave-Sim-Signed-ART-RATES-Letter-on-CEREBUS-Stationery-NUCLEUS-Mich-FANZINE/362479572066?hash=item5465775462:g:cPcAAOSwzThb4M8S
Click to see it bigger...

Which is selling for... $149.95!!!

Well, shit, I got a letter from Dave (I got bunches of them!) where's my hundred bucks?
Click to give me the monie...uh, I mean, to see it bigger.
Um, where was I? Oh yeah, Thanks Benjamin!
________________________

And: Send pics of your @#$%ING Flimsy postcards From Hell? to momentofcerebus@gmail.com. Most bent to @#$% postcard wins a valuable prize from Dave Sim! (I think this is still going on...)

Also, the EXPERTLY REMASTERED CHURCH AND STATE VOL II is available to order NOW (Diamond Order Code JUL191359) Submit your ideas for the bookplate contest.
Next Time: "More Hobbs! More Hobbs! More Hobbs!" Hey Ben, the people have spoken, you're up!