Notebook One: Cerebus #22 Part Two

​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.

Over the last couple of months – ever since it came up that someone wanted to see Notebook #1 – I’ve been going chronologically though the notebook. You can see past pages using the Notebook One tag. Last week we saw three pages of Dave Sim’s first notebook which was a never finished three page Howard the Duck story. Those were pages 61, 63, and 65. Why no 62 or 64? Because there was nothing on them. Other than the straight ruled lines of the notebook, those pages are blank.

The next page of the notebook is page 66. But that is another blank page that wasn’t scanned. So on to page 67, but we already saw pages 67 and 68 in March of 2019 in Punchline for President. Which as you might have guessed, took the notebook back from Howard the Duck and to Cerebus, and more specifically Cerebus #22 material.

So what does page 69 cover? Cerebus #22 material:

Notebook 1, page 69

After a sketch of what appears to be the tribunal discussed on the same notebook page, we see Dave broke up the issues with pages 9 through 14 being about the tribunal being conned, and page 15 is when they catch wise as Dave writes. How doe they get conned? By Elrod taking over a body of the tribunal secretary.

Though that didn’t happen in Cerebus #22. The planning happened, and we see them rehearsing it, but it didn’t happen. But Dave did use that same lighting on the sketch on page 16 of Cerebus #22:

Cerebus #22, page 16

The next page of the notebook is #70:

Notebook 1, page 70

Some bits and pieces at the top, about the only thing used was Cerebus taking the body of Bunky to the tribunal. Below the sketch of Captain Cockroach are Dave’s plans for the last six pages of Cerebus #22. And not much of this happens either. In fact, Cerebus pounds them real good, but that is about it. And even with that, Cerebus still runs away to leave Weisshaupt along in Beduin.