Thursday 30 November 2023

Tavern Tramps and Thesbians

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.

Covering Cerebus #213 through 241 with only 96 pages scanned in, Dave Sim’s 25th notebook used in the making of Cerebus was last scene here at AMoC in February of 2022 in Rick’s Arm Healed.

On page 29 there is a sketch of Rick playing five bar gate. Though he is wearing a sweater that looks a lot like the sweater Bear was wearing when he played against Cerebus.  And while Rick does show up at the end of Guys, he doesn’t play Five Bar Gate against Cerebus.

Notebook #25, page 29

The next wo pages have issue numbers along the top of them. The page on the left below shows page 30 of the notebook and has #217 along the top of it.

Notebook #25, page 30 (left) & 31 (right)

The dialogue seems like a first draft of the dialogue that appears on page 10 of Cerebus #217 (page 358 in Guys).  From the notebook, all Cerebus talking to himself about Joanne:

Where is she? She’s always here just after sundown

Well what did Cerebus expect from a tavern tramp

Cerebus should marry her

Cerebus never should’ve had anything to do with her

“where’ve you been” that’s what Cerebus is going to ask

Oh, aye and be just like Fred

Cerebus should tell her to get lost

Cerebus should stay here 

Cerebus should go

(getting her glass of white wine)

Where is she?

Instead of that, we get Cerebus thinking worse and worse things about what could’ve happened to Joanne and Cerebus pouring her glass of wine back into the bottle. 

On page 30 that along the top is labeled ‘end 218’ we get more Joanne and Cerebus dialogue. This dialogue doesn’t appear in the finished comic either:

Joanne: My Dad. I guess he was one of your biggest followers. Said you brought the church back from the brink. I feel sorry for him. I mean everything he believed in. I guess my mother told him I was sleeping with you. Now he just. . .drinks. . .all day. Calls us names. Terrible names. He just doesn’t understand. That things are different now.

Then under the sketch the rest of the dialogue:

Joanne: What a DAY! I went to the Star Child with my girl friend

Cerebus thinking: Tavern tramp

Joanne: And we met this old boyfriend of mine, Viktor.

Cerebus thinking: She slept with him. She and her girlfriend. Tramps! They’re tramps

The finished dialogue that the above appears based off starts on page 12 of Cerebus #217.  The sketch in the middle of the page reminds me of Jaka walking through one of the villages to the clothing hut while Cerebus follows behind her. It may say 219 beside it, but the only thing it could be from that issue is part of the dream sequence. Perhaps from the wedding scene when Cerebus is beside Joanne in her wedding dress and everyone is looking at them and cheering. 





Wednesday 29 November 2023

Spore Batvark #380 in stores TODAY!

Benjamin Hobbs:

It's the last Wednesday of the month... time to rush to your LCS and pick up your copy of Spore Batvark #380 Guest Starring Michael R.! Available in signed and Unsigned!


Michael R. sent in these pictures of himself with Spore Batvark #380.  HOW did he manage to get to two different stores in two different states for the release of Spore Batvark #380?  Industry secrets!



Next Time: A.I. Generated CIH? panels?

Tuesday 28 November 2023

SDoAR GoFundMe Update No. 48: It's Giving Tuesday!

Remember last week when I announced we had just hit $10,000 raised since launching the GoFundMe in January? 

Yeah. That was awesome.

The only problem? We're still at exactly $10,000 one week later.

And today is apparently something called Giving Tuesday? At least that's what my email inbox has been inundated with all day.

So... why not give to The Strange Death of Alex Raymond 2023 and maybe help us unlock another page!

SDOAR 2023 GoFundMe -->> https://www.gofundme.com/f/sdoar-2023

Just the Facts, Ma'am

  • $10,000.00 raised to date from 159 donations
  • 54 new pages released as mocked up by Dave Sim from 11 June to 02 November 2021
  • 75 total pages available on Dropbox, including Dave's 2019 mocked-up pages
  • Only $200.00 away from unlocking page 76
  • If you have not donated >> $5+ donation grants access to all 75 pages and all pages moving forward! 
  • If you have donated (thanks!!) >> GoFundMe does not have an option for monthly subscriptions. So if you want to donate on a monthly basis, please do so as this is the end of month #11.
SDOAR 2023 GoFundMe -->> https://www.gofundme.com/f/sdoar-2023

Just the FAQs, Ma'am

Tony Dunlop asks, "So when the 'ashcans' are available for purchase, presumably that information (and instructions) will be posted here...?"

