Wednesday, 8 January 2025

Narutobus Kickstarter ... COMING REAL SOON!

Benjamin Hobbs:

The Narutobus Kickstarter has a tentative launch date- January 22nd! 

I sent the Narutobus proofs to Dave, and this is the only fax he sent in reply:

The cover he saw looked something like this:

Next Week: We're two weeks into the new year with NO AI ART! BUT! David Birdsong and The AI have sent new AI images to tempt me... what's a guy to do? Stay Tuned!
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Tuesday, 7 January 2025

SDoAR 3.01: One Week to Go

24 raffle tickets sold to date. One week to go before the raffle ends. 

Don't you want another chance to win our cuddly, furry, gray aardvark plush? Sure, you do!

So let's keep the momentum rolling and keep kicking up the GoFundMe totals to support Dave Sim continue his work on The Strange Death of Alex Raymond *and* get a chance to win this fabulous Cerebus plush!

Rules to win the December Raffle and Help Out SDoAR

Entries (or our equivalent of raffle tickets) cost $25 each and can be donated via lump sum to the Strange Death of Alex Raymond 2024 GoFundMe campaign through Monday, January 13, 2025 at midnight, PST.

I will then randomly assign numbers to each entry and have Dave pull yet another Karnak, and I'll announce the winner on January 14, 2025. Cool?

Just the GoFundMe Facts, Ma'am

  • $16,615.00 raised to date from 282 donations
  • 86 new pages released as mocked up by Dave Sim from 11 June to 3 January 2022
  • 107 total pages available on Dropbox, including Dave's 2019 mocked-up pages
  • $185.00 away from unlocking page 108
  • If you have not donated > $5+ donation grants access to all 107 pages and all pages moving forward
  • If you have donated, thank you, but if you want to donate monthly, GoFundMe does not offer that option, so please do so as we are at the beginning of Year Three!

The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Preview, Part 50

The following are links to previous updates that featured pages from The Strange Death of Alex Raymond hardcover. If you click on the links in order, you can begin to devour the magnum opus that is the Strange Death of Alex Raymond...

This, 
This, this, 
This, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, this, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, this, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, this, this, 
this, then ...
Jen x
SDOAR GoFundMe -->> https://www.gofundme.com/f/sdoar-2023 <<-- SDOAR GoFundMe

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Monday, 6 January 2025

NOT a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not an Imaginary Story! DC Comics Counter-proposal to purchase/license Cerebus

Hi, Everybo...
WHERE IS IT DOW?!?
WHERE'S THE DC CONTRACT?!?
WE'RE SO FUCKING(hey! No swearing!)TIRED OF YOUR BULLSHIT!
JUST SHUT THE  FUCK UP AND GIVE US THE DAMN CONTRACT!!!!!
Hey, are you okay Imaginary-AMOC-Reader-who-lives-rent-free-in-my-head? You seem a little more stressed than normal...

Anyway, by popular demand:




Happy?

But, honestly, it's NOT a contract. It's DC's counter-proposal to Dave's proposal.

Dave talked about it on Please Hold. For those NEW to the plot/ripping me off for clicks on THEIR Comic-related website (dicks.):Now, some Historical context: Using Tim's timeline (which is slightly off, as it uses cover dates as opposed to actual published dates (as an example, Tim has Epic #26 as October 1984. Which is the cover date, but according to Marvel, its on sale date was August 14, 1984), Dave had been publishing intermittently in Epic Illustrated for two years (February 1983) at this point.  February 1985 (when Dave contacted DC with his proposal) was a YEAR after Marvel worked up their pitch to buy DC Comics (as Jim Shooter shows in his post, Marvel's proposal was February 21st, 1984). So, as Dave explained, with Marvel/Epic doing the color reprint of Elfquest (May 14th 1985 on sale date), Dave decided to see what DC would offer. Why? Well, I freely admit it's a bit of a guess, but I think Jim Shooter explains that too:
Bill [Sarnoff] said, more or less, that Marvel seemed to be able to turn a substantial profit on publishing comics, as opposed to DC, which consistently lost money, a lot of money, and had for a long time. On the other hand, LCA (Licensing Corporation of America), Warner’s licensing arm did very well with the DC properties, while Marvel “didn’t seem to do much licensing.”
If Dave was gonna license Cerebus, why would he go to the guys who were selling more comics? Dave was selling comics just fine on his own. He wanted some of that licensed money. And DC were the top dog at that (although 80+ years and they still miss opportunities. Batman shampoo, but no Conditioner Gordon? WTF DC?). 

