Benjamin Hobbs:
The Swords of Cerebus In Hell? Volume 3 and 4 Kickstarter campaign wraps up today at noon! If you haven't backed it and were planning to, you might want to do so now!
I've been putting together the SWORDS OF CEREBUS IN HELL? Hardcover Dust Jackets for future volumes. The Dust Jacket for Volume 7 features Cerebus Woman:
I debated on leaving the figure black and white or coloring it, and landed on coloring it.
Volume 8 Features The Iron Manticore:
His armor is the Classic Red and Yellow. Currently, there's a computer-colored sheen on the armor, but I'm thinking it might be best to have the classic-flat colors. The TALES OF SOPHISTICATION version might be on the back of the actual Hardcover. Would you rather see the Red and Yellow on the Dust Jacket and brown and tan on the Hardcover? Or would it be better if they matched? Let me know in the comments!
Next Week: Two different versions of the Volume 9 Dust Jacket!
4 comments:
Rich L. here:
I would prefer that covers match. To late in the game to start alternating.
I like the sinner lady cover but the Cerebus face gives me the creeps. That is most likely the intention. Scanning the color first and moving up to face....ahhhhhh!!! But true Cerebus fashion.
Love these Hardbacks and dustjackets! Thank you so much. Come on Dave (C'mon man!), there's a place for these even with your resistance whatever the cause of that is. Agreed that the phonebooks serve their purpose well, but presenting the material in a classy format serves multiple audiences and makes us book geeks happy...Snoopy-dance happy. It might be silly to present the same material in different formats but small additions make a big difference to fans. Would love to see a hardback facsimile run as sort of an academic/reference orientation of the Beast that is the 300-issue Cerebus. Lots of thoughts, don't think anyone wants to hear them here. Ramble, ramble, ramble.
Rich L, if I had my way there would be, 1st, a new printing of the entire Cerebus run with facsimile and original covers all remastered and sold monthly to raise money for hardbound editions with complete issues - color covers, notes from the president, letters pages, etc. - almost as if someone had the original issues and had them bound as has been done by some fans. The cost would be through the roof, but it's what people keep asking for. I probably won't ever see such a thing, but yes, some of us think about that stuff.
As Dave has said, and I'm not sure everyone heard him, one flop and Aardvark-Vanaheim is toast. He has to keep a certain amount of money (the cost of a new car he says, these days a good used one) for the phonebook print runs. Once the book is printed Diamond pays him in US dollars so he makes a little profit on it and can replace the big lump sum. This is why you haven't seen a Color/Odds and Ends phonebook. If he has to sit on 950 out of a 1000 copies he's in trouble. Maybe that's a bad example as I think that Phonebook 17 would sell pretty well.
I'm for keeping the figures B&W on the CIH? hardbounds as well, but that's Benjamin's call. Dave really does practice what he preaches. Benjamin worked on them and he is allowed to do the hardcovers how he wants to. He also has a big printing bill, but artistic freedom isn't always free. I suppose I could do my own hardbound editions with added color covers but a) who wants to. buy them again and b) you think they're expensive now...?
Rich-Thanks for your input! Keeping the dust jacket and Hardcover matching might be the way to go. Anyone else have an opinion?
David- A 4 issue Hardcover of Cerebus with color covers and all the letters etc is possible (or however many issues your dream Hardcover would have), but it would have to be done as a Kickstarter and the amount needed to fund the project would have to be the amounted needed to print the book and compile the material inside. Same for Volume 17. If the funding goal was 40K or 50K (or whatever the final decided number is) the book could be made without risk of wiping out AVs funds. The downside to this would be that if the book DIDN'T fund, it might hurt the perception of future Cerebus related Kickstarters.
In regards to coloring the figures or keeping them BW: I've generally let the figures be what they are on their original covers. Cerebus and Batvark are Grey toned, Varkhatten is blue, etc. Cerebus Woman was BW on the original, but I think if I did this cover today, I'd probably color her. And she looked REALLY grey on the cover. The DC archives have a long history of badly coloring old art, so I think I'm following in that tradition quite well.
-Benjamin
Gotcha, BH. I do admit that seeing the Iron Manticore in some Bob Layton era red and yellow armor is both cool and funny.
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