Notebook One: Cerebus #24 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.

Maybe instead of rewriting this opener every week, I’ll be a bit more efficient with my use of time and have this standard opening: 

Have you got your copy of Albatross One? That is Dave Sim’s name for his first notebook used in the creation of Cerebus. If you want a copy of the notebook – and trust me, as someone who has held the actual Albatross One, it is a pretty close duplicate and looks great – you can check out this post right here. Well not this post. The one at this link. Go check it out, this post will still be here.

And if you don’t want to buy one, you can wait as I release a couple of pages a week and check them out using the Notebook One tag. But trust me, the notebook is much much nicer then my silly little posts.

Okay, now that is done, on with this week’s Notebook One post.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Last week we left off looking at some of the first material for Cerebus #24, and more specifically dialogue for page #6 that continued and some of it wasn’t used. And we have more material that wasn’t used. Instead of getting to hear the “heroic” tales of Lord Julius and Elrod, we have Cerebus acting delusional thinking Theresa and Katrina are Jaka:

Notebook 1, page 91

I’d say nothing on the above page was used, but the sketches of Theresa and Katrina are similar to what is in Cerebus #24. The next page of the notebook continues along in this same plot that wasn’t used -  Cerebus delusional thinking one (both?) of the girls was Jaka. 

Notebook 1, page 92

Here is the dialogue between Theresa and Katrina that starts near the halfway point of the page with the number 5:

Katrina: Theresa? Where have you been Madame DuFort wants you to. . .Theresa? Theresa are you sick? What’s wrong?

Theresa: He loves me.

Katrina: Who? He does? Who? Who loves you? What’s his name? Who is it? Did he tell you? Is he rich? What does he look like? 

Theresa: M’Sieu Cerebus.

Katrina: How do you know? Are you sure? M’Sieu Cerebus? Really? When did it happen? She must have dreamt it! Are you engaged? Did he give you his pin?

Theresa: He said that we must never be parted. . .he said he would give me wealth beyond my wildest dreams.

Katrina: No! He didn’t. How wonderful! He’s probably a prince in disguise.  

Theresa: And then he kissed me.

Katrina: ohhhh. Theresa.

Interesting to see the path that the issue could’ve taken. We’ll see next week if the pages coming up in the notebook steer the story to the one in the finished issue.