Notes on. . .What Exactly?

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.

We last saw Dave Sim’s 27th notebook way back in January of 2019 in The Bed in the Ballroom. The notebook had only 45 pages, mainly just pages of text, scanned. There were also 41 blank pages and 17 missing pages. The notebook was for Cerebus #225, but also had bits  and pieces of future issues.

Page 33 stands out because it isn’t a complete wall of text like many of the other pages in this notebook. And the notes on it are of modern people:

Notebook #27, page 33

Most of the people I know, but there are a few from the 18th century:  Mrs Theresa Cornelys was an Italian opera singer during the 18th century who was a lover to Casanova. Jean-Paul Marat was a scientist who made a speech on Romilly St.  And Thomas Spence is someone who wikipeida calls an “English Radical”. 

Makes me wonder why Dave as putting Dolly Parton, Roseanne Barr, Lenny, Robin Williams, et al in with those folks from the 1700s.