Yoohwhoo and the Little Yoohwhoos

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.

In last week's overview of all the notebook entries at AMoC, I asked for what you'd like to see. David B mentioned Dave's notes for the biblical commentary. One would think there would be tons of writing for Cerebus' biblical commentary which we saw starting with Cerebus #280 when Konigsberg arrived with the Books of Moshe. So much tiny type. Just going on and on and on.

 Notebook #36 is the one notebook that covers Cerebus #280 through 287 which are the issues that Cerebus torah commentary is in. Looking through that notebook, I think there was more writing in the notebooks for Reads then there was for all that tiny type in Latter Days.

For issue #280 there are some sketches of Konigsberg and some quotes. Then there is a blank page for issue #281 (all it has is the issue # box), and then on page 49 we see the first page with some of Cerebus' torah commentary for issue #282:

Notebook #36, page 49

Similar to other writing entries in the notebooks, Dave writes the text right below it and marks it up. Yoohwhoo!

There is another blank page for issue #283, and then for all of the remaining issues in Cerebus' reading of the Torah, all we get are either empty pages or the writing is for Konigsberg's diary. I know Dave has mentioned starting to read the bible for Rick's Story. In fact, looking at the notes for Latter Days at the back of that phonebook, starting on page 491, Dave talks about getting his first copy of the 1611 King James Bible for Rick's Story. I also remember something about Dave mentioning notebooks that he used for biblical commentary. It would seem that he must've kept those separate from the Cerebus notebooks.

Tribute Art

Hi, Everybody!

So your pal and mine, Sean Robinson, sent a big ol' batch of links to momentofcerebus@gmail.com, And I'm gonna be running them as I want.

Like today!

Now everybody say, "Thanks Sean!" and enjoy:

In a rich man's world by Alrealea from over at Deviant Art

Thanks again Sean!

Next time: What's tomorrow, Wednesday? Margaret posts on Wednesdays. So something from Margaret...

Pencils to Pixels: The Process of Comic Art. Modesto Junior College Gallery art exhibition.

Hi, Everybody!

Your buddy and mine, Carson Grubaugh sent in the following:

Here is video preview of a show we just mounted for the gallery at the school where I teach. Lots of Dave Sim work on view for our students!

Thanks Carson!

Next time: Something Cerebus or Cerebus related, I'm sure...

Reading Cerebus #6

Hey look kids! It's "READING CEREBUS" time!

Kevin Kimmes:

Welcome back to “Reading Cerebus”, a new (some-what) weekly column here at A Moment of Cerebus. The goal of this column is to bring a fresh perspective to the 300-issue saga of Cerebus as I read through the series for the first time and give my insights into the longest running independent comic book series of all time. Think of this as part book club, part lit-crit, and part pop culture musing. Oh, and they told me Dave Sim himself may be reading this, so I hope I don’t screw this up. Let’s continue.

Issue 6 - The Secret

What is "The Secret"? I'll never tell, it's a secret...

"This is the story of a girl 

Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looked so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her, when she smiles"

- Some band from the early 2000's

This week our tale opens with a dying man, a secret, and two boobs who want to know that secret (and I'm not talking about Jaka...yet.) As opposed to previous issues, this one drops us right in to the thick of things with no summary from Dave regarding what Cerebus has been up to since last we saw him. Instead, we meet E'lass and Turg The Unduly-Tall who are on the trail of the curly-haired dying man, only to discover that someone has gotten to him first. That someone, is Cerebus.

Upon seeing Cerebus and his small stature, E'lass sends Turg to find out what the curly-haired man told Cerebus, but, "Careful, though! He looks kind of fragile..." While E'lass mentally starts putting a supply list together, Turg get's his head handed to him by Cerebus. Since raw muscle didn't work, it's time to move on to a more nefarious plan: Drugging Cerebus.

E'lass orders ales for the three of them, dropping three pills into Cerebus' mug. The pills, we learn from E'lass' internal monologue, should make Cerebus a bit more suggestible.

Enter Jaka

Fully under the control of the pills, E'lass turns Cerebus' attention to the girl dancing in the bar, Jaka, and explains:

"Jaka is said to be the most beautiful woman east of the Sofim. Her hair is like white silk...her movements are cat-like..."

