Tuesday 31 March 2020

The Mystery Picture, but first: Thus Copy Edited Zarathustra

Hi, Everybody!

Attractive Cousins!

VARK WARS: WALT'S EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

The four different High Societys.

But with Diamond being closed, I don't know how any of that works.

But, if you wanna read a free issue of Cerebus in Hell?, "Hare Krishna"...or something......

And there might be a sequel soon.
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Down there on yesterday's post, our ol'...(buddy? pal? acquaintance? yeah, that one) acquaintance David Johnson came down from the mountains to dispense his wisdom to us. Ya know, as one does

And instead of answering him in the comments, I'ma do it here and kill two birds with one stone. (Plus Margaret gave me something to post, so I'll throw that at the bottom for the people who aren't interested. Just keep scrolling until you see the Muppet.)

Alright, let's go. My answers are in Bold.

David Johnson:
Let me clarify what I think would really happen, if Matt asked Dave if he wanted the floor so to speak for however long to read John on the phone. Dave would probably laugh, be polite, agree with Matt and others that I'm often wrong and long winded on such things (How long has Dave's commentaries and essays been in comparison to my longest 13 page letter or so?)
The Genesis Question commentaries are a 368 page Word document. 
, and conclude that it would be rude to even suggest to Matt in any way that he'd rather in any way spend the 60 minutes or so reading scriptures aloud, because it's Matt's phone call and time and such.
Dave calls me. He can talk about whatever he wants. I fax up any questions I get beforehand. 

That's the deal... 
And, so, as Matt has implied before how Dave's scripture commentaries are TL:DR,
DAVE is the one who said the commentaries are "TL:DR". DAVE. Not me. 
and how Matt has rightly also implied that AMOC is his blog and his opinions and not Dave's, yes, all of these things are indeed right.
Yup. there's a lil' thing over on the right near the top of the page that says "I'm NOT Dave Sim." 
Therefore, my suggestion to Matt who asked for them to ask Dave about, was to ask him, What if Matt did offer to give him the floor for that purpose?
Again, Dave can talk about whatever he wants. I don't really tell him what he can or can't say. 
And, if so, would Dave do it? It wasn't to me about anything else. It's about, after 40 years are you or are you not ever going to tell your friend,
One: I'm forty. Dave's only known me by name for sixteen years(? or less...). 
Two: I'm sure Dave would agree that we're not friends. I'm not sure there exists a word in the English language to describe our relationship.
"Dave, I love you.
DAVID'S WORDS! NOT! MINE! 
Do you want to read John aloud with me for however long today for our call? I want to humor you because I love you more than I love myself.
DAVID'S WORDS! NOT! MINE! 
It's not about what I think is or isn't true about your faith divided from your work. It's about me doing unto others as I'd have them to do unto me."
Again, again: Dave can talk about whatever he wants... 
And, that's been Dave giving all of you what you've wanted for 40 years. 42+ years. 45+ if you followed him before Cerebus.
Well, yeah. but we ALSO gave Dave what he wanted during that time (up to a point), namely Cash, Grass, and Ass (well, only a select few gave the last two.) So, it was a fair transaction. 

