BREAKING NEWS AND STUFF:
One of the tiers has an edition of Volume one of The Strange Death of Alex Raymond. Eddie shared on the Patreon:
Some of the tiers have copies of THE CALIFORNIA TEST EDITIONS of SDOAR VOL 1 available as part of the bundle. These will be left over copies of the print run used for the SDOAR FUNDRAISER EDITION copies many of you have already purchased. The difference is these KS copies won't be designated as FE copies, and will not have the personalized page at the front signed by Dave.
So if you missed out on the FE edition...
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Heritage has glamourpuss/The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Art by Dave, and a sketch by Gerhard..Cerebus in Hell:
For Order: Batvark PENIS! and the "Censored for Grandma" variant: Batvark XXXXX
Signed copies of Vark Wars: Walt's Empire Strikes Back (Signed by Dave, Signed by Dave and me, Signed by me after I scribble out Dave's name, however you want...)
And coming to stores the end of this month: Attractive Cousins
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Well timeliness beats desire.
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Hi Dave:
Apologies for the long delay in responding to your last letter. We had a non-Covid-related health issue in our family that required us to decamp to Phoenix for ten days. As you may or may not be aware, Arizona is one of the “new epicenters” for the virus, so we had some things to consider before and while we were there, completely aside from the fact that we were driving into 110-degree-Fahrenheit temperatures. It was sort of a crazy, unfamiliar time, but we’re back in LA now, and things are starting to stabilize in Phoenix. We’re heading back in a week to help the process continue. So that’s what I’ve been up to.
I was sorry to learn of the developments surrounding SDOAR over the last month. I’ve expressed to Eddie that, as a pre-order-er(er) of the book, I’d love to see whatever you want to share of the work you’ve done, whether in digital form or some other form. If that happens, great, and if not, I still consider it to have been a worthy investment.
Regarding your pitch to me, I love the idea, personally, of creating new graphic-novel interpretations of HENCH based on the feature and television pilot scripts thus far completed. I’d certainly love to have them on my bookshelf. And if I had unlimited funds, I might pursue it.
But very few people, relatively-speaking, purchased the book in its original form, and it just wouldn’t make sense to spend the money it would take to create these “new” versions of the book. I still haven’t – and never will – come close to recouping what I spent to hire Ethen Beavers to draw HENCH’s second chapter. Don’t get me wrong, it was worth every penny to me, because I really wanted that second chapter produced, but far fewer people bought that second chapter than the first (for several reasons, but mostly because it was published as print-on-demand through an online service and I didn’t market it at all, aside from through social media), and I just don’t believe the interest level is there, even were I to really blow it out and spend on marketing, advertising, etc. So financially, that was a one-time thing.
Well, maybe it’s a two-time thing, as I don’t think the end of the story has been written yet, and I’d like to do that, if only to satisfy my own itch. To make it worth purchasing for those who’ve read the first two chapters (the only ones I believe who’d be interested in reading a third), I’ll probably want to include some “new” material, whether it’s a new cover, or the original script, or character designs or page layouts by Manny or Ethen, or a “portfolio” of HENCH-related illustrations I’d commission from artists I know. Probably all of the above.
And that’s where I think your suggestion might best be applied – Publishing one of the unproduced television or film scripts of HENCH might be of interest to a reader or two who has followed the property through the years. It’d set the book apart to some degree – I don’t know of another graphic novel that featured an unpublished, unproduced TV or film script made from the source material.
Finances aside, ownership is a big reason it wouldn’t be feasible. I don’t think I own any of the HENCH TV or film scripts that have thus far been written. In all honesty, I’m not sure who does. The writers? The studios for whom those writers were working when they wrote the scripts? Regardless, whoever does own the script (unless I’m way off and it happens to be me – I’ll check with my managers on that) would want to be paid in exchange for letting me use it, no matter how “dead” the project may be. Nothing is ever really “dead” in Hollywood – Some scripts and properties have hung around for decades before being made. And while there’s even the hint of a possibility that someone, somewhere could make money off the material, that material is considered “on life support,” even if it’s probably in a permanently vegetative state. That’s why studio contracts contain language like, “in perpetuity throughout all time and space in this or any other currently-unknown universe.” I’m not kidding. And I don’t want to go through the expense and hassle of untangling all those wires.
