Congratulations to Dave Sim and John Funk on another successful Kickstarter campaign for Cerebus Archive Number Four, which helps to fund the Cerebus Restoration Project. In case you missed it, Dave Sim spent the last 12 hours of the campaign online in the Kickstarter Comments area answering questions from backers. Below are just a few highlights from his comments:
DAVE SIM:
...The head sketches ARE nixed for the foreseeable future. If I can get my right wrist in shape for ANY kind of drawing -- either through treatment or surgery or just letting it rest and heal for a year or two -- that drawing is going to be done on THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND. Sorry about that -- and thanks for your support!...
...Before they decided not to sign the petition, Mort Drucker was one of the only cartoonists that Seth and Chester and Joe and I agreed on as Toppermost of the Poppermost. And his best work the first STAR TREK parody. "Meaning -- it's no whip and chill but it does have a very nice flavor..."
...I'm waiting for Dr. Troy to set something up in Texas with two specialists and/or for those specialists to offer a diagnosis on the current MRI. Dr. Troy is theoretically going to find me a neurologist to check on the possible Parkinson's Disease. I'm not sure what I'll decide but a lot is going to depend on whether the diagnoses and proposed treatments agree with each other. In the meantime, just resting it and -- occasionally -- two-handed typing to see how that part is coming along...
...Mo' money, mo' problems. But, as Sandeep said, "It would be nice to have SOME money and SOME problems..."
...My favourite story from the Dave's Comics signing was a guy who worked behind the counter who was taking a break and sat on a chair slightly behind me, staring at this long line of guys going straight through the shop and out the front door. "Yeah, I'm really just in comics for the chicks" he sighed. I couldn't stop laughing...
...The only real plan right now is to get the 6,000 pages scanned and restored and try to keep everything in print. When you're juggling 16 chainsaws the last thing you should be thinking about is how to get another chainsaw in the air. :)
DAVE SIM:
...The head sketches ARE nixed for the foreseeable future. If I can get my right wrist in shape for ANY kind of drawing -- either through treatment or surgery or just letting it rest and heal for a year or two -- that drawing is going to be done on THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND. Sorry about that -- and thanks for your support!...
...Before they decided not to sign the petition, Mort Drucker was one of the only cartoonists that Seth and Chester and Joe and I agreed on as Toppermost of the Poppermost. And his best work the first STAR TREK parody. "Meaning -- it's no whip and chill but it does have a very nice flavor..."
...I'm waiting for Dr. Troy to set something up in Texas with two specialists and/or for those specialists to offer a diagnosis on the current MRI. Dr. Troy is theoretically going to find me a neurologist to check on the possible Parkinson's Disease. I'm not sure what I'll decide but a lot is going to depend on whether the diagnoses and proposed treatments agree with each other. In the meantime, just resting it and -- occasionally -- two-handed typing to see how that part is coming along...
...Mo' money, mo' problems. But, as Sandeep said, "It would be nice to have SOME money and SOME problems..."
...My favourite story from the Dave's Comics signing was a guy who worked behind the counter who was taking a break and sat on a chair slightly behind me, staring at this long line of guys going straight through the shop and out the front door. "Yeah, I'm really just in comics for the chicks" he sighed. I couldn't stop laughing...
...The only real plan right now is to get the 6,000 pages scanned and restored and try to keep everything in print. When you're juggling 16 chainsaws the last thing you should be thinking about is how to get another chainsaw in the air. :)
Source: Kicktraq
(Click image to enlarge)
6 comments:
I believe one of the challenges the restoration project will face is the lower interest in most of the later phone books, and the easy availability of all the phone books on eBay and similar on-line sources.
(On November 4th a full set of all 16 phone books sold for less than $40 with postage on eBay.)
I'm not suggesting the digital restoration shouldn't move forward, but that the return on investment (in selling remastered books) will decrease, and that decrease shouldn't come as a surprise to those involved in the project.
It would be interesting to learn how many of the currently available remastered editions were bought by folks who already had older editions (and were buying, say, to support the project / Dave / etc) verses buyers who were otherwise 'new' to the series.
We've recently seen how the issues in storage finally simply were given away; it would be terribly unfortunate to end up with boxes of remastered books in storage. I don't envy the decision makers who have to weigh production costs (due up front, comparatively) against income from sales (dribbling in over who knows how long).
That said, I'm glad CAN4 was another financial success.
Steve
Well, even though hardcover books can sell when newly released for $30 or $40 and new softcovers between $10 and $20 - and even more - the market for used is a fraction at used bookstores and can be even less at other venues, around a dollar.
If an item is truly rare and was published only one time, like issues collected as they come out, then they might be worth more as the Buyer's Guide shows.
You have to remember too that unsold overprinted comic books were in the past destroyed or mutilated by either distributors or publishers. It's not the usual case for them to be stored in bulk like this for decades.
And in this case, they aren't actually being disposed of completely free. There is some plan to monetize by using them as promotional items.
Looking at the KickTraq graphs, I find it heartening that, even though the number of backers pledging on the last day fell by 20% from the penultimate day, the amount pledged on the last day rose significantly over the previous day's total.
I don't know what this relates to but that actually made me laugh out loud at work.
'...My favourite story from the Dave's Comics signing was a guy who worked behind the counter who was taking a break and sat on a chair slightly behind me, staring at this long line of guys going straight through the shop and out the front door. "Yeah, I'm really just in comics for the chicks" he sighed. I couldn't stop laughing...'
Hey Steve,
Fortunately there's an inverse weight here, pushing on the other side of that teeter totter-- there's more original artwork scans as we go, and the artwork is in better shape (i.e. less tone shrinkage, and less tone used). Hopefully that's enough to offset the hazards you detail above! (very accurately, by the way...) The other secret weapon? Well, wait till you see C + S I. It's hard to argue with the quality.
Hiya Sean -
I am really looking forward to C + S 1, but .... well, honestly, part of it is that I don't want you and Mara to put in all this work and have to responding market go "Eh, seen it, not interested, but thanks."
BTW, any new news on the possibility of purchasing digital files for restored pages?
Best -
Steve
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