David continued (after another comment that I got nothing to add/correct to):
Dave K, good question.
Oh yeah, that's in response to a question Dave Kopperman asked:
I got one: is there anything that Dave regarded as a creative sacrifice when he went from the issue-by-issue mindset to the serialized novel format? I'd say the shift starts to happen in the middle of High Society but really starts to kick in during the C&S II and then becomes complete with Jaka's Story.
Like it's clear that the long-form approach gave him access to some major benefits from a narrative, visual, and formal perspective - but opening a window shuts a door, as it were, so some things that were part of the more discrete issues approach were lost. The individual issue titles, for one, a thing that Dave had a real gift for. So, again: was there anything he regarded as a deficit to making comics in that shift?
Back to David Johnson (do I gotta link to the Daves again?)
I'm sure Matt will ask Dave and he'll answer it.
That's kinda how this works... 
I'm thinking Dave might say the shift began around Cerebus #11 around the time he was on cocaine
LSD. Not cocaine. LSD. A psychedelic, not a stimulant. It may SEEM like no big deal, drugs is drugs... But Dave got high as F### and decided to do 300 issues of Cerebus, if he got high on coke, he would have drawn them all in a weekend.
he has said before, when he's said before that his mind was open and he got all these ideas, including to end Cerebus with #300. He's before kind of blaming Dani
Deni, with an "e". 
for not be open to his new thoughts at the time.
He thought that with JFK assassinated, Jackie should have become president. He admits he was high as F###.
I also believe, this is about the time that Dave expanded on Haka
Jaka. with a "J". 
as a character, with the letter he got concerning her, where beforehand, I think Dave just would've kept doing single stand alone stories.
The change from bi-monthly to monthly is where the stories stopped being stand-alone and shifted to a more rolling narrative.  Palnu being the start.
I think one has to at some point start telling stories in these cases, that follow the course of a beginning to an end, where the characters age and life continues. A film director once gave a good speech on, how a good story teller must begin with the sum of the story's point and finish. He said the story is about how the characters get there.
To me, like some other stories, Cerebus until about #11, was simply an issue to issue story.
Eh. Year two (7 to 13? if I'm remembering right,) is a LOT tighter in continuity and storytelling. The return of Elrod to the Conniptins to Imesh to The return of Sophia to The Roach to Silverspoon to Palnu. (heck, now that I think about it, issue six starts that ball rolling...)
If Dave hadn't changed to making it have an ending and a beginning, then it never would've been a story, but only entertainment.
Sure. 
A story like the director spoke of, is one that is advice.
To me, interestingly is that the Bible as explained by Dave concerning how Genesis 1 in relation to John 1, isn't a book by book stand alone story in-between, but a story with a beginning to an end, because John clearly shows that Genesis 1 wasn't stand alone, but an analogy pointing to John 1 concerning how Christ would fulfil all things. That, even if one does or doesn't agree, is good story telling. I like the Bible as a story. Without Jesus's advice, I wouldn't know salvation.
Okay.

And then Brian West commented:
Well, Matt, looks like this month's "Please Hold" ought to be pretty interesting.
I'd like to find the guy who cursed me to live in interesting times...and punch him in the dick. 

And David Johnson came back with:
You're welcome Brian! As for this month's Please Hold, there's always I agree interesting, but in relation to me, I know Matt's going to ask your question, the others asked here, and anymore to come. But, if or if not you meant that anything at all that I suggested will ne apart of it, it will not because I've never specifically asked him to ask him a question in regards to it.
Well, you did. Under your latest pseudonym. But, whatever. I'll send it all up to Dave. That's the gig.
I've suggested, but Matt will not do that.
Wanna see the Vegas odds? 
He may out of anger or for fun or such bring me up collaterally, but any way, Dave and he would only make fun and light of me, and never specifically address my simple point.
I'll send it all up, but there are a number of questions here, and over on the Faceybooks. So, I imagine Dave will want to answer them. But ya never know. 
Even if, now Matt did, it is still going to be something like I said it would be. I don't think they're going to read John and I think that is that.
Dave read the beginning of John a few months back. 
Ok. I could pay Dave and Matt each a $100.00 probably and I think they'd still decline.
No, for money, Dave would probably do it. I would. 
For me, people who say they need support because they're supporting each other, who would still decline that, shows me they've made a choice as I've said.
I've never asked for money for myself. I do AMOC out of a bizarre sense of duty... 
Ok.
You'll see, with those like Grubauh, Birdsong, Matt, and such, they such much about much, and have all said to ignore me because I haven't been short or correct in my responses, or mysterious and a liar using cloak and dagger, that now as I've done before, when I say, Ok, here I am (even if it's after one of them has said they'll address me if I simply do so), they'll still ignore me and ignore my simple statements or such.
Yup, ya got me... 
So, it isn't that they're ignoring people who call themselves an elf, or liars, or lunatics, or such.
I suspected it was you. You have a very distinct  writing style.
It's simply choosing to love the one, while hating the other. All of us see God is judging the entire world.
Uh... 
The entertainment world is being hit the hardest because God is destroying the false God's.
Uh... 
Our comics distribution has stopped. Our comics are ceasing.
Sorta. Kinda. Not really. 
CIH? is nearing its finish.
Dave's a year ahead. A YEAR. So, no. 
And, so on. Yet, some of us are still hoping for the impossible that we can indulge in one more issue of CIH? where we again make fun of such and such.
It's a HUMOR comic. Making fun is kinda the idea. 
I advise such, let God win the chess game. If not, He'll win either way. It's better to admit He's better than us, than calling Him a liar. But, yes, it's one's choice. I choose Jesus.
(Don't do it Matt. Don't do it Matt. Don't. Do. It. Matt!)
...
(Ah $#!*, I'm gonna do it.) Me too! (I apologize for nothing...)
______________________________________________________
And now, Mags thing:
______________________________________________________
Margaret Liss:
In last week's Cerebus Around the World entry Oliver put in the picture I won on eBay:


