Larger Nostrils Than Most People

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.

Just this past March we looked at Dave Sim's notebook #2 in A Letter to the Prime Minister. Notebook #2 contains material on Cerebus #28 through 37. Out of the 200 pages in the notebook, there were 198 pages scanned.

On page 30 of the notebook we see a plot outline for Cerebus #28, aka Mind Game #2:

Notebook #2, page 30

This page is actually shown in the Biweekly reprint for this issue. In which Dave says "Wouldn't you know? I go looking for some interesting pages for issue 28 and what do I find?  Twenty pages of closely-spaced Suenteus Po/Cerebus dialogue. This was the first (and only) page I designed the artwork for the issue. The rest I improvised on the drawing board."

The notebook pages and Dave's commentary on them are why I have a full collection of the Biweekly reprints. In the Biweekly reprint, Dave skips a couple pages, including page 31:

Notebook #2, page 31

Dave said it was page after page of dialogue. Add to that plot summary / outlines and he was on point. A lot of writing. Some crossing out. He kept refining it until he got what he wanted. I like the line "Not being logical is the only thing that keeps Lord Julius in his position."