There are other panels in this issue, I think...Maybe.

This is all Cerebus needs to hear. He is entranced. He is, dare I say, in love? Well, if not, it is safe to say that he at minimum is fully focused on Jaka, so much so that when E'lass tries to regain his attention, he receives a tail to the gut for his troubles.

We soon get our first interaction between Cerebus and Jaka in which Cerebus makes it clear that he is quite enamored with her, offering to kill a yak for her supper. Finding this cute, Jaka kisses the Earth-Pig Born, who floats away with her, fully under her spell.

Trouble in Paradise

Things soon take a turn for the worse for E'lass and Turg as The Brothers of the Black Sun enter the tavern, apparently having tracked the two. Realizing time is short, E'lass makes another attempt of prying Cerebus away from Jaka, resulting in a full blown bar brawl instead.

Cerebus could care less about the fight, until he inquires about Jaka's whereabouts from one of the participants, who calls her a whore and get's his ass thoroughly handed to him for his transgressions. 

People who're hit with chairs REALLY should have the good manners to fall down...

Never mess with an Earth-Pig born in love...

Meanwhile, a very battered E'lass has located Jaka and has threatened to make sure she never dances again if she doesn't get the information he is after from Cerebus.

Apricot Brandy

As Jaka attempts to get the information out of Cerebus, Cerebus has other things on his mind.

"Cerebus loves the little freckle on your elbow."

"I'd love to lick apricot brandy out of your navel..."

"If Cerebus had a navel would you lick apricot brandy out of it?" (The answer here should always be "NO" as we all know what a stink a wet Cerebus can be.)

Finding out that E'lass threatened to kill Jaka, Cerebus makes a direct trip to him and Turg, putting E'lass' head through that wall and warning in no uncertain terms, "And that's only a sample of what you'll get if you threaten Jaka again!"

Having found out about the gold in the Temple of the Sun from E'lass, and combining this with the information that he received from the dying man, Cerebus is now convinced that he knows the exact location of the treasure. He hatches a plan to make both him and Jaka rich beyond their wildest dreams, that is if she agrees to join him, which she does.

It's called foreshadowing kids...

All Good Things Come To An End

As Cerebus goes off for supplies, the pills wear off leaving him confused as to why he is looking at cloth when he has money for ale. Meanwhile, E'lass and Turg decide to find Jaka and deliver on their earlier promise, only to run afoul of The Brothers of the Black Sun.

When Cerebus and Jaka finally reunite, Cerebus has no recollection of who she is or what has previously transpired. Heartbroken, Jaka gives Cerebus a bottle of apricot brandy and tells him, "Some day...some day sweet Cerebus, you will remember why...and you will return. And Jaka will wait for that day, beloved. Even if it takes the rest of her life!"

And that, good reader, sounds a lot like foreshadowing!

Join me back here next week as we look at Issue 7: “Black Sun Rising”.

Currently Listening To: "Must've Been High" by The Supersuckers

Kevin Kimmes is a lifelong comic book reader, sometime comic book artist, and recent Cerebus convert. He can be found slinging comics at the center of the Multiverse, aka House of Heroes in Oshkosh, WI.

issue 7

Cerebus VS SDOAR VS YDKJ Comission

CARSON GRUBAUGH:

Cerebus original-art super-collector, and saintly patron of all kinds of great Gerhard work, including the World Without Cerebus series, Brian Coppola, reached out to me recently to commission a very interesting piece.

Brian's initial idea was:

"What I am thinking is a meta-perspective. It seems from what
I can see that there is a lot of activity around a comics
shop venue in which SDOAR figures as a comic book; one of
my favorite set of pages in the entire Cerebus story is
just at the end of Minds, issue 200, where Dave and Ger
are drawing at their boards, and that really truly
incredible sense of the story progressing in one
dimension and being captured by the artists.

It's really the most damned clever thing I think I have
ever seen depicted.

