The Deciding Vote

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.

Last week we looked at Prime Minister Cerebus with pages from Albatross Five covering Cerebus #45 in Cerebus' New Republic. With the United States election this past Tuesday having come and gone when this entry appears on A Moment of Cerebus, but still in my future, I figured we'd have another look at Albatross Five and Cerebus' road to being Prime Minister.

Though this time we'll see some notes for Cerebus #44, The Deciding Vote, and Cerebus #43, Election Night. The quote on page 58 made me laugh, sounds like it is the Wuffa Wuffa Guy, aka Lord Storm'send:

"Y'll be either a great Prime Minister destined for folly or a fool who was destined to be a great Prime Minister."

Albatross Five, page 58

We also get a thumbnail for the cover to Cerebus #44 and some thumbnails for the first five pages from the same issue.

The next page of the notebook there is a larger thumbnail for Cerebus #44. However, that cover never got used.

Albatross Five, page 59

This is the cover for Cerebus #44:

Cerebus #44 cover

(Side note: If you haven't picked up a copy of the Cerebus Covers Art Treasury hardcover, I recommend that you pick it up. All 300 covers, notes from Dave and Gerhard, prelim sketches, beautiful paper, and did I mention it is a hardcover? This is a beautiful book and was well done.)

Page 59 of Albatross Five has another good quote from someone who I think is Lord Storm'send:

"If'N I thought about Tarim as much as Lord Julius Thinks about money, I could be a high priest by now."