Jen answers, "I will first alert donors via GoFundMe since they are the ones who made these ashcans possible -- and will likely come up with some special offer specifically for those who donated in order to unlock issues no. 0 and no. 1. I will then update everyone here and let everyone know the details of how to purchase their own copies -- and if we will be pursuing sales via Diamond and local stores. Good? Good."

As for the design files, I've had a hectic week what with Thanksgiving and driving from New York City to Philadelphia then Chicago (overnight) and back again yesterday. Hoping to wrap all of that before next Tuesday.

In other news, the planets did not align.

SDOAR Pages, Part XIV
Below is the ninth completely new page that will be in The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Giant Size Ashcan #1. 

Haven't been keeping up with the pages? 
Reminder: The image above is *neither* the restored *nor* the remastered page, just what I cleaned up as lo-res files for Dropbox. 

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

x

Jen


SDOAR 2023 GoFundMe -->>
 https://www.gofundme.com/f/sdoar-2023 <<-- SDOAR 2023 GoFundMe

Monday 27 November 2023

Man I need to start actually READING all these Faxes...

Hi, Everybody!


Say, it turns out I DID know what the hell "Cerebus Grand Design" is:

And here's more original Dave art (bigger clickin'):

Rigamarole:
There is a Black Friday sale at Waverly Comics.
Everything on the site will be 33% off for 24 hours with codeword: BLACK33, STILL(?)

And Black Friday continues at The AMOC TeePublic Shoppe:

Your store will be up to 40% off on Black Friday It's Cyber Monday

November 27-28. And 35% off  November 29-30*

___________________________
Heritage has a bunch few Dave Sim/Cerebus items. Including a thing I didn't realize Dave didn't have..
__________________________
The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Go Fund Me.
___________________________
The Help Out Bill Messner-Loebs Go Fund Me, or buy Rodney Schroeter's book with proceeds going to Bill.
___________________________
Larry Shell could use a hand. (I still haven't heard about where/when Dave's donation is getting sold.)
___________________________
The Last Day Without nothing.
   "      "     "        "  Dave's signature.
   "      "     "        "  an Old Cerebus Remarque
   "      "     "     Auction catalog for the Panoramic Remarques
___________________________
Oliver's Cerebus movie: The Absurd, Surreal, Metaphysical, and Fractured Destiny of Cerebus the Aardvark it's currently available on "Plex", "Xumo", "Vimeo On Demand", "Tubi". If you're in Brazil..."Mometu", "Nuclear Home Video". 
___________________________
Next Time: Jen. And I learn about this year's Girl Scout Cookie sale...

Sunday 26 November 2023

Click for bigger. The whole dang post. Just keep clicking.

Hi, Everybody!

Dave sent me a thing:
22 November 23
re: CEREBUS: GRAND DESIGN
Hello Joseph! 

Okay, HERE's what you get for the (REALLY!) exceptional circumstance of sending me ten finished pages and 11 pages of thumbnails. Roughly 24 hours of my "Best thinking" on your concept so far. These are all just suggestions. It's YOUR book.

You have a much crisper, sharper cartoon line than I do. I started off trying to imitate it and then thought, "Well no, not necessary. I'm just showing Joseph what me SORT OF riffing on his drawing style is, not trying to pass as a Gabbard clone."

If it is a CIH? title, you'll be responsible for putting the Kickstarter together. Rolly and Alfonso can handle the fulfillment and you pay them out of the Kickstarter funds. A-V will solicit for it through Diamond and pay you.