So guess who called me right as my annual review was about to start? Yup, Dave. I listened to the voice mail on the way home, and at the end he said I could share it with the AMoC crowd:

I've never seen this version Before. These were the photographs that Ellen Finlay did of me back in 1992 to promote the 92 Tour. So this photograph would've gone to the Houston Chronicle from our PR firm in Chicago, Lekas and Levine, Joanne and I can't remember the other one's name. Who were the publicists, and they asked for clear professional black and white photographs that they could send to newspapers and Ellen Finlay (Margaret: Dave spelled out the last name, I took a guess with the first) took the pictures.
That isn't a fire place, that is the door into what was then the rectangle office and is now my bedroom with a small step down in the doorway. And I don't think that is Gerhard, I think that might have been Eric Hanek who was Ellen's boyfriend, live-in boyfriend and charter member of Gerhard's out to lunch bunch. And I think the idea was she was trying to bounce the light on that side of the picture. and she needed a large sheet of illustration board which we had and needed someone to hold it up. So I'm pretty sure that is Eric Hanek holding it up.
I have no idea why the Houston Chronicle would've got an uncropped photo that showed somebody's feet on the right hand side. And I can't imagine that the Publicity firm would've gotten in the photos and not have noticed. You really can't send something that has somebody's feet just off on the right. That is pretty obvious that's what in the picture, that should've been crop before it went out. And I'm sure that Ellen would've cropped it because all of the copies I have are cropped, they don't show the pair of feet.
That is the best I can do to explain that.
And that, I think, is a pretty good explanation. Here is what the picture looks like cropped:

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Thanks Mags! And Thanks Dave!

Next Time: Hobbs. Cerebus. Hell? (That's usually how we roll on Wednesdays...)

15 comments:

Steve said...


Thanks again Matt for your calm, humor-infused handling of those comments.

I can't seem to swim up for air in them - I know it's English, but of a sort I just can't sort out.

Steve

ps -- I've had some questions on the original publication of Silverspoons, but it'll have to wait.

Mouse Skull Entertainment said...

You are welcome Steve,

It's a bit like reading the literal Greek translations of the Bible, you kinda "fill in the blanks" with what YOU think David is saying. (It's...(I wanna say obnoxious, but it's not really, it's just weird,) that David is more understandable when he writes under a pseudonym. Although the give away is the "Gee that Dave's a nut for believing in God..." stuff. Also how the pseudonym gets wordier and wordier as he responds.)

What's the question about Silverspoon? I bet I can answer it without asking Dave.

Manly Matt Dow

Mouse Skull Entertainment said...

Also,

One of these times, I'm just gonna answer David's comments with clips from "You Bet Your Life"...

Manly

Birdsong said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brian West said...

Yep, Matt you're right. Me saying "interesting" was putting it mildly. Very mildly.

Jeff said...

