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...)
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And now, Mags thing:
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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...)