Please Hold For Dave Sim 1/2020 (The whole thing.) [UPDATED WITH MORE VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Hi, Everybody!

The Varking Dead

And Friend to the Blog, Greg Hyland is running the next volume of The Monster Atlas on Kickstarter.
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And NOW:

Click for bigger (if ya'll's so inclined.)

Okay, Dave called. We talked. It was magical.

First up we talk Vark Wars 2 (sorta)

[Son of a Biscuit! Forgot to include what we were talking about. Available May 2020 (tentatively.) -Matt]

 And Vark Wars 3. Then Jason Trimmer asked:

Hi Matt!

I hope this email finds you and your family well!

I had a question for the upcoming 'Please Hold for Dave Sim' session - I was wondering if the remastered Reads edition will be added to the digital downloads area of Cerebus Downloads? Right now it isn't highlighted green, which seems to indicate that it's not the remastered version.

'Reads' remastered is hard to find in stores and online, so digital might be the best option. I am especially interested in Sean's essay for it.

Cheers! And, muchos gracias for your hard work on AMOC!

Best,

Jason

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All the remasters are here! (Thanks George, Sean, Dave, Gerhard, John-Boy, and...wait a minute...)

And then Dave Kopperman asks:

Okay, question for the call: was the one off gag of the missing "Rabbi" issue - which I recall translated to "what's in the box?" ultimately meant as foreshadowing to Cerebus's final visit with his son, or was it one of those nice coincidences? And I guess the larger question that comes up is did you intend for a sort of "game changing surprise" inside a box as a running theme through the entire series, as in the sphere in the courtroom scene at the climax of Church & State?

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Send your entries to momentofcerebus@gmail.com

Then: Bryon Dunbar asks:

  Hi,

I saw your post on A Moment of Cerebus regarding questions for Dave Sim about the Cerebus comic book in your upcoming phone call.

I had a question with regards to the old standby, “Why an aardvark?” Although what I mean in asking this isn’t what most people probably do when they ask the same question. I know that early in his career, Sim was inspired by Howard the Duck and that Cerebus was originally a mascot for his then-wife’s fanzine. What I am interested in is, why an aardvark—in-universe!

It’s established in Cerebus that aardvarks aren’t actually anthropomorphic animals in the sense Howard the Duck or Rocket Raccoon are. Rather, they’re born to normal humans and are more akin to deformed people than talking animals. (Hence aardvarks being able to breed with humans, no one looking at Cerebus funny for his relationships with Jaka or Red Sophia, and Cerebus being disgusted by his son’s eventual experiments crossing humans with animals.)

The reason aardvarks are born is to bring balance, as among their various magical properties (attracting magic, occasional mutations like Cerebus sneezing fire or the Cerebus face in Cirin’s armpit), things tend to fall into perfect order around them. This is known as the “magnifier” ability in the series.

What I’m curious about is who or what created the aardvarks and for what purpose.

Early in the series, we’re to assume Tarim (or perhaps Terim if you happen to be a Cirinist!) created them for some unknown reasons. But by the end of the series, we learn that the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God is in fact the true creator of the heavens and the Earth, and presumably created aardvarks for some equally unknown purpose. I would assume that in-universe, Tarim/Terim were either fictional gods from false religions OR that these are the Iestian interpretations of God and Yoowhoo. (As the Light/Void hypothesis holds true whether it’s in relationship to God and Yoowhoo or Tarim and Terim.)

If that is indeed the case, my guess would be that God created aardvarks to be a special kind of prophet, and that it was Cerebus’ destiny to convert to Judaism, bring down the false Tarim and Terim religions, and finally interpret the Bible in the correct way. Cerebus brought light (male light, you might say!) to the distinction between God and Yoowhoo, while also giving an accurate religious interpretation of the Big Bang. (Perhaps Cirin and Susteus Po rejected their true callings and Cerebus was the only one to actually do what God made him to do? Perhaps God had some other purpose in mind for them, but they rejected it to play chess or run a fascist police state?)

This would make sense of the visions Cerebus has in the final third of Cerebus. However, it’s complicated by the fact that Dave Sim himself appears in Minds (and again in Guys), revealing himself to be Cerebus’ creator (and also admitting to being created by the God who exists in real life), adding a metafictional layer that further confuses the issue. Why did “Dave” create aardvarks? To get “sort of rich and sort of famous,” as he memorably put it. But in-universe, where do the plans of God (be it Yoowhoo, Tarim, God, or Terim) factor into all of this? Is there an explanation? If so, was I on the right track earlier? Is there somewhere I’ve went astray? Am I completely off base?

Regardless, I’d love to hear Dave Sim explain the intended role and function of the aardvarks in the Cerebus universe, especially in relationship to the theological implications.

And Dave answers...at length:

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I said "at length" didn't I?

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Okay, Dave did call me back, but my kids are whining about me hogging all the internet to post these, so you'll get parts five and six on Monday. (If I were smart, I'd post one video to AMOC a day for six days. Obviously, I'm not smart...)

Next Time: Oliver Simonsen and the Temple of Doom...

[Ah screw it, here ya go...-Matt]

I DID say "at length." I KNOW I did...

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And FINALLY:

And Margaret wanted me to ask who a character was in a notebook page, but I can’t remember which page. Either:

or:

 Tony asked about the second page:
OK, some random thoughts.1. Jaka's hair is considerably shorter in the sketch than it ended up being in "Jaka's Story." It's about the same length as when she visited Pope Cerebus. Did Dave change his mind on the length of time between C&S and JS at some point? As has been noted, passage of time was always hard to gauge in Cerebus.
2. Was "The Sailor" replaced with "The Poet?" Is it even conceivable that Dave ever plotted JS without Oscar? Seems unlikely, bit...
3. "GUARDIAN?" What th'...Who was this, what was his/her/its place in the storyline as originally outlined in Dave's mind, and where did he/she/it go?
4. The sketch at the bottom looks a little like Pud, but not nearly as fat. Is that an early, non-fat version of Pud, or is it someone who ended up on the cutting room floor, so to speak?
5. Who's the pissed-off looking young lady in the upper left? She never made it into the storyline either, at least not in that form, and not in "Jaka's Story."
And that's just off the top of my head. If there's more from the preliminary planning of JS, Margaret, I hereby request it! Thanks! And Tony asked about the first image:
I wonder if that's Pud's mum at the top left...? I think that’s the question Margaret asked me… (ya know, she HAS your fax number too, why am I the middle man? (It’s a tough life being AMOC Grand Poo-Pah…).)
 Okay, I think that’s all the bases,
 Talk to you Thursday (unless you’re still not back from Wonderland…),
 Matt

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[I'm so good to you people...-Matt]

[In a couple of hours: Oliver and the blah blah blah...-Matt]