One of the things I've done is to accelerate the beginning. As I told you on the phone, as soon as you publicize the book everyone is going to know what the CONCEPT is: Cerebus is a Talk Show Host interviewing his previous selves over the entire 6,000 page graphic novel. If they don't "get it" from the publicity, they'll "get it" from the cover. So you need to skip introducing the CONCEPT on page one and go straight to the various (hopefully grabby) PREMISES. The idea is to make sure that the reader knows more at the end of the page than he did at the beginning of the page. The story has to move forward like a shark. If everything is the same at the end of page 3 as it was at the beginning of page 3, you've wasted a page.

PAGE ONE
 
SUGGESTED PREMISE #1: I've written more of the monologue. The reader has to look at the word balloons and sense how much reading there is to do and a) feel like they're getting value for the money and b) not say "I have to read ALL THIS?". The monologue is Talk Show Host Cerebus (TSHC) explaining how the show happened. The Elevator Pitch that sold whatever network it was (feel free to use CIH?'s intentionally misspelled NETFUX) on CEREBUS TONITE. We come in on the end of it but it establishes the reader hasn't missed anything. It's the pilot episode. It's all brand new, even to TSHC.

SUGGESTED PREMISE #2: As with a real talk show, the collective audience reaction is a big part of the content. HA HA HA and CLAP CLAP CLAP (see my 11-21 TSHC master drawings). In this case, TSHC gets as far as mentioning

ANTEATER SNOUT BARBARIAN CEREBUS and

CAPTION: Just mentioning ANTEATER SNOUT BARBARIAN CEREBUS drowns out the rest of the monologue with WILDLY ENTHUSIASTIC APPLAUSE. NO ONE expected THAT. Rare (?) instance of a behind-the-scenes narrator. A member of the crew? The producer? The production staff? Not really a Premise but an arrow in the quiver if you need it. CLAP CLAP CLAP HA HA HA covering up the remaining word balloons on page one.

SUGGESTED PREMISE #3: TSHC thinking to himself "This is really TOO EFFING WEIRD." Again, you don't want to do this all the time, but when necessary have TSHC react to what's going on TO HIMSELF in a way that he wouldn't with his guests or the audience or the crew. Which you have to imagine most Talk Show Hosts do quite a bit: WTF? Where is [GUEST] GOING with this? but having to ACT AS IF everything is fine and under control. Up to and including i.e. Drew Barrymore flashing David Letterman. That kind of edginess. You might find that you want to do this all the time. That's up to you. It's YOUR book.

PAGE TWO
CAPTION: So Talk Show Host Cerebus gives up and retreats to his desk

TSHC: Seven panels in, ANTEATER SNOUT BARBARIAN CEREBUS cuts a guy's hand off.
AUDIENCE: HA HA HA HA HA HA
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP
TSHC: And yet you absolutely love him.
AUDIENCE: HA HA HA HA HA HA
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP
TSHC: You folks should seriously look into CLASS ACTON GROUP THERAPY
AUDIENCE: HA HA HA HA HA HA
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP
TSHC: (thought) OMG They think Cerebus is KIDDING

As you can see, I just photocopied a master image (SLIGHTLY different from the first three) and all I changed from panel to panel was the position of the eyes, the size of the eyes and the mouth. Obviously you don't want to do THAT static an image, but my point is you don't want to get TOO FAR from that static an image or you'll lose the TALK SHOW ambience. Don't move the hand but have the pencil wiggling up and down in panel four. Or tapping on the coffee cup. Or Cerebus pointing at the audience with the pencil and then going back to the same position.(The pencil, I think, came about when Johnny Carson quit smoking. He needed something in his hand and he hit on the pencil). You can open the hand and have him THROW the pencil away in the last panel, back over his right shoulder but you really need to save that for an major "I GIVE UP" panel.

PAGE TWO PREMISE: The audience is made up of lunatic CEREBUS fans, so their reaction is FREQUENTLY odd. Like cheering wildly for "cutting a guy's hand off" and not being even slightly self-conscious about it. Which means the new reader has divided loyalties but defaults to sympathy for TSHC and the long-time readers get to enjoy being in the LUNATIC MAJORITY for a change.