Think about 2 pp where these pages are being drawn and
the decision to not end Cerebus with #200, and some
connection to the sale/storage of the comic in a shop,
and/or the creation or imagining of SDOAR... I'm pretty
keen on seeing your interpretation of the Cerebus character,
and Dave, and Ger, even if in passing."

"Okay, have Jack reading those two pages and uhh, we will see...," was about all I knew I was going to do prior to cutting and pasting the images together in Photoshop for a mock-up. The way the overarching themes from all three projects fell into a seamless narrative with all kinds of symbolic resonances was wild. It all suggested itself as I went. The" CARunch" lining up right over the only place I could put the SDOAR logo literally sent a chill down my spine.

22" x 17" ink on Bristol board over blue-line print.

The real technical killer was recreating the look of the Letratone dot-pattern on Cerebus and the splatter effect on the cover by hand. Yowza!

Much thanks to Brian for the patronage and the absolutely killer inspiration. Hope you all enjoy.

More here: http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1448220

Love and Aardvarks, World's Finite Cerebus: Order Now!

JAN181085

(W) Dave Sim, Sandeep Atwal (A) Dave Sim, Gustave Dore (CA) Sandeep Atwal

Can Batvark, Homophobe, be coerced into have a boy sidekick like on the cover? Spoiler Warning: No. Features Super-Cerebus, Batvark and...Vark-Mite? (or whatever the kid's name is); Trick or Treat; Psychosomatic (1863); Cerebus' Self-Help Book; Cyclothymia (1923); Product Placement; Maxwell and Mortimer's Covers Band; "The Cerebus Foundation" and more!

In Shops: Mar 28, 2018

SRP: $4.00

Order now from your local comic book store!

 FEB180955

(W) Dave Sim, Sandeep Atwal (A) Dave Sim, Gustave Dore (CA) Lee Thacker

Jingles' 10 CGC-graded copies of Love & Rockets No. 21; if only Cerebus had married Maggie and Hopey; Jerusalem Crickets and The Crazy Catholics Hallelujah Chorus; An Ox's Nard;  Cerebus develops "Cerebus Go"; God vs. Tarim; Philosophers on Jesus' teachings; "Aardvark Amuck"; Epic-length "Satan the Closeted Gilbert & Sullivan Fan";  Infernal Realms Police Training; John Lennon in Hell?;  Drinking in Hell;  Infernal Intercontinental Wrestling Title.

In Shops: Apr 25, 2018

SRP: $4.00

Order now from your local comic book store!

Next month??!

The Truth Is Out There... par avion. (Dave's Weekly Update #219)

Hi, Everybody!

(I hope I'm not "telling tales out of school," but apparently Dave Fisher is in New Zealand returning the One Ring to the fires of Mount Doom. He told me he has to hike an hour, one way, to post the weekly update, in the scorching summer heat. So from all of us, Thank You Mr. Fisher! Hopefully he'll be back into the frigid cold next week. Anyway,)

Heeeeeere's Dave:

Problems viewing this video? Watch directly on YouTube...

Dave Sim's Notebooks: The Post Listing

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.

Here is an overview of the notebook posts done so far. If there is something from the notebooks that you'd like to see, mention it in the comments.

