The Ol' AMOC Mailbag: A Moment of Clarity with the Form and Void Phonebook

Hi, Everybody!

As we always start when these things are happening: Comiclink auctions, you got three more days.

For anyone who missed the Kickstarter for the Birthday card, there's a Indiegogo live.

You can get a digital copy of the remastered Volume 1 for $9.99, and join in the Great AMOC 2019 Re-Read.

So The Ol' AMOC Mailbag recieved the following:

Hello,

I won't go into my whole background, but a little bit does help the story.

I came to Cerebus a little late  and likely read all phonebooks for the first time over a one year period around 2006. Technically, I had read Church and State Volume II sometime in 1998, but it was so out of context that it felt as if I was reading it for the first time a decade later.

Two weeks ago, I purchased the restored volume 1 on Comixology which prompted a re-read of the entire series and an exploration of Cerebus fandom, including the AMOC page.

Last night I was trudging through Form and Void, cursing Dave Sim for the artistic choices he made. 

- "Why the time jump?"

- "Why not show Ham's death?!?"

- "Why the hell would you repeat those 20 pages of being lost in the snowstorm?!?" [Although I did admit to myself that it created such anxiety in me, the reader, that it was just further proof of Sim's remarkable skill at the comic craft.]

Then it hit me. These weren't the creative decisions of a mad genius. Nay, these were printing errors!

As you will see from the attached photos, my copy of the book jumps from page 538 to page 571, and then pages 572 to 583 repeats. It's wild. Maybe this is a known defect, but this explains why I so disliked the middle of this book.

Click for the biggerness...

I didn't know of anyone else who might appreciate this story, but I thought you might. 

Best regards,

Ryan H.

Thanks, Ryan!

I e-mailed back and asked what printing it was, but haven't heard anything back. Anybody else ever heard of this?
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With the Datings of Up:

Ryan checked back in to let me know that:

It is the third printing, November 2001. Photo attached. 

Technically, the first two printings were done at the same time (as I understand it,) so this would be the first reprinting after the initial printing ("THIRD BASE!")

Anybody else got a weird third printing?
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Okay, see you tomorrow for... I dunno. Sum'ing...

Next Time: Thee. Most. Amazing. Post. Ever. (Or, not...)