Still, it’s fun to think about.
And it makes me want to ask about something we talked about briefly over the phone in 2004, right after CEREBUS ended. You asked about my experiences in the animation field and mentioned you either had, or had considered, presenting CEREBUS as a possible animated feature or series. I can’t remember if this was your own initiative or if someone had approached you, but I was always curious how far the concept got, and what your experience had been.
I do have some other questions for you this go-round, but I’m stepping away from the creative-process inquiries I’ve stuck to over my previous letters in favor of something a little more personal, and I hope you won’t mind. I also hope you’ll forgive me if I use improper terminology – This is in no way an area of expertise for me, so if I say something out of step, I promise it’s out of a lack of education, not a desire to offend.
I know your spiritual evolution over the years has involved the study of many different religions, and while you practice rituals and traditions associated with Islam, my hazy memory tells me that you don’t expressly identify as Muslim. So I’m curious about your religious life. Do you participate in any of the communal aspects of any religion? Do you attend a mosque or any other house of worship? Do you or have you ever discussed your interpretations of religion and religious philosophy with religious scholars or congregation leaders?
(I just realized, those questions sound a little McCarthy-esque, don’t they? “Are you now or have you ever been…” I don’t mean them to sound accusatory… I’m genuinely curious and just trying to be direct)
Stay healthy, stay well,
Adam
Adam Beechen's Hench is available from Amazon.
I was sorry to learn of the developments surrounding SDOAR over the last month. I’ve expressed to Eddie that, as a pre-order-er(er) of the book, I’d love to see whatever you want to share of the work you’ve done, whether in digital form or some other form. If that happens, great, and if not, I still consider it to have been a worthy investment.
Regarding your pitch to me, I love the idea, personally, of creating new graphic-novel interpretations of HENCH based on the feature and television pilot scripts thus far completed. I’d certainly love to have them on my bookshelf. And if I had unlimited funds, I might pursue it.
But very few people, relatively-speaking, purchased the book in its original form, and it just wouldn’t make sense to spend the money it would take to create these “new” versions of the book. I still haven’t – and never will – come close to recouping what I spent to hire Ethen Beavers to draw HENCH’s second chapter. Don’t get me wrong, it was worth every penny to me, because I really wanted that second chapter produced, but far fewer people bought that second chapter than the first (for several reasons, but mostly because it was published as print-on-demand through an online service and I didn’t market it at all, aside from through social media), and I just don’t believe the interest level is there, even were I to really blow it out and spend on marketing, advertising, etc. So financially, that was a one-time thing.
Well, maybe it’s a two-time thing, as I don’t think the end of the story has been written yet, and I’d like to do that, if only to satisfy my own itch. To make it worth purchasing for those who’ve read the first two chapters (the only ones I believe who’d be interested in reading a third), I’ll probably want to include some “new” material, whether it’s a new cover, or the original script, or character designs or page layouts by Manny or Ethen, or a “portfolio” of HENCH-related illustrations I’d commission from artists I know. Probably all of the above.
And that’s where I think your suggestion might best be applied – Publishing one of the unproduced television or film scripts of HENCH might be of interest to a reader or two who has followed the property through the years. It’d set the book apart to some degree – I don’t know of another graphic novel that featured an unpublished, unproduced TV or film script made from the source material.
Finances aside, ownership is a big reason it wouldn’t be feasible. I don’t think I own any of the HENCH TV or film scripts that have thus far been written. In all honesty, I’m not sure who does. The writers? The studios for whom those writers were working when they wrote the scripts? Regardless, whoever does own the script (unless I’m way off and it happens to be me – I’ll check with my managers on that) would want to be paid in exchange for letting me use it, no matter how “dead” the project may be. Nothing is ever really “dead” in Hollywood – Some scripts and properties have hung around for decades before being made. And while there’s even the hint of a possibility that someone, somewhere could make money off the material, that material is considered “on life support,” even if it’s probably in a permanently vegetative state. That’s why studio contracts contain language like, “in perpetuity throughout all time and space in this or any other currently-unknown universe.” I’m not kidding. And I don’t want to go through the expense and hassle of untangling all those wires.
