Cerebus #141 Cover Sketch

MARGARET LISS:

A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

Dave Sim’s 19th notebook covers Cerebus #141 through 149, and had only 47 pages scanned out of 80 pages. We last saw it this past February in Doris’ Story.

On page 65, the second to last page scanned in the notebook, we see a couple sketches. At the top of the page is Cerebus holding missing with Reggie. Then below it we see a rough sketch of what becomes the cover to Cerebus #141, one of my favorite covers:

Notebook #19, page 65

Though Gerhard’s finish cover shows us the city right after sunset, not right before like the sketch. Plus those colors, just amazing. Gerhard mentioned in the Cerebus Cover Art Treasury book from IDW: “I had gone up on the roof of my home at sunrise to take reference pictures for #141 and #142, you can just make out the sunset reflected in the window.” 

Cerebus #141 cover