On to page three (your page TWO)

PAGE THREE (YOUR PAGE TWO)

I would shorten Anteater Snout Barbarian Cerebus' entry line to "ALE!!"

AUDIENCE: HA HA HA HA CLAP CLAP CLAP ALE! ALE! ALE! ALE! ALE! GIVE! HIM! ALE! GIVE! HIM! ALE!

TSHC: Uh.

Again, in the 21st century, only Cerebus fans think getting Cerebus drunk is funny.

Okay, that's as much as I thought I was going to get across to you, so I'm (next) going to do a mock-up of my revised page two so you can see what varying the HA HA HA CLAP CLAP CLAP sizes and TSHC size does to the HOW FAR OVER THE TOP IS THIS? quotient.
I'm going to get Rolly to scan and e-mail to you what I've done and e-mail it to Matt Dow at AMOC along with giving him your e-mail address so anyone interested can e-mail you suggestions for gags through Matt.

I think you'll find that your estimate of 120 pages will end up being "lowball" (speaking as the guy who figured he could do Alex Raymond's fatal car accident over the course of two or maybe three half-issues of glamourpuss. Fourteen years and 582 pages later…) But, that's your headache not mine. What you want to TRY and do is get as much of it down to single panels and one-liners (like the BUGGID OF SCODGE CERBISS line I did here). From MY point of view, the closer you can get to 120 pages, the better. "If you don't want to try all 6,000 pages to start, try reading Joseph Gabbard's CEREBUS THE TALK SHOW HOST parody first. If you like that, you'll probably like the rest of it."

I don't know if Gerhard would be interested in doing the master background (which I've done from memory of the later, 1980s Johnny Carson -- or, possibly early post-Carson -- TONIGHT SHOW set) or how much he would charge you. Whether he does it or you do it or someone else does it, it's a balancing act with all of the foreground characters having 30% grey tones. You can "halo" all of them (cutting out white highlights on both sides of their heads which would definitely be TV-style lighting) or pitch it in a 15% to 20% range so solid black and 30% grey both POP. You can maybe try to hit on a TV style residual, where Gerhard gets a percentage of your profits on every panel or page where you use his background and you only use it for establishing shots if it gets too expensive and/or your sales are in the toilet.

THROWAWAY LINE: "We've been texted by Dennis the Menace. He wants his hairpiece back."

LATER ISSUE: Talk Show Host Cerebus retreats to his dressing room to contemplate his TALK SHOW MORGUE MEMORIAL

Everyone who ever had -- and LOST -- a Talk Show.

All the names. Followed by the SHOW's START and END DATES


A couple of wide panels with a close-up of actual names and dates.

TSHC: They say you never hear the TERMINATION TEXT that gets you.

Okay, strange way to spend the 60th anniversary of the JFK assassination.
Hope you have/are having a Happy Thanksgiving.
Joseph would be Joe Gabbard. He's on the Faceybookee group. Today's his birthday. I asked if there was anything he wanted to add to the above, and he said:
Just that I'm gonna be working on this awhile and not certain if it'd going to be serialized in CiH.
But we'll figure that out once the time comes.
So more info as it lands on my desk.
_________________________________
Where the fuck did I leave off on Narutobus?

Fuck it...













There. 

That's all I've gotten.

Enjoy!

Next Time: Mondays, am I right?

Saturday 25 November 2023

Happy Thanksgiving! I've been busy.

Hi, Everybody!

I was busy tonight:

For best effect: watch while standing in front of an open freezer door.
_________________________________
Rolly sent me:
Hi Matt,

Here is a photo of Dave with the president buttons in a frame.

Here are a couple photos from Dave that you can put up on the website. These photos were created by Ben Dunn, as he is working on the Cerebus/NHS Crossover.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Rolly





Yeah, Cerebus is crossing over with Ben Dunn's Ninja High School.

More details as I get them.

Rigamarole:
There is a Black Friday sale at Waverly Comics.
Everything on the site will be 33% off for 24 hours with codeword: BLACK33, STILL(!)

