Read CEREBUS IN HELL? daily at CerebusDownloads.com
Read CEREBUS IN HELL? daily at CerebusDownloads.com
Read CEREBUS IN HELL? daily at CerebusDownloads.com
Read CEREBUS IN HELL? daily at CerebusDownloads.com
Read CEREBUS IN HELL? daily at CerebusDownloads.com
Read CEREBUS IN HELL? daily at CerebusDownloads.com
Read CEREBUS IN HELL? daily at CerebusDownloads.com
Read CEREBUS IN HELL? daily at CerebusDownloads.com
8 comments:
In the first one, first panel, it should be the "offer to SERVE as..." etc, not "server".
Nice fun bunch. I saw a copy of the Divine Comedy in a big chain book store (...ok, the ONLY chain book store), and the Dore illos were fairly muddy, so if nothing else, Sean is doing a great service making these images look so great.
It was fun seeing things in their original context as well.
At a glance, I'd say that first one is deliberate Seiler-bait.
I appreciate the compliments, Travis and Tony.
We're definitely coming to the end of the online strip since it isn't driving any traffic to cerebusdownloads.com. The next -- and probably final -- step is one-shot comic books probably on a monthly or close-to-monthly basis reprinting the strips from the beginning (and numbering them this time. There would definitely be a greater artificially-inflated sense of accomplishment saying "this is strip #217" instead of "this is week #31").
I have to admit that I didn't think that creating an artificial sense of accomplishment would be an issue here at the end of Year One (I came up with the idea January 7th and the first week working on them was January 14th). I thought that the fact that it was a reliable DAILY online strip would count in its favour and attract some general notice in the comics field. You know: WOW! DAILY AND IT ACTUALLY IS DAILY! since most online strips, from what I understand, are three times a week or even more irregular than that.
Doing monthly 24-page comic books really amounts to "driving straight into the wall" since the retailers cut their orders relentlessly until a comic book is no longer viable. We've already dropped from 8,000 (actually 6,600) to 5,000 (actually 4,400) over the course of #0, #1 and #2. I'm hoping that each comic book being a #1 with a different title and increasing the page-count and the cover price as the orders are cut will mean that we can "drive OBLIQUELY into the wall" and stretch out the death throes over...a year, maybe?
Then, if that isn't the final step, we'll possibly try a Kickstarter model on the assumption that even if we can't sell 800 copies through Diamond at, say, 48 pages and a $10 price point, we can do so through Kickstarter by specifying that you can only order a copy of the comic sent in a plain envelope. No such thing as a MINT CEREBUS IN HELL? comic!
After that I'll probably just do them for myself and throw them in a drawer. Writing and mocking up the strips is definitely the work highlight of my week. A nice break from the slow, slow torture of SDOAR and the RIP KIRBY Commentaries.
Dave, that Hamlet strip I wrote made me laugh so much, I could have stuck it in my sock drawer and left it there in perpetuity, without it ever having been printed, because it made me chuckle, over and over and over. Come to think of it, I probably will.
I had exactly the kind of fun you're talking about, but by doing one strip (poorly, but still, humorously. At least, I think so. And that's really all that matters, right?). I only hope you can improve on it and then publish it, eventually, in one format or another.
If you have to discontinue your Friday Funnies, well, then, so be it. More's the pity. It's been the best thing you've done since the last issue of glamourpuss.
Come on SDOAR!!!
Okay, enough with the platitudes.
"I appreciate the compliments, Travis and Tony."
Yes, Tony (and Dave), apparently, that WAS Seiler-bait.
Unfortunately, there was more chum in the water.
Aaaand, here we go with this week's suggested corrections:
Strip 1, panel 1, balloon 1, line 2: Technically, add an apostrophe after LADS.
Strip 1, panel 1, balloon 1, line 9: As Travis wrote, it's SERVE, not SERVER. Took the hook.
Strip 1, panel 1, balloon 1, line next to last: It's FROM, not FORM. (Yup. Hook, line and sinker.)
Strip 2, panel 2, balloon 1, line 3: ONGOING (1 word, no hyphen) (per OED).
Strip 2, panel 2, balloon 1, line 5: ON-LINE is listed as an alternative spelling, in the OED, but not the preferred spelling (1 word, no hyphen).
Strip 3, sidebar, line 1: Insert exclamation point after RELIGION (to agree with the rest of the sidebar structure).
