Form and Void Opening

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.

The last time we saw pages from Dave Sim’s 33rd notebook, it was in True Romance Part Deux way back in April of 2019. The notebook covers just Cerebus #251 and has 32 pages scanned in.

On page 8 of the notebook is a bit of paper with some typed text on it which was glued into the notebook. 

Notebook #33, page 8

The text appears on page 388 of Form and Void, or page 2 of Cerebus #251. It is what Ham is writing as he pauses mid-sentence. The rest of the notebook page appears to be Dave planning out the first few pages of Cerebus #251. 

If you open up Cerebus #251, you’ll notice the space that Dave puts in the word ‘void’ between the o and i is in the notebook as well. 

The list of pages midway down the notebook page, start with a circled 1 with the word ‘intro’ over it. The rest of the circled numbers indicate the page numbers for Cerebus #251. The letters above them are the amount of panels per page. They match up for pages #2 through 7, and then at page 8 they stop matching up. 

The dialogue on the notebook page was labeled page 3, then 2. That first word balloon stayed on page 2, and the next one – “Damn fine hunting on the trail” moved from page 3 to page 2. And the rest to page 3.  

Page 2 of Cerebus #251