And Black Friday continues at The AMOC TeePublic Shoppe:

Your store will be up to 40% off on Black Friday: 

November 25-28. And 35% off  November 29-30*

___________________________
Heritage has a bunch few Dave Sim/Cerebus items. Including a thing I didn't realize Dave didn't have..
__________________________
The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Go Fund Me.
___________________________
The Help Out Bill Messner-Loebs Go Fund Me, or buy Rodney Schroeter's book with proceeds going to Bill.
___________________________
Larry Shell could use a hand. (I still haven't heard about where/when Dave's donation is getting sold.)
___________________________
The Last Day Without nothing.
   "      "     "        "  Dave's signature.
   "      "     "        "  an Old Cerebus Remarque
   "      "     "     Auction catalog for the Panoramic Remarques
___________________________
Oliver's Cerebus movie: The Absurd, Surreal, Metaphysical, and Fractured Destiny of Cerebus the Aardvark it's currently available on "Plex", "Xumo", "Vimeo On Demand", "Tubi". If you're in Brazil..."Mometu", "Nuclear Home Video". 
___________________________
Next Time: I might have another exclusive...

Friday 24 November 2023

Hermits meet The King (Dave's weekly update #514)

Hi, Everybody!

Rigamarole:
There is a Black Friday sale at Waverly Comics.
Everything on the site will be 33% off for 24 hours with codeword: BLACK33
And Black Friday continues at The AMOC TeePublic Shoppe:

Your store will be up to 40% off on Black Friday: 

November 20-28. And 35% off  November 29-30*

___________________________
Heritage has a bunch few Dave Sim/Cerebus items. Including a thing I didn't realize Dave didn't have..
__________________________
The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Go Fund Me.
___________________________
The Help Out Bill Messner-Loebs Go Fund Me, or buy Rodney Schroeter's book with proceeds going to Bill.
___________________________
Larry Shell could use a hand. (I still haven't heard about where/when Dave's donation is getting sold.)
___________________________
The Last Day Without nothing.
   "      "     "        "  Dave's signature.
   "      "     "        "  an Old Cerebus Remarque
   "      "     "     Auction catalog for the Panoramic Remarques
___________________________
Oliver's Cerebus movie: The Absurd, Surreal, Metaphysical, and Fractured Destiny of Cerebus the Aardvark it's currently available on "Plex", "Xumo", "Vimeo On Demand", "Tubi". If you're in Brazil..."Mometu", "Nuclear Home Video". 
___________________________
Next Time: I'm working on it...

Thursday 23 November 2023

Pieces from Cerebus #127 and #128

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 17th notebook used in the creation of Cerebus covers Cerebus #127 through #135. We last saw some of the 72 pages scanned in November of 2022 in Mrs Snatcher. This time we’ll be looking at pages 5 and 6.

Notebook #17, page 5

On page 5 there is a page thumbnail with a 12 above it. It is for Cerebus #127, page 12:

Cerebus #127, page 12, aka Jaka’s Story page 284

While the dialogue surrounding  the thumbnail for the page kind of matches the dialogue on the page, it is closer to the finished page than the thumbnail for it. Though we do get the gist of the page from the dialogue and page thumbnail in the notebook: Rick’s enthusiasm for finally taking the lead and Cerebus being upset. 

Along the bottom of the page we see some onomatopoeia for Jaka entering the apartment: click clack bang. And then her coming up the stairs with creak creak creak. The sounds and the dialogue match up with what is on page 286 of Jaka’s Story. Including Jaka’s angry face and the ‘Fine!’.

The next page of the notebook, right on the other side of the same physical page, we see Jaka finding something and calling out to Rick:

Notebook #17, page 6

Those sketches and dialogue are for page 1 of Cerebus #128. Then the bottom of the page has some dialogue from page 10 of Cerebus #128: the ‘No! No we willy! I’m up! I’m up!”. The sketch of Jaka with Rick lying on top of her chest with the dialogue “Seems weird for Fred not to be here.” “You know I was thinking the same thing.” Doesn’t show up (at least in my search). 

But the dialogue below it:

Jaka: We’ve been down here for hours

Rick: mmmm.

Jaka: I have to get ready for work.