• Notebook 1: issues 20 to 28
• Hunters & Gathers (June 2014): Front cover, page 86
• Albatross One, page one (Aug 2016): Front cover, page 1
• Beat the Hsiffies, buy bonds! (Sept 2016): page 25, 28
• Captain Cockroach and Bunky (Oct 2016): page 37, 47, 49
• Out of the Depths (Oct 2016): page 151
• Notebook 2: issues 28 to 37
  • Albatross, Too (Aug 2016): Front cover, page 1, 138
  • Hsssssssssssssssssssss (Feb 2017): page 74, 75 & 76
  • Does Cerebus Really Need To Go To PetuniaCon? (March 2017): p 186 & 187
  • Unorthodox. Economic. Revenge. (Sept 2017): p. 83
• Notebook 3: issues 37 to 40
  • Do You Know Elrod? (Aug 2016): page 11, 58
  • Notebook 2a, aka Albatross Three (Aug 2016): Front cover, page 10
  • Sketching the Countess (Jan 2017): page 140, 141 & 143
• Notebook 4: issues 41 to 44
  • Albatross Four (Aug 2016): Front cover, 14, 20
  • Wuffa Wuffa (March 2017): page 59
  • Decisions Decisions (Sept 2017): p. 13
  • The Deciding Vote (Oct 2017): p. 57 & 58
• Notebook 5: issues 45 to 49
  • Albatross Five (June 2015): front cover, 5, 10
  • Cerebus' New Republic (Nov 2016): 1, 8
  • The Deciding Vote (Nov 2016): page 58, 59
  • Cover Art for the Comics Journal (May 2017): page 62
• Notebook 6: issues 49 to 59
  • On Governing (Sept 2014): page 8, 11
  • Cerebus Archive (Feb 2016): page 58, 157
  • His First Fifth Notebook Notes (Dec 2015): page 95, 97, 98
  • Boom (Jan 2015): page 132, 149, 150
  • The First Time That Something Fell (April 2016): page 142, 146
  • Sketching the Countess (Jan 2017): page 140, 141, 143 (mentioned no cover)
  • Bureaucrat Pudding (Nov 2017): page 7
• Notebook 7: issues 59 to 69
  • The Making of a Cover - Cerebus #60 (July 2014): page 27, 29, 38
  • Selling Insurance (August 2014): page 58, 60, 61
  • Mind Game III (May 2016): page 66, 67
  • Cerebus Jam 2: Campaign Stop (July 2016): page 69, 70, 71
  • Even More In 1984 or When He Was 27 (June 2016): page 106, 107
  • A Plan for Church & State I (July 2015): page 108
  • Talking to Muffins (Jan 2017): Front cover, 126
  • A Friendly Reminder (Dec 2017): page 21 & 22
• Notebook 8: issues 70 to 79
  • Cerebus vs The Spirit (March 2016): page 1, 3
  • Sane As It Ever Was (Jan 2016): page 23, 28
  • Naming Church & State (Jan 2016): page 31
  • Dave's Sketches of People (Aug 2015): page 37, 62, 66
  • Varying Reasons of Assorted Depths (Dec 2014): page 58, 59, 61
  • Dave Sim and the Crack-of-Dawn Orchestra (Oct 2014): page 64, 67, 73
  • All She Wants To Do Is Dance (March 2017): front cover, page 45
  • A Stay At The Regency (March 2017): page 8
• Notebook 9: issues 80 to 86
  • Flick (April 2015): page 1, 3, 4
  • Cover Thumbnails (Nov 2016): page 7, 57
  • Touch Not The Priestess (July 2014): page 28, 32
  • Boys! Dinner! (Oct 2015): page 51, 56
  • Cerebus Feels So Good (July 2016): page 74, 75
  • Fat Elvis Period (March 2015): page 114, 131, 135
  • Sketches of Familiar Faces (Feb 2017): 47, 48, 49
  • Total Control (Aug 2017): Front cover, page 126
  • When Your Life Flashes Behind Your Back (Nov 2017): p. 80 & 81
  • SNORT (Nov 2017): p. 90 & 91
  • A Bit O'Swank (Nov 2017): p. 58, 61, 62 & 63
  • Sketches of Prince Mick (Dec 2017): p. 64, 65, 66 & 67
  • Noice. Fank You (Dec 2017): p. 68 & 69
• Notebook 10: issues 87 to 95
  • Out With the In Crowd (Nov 2015): page 15, 25
  • An Edge In His Voice So Sharp He Could Plotz (Apr 2016): page 34, 35
  • Assassin (April 2015): page 69, 71
  • Lord Julius (July 2014): page 72, 73
  • So. . .You already said that. (Oct 2014): Cover, 85, 87
  • Odds and Ends (Jan 2015): pocket, 92, 113
  • Odd Transformations... 4 (May 2016): page 109
  • Odd Transformations... 4 part 2 (May 2016): page 110, 111
• Notebook 11: issues 96 to 102
  • Not The Trial (March 2016): page 12, 17
  • The Sky is Falling (Sept 2015): page 32
  • The Unknown Given (July 2016): page 35
