HARDtalk: The Virtual Tour #4

We're going to switch gears and get into a glamourpuss question from Dominick and Eric:

How will glamourpuss be collected? You have advertised a digital version of the first 25 issues and the series concluded (at least in print) with issue 26. Will the digital version include both the fashion satires and the history sections? Will each section be separate or will the collection closely approximate the issues as they appeared in serialized versions? Will the covers be included or any other supplementary material?

That's all very much up in the air right now. At the time that Kickstarter hit, I had cut all of the "Death of Alex Raymond" pages out of glamourpuss issues here in the office, that whole sequence, and mocked up what it would look like as a graphic narrative.  And then as I was reading it, I was jotting down notes of things that I needed to do with it.  There are a number of instances where I finished on the left hand page and then picked up the next issue on the left hand page, so there needs to be bridging pages or chapter pages depending on what was going on.  I was treating it as a reader.  Turn over the page, look at the following page -- what sort of page would I like to see in between there?  Jot that down in my notebook.  Threads of argument that I just alluded to as coming up ahead -- jot those down.  Strictly the "Death of..." material that started in #14 I think it was.  That done, I got issues 1-13 and tackled those to see how that would work as a prologue.  Didn't make it past issue #1 where it's all mixed up together -- the fashion parody stuff and the History of Photorealism.  There are a number of ways to take it.  Do a photorealistic Dave Sim page or two to set up what people are looking at -- "here's why this seems so weird" or just say, seriously, what is actually required here?  How much did I actually say in the first 3 or 4 or however many issues that wasn't covered later?  It's actually good that I had a break because I'm really two authors of the material, the "History of Photorealism" author and "The Strange Death of Alex Raymond" author, who, arguably, have two different requirements.  "No, you can't use the first issue AT ALL because it sets the wrong tone for 'Strange Death'."  That was definitely my initial reaction.  But the "History" author worked very hard on that stuff.  He has to have his chance to make his own case in the form of a mocked up edition.  Forget "Strange Death" completely and just put together the "History" book as if nothing follows it.  THEN read the two together and see if this is some really monumental problem or just a brand new way of telling a story.

It seems likely that it would only be digital.  There are many different models for "what's left of Dave Sim's career" at this point.  The safest assumption -- the assumption which is the least likely to do any damage -- is that everything has to start with Kickstarter or IndieGoGo or something similar.  The level of interest has to be gauged.  Having raised $63,000 for CEREBUS DIGITAL, what happens if I try to raise money for "Strange Death"?  $5,000?  $10,000?  Or maybe I get surprised and it raises $50,000.  Then you can at least solicit for it.  See what the orders are.  But I suspect a lot of times I'm just going to have to say, No, I can't do it for that level of interest.  I'd LOVE to do it but it costs too much to print books and ship them around the country.  Already with the Kickstarter campaign a LOT of money has gone into packing and shipping.  $63,000 becomes $23,000 is where we stand right now.  I've worked non-stop since the beginning of June and I've, personally, only gotten paid the $1,000 a month I pay myself and roughly $6,000 for Aardvark-Vanaheim.  Might take in a lot less money if the reward is a digital download of the complete glamourpuss from No.1 to No.26, but there's no overhead.  It's just 1's and 0's.  And it ends with Raymond and Drake headed for the trees in the pouring rain.  I assume there would be SOME repeat business.  But, it's 2012 -- who knows?

Okay, the Magical Virtual Tour Bus is now heading over to MILLAR WORLD for a question from Ron Mays, Jr.:

Welcome to Millar World, Tim Webber and Dave Sim.  Thank you for visiting.

Thank you for having us.  It's a pleasure to be here.  But, then, as Groucho used to say, at my age it's a pleasure to be anywhere.

I have never read a CEREBUS comic, but kicked in $1 for the Kickstarter project based on its reputation.  I intend to read my first CEREBUS comic on ComiXology once it is available.  As a new reader, why should I read CEREBUS and what continues to make it relevant?  

Head on over to MILLAR WORLD (and scroll down to post #20) for the answer to that question, and be back here tomorrow for more HARDtalk on A Moment Of Cerebus.

HAVE YOU GOT A QUESTION FOR DAVE SIM?
Already signed up for the HARDtalk Virtual Tour are Bleeding Cool, Millar World, Terminal Drift, Canadian Comics Archive, The Comics Journal, The Beat and Mindless Ones. Add your question for Dave Sim at one of these fine websites before 10 October and if your question is chosen (they'll need to be tough, interesting questions!) you'll receive a personalised, autographed copy of a Cerebus back-issue, with a Cerebus head-sketch by Dave Sim!