Sunday 10 April 2016

On Sale 30 Years Ago: Cerebus #85

Cerebus #85 (April 1986)
Art by Dave Sim & Gerhard

11 comments:

Jeff Seiler said...

Second. Favorite. Cover.

Ever.

114 was the best, but this one tells pretty much the whole story in one image.

Which, I'm guessing they (um, you know, Dave 'n' Ger) were experimenting with doing, prior to Jaka's Story and, later, Reads.

Regardless, take this cover (and inside material, together), and give me a better, overall, issue of any comic book, ever.

G'wan!

I double dares, stink-eye, dares ya.


Damian T. Lloyd, Esq. said...

So this issue is your nomination for best comic book of all time, Jeff? Interesting.

-- Damian

Jeff Seiler said...

Best single issue ever? Oy dunnow. But oy duz now it were funny as awl bleedin' 'ell.

"Oy should wont ta boy drogs wi' moy 'aff."

Jeff Seiler said...

And:

"Anuvva tow weeksa soakin' me ya-yas in kewaseen so's oy don' get some dreadful powp diseez."

Tony Dunlop said...

Lots of great lines in this one..."GAH! Stick it back ON before the sap freezes!"

Unknown said...

Thanks, guys!

Ger had an 8 mm. camera at the time and recorded a "stop motion" film of the cover being created. He basically set up the camera on a tripod and pointed it at the drawing board, setting the timer so that it took a still image every 30 seconds or so. So the trick was to draw for 25 seconds or so and then lean back until you heard the CLICK. And then draw like crazy for 25 seconds and lean back, etc. etc. Then when I was done my part, he set up the same rig for his drawing board for his part. It was a pretty cool two or three minute film when it was done.

No idea what happened to it.

Interesting Metaphysical Juxtaposition that there was an article in the paper this morning about Mick Jagger curating an exhibition of THE ROLLING STONES history. Which made me smile. Bill Wyman is the guy with the Encyclopedic Archive that he collected and preserved from the very beginning. I imagine Jagger and Wyman aren't getting along any better now than they were when Wyman quit the band. I HOPE -- for the sake of RS fans -- that Wyman decides to do his own exhibit somewhere up ahead. I can't help thinking that PART of MJ's motive was to keep that from happening. "Oh, Mr. Wyman, I'm sorry. Mick already DID that!" ["heh-heh. Sorry, Biww -- th' Rowleen' Stowns're basically, y'now, whatever I wuz WEAREEN' at the toime. An' the music, o'course."]

Partly that and partly that the late David Bowie beat him to it. "'Ere WOT? People will PIE t'see y'awld clowthes? Oy'll be stuffed if BOWIE's owld clothes do a bigguh box office than MOY owld clowthes!"

Unknown said...

A girl whose name I honestly don't remember was a pharmacist by profession and...fancied me. She came into Peter's Place one night when I already had a few under my belt and she had a paper bag with a bottle in it. I said something charming like, "Actually, you aren't supposed to BYOB. It's illegal." And she said, "Particularly in this case. It's a Schedule Two narcotic. I was too late getting it into the vault before the timer went." "Ooh. Sounds lovely. What is it?" She pulled the paper bag down and lifted the bottle so I could see that it was bright red. "Pure codeine." She spotted a friend she wanted to say hello to. As a parting jape, I said, "Send me over a shooter." Much to my surprise, the bartender brought a cherry red shooter over a few minutes later. I looked at her at the other end of the bar and arched an eyebrow. She nodded yes. Down the hatch.

Went back to beer and suddenly felt queasy. Then more than queasy. Barely made it to the washroom.

After I got back to my barstool, it was definitely the best I have ever felt in my life for the next hour or so.

Unknown said...

Got a letter several months after issue 85 came out from a pharmacist saying, "This either HAPPENED to you or someone you know, because that's exactly what happens when you mix alcohol and codeine"

Unknown said...

Sincere apologies to all of the Brit fans who find my phonetic Cockney accent as tooth-grindingly painful as Dick Van Dyke's in MARY POPPINS (I have this theory that the BBC puts MARY POPPINS on "tely" every Christmas to drive a permanent wedge between the UK and the USA. With the exception of the Thatcher Years and Tony Blair joining the invasion of Iraq, it's been working a charm!)

Jason Winter said...

My very first Cerebus comic I bought! I well remember going into "Visual Media Services", Wellingtons first comic shop, and buying this along with "Grendel:Demon by the Deed, the first "Love and Rockets" collection, A "Dracula" graphic novel beautifully painted by Jon.J.Muth, and a "Flaming Carrot" comic. I had just turned 16, had left school, and was looking for a job. I was supposed to spend the money I spent on comics on clothes to wear to job interviews. My parents were not impressed, but conceded I had bought some pretty nice stuff.

Max West said...

Have that in my Church & State trade paperbacks. The likenesses of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were on target.