  • The Trial (Oct 2014): page 51, 53
  • Endgame (Sept 2015): page 85
  • Assorted Cerebus (Dec 2015): page 89
  • The Final Ascension (Sept 2014): page 102, 103
  • Purple Unicorn (July 2017): front cover, page 43
• Notebook 12: issues 102 to 111
  • The Judge Before He Was The Judge (Sept 2016): front cover, page 32, 33
  • D'King and the Actress (July 2015): page 10, 15
  • Dave and the Direct Market (Dec 2014): page 21, 22, 23
  • Jaka's Story Logo (Oct 2014): page 42, 43
  • Walking on the Moon (April 2016): page 48, 49
  • Extrusion Intrusion (June 2016): page 50, 69, 74
  • Alone. Unloved. And Unmourned (August 2014): page 46, 82, 132, 139
  • Boom. Big Boom. Big Bang. (Dec 2017): page 4 & 5
• Notebook 13: issues 112/113
  • Vacation Sketches Part Deux (Oct 2016): 5, 7, 8
  • Jaka's Story (June 2014): page 14, 17
  • Jaka the Dancer (Jan 2016): page 29
  • Vacation Time: San Jose (Nov 2014): page 57, 58, 59
  • Jaka's Story II (July 2014): page 66, 72
  • Bits (August 2015): page 74, 78
  • Playing Bingo While Wearing Tight Pants (May 2017): Front cover, p. 70
  • Terror in a Turgid Tool (Oct 2017): pages 1 - 3
• Notebook 14: issues 113 to 117
  • Jaka and Missy (Sept 2015): page 1, 2
  • A Gold Coin? (Feb 2015): page 46, 47, 50, 53
  • Reprinting Cerebus Every Two Weeks (March 2016): page 60, 61
  • Thunder the Wonder Pony (April 2017): Front cover, page 16, 36
  • Refuge of the Shallow (Aug 2017): page 55 & 56
  • Get Him Out of the Hotel (Oct 2017): page 35
• Notebook 15: issues 118 to 122
  • Daughter of Palnu (Dec 2014): page 22, 23, 24
  • Daughter of Palnu: Lessons (June 2016): page 25
  • Oscar (April 2015): page 38, 39, 41
  • What Is Cerebus About? (Feb 2016): page 98
  • Rick in a Can (Apr 2017): Front cover, page 67, page 68
• Notebook 16: issues 122 to 127
  • Outlines for the Poet (Aug 2015): page 9, 28
  • The Waiting Dancer (Apr 2016): page 41, 45
  • Jaka's Sweet old Aunt Victoria (Feb 2015): page 46, 56, 57
  • Soul and Substance (Nov 2016): page 65, 31
  • One Fondue Set Please (June 2017): Cover, page 68
• Notebook 17: issues 127 to 135
  • Mrs Thatcher (April 2015): page 12, 46, 49
  • Bang Bang SMASH (March 2015): page 31, 35, 45
  • La Danseuse Marvellieux (May 2017): Front cover, page 17
  • Front and Back (August 2017): page 13 and 14
• Notebook 18: issues 136 to 141
  • Worm Merchant or Grand Lord of Palnu? (May 2015): page 27, 32, 35
  • The Frustrations of normalroach (Jan 2016): page 54, 55
  • Dino's Cafe (Feb 2016): cover, page 45 46
  • To an Iestan Boy? (Aug 2017): page 38 & 42
• Notebook 19: issues 141 to 149
  • Characters of Melmoth (June 2015): page 3, 17, 33
  • Melmoth and Tiny Thumbnails (August 2014): 28, 29, 30
  • A Deal For A Single Gold Coin (March 2017): Front cover, 11, 13, 15
  • Melmoth Thumbnails Part 1 (Sept 2017): Page 35
  • Melmoth Thumbnails Part 2 (Sept 2017): Page 36
• Notebook 20: issues 153 to 164
  • The Good and Bad of Comics in the Early 90s (March 2015): page 18, 19, 20
  • The Good and Bad of Comics in the Early 90s pt 2 (April 2015): page 21, 22, 23
  • The Finale: Good and Bad of Comics in the Early 90s (April 2015): page 24, 25, 26
  • Po's Monologue About Bran (Jan 2015): page 53, 54
  • US Tour 1992 tour diary (July 2015): page 57, 58, 59, 60
  • POIT! SMASH (July 2017): Front cover, page 38
• Notebook 21: issues 164 to 187
  • Alcohol Is Free and There Is No Last Call (Sept 2015): Front cover, 21, 31
  • Ends & Odd Bits (Nov 2014): 19, 29, 30, 259
  • Crossing Over (Oct 2014): page 25, 26, 64
  • Campaign '93 Notes (July 2016): page 57, 58, 59, 60
  • The Gathering (August 2014): page 102, 103, 104
  • I Want To See Your Armpit (Feb 2015): page 118, 163, 164
  • Down In A Minute, Sweetheart (Oct 2016): page 256, 257
  • Three Saviors? (April 2017): page 107, 108, 109
• Notebook 22: issues 186 to 201