Anyway, back to the History: Dave, as we all know, turned down DC's $100,000. And in November of 1985, met a couple of guys who did this comic about...turtles?:
Dave Sim (with sunglasses. Indoors.), um...Dave didn't identify the guy in the Cerebus shirt, Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird (back to camera)

And the following year (1986), in June. Dave published the first phonebook, High Society. And self-distributed it by phone/mail order, earning $150,000. And the turtles guys? Around the same time, a freelance licensing agent named Mark Freedman heard about their turtle comic and approached them about licensing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. By the end of the year, the three of them had signed an agreement with Playmates toys and got an advance for...$150,000.

And the rest, as they say, was "totally tubular"...

Anyway, Mondays!

Rigamarole:
25% off January 8-12, and up to 35% off January 22-26.*
*Sale dates are not final and therefore subject to change.
______________
The Cerebus Humble Bundle is over, the check made it to Dave and was cashed, *yay*, you can STILL get all 16 volumes for $99CANADIAN at CerebusDownloads.com (More if you want the Remastered Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing...)
_______________
Heritage has stuff.
_______________
The Help Out Bill Messner-Loebs Go Fund Me, or buy Rodney Schroeter's book with proceeds going to Bill. 
_______________
The Last Day Without nothing.
   "      "     "        "  Dave's signature.
   "      "     "        "  an Old Cerebus Remarque
   "      "     "     Auction catalog for the Panoramic Remarques. 
_______________
Oliver' Simonsen's Cerebus movie: The Absurd, Surreal, Metaphysical, and Fractured Destiny of Cerebus the Aardvark it's currently available on "Plex", "Xumo", "Vimeo On Demand", "Tubi". If you're in Brazil..., "Mometu", "Nuclear Home Video".
_______________
Next Time: Jen shows the contract Dave had with IDW for SDOAR...
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Sunday, 5 January 2025

Please Hold For Dave Sim 1/2025

Hi, Everybody!

It's that time of the month...

The (good God Spotify gets suckier by the minute...) Audio:

And the (Good ol' YouTube, never a problem with them...) Video, broken into parts because they upload easier that way...:

Part One. Dave gets to remember Jeff Seiler, which segues into answering Michael R. of Easton, PA's question:
Hi Matt!
Happy New Year to you and yours! Here's my question for Dave.

Hi Dave!
Now that 2024 has ended, what's up ahead for Aardvark-Vanaheim and Dave Sim for 2025?
Michael R.
Okay, first: if you want a Cerberus card, they're pretty rare, and will set you back...two dollars (oooookay, not that rare.). Second: why was this a thing? Third: the KickStarter is being planned for the end of the month (don't worry, Hobbs and I will mention it...a lot. Like to the point that you're gonna be kind of sick of the word KickStarter by the time this thing is over...) Fourth: it's Cerebus Archive Number Eleven: Guys, AND the next issue of Cerebus in Hell?: Narotobus. Which has been posted on AMOC before, but this will be toned, and look pretty. And, YES, there are Variant Covers, but only four covers total. I DON'T believe that Dave's gonna go crazy and do any more for this. But, I won't be surprised if the campaign flatlines and Dave gets goofy. This is your official notice that Things. May. Get. Weird. (The tariff thing being a Non-Dave controlled Weird. Thing. that might make everything goofier.) Let's all TRY and be adult about this. Please?

Part Two, MJ Sewall asks:
In the early 80s there was an offer from DC comics for Cerebus.

You write that it was a six-figure offer. There are additional hints that it may have been for total control of Cerebus. I can find few details.

Question for Dave:
What year was the offer from DC? Was it Paul Levitz or Jannette Khan doing this negotiating? Was it a flat out no from you – or are there more juicy, gory, none-of-my-business details on this historic bone?
And oh boy does Dave spill the tea:
I'ma post the letter from Paul  Levitz tomorrow. Promise.

Part Three, Daniel F. asks:
Hello Dave!

Thank you for answering my question a couple months back regarding the textless spines of the early printings of Cerebus phonebooks. I have another spine-related question this month.

I was looking at my collection of Cerebus trades on my shelf, and noticed that of my copies, the only spine to not have an author name (being either Dave Sim or Dave Sim & Gerhard) was Latter Days. The front cover does have Dave Sim & Gerhard on it, just not on the spine. I checked online for images of the Latter Days spine, and all the pictures I saw looked the same, so I assume all printings had the same spine. Was there a specific reason behind this?

Thanks,
Daniel F
Part Four, Dave has another thought on his answer to Michael R.
Part Five, Dave answers my question about where Demonhorn fits in continuity, and has nice things to say about a drawing I did that took all year:
Part Six, Dave sent me this:
So Dave talks about that:
Part Seven, James Banderas-Smith asked:
How important was Deni Loubert to getting Cerebus aloft in 77?:
Part Eight, Michael Shelton asked:
What does a normal day consist of for Mr. Sim
Part Nine, Michael Shelton also asked:
Why an Aardvark?
And Dave answers seriously... 
Following Cerebus #6's article was posted here.