Rick: mmmm.

Jaka: Rick, please

Rick: mmmmm.

Does show up as the dialogue on the top of page 10 of Cerebus #128. 




Wednesday 22 November 2023

Cerebus in A.I. Hell? Part 4: A.I. Lord Julius

Benjamin Hobbs:

Recently I've been making some images using the A.I. generator over at Night Cafe.  I prompted it to make Lord Julius.  It turns out that the thick mustache and eyebrows make ANYTHING look like Lord Julius.

Even when the mustache is the wrong color:

Here he is talking to himself:




Next Time: Spore Batvark #380 is at you LCS!

Tuesday 21 November 2023

SDoAR 47: $10,000 Raised to Date! SDoAR Fans Are Awesome!

Holy cow! $10,000 raised via GoFundMe for The Strange Death of Alex Raymond 2023 fundraising campaign from the beginning of the year through this past weekend! Seriously. THAT is impressive! A huge round of applause and thanks to everyone for contributing over the past 46 weeks, today being the start of week 47! That's about $217 raised every week! Again, holy cow! 

AND *ONE* new page unlocked in the past week!

In other words...

  • $10,000.00 raised to date from 159 donations
  • 54 new pages released as mocked up by Dave Sim from 11 June to 02 November 2021
  • 75 total pages available on Dropbox, including Dave's 2019 mocked-up pages
  • Only $200.00 away from unlocking page 76
Phew! So...
  • If you have not donated >> $5+ donation grants access to all 75 pages and all pages moving forward! 
  • If you have donated (thanks!!) >> GoFundMe does not have an option for monthly subscriptions. So if you want to donate on a monthly basis, please do so as this is just past the midpoint of month #11.
SDOAR 2023 GoFundMe -->> https://www.gofundme.com/f/sdoar-2023

I am still reviewing the Giant-Size SDOAR Ashcans. For anyone familiar with design files, these PDFs are now v2-FINAL-2.

I am traveling for the U.S. holidays, but I do hope to lock these down, perhaps labeled v2-FINAL-2b. Or not 2b.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Next week, if the planets align, Philip Frey will give us a 101 course on exactly what he is doing on the Restored and Remastered editions.

SDOAR Pages, Part XIII

Below is the eighth completely new page that will be in The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Giant Size Ashcan #1. 

Haven't been keeping up with the pages? 
Reminder: The image above is *neither* the restored *nor* the remastered page, just what I cleaned up as lo-res files for Dropbox. 

Happy belated Life Day!

x

Jen


SDOAR 2023 GoFundMe -->>
 https://www.gofundme.com/f/sdoar-2023 <<-- SDOAR 2023 GoFundMe

Monday 20 November 2023

"Summit Enchanted Evening" (part 2)

Hi, Everybody!

This.

Then:






Hey, Mondays!

And:
There will be a Black Friday sale at Waverly Comics.
Everything on the site will be 33% off for 24 hours with codeword: BLACK33
Rigamarole:
Heritage has a bunch of Dave Sim/Cerebus stuff. Including a thing I didn't realize Dave didn't have...
__________________________
On sale:

Your store will be up to 35% off  

November 29-30*

and up to 40% off on Black Friday: November 20-28. (That's today!)

___________________________
The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Go Fund Me.
___________________________
The Help Out Bill Messner-Loebs Go Fund Me, or buy Rodney Schroeter's book with proceeds going to Bill.
___________________________
Larry Shell could use a hand. (I still haven't heard about where/when Dave's donation is getting sold.)
___________________________
The Last Day Without nothing.
   "      "     "        "  Dave's signature.
   "      "     "        "  an Old Cerebus Remarque
   "      "     "     Auction catalog for the Panoramic Remarques
___________________________
Oliver's Cerebus movie: The Absurd, Surreal, Metaphysical, and Fractured Destiny of Cerebus the Aardvark it's currently available on "Plex", "Xumo", "Vimeo On Demand", "Tubi". If you're in Brazil..."Mometu", "Nuclear Home Video". 
___________________________
Next Time: Jen. SDOAR.