  • Talking With Your Creator (Dec 2014): page 27, 41
  • The Origin of the Mothers (Dec 2014): page 46, 47, 48, 49
  • Uncomfortable Truth (April 2015): page 54, 55
  • A Creator Named Dave (July 2015): page 57, 58
  • Drunk Attic (July 2017): Front cover, page 65
• Notebook 23: Mothers & Daughters
  • On Tour '92 (Feb 2015): page 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 21
  • Shredded Tissue of Lies (June 2015): page 42, 43, 57, 58
  • Cerebus #152 Cover Prelims (Feb 2016) cover, p. 47 & 49
• Notebook 24: issues 197 to 211
  • Joanne and Fred (not that Fred) (Jan 2015): Page 3, 4, 5
  • Talking With Dave (Dec 2015): page 25, 26, 27
  • Talking With Dave Again (Dec 2015): 29, 30
  • Calling Dave Sim (Aug 2015): page 34, 35
  • Dreams Pt 1 (Nov 2015): page 37
  • Notes for Dave's Chat with Neil (May 2016): page 93, 94, 95, 96
  • The Tavern at the Wall of T'si (July 2017): Front cover, page 46
  • Remember. . .jobs? (Jan 2018): page 102 & 103
• Notebook 25: issues 213 to 241
  • Cerebus is Tired - Aye. Aye. (March 2015): page 24
  • Thesbian Tavern Tramp Drunk (Sept 2014): page 36, 38, 39
  • Only Demons Lie (March 2015): page 40
  • Pleasure's Simple Life (April 2016): page 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 92, 95
  • A Victim of A Laughing Chance (June 2017): page 19, 28
• Notebook 26: issues 224 to 230
  • Cool's Right (July 2015): page 44, 46, 47
  • Pig's Ear (Dec 2016): front cover, back cover, page 1
  • Good RIDdance (June 2017): page 16 & 26
• Notebook 27: issue 225
  • F. Stop is not an Aperture (April 2015): page 19, 20, 21
  • A Face Like The Back End of a Dog (Dec 2016): front cover, page 1, 3
• Notebook 28: issue 227
  • Rick's Story (June 2015): page 2, 5, 6
  • Dreams Pt 1 (Nov 2015): page 36 (doesn't really talk about notebook 28)
  • Blasphemous Lies (June 2017): page 23 & 24
  • Battling with Potato Chips (Aug 2017): Front cover, page 20
• Notebook 29: issues 240 to 250
  • Fall And The River (Sept 2014): page 6, 15
  • Going Home page 330 (Sept 2016): page 45,
  • Form & Void Shooting Script (July 2014): page 47, 51, 55
  • The Destruction of Iest (Nov 2015): page 96, 156
  • Dreams Part Deux (Nov 2015): page 157, 158
  • They Give Us Those Nice Bright Colors (Sept 2015): page 208, 209
  • Meeting F. Stop (Jan 2017): Front cover, page 3
• Notebook 30: Minds Rehearsal
  • Minds Rehearsal (Nov 2014): Back & Front cover, 24, 25, 26, 27, 58, 59
  • Seemingly Lead a Charmed Life (Jan 2018): pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
  • Fascination with Gore (Jan 2018): pages 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
• Notebook 31: issues 256 to 265
  • To Ham & Ham Not (Jan 2015): page 6, 7
  • What Shoreline? (Dec 2016): front cover, 58, 59
  • Go on. Beat it. Scream! (Oct 2017): p. 66 & 67
• Notebook 32: issue 255
  • A Movie Review: Julia (Feb 2016): Page 1
  • Hunting Lodge Thespians (Feb 2016): Page 2, 3
  • Breakfast Sandwiches Instead of Shooting Lessons (Jan 2017): both covers, page 7
• Notebook 33: issue 251
  • The Start of Form & Void (Oct 2015): front and back cover, 1, 2
  • Salad Fork Stuck To His Face (April 2017): pages 5 & 7
• Notebook 34: issue 289 / 290
  • The Smallest Notebook (Oct 2015): front and back cover, 1, 2, 3, 4
  • That is the entire notebook
• Notebook 35: Spore & Konigsberg
  • Spore & Konigsberg (Oct 2015): page 11, 25
  • Avoyd Fornication (Dec 2015): front cover, page 1, 2
• Notebook 36: issues 265 to 300
  • Listening to Dead Cirinists (Sept 2016): front cover, page 28
  • Fred Hammer Wins the Jakirbee Cup (June 2016): page 6
  • The Final Notebook (March 2015): Inside Front Cover, 43, 108
  • Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk (Nov 2015): page 7, 23
  • Sixteen Questions Before Breakfast (June 2017): page 67 & 68
• Loose Pages
  • Don't Piss Off Tarim (May 2017): Pages 2 & 6