Part Ten, Diogo Faria asked:
How does Dave celebrate the new year?

Part Eleven, Michael Feldman asked:
Any thoughts on anniversary tours?

Part Twelve, Fernando H Ramirez asked:
LEGENDS OF CEREBUS… A bimonthly b&w comic of other creators doing short CEREBUS stories. You could go print on demand. I’m sure folks would contribute stories to benefit your retirement. What do you think?
Well, Dave DIDN'T say "no". So, if you wanna do a Legends of Cerebus story, go nuts. Send whatever you get done to momentofcerebus@gmail.com

Part Thirteen, Jay Quinn asked:
How close has our society in North America, particularly Canada, gotten to what was portrayed in “the Last Day”?

Jay Quinn also asked:
How much further has Trudeau Jr. have before being out of office and who does Dave 1) see following and 2) what will that look like in the years to come? Any predictions?

Part Fourteen, Margaret Liss asks:
I only have 10 pages left of Albatross One to post over at AMoC. Once I'm done with that notebook book, which has taken me over a year so far, and I've been posting pages from the notebooks for over 10 years now, are those notebooks still stored in that dark closet at the Off White House and not some fire proof lock box in my house?
The horror Mags, the Horror!

Part Fifteen, Joe Gabbard asked:
Was Hugh Fraser the likeness used for F. Stop Kennedy in Going Home?
 
Matt sez: Um, no? F. Stop was F. Scott Fitzgerald.
But Dave answers anyway...
Oh thank Clovis that's done...

Next Time: HISTORY!
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A bit of the Historical Filler while I finish Please Hold

Hi, Everybody!

There's no way I'm gonna get Please Hold For Dave Sim 1/2025 done before midnight, so here's a bit of Historical Filler. Photos from the 1988 Northhampton Summit:







AND, if anybody can definitely identify this creator, you'll win an AMOC Prize Pack.

Okay, back to uploading/editing/describing videos...
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Friday, 3 January 2025

Losing the plot (Dave's weekly update #572)

Hi, Everybody!

Like it says on the Logo:
The little bit on the bottom there...

It's Friday, so that means:
Dave's Weekly Update:
 
_________________________
A Moment of Cerebus runs Saturday through Friday.

The Week in AMOC:
  • Saturday: I finish with Bran Mak Mufin.
  • Sunday: Incoming from Dave!
  • Monday: The Monday Report, and Demonhorn.
  • Tuesday: Jen's back with a post about the Strange Death of Alex Raymond GoFundMe. $200 until page 109 unlocks. She's auctioning off one of the rarest of Cerebus rarities. $25 bucks gets you in the running to win this (You have until January 13th 2025 to get in on this...):

  • Wednesday: Ben Hobbs wishes you a Happy New Year, and the AI is getting better and better. Wait, that's NOT AI? It's BH? Well damn...
  • Thursday: Margaret does the yearly look back at all TEN YEARS of Notebook posts. She's ALMOST done with Albatross One. You can still get a copy here. 
  • Friday: that's this post. You're reading the Friday post right now. This is STILL like that bit in Spaceballs. (Should I link to LAST WEEK'S Update in these things?)

Okay, so that was the past week in AMOC. You're welcome.

Rigamarole:
25% off January 8-12, and up to 35% off January 22-26.*
*Sale dates are not final and therefore subject to change.
______________
The Cerebus Humble Bundle is over, the check made it to Dave and was cashed, *yay*, you can STILL get all 16 volumes for $99CANADIAN at CerebusDownloads.com (More if you want the Remastered Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing...)
_______________
Heritage has stuff.
_______________
The Help Out Bill Messner-Loebs Go Fund Me, or buy Rodney Schroeter's book with proceeds going to Bill. 
_______________
The Last Day Without nothing.
   "      "     "        "  Dave's signature.
   "      "     "        "  an Old Cerebus Remarque
   "      "     "     Auction catalog for the Panoramic Remarques. 
_______________
Oliver' Simonsen's Cerebus movie: The Absurd, Surreal, Metaphysical, and Fractured Destiny of Cerebus the Aardvark it's currently available on "Plex", "Xumo", "Vimeo On Demand", "Tubi". If you're in Brazil..., "Mometu", "Nuclear Home Video".
_______________
Next Time: 
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Thursday, 2 January 2025

Dave Sim's Notebooks: Ten Years

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.

Welcome to a new calendar year, 2025, and on to year eleven of the ‘Dave Sim’s Notebook Pages’ posts for AMoC. Yes, you heard that right, I’ve been doing this for over 10 years, as the first post was in June of 2014. You’d think I’d get some sort of tenure award, but nope. . .what we got instead was a genuine copy of Albatross One, aka Dave’s first notebook used in the production of Cerebus. You can get one for yourself as well, just click here to find out how.

