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.
For the last couple of weeks we've seen pages from Dave Sim's sixth Cerebus notebook, which covers issues 52 through 59. One of the main characters in those issues was the Countess, aka Michelle. So there are some sketches of her in the notebook:
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| Notebook #6, page 139 |
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| Notebook #6, page 140 |
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| Notebook #6, page 141 |
I went back through the bi-weekly reprints to see if Dave had put these notebook pages in the reprints of issues #53 though 56, the ones with the Countess, but he didn't. It was mostly Wolveroach pages.
5 comments:
I'm guessing, and I think that it's fairly clear, that the Countess was modeled not after Deni, but after Karen.
Dave has written on more than one occasion that he had a LOT of sins for which to attone (as do nearly 100% of us), but his dalliance (or more) with Karen ranks high.
Of course, Dave's collaborator in the Epic magazine story, Marshall Rodgers, was spending some alone time with Dave's wife, while she was Dave's wife.
"Comic book metaphysics"? Hmm.
Maybe just the Wild, Wild, West of Ontario in the late 70s and early 80s.
I know I've seen the "Hi-eee" sketch somewhere, but I've no idea where.
Yup. And, thanks for the non-snarky correction, David. I always want to get it right, even if someone else does it for me.
Yes, there is always a quarter of the equation that winds up unsatisfied and unfulfilled.
To all of you non-misogynists out there, I was struck by the notebook sketch that had the Countess saying, "I don't know why I feel ugly today."
The Countess was one of the kinder people that Cerebus ever met; yet, she was still very self-absorbed.
If you feel ugly tomorrow, I'm guessing that you will change your clothes and get over it soon.
Or, you know, pluck that knarly hair out of the mole just above your chin.
Still. Waaaaay self-absorbed. Just sayin'.
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