Preview of the Trailer for Strange Death of Alex Raymond.... Coming Soon!

Sean Michael Robinson:

Howdy everyone!

As I wrote last week, this will be the last month I'll be doing these posts as regular updates. I'll still be doing the Cerebus restoration project (currently collecting scans for Form & Void!), still doing the prepress and digital lettering for Strange Death of Alex Raymond, and You Don't Know Jack! and I'm sure many other A/V projects, but attempting to pass off the regular monthly deadlines (Cerebus in Hell? , these posts, working with Diamond) to other capable hands.

Next week's final post will be an addendum to my Paper to Pixel to Paper Again series, addressing working with color artwork. (Special thanks to Damian Lloyd for suggesting the topic, one I'd completely forgotten I'd promised to write about a year or so ago!) And I might pop in from time to time to share a post or two about a new book, or something that's been on my mind.

But! For this post. What I spent the last week putting together!

A Movie Trailer for a Comic Book

At the end of December I received a series of scans from Alfonso Espinosa, head of Studiocomix. The scans were a complete eight-page preview of SDOAR , put together by Dave with quick-cuts and headers, movie-trailer-style, using his all-in-one fax machine/photocopier, scissors, and a whole lotta glue.

 The files also included several scans of various additional elements that would be needed to put the pages together, including this impressive revised logo.

Lastly, there were copious notes as to how to actually put the things together, using the SDOAR scans I'd recently received.

Here's the second completed page, below...

For the most part I hewed close to the template, only deviating in a few places where I thought some unobtrusive bits of Photoshop fiddling could improve on the cut-and-paste original. For instance, the splash under the tires, especially where it interacts with Raymond's head in the lower panel. Changing the narration so that it followed (or close to it, anyway) the implied vanishing point of the card and speed lines. 

And many many many hours later, the preview is done, ready for the next stage of the Strange Death of Alex Raymond roll-out. So in a scant few months (cross your fingers!) you'll be able to see the trailer in print, and get an inkling of what the fuss is about.

(By the way, if this strikes you as an unusual way to put together a comics page, just wait till you get a load of You Don't Know Jack!)

Next week: Paper to Pixel to Paper Again... in Living Colo(u)r!

The Death Of Alex Raymond... Or Was It Suicide?

Hi, Everybody,

So Tim found this too:

Hogan's Alley #3 (1996)

Back Issues of Hogan's Alley are available here. 

I have a bunch of Arlen's stuff that Jeff Seiler gave me around here somewhere...

Next time: I dunno. Tune in then and find out...

Dave Sim's "Declaration Of Independence"

Hi, Everybody!