Still, it’s fun to think about.
And it makes me want to ask about something we talked about briefly over the phone in 2004, right after CEREBUS ended. You asked about my experiences in the animation field and mentioned you either had, or had considered, presenting CEREBUS as a possible animated feature or series. I can’t remember if this was your own initiative or if someone had approached you, but I was always curious how far the concept got, and what your experience had been.
I do have some other questions for you this go-round, but I’m stepping away from the creative-process inquiries I’ve stuck to over my previous letters in favor of something a little more personal, and I hope you won’t mind. I also hope you’ll forgive me if I use improper terminology – This is in no way an area of expertise for me, so if I say something out of step, I promise it’s out of a lack of education, not a desire to offend.
I know your spiritual evolution over the years has involved the study of many different religions, and while you practice rituals and traditions associated with Islam, my hazy memory tells me that you don’t expressly identify as Muslim. So I’m curious about your religious life. Do you participate in any of the communal aspects of any religion? Do you attend a mosque or any other house of worship? Do you or have you ever discussed your interpretations of religion and religious philosophy with religious scholars or congregation leaders?
(I just realized, those questions sound a little McCarthy-esque, don’t they? “Are you now or have you ever been…” I don’t mean them to sound accusatory… I’m genuinely curious and just trying to be direct)
Stay healthy, stay well,
Adam
 |
| The Beechen Knight |
(Which is were his website sends you.) Most
recently, Adam wrote an eight-page story featured in
the 'ROBIN 80th Anniversary Special' for DC.
At this point if you don't know who Dave Sim is, or
what he's done, Heaven help you...
 |
| The Sim Knight |
I got more stuff from Dave, but some of it hasn't been approved to run. And this should be Moment enough for you people...
Next Time: Hobbs. (If you're lucky, he might show you Batvark's penis...)
5 comments:
Wait, WHAAAT? The F.E. of SDOAR are forthcoming after all? Oh man, I'm confused...
The reason scientists (epidemiologists or otherwise) disagree is because they use the scientific process. They hypothesize, they analyze, they experiment, they discover facts as they reveal themselves through research. Disagreements are put to the test. Then, knowledge is gained. COVID-19 is brand new, so of course there's going to be disagreement among scientists as they figure it out! That's how it works!
Dave feels the need to try to equate the innate ignorance of faith with disagreements in a scientific environment because he's trying to explain away the inability of faith to actually, you know, do anything in the real world. For things like, oh, I don't know, a bad stomach pain or a very sore wrist, you can try and pray the pain away, or you could go to a doctor, like Dave did.
Note above, I said "feels", not "thinks" because he doesn't think anymore. Now, it's just a binary world for him,: his unique interpretation of scripture is good, everything else is Marxist-Feminism.
Of course somebody has to decide which writings count as Scripture...opinions, shall we say, vary...
Yeah, Tony, I have just finished proofreading a friend's book, in which he cites numerous, non-gospel passages in the New Testament, as "God's Word".
IMHO, anything after the four testimonies that begin the New Testament, with the exception (perhaps) of John's Revelation, is some guy's interpretion and/or speculation as to what God wishes for us and what He wants us to do or not do.
That doesn't mean that they weren't good and wise. They were. Paul (nee Saul) was a brilliant, insightful, loving writer after the supposed scales fell from his eyes.
But, those who portend or actually do, speak for the one, true God of Abraham, do so for great reward (alas), but also at great peril.
As shown in Church & State, you can kind of get famous and "important", speaking for a "god" but, eventually, yer gonna git squashed.
Sorry, Archie.
interpretation
Sheesh! My bad, not Miss bitchy little autocorrect. Just me.
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