I could have sworn that, when I clicked on "as one does", I was gonna see the video of Mel Brooks as Moses in "The History of the World, Part One".

Sigh.

Jeff said...

Hey, 13-page letters are child's play. I once hand-wrote Dave a single-spaced letter, on a legal pad, that topped out at 25 pages. It was also a point-by-point response to something about which I knew he was wrong. He refused to take the time to read it, but told me in a terse response letter that if I pared it down, then he might read it.

I did so, bullet-pointing the salient aspects of the first letter. He read that and responded graciously.

Back then, a *short* letter from Dave was about six pages.

Ah, verbosity. May you never die.

Dave Kopperman said...

Hmm. I think David J. got hung up on the "why" Dave shifted to long-form storytelling, which wasn't at all what I intended. The "why" is fairly self-evident, and DJ does explicate that a bit. It's also not about the "what" of Cerebus - the themes and all that. Those have been discussed at length, and like any great novel, are open to debate with opinions that reflect the concerns of the individual reader, with Dave's commentary as a guide that can sometimes illuminate and sometimes obfuscate.

What I'm getting at is the "whither" that Dave faced as an artist and writer - to wit; if you decide that you're going to make a painting with only two tubes of paint (three, if you've bought one with the advance you were given), do you lament the loss of the colors that aren't part of that original aesthetic boundary?

David Johnson said...

Peace,

First, I apologize for saying I wouldn't read any reply, and two, I apologize for being rude. Matt, you usually give thorough replies, pass along all of the questions for Dave, and work hard to be creative for AMOC. Third, I apologize for getting the TL:DR remark wrong. If there's anything else, and I'm sure there is, I apologize for it too. Thank you.

Concerning... I'm wondering if I should just answer as an elf or such, if I really answer better under a pseudonym (Thanks Matt)..., your main points, yes, Please Hold for Dave Sim is simply and well by you presented in a mannered way. Concerning your knowledge about Cerebus, yes, I agree, the story did start taking on a growing of those characters and such you mentioned early on.

As for my suggestion for you to ask Dave if he'd want to read from John, thanks, I hadn't known he read it online recently elsewhere. As for, if he'd read from it again when you ask, I don't think he will. Even, if you totally left me and that it was my suggestion out of it, I still think he'll be polite, say no because it's your phone call, and for the fan's questions, and he'd chuckle about how David Wayne Johnson (I always loved how he says ones or my full name or just how one addressed it to him in thier correspondence to him) again was rambling on with 18 pg letters.

My original suggestion, was to postpone the other questions and simply out of your heart Matt, to ask Dave would he like to read from John. Even though, he read it before online and one could just repost it, I still think you know what I mean, when I say that I think he likes normally on his own often rereading John even in a same venue (like he did at the Court House), along with how he just last week suggested to you Matt to, Please humor him and read John, means that if you asked him if he'd like to read it with you, that he'd say yes, and the other questions could wait til next month, or who knows, maybe Dave would be so happy, he'd talk longer or later soon before that so that both could be done.

As to your comments about Dave probably not being your friend and such, I understand. And, I understand your manliness when pointing out that you loving Dave were my words. And, you understand I meant that affectionatly as a fan. You do feel that way for him don't you?

David Birdsong, well said and thank you. If I misunderstood your humor, I apologize. Yes, Jesus (G-d is what the Jews call him. Are you Jewish? God told Moses to call him I AM because that's his name. Calling God G-d is kind of being Hazel Pony/Refuge Elf/David Johnson like in its own way) is the truth, the life, and the way. I know you know he wouldn't read CIH? or call it humor. I'm sure he knows every page and panel of all our minds and works though.

So, the sum of what I've said is that like Dave said, we all should realize that God is allowing this virus because he wants us to turn to him. Reading his word is a good place to start, with prayer and fasting (not from food, but from strife and debate, replaced by love for our brother and freeing the oppressed from their bondage).

Yes, I know you'll ask Dave, Matt. Yes, Brian, it's indeed very interesting, but Christ more so. Yes, Dave would read something or such for money. I'm guessing that would probably be more like a $1,000.00 though because his time is occupied and such. I think he'd read scriptures for free.