Look what Tim found:

The Comics Journal #105 (February 1986)

Next time: What did Tim find in the couch cushions?

Update from Dave

Hi. Everybody!

Reading Cerebus is on a hiatus until Kevin's computer stops being such a little bitch.

So what do I got for you today?

More remembrances of my early life with Cerebus?

What? Why not?

A link from Sean R.?

Really? No?

I know, an update from Dave about the pricing on future Kickstarters?

Oh, okay then...

So I sent Dave a fax wherein I included all the comments from this week's update about future Kickstarters. And Dave responded, thusly:

I faxed him about a number of topics, Kickstarter was #3.

And now you know.

The Cerebus Archive Kickstarters started at $8 a page for ten pages. That price didn't include the cost of the notes page. Which has expanded with every new Archive. And the price has stayed the same for four years.

Well, sound off in the comments, and I'll forward them to Dave.

Next time: Wanna hear what Dave said about your wife?

Cerebus in Matt's Life: Part the Third

Hi, Everybody!

We now continue the bold saga of how Interim-Editor Matt Dow came to know Cerebus The Aardvark... um...ya know, not biblically, or anything weird like that...(for that kinda thing, see Cerebus in Jeff Seiler's Life... If. You. Dare!!!)

When last we left young Matt, it was May, 1993.

And now we flip the switch on the Wayback Machine, and travel the Circuits of Time all the way to...January 1993.

Young Matt had started to groove on Spawn and Wizard Magazine.

Wizard, the Guide To Comics, had run a number of bits about Cerebus and his creator, Dave Sim.

(I remember at one point, Wizard had instituted a "this month in comics" feature on their last page. One December it was about the first issue of Cerebus in 1977. Dave told the story of him and Gene Day at Gene's studio. Dave drawing Cerebus #1, and Gene doing a story called "Days of Future Past" (no, not the X-Men one...). Both with horrific head colds. And they ended up back to back at their drawing tables, with a thirty gallon garbage can between them and they just kept drawing and filling the can with kleenex... Wish I still had that issue of Wizard...)

AND, in the January 1993 issue (#29) Wizard did a year in review. And part of their review, was a preview of the far flung future of 2003 (dun Dun DUN!)

Wait for it...

See? Right there? Ya see it right?

This becomes important much later in Matt's life.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Gee Matt, every episode of Scooby-Doo IS exactly the same. How DID it manage to last for so long?" 

Wha? You're NOT thinking that? 

Weirdos...

Anyway, it's a funny article. Funny, because as WE ALL KNOW, Cerebus DIDN'T end in 2003. It ended in March, 2004. And Cerebus didn't have a brother. 

But it planted a seed in Young Matt's little brain that grew into...(see Cerebus in Matt's Life: Part the Sixth(?), you'll see...)

Anyway, anyway, a few years later (I wanna say...199...8?), Matt's good friend, Nick AKA: The Comic Book Man (so called because he lends Matt comics by the foot. Seriously, by the foot. At one point, he lent Matt three feet of comics,) lent Matt the first five volumes of Cerebus.

And Matt read them all in a day and a half, returned them and said, "those were neat, got anymore?"

And Lo, the Comic Book Man haveth not more Cerebus, and Matt hadth to buyith his own Cerebusth, uh, Cerebus.

Yeah, and then Matt started to buy the monthly book.

And there was much rejoicing!

Next time: Matt Meets Dave! (And Ger!!!) WHHHHHAAAAATTTTTTT!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Happy Anniversary! The Big 4-0 (Dave's Weekly Update #218)

Hi, Everybody!

Heeeeeere's Dave:

Problems viewing this video? Watch directly on YouTube...

Fascination with Gore

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.

We looked at pages 1 through 5 of Dave Sim's notebook #30 just last week in Seemingly Lead a Charmed Life. It is the notebook of what Dave would say to Cerebus in Minds.

I figured we'd start back up with pages 6 & 7:

Notebook 30 pages 6 & 7

Notebook 30 pages 8 & 9

Notebook 30 pages 10 & 11

The dialogue doesn't appear to be used in Minds, not at least that I can see.  Dave talking about what a creator does to his creation.