Cerebus #53 - More Thumbnails

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 saw pages 32 and 33 from Dave Sim’s sixth notebook last week in Cerebus #53 - Page One Thumbnail. The sixth notebook covers Cerebus #49 through 59 and this week we’ll see more pages from that same notebook which covers Cerebus #53.

Today we’re looking at page 34, which has three thumbnails on it:

Notebook #6, page 34

In the top right corner we see a thumbnail labeled 3, but don’t let that fool you, that is the top half of what becomes page 2. The dialogue below that is a bit of a repeat from last week, but this time the bit about sleeping in ladies’ bedrooms before is what appears on the finished page. That dialogue appears in panel one of page three, the rest of the dialogue also appears on that page as it is seen on the notebook page.

On the right of the page are the thumbnails for pages 3 and 4 of Cerebus #53:

Cerebus #53, page 3 and thumbnail

Very similar to the finished page. The first panel shows the outside of the Countess’ place from a different angle, but the three word balloons? Still there. Then The Countess talking about the desk that they’re standing in front of, and then Cerebus handing the Countess his book so she can read what was done so far.

Cerebus #53, page 4 and thumbnail

The page four thumbnail is also very similar to the finished page though the panels on the middle row are flipped around a bit. 

Next week. . .even more from Cerebus #53.