It's taken a while to get the logistics worked out, but I've been staying in touch with Howard Miller, Craig Miller's Dad and we've been gradually working through the FOLLOWING CEREBUS situation.
What we've decided to do is to put together roughly 100 "complete" sets of FOLLOWING CEREBUS (there are no copies of #4, the Will Eisner Tribute issue, #10 and #11). Sometime in the next week or two, Sandeep will scan #4, #10 and #11 and we'll get Sean to "restore" them as digital files to the best of his ability (which we all agree is considerable).
Then we'll solicit for them as a boxed set "Warehouse Find" through Diamond with an Avery label "cover" that I'll sign and number (#4, #10 and #11 marked as "2017 facsimiles"). $19.95 "cover" price.
When we have the orders for them from Diamond, then we'll ship Print On Demand copies of #4, #10 and #11 to Buddy Saunders of LONE STAR COMICS in Texas (who has very generously agreed to package them for shipping to Diamond gratis) (The idea is to generate as much money as possible for Jennifer Miller's Trust Fund) and Howard will take a sufficient number of copies of the inventory (Buddy is right nearby Howard's place) to LONE STAR and they'll package and ship the boxed sets from there.
Ultimately, we'll get all 12 issues of the FOLLOWING CEREBUS material scanned and make it available as one large POD trade paperback with all of the revenue going to Jennifer's Trust Fund and Howard will make sure that the digital files are kept for Jennifer if she chooses to do something else with them.
This all has to pass muster with the probate authorities, but I think the fact that it's structured to be "all for Jennifer" should mean that there will be minimal friction as we "move forward".
And now, here's Margaret with another NOTEBOOKS entry!
Take it away, Margaret!
16 comments:
I fully support this endeavor.
Wait... 20 bucks for the whole set? Plus 3 issues that are being reprinted? That seems like a steal.
I'll order a set--and/or the trade collection--when it is possible to do so.
Put me down for an as-yet-unspecified number of collections. For this very worthy cause.
Oh, and if you want, I would be willing to proofread the TPB, free of charge.
I have a couple of the Followong Cerebus issues but would readily buy a collection. The same goes for the Archive series from '09.
Looking forward to this
If you only have 100 sets you should just offer them here or via eBay. With Diamond you need to get them a discount then the retailers mark up etc. maybe just do a Kickstarter or go fund me and charge more.
These are awesome issues. Lots of good reading. While I own a couple copies of each already, I'd love to get a collection of them that are more easy to store on a bookcase.
I own a couple of the issues but would buy a collection. I'd buy a collection of Archive from '09 as well.
I would buy a collection of this in a heartbeat. I only have a couple of the issues - the first 2.
As most of this is text (iirc), might I suggest making a digital version available as well? It might sell decently, and you could market it to fans of Eisner, Adams, etc (of the people featured in the issues). And I assume once the files are readied for POD, they'd be pretty easy to have in a digital file. It's gotta be big, though, as each issue was at least 40 pages, no? There's a good "phone book" size book for POD, so digital might be the preferable format.
For those of us who got our hands on the original issues, is there somewhere we could donate directly to Jennifer's fund? (Or alternatively, if/when a digital version is offered, I'd toss some cash that way for a digital copy of everything as well.)
I think my local shop has a copy of at least one of the issues of this, and it is possibly a "missing" issue. I'll have to see next time I swing by there. If it's a "missing" issue, I may pick it up and see about shipping it ... wherever so that one of the sets gets a physical original copy of that one, if that sounds reasonable.
Hi Travis - There are no "missing issues" per se. I have three complete sets. The "missing issue" was relative to the inventory that Howard has.
That's shifting as well. He left a phone message that he found some #4's, so there might be a dozen or so original complete sets.
The problem is that Buddy doesn't want a pile of inventory. He's got enough of his own. What he wants to do is package and ship them, probably in a 24- to 48-hour period.
Craig died a day after Barack Obama was elected to his second term. None of this is going to happen anywhere close to overnight. When it does happen, it will be overnight, but that could be two years from now.
Very much interested in ordering a copy when this is ready. Good call :-)
Stefan
I spoke to Howard yesterday and he has a Paypal account specifically for the Craig Miller Estate: to make sure when he's shipping things he's selling from the Estate, the postage costs come out of there and there's no confusion with his personal finances.
So, it sounds as if the Estate will be able to handle direct donations (and probably be able to send you copies of any issues you're missing in exchange provided you aren't missing #4, #10 or #11). Watch for an announcement in the next week or so!
Oh, I understood that you weren't missing issues, but I was curious if there was interest in having one of the issues missing from the "warehouse find" ones sent to make one a "more complete" set. Sounds like Buddy would want to get the sets out the door as fast as possible, so it probably wouldn't work out, even if there was one of the issues at my shop.
But I will look forward to seeing the direct donations link. I may have to get a paypal myself!
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