Strip 3, panel 3, balloon 1, last line: Insert close quote marks after REALMS (?).
Strip 3, panel 4, balloon 1: No line to the character who said it.
Strip 4, sidebar, line 3: Okay, Canucks, it should be FOURTH-DOWN, not THIRD-DOWN. Teams *very* rarely punt on third down (although I've seen it done). Teams attempt a pass or a rush on third down, fail to advance to the goal line or fail to convert a first down, and then either do a Hail Mary pass, or kick a field goal attempt, or punt, on fourth down.
Strip 4, panel 1, balloon 2, last line: Insert HIS or CEREBUS' between IN and RIGHT HAND. Otherwise, it's just...wrong. Or, it could be MY, but that's the poor choice.
Strip 4, panel 4, balloon 2, line 5: DROP KICKS (2 words, no hyphen) (per OED).
Strip 5, panel 4, last, line 1: Instead of CEREBUS, shouldn't it be BATVARK (?).
Strip 6, panel 3, balloon 2, line 7: REBOOTING, not RE-BOOTING (1 word, no hyphen) (per OED).
Strip 7, panel 2, balloon 1, line 5: OIL SANDS (2 words, not one) (per OED).
Strip 7, panel 2, balloon 1: This balloon ought to have at least two commas, maybe three, but I'm gonna be neither punctilious nor anal-retentive. Really. Not gonna.
And, that's YUUUGE!
Aw, man, CIH? has been a whole lot of fun. Sad if it is ending.
I think I said this before, but it would have helped if the newest strip was on the home page of Cerebus Downloads. I just went to the site, and was looking for the CIH? links, and even though it's a big banner, I still missed that it was for CIH? at first. Because it's just text.
Also, if it didn't get pushed at other sites (and even if it did), the larger comics reading public wouldn't have noticed. There are just too many good comics coming out so often, that a daily comic strip, even starring a classic comics character, gets lost in the shuffle. And without you guys doing a media blitz, well, you're not going to get seen.
Actually, I'm not sure, but I think you could Tweet the strips, if that was an avenue you wanted to bother with. However, I am not sure on that one.
I suspect too that it's going to hurt CIH? sales that #1 hasn't come out yet. I believe that's been mostly out of your control (being held to the vagaries of the printer and the distributor), but again, out of sight, out of mind. With the fourth issue being solicited at Previews online now and in print in less than a week, and the first issue STILL not on the shelves, I suspect your sales are going to tank even if sales are decent at stores that carry it. On the other hand, you may benefit if #1 gets into stores a week or two before the new orders are due. If it does well, retailers may notice and take a gamble on issue 4. I hope so.
As for corrections:
I agree with Jeff that if you have the apostrophe on Ladies' you need it on Lads' too, but do you need the apostrophes at all? Is that group's name necessarily a possessive for Lads and Ladies, or merely part of a title?
For the second strip, "online" and "ongoing" are correct, but there is something about the hyphen that amuses me. Both should be the same style, though -- "online" and "ongoing" or "on-line" and "on-going", no mixing of hyphenated and non-hyphenated.
For the third one, same sort of deal. If you keep the quotes for Cerebus's answer, it needs end quotes after Realms, but I think the quotes aren't necessary at all, the colon does the work. Ahem.
Strip 6, shouldn't the first balloon in panel four be "Bat-Manticore's IRS..." as his name is Bat-Manticore (singular)?
And Jeff's love of commas overwhelms him, as strip 7 panel 2 does not need any commas.
Also, the world needs a spinoff series of the Adventures of Jingles. Think about it, gentlemen!
Oh, good catch, Travis. You are absolutely right about BAT-MANTICORES'. The apostrophe should be before the S.
Technically, Trav, the OED that I have does not list a hyphenated spelling of ongoing, but does list a hyphenated on-line as a secondary entry. I just double-checked it: ongoing is listed as only that spelling although, curiously, one of the example sentences from a magazine (Private Investor) has it spelled on-going. But the main entry does not list that as a variant. The entry for online has it that way first but, also, on-line and, in one usage only, on line.
And that is as punctilious as I care to be today.
Oh, except to add that the punctuationist in me says he is absolutely correct about strip 7 needing some more commas. (Mic drop.)
UNNECESSARY, SIR! They would break up the flow and rhythm of the panel!
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