Having held both the genuine Albatross One and the replica, the replica is pretty dang close to the original. Of course I had to get one for my collection, and I’m hoping we can get copies of the other 35 notebook books. Though I would rather have them bound like a book and not spiral like an actual notebook – as it makes displaying them on the bookcase easier. I mean, this is how Dave stored them at one point, and seeing this just makes me twitch (picture from Dave’s Weekly Update #125, March 10, 2016):

Dave’s notebooks in some closet at the Off White House, Kitchener, Ontario

Yes, I tweaked the colors as they were in a dark closet.

For last year’s recap I posted some metrics of what notebooks we saw pages from and how many, blah blah blah. Well, last year, 2024, it was all Albatross One. We started our look at Albatross One on December 14, 2023 and we’re still not finished. We’re close, as we only have ten more pages to look at for notebook one. Perhaps we’ll finish up this month. And then what? Just go on to notebook two? That notebook covers Cerebus #28 through 37 and has 196 pages scanned. We can spend another year just looking at one notebook if that is what y’all want. 

Since we’ve seen only pages from notebook one, there is no point in posting an updated list of what we’ve seen here at AMoC in 2024, as it is all the same except for that first notebook. You can see last year’s overview here for that list. 

Here is what we’ve seen from notebook one so far:

There is also the Notebook One tag if you'd like to see them that way. I haven't done individual tags for the other notebooks. . .yet.

And as a 10-year review, here is what we’ve seen in those 10 years, and what is left to see – I didn’t include the covers, just the pages we’ve seen as we’ve seen all the covers:


So out of the 3,281 notebook pages scanned in, we’ve only seen 547 of them, 17% in 10 years. I won’t have time to post them all, so what do y’all want to see next? Should I just go sequentially though another notebook posting every page? Please don’t ask for me to hunt down stuff – as time seems to be speeding up the older I get so I don’t have the same amount that I did when I was younger. What’s next up after notebook one?

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Wednesday, 1 January 2025

Happy New Year!

Benjamin Hobbs:

It's a new year! And my resolution for 2025 is to have LESS AI art on the Wednesday post! 

Recently, I've been making some ink wash drawings.  Here's one of Super Cerebus and Super Cerebus Girl:

This was my first attempt at rendering Super Cerebus in Ink wash.  This is a small drawing, and I've discovered that the larger the ink wash drawing is, the more forgiving the shifts between tones.

Next Week: Will my resolution still be resolute? Or will Birdsong and The AI send me some hot new AI Art that just NEEDS to be seen? Tune in to find out!

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Tuesday, 31 December 2024

SDoAR 2.51: It's a Hogmanay Miracle!

Lang may yer lum reek! Or as some folks more locally like to say, Happy New Year's Eve!

Lots of fantastic fundraising in the past week! $500 raised since Christmas Eve, meaning *three* new pages have been unlocked, and 24 total raffle tickets already sold! Not too shabby!
So let's keep the momentum rolling and keep kicking up the GoFundMe totals to support Dave Sim continue his work on The Strange Death of Alex Raymond *and* get a chance to win this fabulous Cerebus plush!

Rules to win the December Raffle and Help Out SDoAR

Entries (or our equivalent of raffle tickets) cost $25 each and can be donated via lump sum to the Strange Death of Alex Raymond 2024 GoFundMe campaign through Monday, January 13, 2025 at midnight, PST.

I will then randomly assign numbers to each entry and have Dave pull yet another Karnak, and I'll announce the winner on January 14, 2025. Cool?

Just the GoFundMe Facts, Ma'am

  • $16,600.00 raised to date from 280 donations
  • 86 new pages released as mocked up by Dave Sim from 11 June to 3 January 2022
  • 107 total pages available on Dropbox, including Dave's 2019 mocked-up pages
  • $200.00 away from unlocking page 109
  • If you have not donated > $5+ donation grants access to all 107 pages and all pages moving forward
  • If you have donated, thank you, but if you want to donate monthly, GoFundMe does not offer that option, so please do so as we are at the last day of the year!

The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Preview, Part 49

The following are links to previous updates that featured pages from The Strange Death of Alex Raymond hardcover. If you click on the links in order, you can begin to devour the magnum opus that is the Strange Death of Alex Raymond...

This, 
This, this, 
This, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, this, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, this, this, 
This, this, this, this, 

Then ...
Happy New Year, everyone!

Jen x
SDOAR GoFundMe -->> https://www.gofundme.com/f/sdoar-2023 <<-- SDOAR GoFundMe

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