Notebook 36: Cerebus #287 - Not Really

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.

With last week’s post we looked at the pages labeled for Cerebus #286 from Notebook #36, Dave’s final notebook for Cerebus, but those pages didn’t have material for Cerebus #286. It was more of Dave’s writing on Jung. After a couple of weeks of this writing, we come to another blank page. This one for Cerebus #287:

Notebook #36, page 64

Was there anything for Cerebus #287 on the other two pages for this issue? No, we skip forward to page #67 as pages 65 and 66 were blank. However, we already saw pages #67 and 68 in Sixteen Questions Before Breakfast. Well, not those sixteen questions, but sixteen questions that we would love to ask Cerebus.

Going to the next unseen page from the notebook, page #69, it seems I should’ve but this page with pages #67 & 68 as it kind of continues with the sixteen questions pages:

Notebook #36, page 69

Some good quotes on this page:

“So you didn’t actually call forth the Queen of All Demons? Rick just imagined it or something?”

“You thought the three Wise Fellows were quote religious nuts unquote for thinking Rick was a Prophet?”

“I think why wouldn’t Sarah Buttz was the actual Prophet. It was her three Wise Fellows who declared your Three Wise Fellows to be SUBEREC.”

“And you agreed with her. You said yourself that they had forgotten the word they were supposed to speak to you.”

“Far from skipping the Sarah Mickey Donald and Walt story – you’ve as much as admitted that Sarah Buttz was the Chosen One.”

I went looking for tracing paper preliminary sketches for Cerebus #287 and instead came across an old one for Cerebus #92:

Cerebus #92 cover & preliminary sketch front

While the preliminary sketch looks really close to the cover, I think it is for page 16:

Back of the preliminary sketch & Cerebus #92 page 16

Part of me wonders how many of these early preliminary tracing paper drawings that were used in the creation of the original art still exists. I’d ask boss man to ask Dave for the next Please Hold For Dave Sim, but he said Thursdays were his day off. . .Or was it Tuesdays are his day off? Anyhoo, it is probably his day off. Good luck.