Nobody here but us Aardvarks...

Hi, Everybody!

Carson and Sean's Kickstarter for The Strange Death of Alex Raymond ended on Saturday. Get yer DAMN surveys in so I can get my DAMN books and Rip Cerebus strip. DAMNIT! (And thanks to the other 641 people who joined me in raising $57,555 for Carson's dog (Come on Sean, you KNOW you can't say "no" to that face...). But seriously get yer dang surveys in people...)

SPEAKING of The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, Diamond order cutoff for this title is May 28th.

AND Speaking of Diamond Final Order Cut-offs, UNETHICAL SPIDER-VARK#1 #1 (DIA MAY211064) and SWORDS OF CEREBUS IN HELL? #4 (DIA MAY 211065) get theirs on Thursday, the 27th. You should have ordered it already, but just in case you didn't, DO IT!

(I jokingly asked Sean what his next project was, and he seriously answered me. More details as I'm allowed to talk about them.)

And Speaking of Cerebus in Hell? there's a new one:

Crisis In Infinite Quarantine:

And yes, this WAS a free digital comic last year, but it got edited down to size, so buy a copy and see what got "cut"...

And a new Swords of Cerebus in Hell? volume too:

Swords of Cerebus in Hell? Volume 5:

SPEAKING of Swords of Cerebus in Hell?, Ben Hobbs' Kickstarter is still going strong. (I had joked about him adding more stretch goals, but nobody noticed. I feel unseen...)

As Oliver noted, Cerebus is getting translated into Russian. Mikhail Bocharov is the guy:

And Mikhail sent me:

Hello again!

I already wrote to you,

I $#!* you not, he titled his first email "From Russia With Love". Sometimes this AMOC gig is pretty sweet...

(So nobody @#%& it up by making stupid "What a counrty!" Yakov Smirnoff jokes... 'kay?)
 

my name is Mikhail, I am from Russia and I have recently been the official translator of the Cerebus comic strip into Russian.

I never thought it would turn out that way, but it's a great honor to work on such a legendary comic. Reading your amazing blog, I realize how much I don't know yet! Thank you for your posts, for a long time I have not read any blog until two o'clock in the morning, interfering with my wife's sleep.

I have a problem of a technical and simultaneous aesthetic nature. When I make comic in Russian, I attach original covers, but, unfortunately, not all of them are in good quality. Some I manage to "fix". Perhaps you can help me by knowing people who have a good quality digital copy or an original comic book whose covers can be scanned?

I attach the covers of the first two issues of the Russian digital edition! The cover of the second issue was found online and slightly remastered. If you are interested, I can exclusively show you the entire first issue in Russian (but you are unlikely to understand much, our language is merciless).

Thanks again for your creativity, it is very inspiring and helpful.--
Всего доброго!
Mikhail Bocharov
http://rhodan.ru/

And these images:

(I feel like this is a "Sean problem"...)

Speaking of Faxes from Dave:

Mondays:

AND Speaking of Cerebus foreign translations, (also as Oliver said,) I got some of my copies of SUPERHELDEN the anthology that reprinted Cerebus:

Mostly for Margaret, who lists these things, Cerebus appears in issues 10-17.

#10 reprints half of Cerebus issue #1:

Detail from #10's cover

#11 reprints the second half of issue #1:

I asked Sean if this was a counterfeit, he didn't tell me.

#12 reprints Cerebus #2 in it's entirety:

Cover detail from #12

SUPERHELDEN #13 reprints Cerebus #3.

SUPERHELDEN #14 reprints Cerebus #4:

And he makes the full cover

I haven't gotten SUPERHELDEN #15, yet but it reprints Cerebus #5.

SUPERHELDEN #16 reprints Cerebus #6:

This is the only issue I have that has a cornerbox.

 And I don't have #17 yet, so I only ASSUME it reprints Cerebus #7.

And all my research says that #17 was the last issue of the series.

The editorial on the inside front cover to SUPERHELDEN #10 (painstakingly typed out and translated via Google. (You're welcome)):

A series that I had my eye on for a while, and so I wanted to see in Superhelden, is Cerebus. I started reading Cerebus (only) around # 230 (May 1998), But despite discovering this independent comic so late, I was immediately sold on the adventures of the aardvark, for those who have no idea what I'm talking about : Cerebus is Dave Sim's 6,600-page story about the Aardvark Cerebus.

And that is also the biggest disadvantage of Cerebus, because how are you going to place such a mega-epic in Superhelden? It's actually an "impossible" job, translating and publishing this huge story. Dave Sim himself once indicated that he really does not like a translated version of his comic. But when I was surfing the net the other day, I saw that there were translated versions (Italian, French and Spanish) of the second (High Society) book and third book (Church & State Book 1) of Cerebus, so the high time for a Dutch version as well.

Getting in touch with Dave Sim alone isn't really easy. In fact, it is almost impossible to get in touch with the man behind the aardvark.

So I first contacted Gerhard, that was a lot easier. Gerhard has contributed to Dave Sim's enormous oeuvre since High Society. I was hoping he turned out to be the right person to approach so I could get in touch with Dave Sim through him. Gerhard was quick to respond, agreeing that getting in touch with Sim is indeed an almost impossible thing. He does not answer his phone, does not have an e-mail address and if you write it, he only answers (possibly) back if you first sign a petition of this petition, Gerhard indicated, that is also the reason that Sim and Gerhard have not been in contact with each other for years. Gerhard does not want to sign this petition.

Despite Gerhard's warning, I first tried to contact Sim by phone (reasonably stubborn). I received his voice mail, in which he indicated that he did not answer the phone, but was eavesdropping on the messages. So I left a message about my plans for his (super) hero, but Sim didn't call back (of course). So there was really only one thing to end that was signing the petition that I (also) think that Dave Sim is not a misogynist. So I signed the petition and the number that I got as a result had to be used in my correspondence to Mr. Sim, so that he could actually verify that I also think that Dave Sim is not a misogynist. You know, it might be the most bizarre way I've ever had to get in touch with someone, but I've done that very well. Read for yourself.

Eelco Koper
PS. Of course I don't sign such a petition for just any comic.

Feel free to check my work:

Next Time: Why An Aardvark? part 3...