Wednesday 17 January 2018

World's Finite Cerebus: Two Weeks Left

Sean Michael Robinson:

Howdy folks!

Going to deviate from the program again this week to plug the most recent Cerebus in Hell? one-shots, soon to be available for order from your Local Friendly Comic-Book Store... 

World's Finite Cerebus #1

"Can Batvark, Homophobe, be coerced into have a boy sidekick 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!"


This is an interesting cover for me, because a) I wasn't familiar with the source material, and b) I happen to think the original cover is funnier than the parody. Which is, ah, really something else.


Definitely strikes me as one of those all-too-common times that someone without any art skills or pre-visualization abilities has what they think is a rad concept, and the poor artist has to do his best to make it so, despite knowing what a terrible idea it is.

Or, I dunno, someone doodled Superman and Batman and Robin on a parade float and then changed it so they wouldn't have to draw a crowd?

Either way... that cover. Sheesh.


This issue is a milestone in a few (mostly invisible) ways. It'll be the last cover from the initial burst of covers/issues after Dave and Sandeep's initial one-shot parody concept took flight. It's the last cover and issue with cover and layout mostly by Sandeep. And, for me, it's the last issue where the reprints of the online strip are really still finding their footing. The longer the strip ran, the more the concepts and gigs and characters could build upon themselves.

And next month? Something a little different...



Speaking of next month...

I'm sad? relieved? both? to let you all know that, barring any dramatic changes, I'll only be writing two more of these weekly restoration updates before turning the whole shebang over to Benjamin Hobbs, CIH? letterer, Photoshop and cover guy, sometime-writer, and all-around great guy.

I'll still be working on the restorations as the need arises for individual books, but I'm attempting to wrap up most of the other day-to-day Aardvark/Vanaheim work so as to get back to my long-deferred freelance illustration work.

So! Two weeks left. It's request time! What exactly would you like me to write about/show/excerpt/film/whatever for the next two weeks? I defer to you, the patient audience, and I will entertain any and all suggestions, the more interesting, the better.

Want a bunch of closeups of pre-Cerebus Dave originals? Some peeks at scans of convention sketches and other rarities? Weird ephemera written on the tops of various pages? My wife Rachel's killer lemon raspberry muffin recipe? You let me know!

Next week: You decide!

Sean Michael Robinson is a writer, artist, and musician. See more at LivingtheLine.com.

8 comments:

Carson Grubaugh said...

Sad to see you go, Sean. You have provided invaluable resources.

Damian T. Lloyd, Esq. said...

Sean R.: Thank you for your efforts. I have been especially interested in your posts because they cover both specific, practical advice and the the principles behind them. The former will gradually become obsolete as we invent new ways of how to techniques, but combined with the former give us lasting insight into why to techniques.

-- Damian

Jeff said...

For once, I agree with Damian.

Sean, email me at seilerjeff@hotmail.com and tell me how much I have to pay for the muffins.

Can someone say "cottage industry"?

Jeff said...

Oh, and, Sean? I'd like all of the phone numbers that Dave wrote on the top, sides, or bottoms of the pages.

K?

We're good, right?

Dave Kopperman said...

Sean! I used your Threshold technique for the first time yesterday and it worked like a goddamn charm. For that and for all of the invaluable work you've done restoring the work, thanks!

Jeff said...

Also, Sean, can you tell us how you make corrections of typos that are inside of word balloons? Like the issue where Jimmy Buffett is referred to as Jimmy Buffet. Ever since I began doing the proofreading, I've wondered about that.

Birdsong said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tony Dunlop said...

That WF cover is one of the funniest unintentionally-funny moments in comics history.