57 Church Hill Rd. Newtown CT. 06470 USA
JIM SHERIDAN:
The photo I sent you of a sketch of Cerebus as Batman was taken at Cave Comics in Newtown, CT. This is a store that has been around since 1989 and even just built a new building next to the old one, which is a good sign. I have purchased most of my Cerebus, Glamourpuss, and also back issues of Epic comics there. Judenhass too.
The owner loves Batman, and Cave Comics has a nice collections of sketches from different artists offering their vision of the Caped Crusader. There is a Bernie Wrightson one, a Michael Kaluta one, a John Byrne one, a Walt Simonson one, and of course Dave's! It LOOKS like Dave was working with a pastel or chalk pencil rather than the usual sort.
Here is a link to Cave's website. The photos it has of the interior are of the new building. The wall of sketches had not been fully set up at the time they put the pictures on the website; you can see the wall behind the cash register looks empty in those photos, but now, that is where the Cerebus Batman hangs, staring you down as you stand at the cash register.
Does your Local Comics Store support Cerebus? Want to see it featured on AMOC?
Send your photos and anecdotes to: momentofcerebus [at] gmail [dot] com
8 comments:
VERY nice looking store and VERY nice-looking website. Thanks, Jim!
It's always a concern when you hear about a framed sketch of yours -- particularly in an LCS -- "Jeez I hope t's a good one." No control over which sketches had to get done "on the fly" or in the last ten minutes of a convention or signing or something.
It looks as if some of this one was done with markers or ballpoint pen that's faded a bit, but the solid blacks are good beefy Sharpie blacks by the looks of them. And probably won't be fading in our lifetimes!
The secret origin of Batvark? ;)
The problem with the Sharpie blacks is that on some of the paper you were using the ink has bled / 'crept' past where you'd originally used it, obscuring the original borders of your drawing.
Not explaining this too terribly well...
Steve
Here is a note from the owner of Cave Comics about the sketch:
"I got that sketch from Dave at an event in Northhampton Mass at Kevin Eastman's Comic Art Museum. Sometime in the mid-90's. Very nice place but unfortunately gone now."
I'll have to ask him - did he request that Dave do a "Dark Knight" / Frank Miller nod with the sketch, or was that Dave's call?
Me: "Did you request that he draw Cerebus/ Batman in Frank Miller Dark Knight style, or was that his call?"
Cave Comics: "I asked for a Cerebus/Batman. The design was his call."
Jim & owner of CAVE COMICS: I would guess that would have been the HEAVY METAL 20th ANNIVERSARY exhibit where Kevin flew in all of the artists who worked on the 20th anniversary special (except me: I was probably visiting Susan at the time anyway). 1996? (Scott Hampton's water-coloured/photorealism contribution to the anniversary issue still makes me laugh out loud when I read it).
The WORDS & PICTURES MUSEUM was definitely a showpiece environment. Just not commercially viable. There was a section of the Museum set aside for TMNT. Kevin was modest enough and enough of a comics purist to want TMNT to be a minor part of the exhibition space. In retrospect, it probably would have been better as a TMNT MUSEUM with space set aside for other comics exhibits.
Steve - That would often depend on the paper that I was given to draw on. I didn't really bring my own drawing paper after...the mid-1980s? I'd usually do sketches on a backing board if they had one and there was very little bleed with that. There are people who are insistent about you using THEIR sketchpad. Well, okay, but the Sharpie is going to spread on this. Didn't matter. They wanted ALL of their sketches on a specific kind of sketch pad paper.
Also, some sketches were rougher than others just because of the time factor. By the looks of the Cave Comics piece, I definitely wasn't swamped at WORDS & PICTURES. It was always nice when I could take my time. Sitting next to Joe Kubert.
On a trip in, I assume, 1999 (as I distinctly remember an ad for the comic book Yeah! as being upcoming at that time), on the Mass Turnpike, at a rest stop, was a pamphlet for the Words and Pictures Museum. Somehow I convinced mom to stop there for a bit. Unfortunately, the museum part was closed at that point, but the store attached was still selling off their merchandise at clearance prices. Got some good stuff, as I recall. Wish I'd gotten some issues of Taboo, but that may have pushed it with mom around ;)
"Lost Girls? Oh, it's about...girls...that are...lost...DON'T LOOK AT IT!"
Weird memory yesterday: I was comfortable enough in the Words and Pictures Museum that when someone asked for a Batman sketch, I went looking for Fiona (who still works with Kevin on HEAVY METAL) and found her in the office/lunchroom with a few other people watching the CCTV. "Do you have a THICK BLACK MARKER? Fresh? Really black?" She went looking and found a few that she tested until she found a fresh one. Meanwhile I was hypnotized watching the CCTV.
"I can see why you're in here, this is more interesting than being out there."
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