Concerning salvation, I don't agree with Dave's self inferred view of God and Jesus.

About, "Haka" and not "Jaka", thank you (I just saw my Google keyboard was responsible for changing my correct spelling). Now, you know why I often point out my spelling errors on my comments on AMOC, because I know otherwise you'll correct me.

Again, thank you for everything. One thing is needful. Jesus.

Unknown said...

Matt,

Two things:

1. I really needed a laugh today. Really. Boy, you delivered. Thanks for that.

2. Please accept my sympathies.

Michael Hunt

David Johnson said...

Glad to help cause you a laugh Michael. When, Matt said if anyone wanted to skip our exchange, and scroll on down to Margaret, by just, Looking for the puppet, I wondered if he'd meant Margaret, but saw he meant the Cerebus stuffed animal. Hope that makes you laugh more?

David Johnson said...

See, if I want to be funny too I'll gladly will be like Paul in the Bible. I love Margaret (Matt, you know what I mean and I'm quoting you too and so I know you love Dave with your words too)! Margaret is like the Mary in the Islamic trinity, to Dave Sim's Jesus, and God as God, as opposed to the YHWH/she/it/or such Satan, which I guess is me (Yes, my words Matt, not yours.). Margaret's probably going to look for her real sword now because I don't know her from Adam. Margaret, I love you. I'm rejoicing in Christ.

David Johnson said...

You know, I actually know a church lady who makes puppets. She made the puppet for my friends public access TV show The Happy Show by Matt Hawes that's on YouTube. In one of them I play each of the Mark Brothers while I fix duck soup for my Kitchen Magician TV show that Dave showed a picture of in Cerebus # 300.

If I found that old favorite picture of mine of Margaret here on AMOC, where she's wearing that little Conan Cerebus helmet with the horns, and she's posed to take on the wilderness with her sword or such (Please Matt, show the postcard, remember she was on vacation or such last year.), and I paid the puppet lady to make a puppet of her like that, and donated that to you to auction off on Kickstarter or such, do you think Matt it would get over a $1,000.00 like others and you have paid for Dave artwork?

If so, I could then in turn donate the money to Dave to buy granola bars or such to dip in his yogurt that he said he eats every day (I always liked Dave's simple eating and drinking of things since he came to God, where he drinks vegetable juice and such, and simply enjoyed it as opposed to say hanging out most of the time in a bar and getting drunk.).

Or, would Margaret get after me for identity theft or such? Is that stealing her likeness? No, it's parody isn't it, just like CIH? Ain't I protected by that? Yes, Matt, I wanted you to say, "It's Margaret you need to be protected from."

Margaret, as I've said before, reminds me of The Holy Spirit. She quietly is I think Dave's biggest supporter. She's got a blindspot to feminism. I think she's single and happy with that. She defies the odds. She's a good woman. Yes, since in my unpublished Aardvark Droppings comic strips (Which Dave showed some of the text to in Cerebus #300) she became the character called Blind Spot and had an eye patch, which she incurred after The Fiends of Lulu (based on The Friends of Lulu) put it out after she left them and joined Dave, her fictional puppet would have an eye patch.

Yes, feel free Matt to ask Dave if he'd except the offer. But, he has to throw in his autograph or such on the helmet.

Oh, great, you guys are going to look me up on YouTube aren't you and make a puppet out of me to make fun of me aren't you? Hearing Matt think, "Yep." Remember, I wouldn't even fetch 10¢.

Tony Dunlop said...

Matt, you gotta stop feeding the trolls. I mean, unless you get off on that sort of thing, in which case...well, whatever dude!

David Johnson said...

Tony, remember, I'm not an elf, troll, or such. Matt's good at letting us all share our thoughts here. He and you know mine are different, but he'll not wrongly cast me out. Thank for your sharing. One knows if the other is truly only wrongly trying to cause wrong here, as opposed to sharing. Love covers a multitude of sins, the scriptures say.