Page 20 of Cerebus #174

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.

In Jaka’s Dream from September of 2021 is when we last saw a bag from Dave Sim’s 21st notebook used in the production of Cerebus. With 260 pages scanned it covers Cerebus #164 though 187. Way back in April of 2017 we saw some pages that had sketches of pages from Cerebus #174, and we ended with page 19 from that issue. So what about page 20?

Yes, it was the next page in the notebook:

Notebook #21, page 110

So four panels starting with Cerebus, Po, and Astoria at the stairs of the palace and the shot pulling back to reveal the entrance of the palace with a crowd of people around it. 

Then we get to see the finished page with Gerhard’s spectacular background:

Cerebus #174, page 20 (aka Women page 246)