Hi, Everybo...
WHERE IS IT DOW?!?
WHERE'S THE DC CONTRACT?!?
WE'RE SOFUCKING(hey! No swearing!)TIRED OF YOUR BULLSHIT!
WHERE'S THE DC CONTRACT?!?
WE'RE SO
JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GIVE US THE DAMN CONTRACT!!!!!
Hey, are you okay Imaginary-AMOC-Reader-who-lives-rent-free-in-my-head? You seem a little more stressed than normal...
Anyway, by popular demand:
But, honestly, it's NOT a contract. It's DC's counter-proposal to Dave's proposal.
Dave talked about it on Please Hold. For those NEW to the plot/ripping me off for clicks on THEIR Comic-related website (dicks.):Now, some Historical context: Using Tim's timeline (which is slightly off, as it uses cover dates as opposed to actual published dates (as an example, Tim has Epic #26 as October 1984. Which is the cover date, but according to Marvel, its on sale date was August 14, 1984), Dave had been publishing intermittently in Epic Illustrated for two years (February 1983) at this point. February 1985 (when Dave contacted DC with his proposal) was a YEAR after Marvel worked up their pitch to buy DC Comics (as Jim Shooter shows in his post, Marvel's proposal was February 21st, 1984). So, as Dave explained, with Marvel/Epic doing the color reprint of Elfquest (May 14th 1985 on sale date), Dave decided to see what DC would offer. Why? Well, I freely admit it's a bit of a guess, but I think Jim Shooter explains that too:
Bill [Sarnoff] said, more or less, that Marvel seemed to be able to turn a substantial profit on publishing comics, as opposed to DC, which consistently lost money, a lot of money, and had for a long time. On the other hand, LCA (Licensing Corporation of America), Warner’s licensing arm did very well with the DC properties, while Marvel “didn’t seem to do much licensing.”
If Dave was gonna license Cerebus, why would he go to the guys who were selling more comics? Dave was selling comics just fine on his own. He wanted some of that licensed money. And DC were the top dog at that (although 80+ years and they still miss opportunities. Batman shampoo, but no Conditioner Gordon? WTF DC?).
Anyway, back to the History: Dave, as we all know, turned down DC's $100,000. And in November of 1985, met a couple of guys who did this comic about...turtles?:
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| Dave Sim (with sunglasses. Indoors.), um...Dave didn't identify the guy in the Cerebus shirt, Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird (back to camera) |
And the following year (1986), in June. Dave published the first phonebook, High Society. And self-distributed it by phone/mail order, earning $150,000. And the turtles guys? Around the same time, a freelance licensing agent named Mark Freedman heard about their turtle comic and approached them about licensing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. By the end of the year, the three of them had signed an agreement with Playmates toys and got an advance for...$150,000.
And the rest, as they say, was "totally tubular"...
Anyway, Mondays!
Rigamarole:
25% off January 8-12, and up to 35% off January 22-26.*
*Sale dates are not final and therefore subject to change.
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The Cerebus Humble Bundle is over, the check made it to Dave and was cashed, *yay*, you can STILL get all 16 volumes for $99CANADIAN at CerebusDownloads.com (More if you want the Remastered Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing...)
The Help Out Bill Messner-Loebs Go Fund Me, or buy Rodney Schroeter's book with proceeds going to Bill.
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The Last Day Without nothing.
" " " " Dave's signature.
" " " " an Old Cerebus Remarque
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Oliver' Simonsen'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".
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Next Time: Jen shows the contract Dave had with IDW for SDOAR...
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