Lord Julius' Entrance

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.

This past January in Letter From and To The Prime Minister we saw a couple pages from Dave Sim’s second notebook. Dave’s second notebook had 198 out of 200 pages scanned and covers Cerebus #27 through 37. 

On page 161 Dave did some quick sketches of Lord Julius:

Notebook #2, page 161

And another one on page 162

Notebook #2, page 162

Dave had this to say about the two pages of the notebook:

"Moving Lord Julius and scenery around. Should he arrive between Cerebus and where Astoria and the Prime Minister are sitting?"

"A funny coffee pot? You want to keep all props - except for a cigar - as far away from Groucho as you can. All they can do is distract you. You'll notice in the final version he just serves the two cups on a tray and then the tray just magically disappears."

And, referring to Cerebus #35, pages 15 & 16 (aka High Society pages 203 & 204), you cn see where Dave had Lord Julius show up with the two cups on the tray, and that tray does magically disappear. 

Cerebus #35, pages 15 & 16