The Strange Death of Alex Raymond.
What is it?
Spinning out of Dave Sim's history of photo-realism in comics from his series glamourpuss (April 2008 - July 2012), The Strange Death of Alex Raymond deals with the death of Alex Raymond in an accident while driving Stan Drake's 1956 Corvette on September 6th, 1956, and all the "Comic-Art Metaphysics" (as Sim has dubbed it,) that goes along with that.
The artwork has been completely redrawn by Dave Sim, and is not just a reprint of what appeared in glamourpuss. After Sim began to suffer a mysterious hand malady that prevented him from drawing, the art continued to be produced by painter Carson Grubaugh from layouts by Sim.
Recently, Sim has decided to suspend all work on The Strange Death of Alex Raymond. Carson Grubaugh has (with Sim's permission) taken over the efforts to get the book published and bring it to market.
Projected to run for five volumes, the first two volumes are completed and print-ready. This comes to a total of a 251 pages. An additional twenty-one pages of mock-ups were produced by Sim for Volume Three and will be completed by Grubaugh once an agreement to secure publishing has been reached. Carson has an additional twenty-or-so page ending plotted to wrap up the reading experience of the work (again, if an agreement to publish can be reached).
Any publisher interested in the project can contact Carson at grubaughc@yosemite.edu
Fans looking for updates on the status of the project are encouraged to follow Carson on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/carsongrubaugh/?hl=en
The following is an eight page teaser-trailer of the first volume:
And here is some art produced by Carson Grubaugh:
For V1
For V2
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21 comments:
Fantagraphics, IDW and Drawn and Quarterly have all expressed disinterest in the project. Please don't light them up on social media about this, people.
Thank you.
Carson
Thanks for trying, Carson. I really, really want a copy/copies of this.
Not to tell you your "job," but have you considered Dover, who ended up publishing "Puma Blues" a few years ago?
As you wish, Carson. Good luck.
Tony,
I emailed anyone who had an obvious submissions editor contact email. Dover required a literary agent to be the point of contact.
I applaud Dave Sim for staying true to his stated princples, and making it explicit that Carson G. can publish this work.
-- Damian
I am very excited to pick this up whenever it gets printed up.
Dover parent company LSC Communications is currently in bankruptcy with massive debt. I'm not sure they could be a viable option.
https://locusmag.com/2020/05/lsc-bankruptcy/
OK, I was pretty sure I didn't know what I was talking about. Carry on!!
Hi Carson!
If your version of SDOAR and YDKJ gets printed (fingers crossed), will Dave get compensated?
Everyone is bummed that Dave doesn't want to carry on, but if Dave has his vision that SDOAR somehow it not going to work, why can't anyone see this. Dave and Eddie researched and researched and researched some more to create something super effin' special. Maybe Dave got burned out. It's been so long. ( Bless carson) Dave sees only 123 interested people over X amount of years. Comic book fandom let him down. Don't piss on Dave. Other than prayer, he put all his hours to get this done.
This is just me, a Cerebus Fan since 1984.
Michael R from Easton, Pa
Uh-oh! Michael R. is out to challenge Jeff S. as the number-one my-Dave-right-or-wrong apologist! "Why can't anyone see that?" "Comic-book fandom let him down." Oh, har har har!
-- Damian
Damian,
Why do you care how big a fan Jeff, Michael R or anyone really is of Dave Sim?
cheers,
A Fake Name
Who’s left? Image? Avatar? Dark Horse? Maybe TwoMorrows?
Pretty sure crowdfunding is the way this happens, if it all. But Dave’s unwillingness to conduct any sort of modern marketing/promotion is the problem. Why not YouTube series on Alex Raymond school of art? The intellectual history of cartooning? Going on Cartoonist Kayfabe? Or inviting guests on his channel to discuss classical comic strips.
Hopefully this is something Carson can do. And this has to be done PRIOR to launch to build hype. I only heard about CEREBUS 1 Remastered via a Twitter feed.
Or why not just have Aardvark-Vanaheim publish it serially instead of books like the (frankly) idiotic Batpenis, which I consider an insult to both Dave’s talent and what remains of his readership. He’s willfully pushing people away so he can be justified in his sad “nobody likes me” attitude.
He’s willfully pushing people away so he can be justified in his sad “nobody likes me” attitude.
That's a bingo.
The fact is that the damage has been done and no matter how this book gets published, it's going to sell about 200 copies and that's that. Sad, really.
Damian
He deserves the applause, for sure. I cannot be more grateful!
Michael R
Yes, 1/3 for SDOAR. I get a 1/3, Eddie gets a 1/3. I offered it as a four-way split but Sean said he got paid hourly for all of his work and would only ask for hourly pay for any further work. Technically Dave did more work, but given the amount of money he has already generated through Patreon, fundraisers, auctioning signed prototypes (which I never got a cut of), etc. I feel okay with keeping it simple and just doing a 3-way split.
For YDKJ, any of the profits from the Kickstarter Sean and I will be running in the next few weeks will be split four ways between Dave, Sean, Jack and myself. Again, much easier than trying to calculate percentage of contribution.
Dave
There are tons of publishers. Two Morrows is a good idea i had not thought of yet. I have contacted a whole bunch beyond the ones you mentioned. Large and small. I have seen a liiiitttle bit of very hesitant interest, but nothing that gets me really hopeful yet. As soon as there is report-able news I will share it.
@MichaelR
If a comedian tells a joke & the audience doesn't laugh that's not the fault of the audience.
Did I miss something in the last five years, but how come IDW went from being yeah yeah yeah let's do SODAR to bugger off and never darken my door again? Have I missed the AMOC articles on this or summat?
Craig: From what I understand, IDW changed owners, Ted Adams went on sabbatical, then came back and formed a new company. And Dave got lost in the shuffle.
But feel free to tune back on the first Saturday of July as I join Dave Sim for "The Bizarre Autopsy of The Strange Death of Alex Raymond: What went wrong, AND HOW!"
Manly Matt Dow
I'd give some money if this comic went to Kickstarter or indiegogo. Im not one to do that but I did get the reprint of Cerebus 1 and Earthworm Jim comic.
Now, the following is being wroten by a recently and still concussed person, so caviar empty. But, my understanding is that Dave, wisely, draws just a monthly salary from the wholly separate Aardvark-Vanaheim, Inc. company, of which he is the sole CEO, COO, CFO, etc.
He used to draw C$1,200 per month for his personal expenses, which are minimal. But, lately, he has been drawing much less.
Other than property taxes, food, electricity, mail costs (which can be high), and perhaps the odd whim of a treat, Dave no longer has current major expenditures. Certainly nothing like the foundation rebuild of a few years ago.
But, C$350 a month will not get it done for anyone, whether it's greenbacks or Loonies.
I propose (and, remember, I'm still concussed), but I propose that anyone who cares about the legacy of Sim and his body of work either up their Patreon pledge or send at least $10 a month directly to Dave at his P.O. Box, 1674.
Let us few, we noble few, not charge into, but fill the breach.
Addled as I may be just now (what's that, Jimmy? You say ya wanna what?), I think that I can say that Dave has earned our assistance.
Okay, beddy-bye time. Let us hope, mightily, that I wake up again.
Dave's been a charity case for years now, but if he's really having difficulty making ends meet he can apply for CERB.
-- Damian
Carson deserves better collaborators than Dave Sim
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