Notebook 36: Cerebus #291 - 293

Last week we saw four pages from Dave Sim’s last Cerebus notebook, notebook #36. Those pages contained a lot of text that appeared to be for Cerebus #289 / 290. We’ve been looking a pages from notebook #36 since January of 2025 and they can all be seen using the Notebook 36 tag. What do we have up this week – more walls of text? One of the few sketches in this notebook? Or just an issue number box and a blank page? 

Notebook #36, page 76

Lovely, another blank page. Well, almost blank page. We see the issue number box in the upper left corner of the page. The text we saw last week is lightly visible on the previous page. And as you can guess, when the first of the three pages allocated to that notebook is blank, so are the rest of them. So the next page is number seventy-nine:

Notebook #36, page 79

Another blank page followed by yes, two more blank pages as the pages for Cerebus #292 were not used. So is there anything on page 82?

Notebook #36, page 82

Nope, more of the same. Another issue number box, and nothing else. Seems that Dave had The Last Day mapped out already and didn’t have much need of the notebook.

So what about some tracing paper preliminary sketches? I went back to look at what older ones I have, and how about one for the cover of Cerebus #97 - and yes, click on all of the pictures for a larger look at them:

Cerebus #97 and tracing paper preliminary sketch

Why was my copy of #97 signed by both Dave and Ger? My checklist spreadsheet says “Signed, LTD to 49 Sim "file copies"”. I still have the envelope which it came in from Aardvark-Vanaheim. Looks like it is dated from 2006. 

Here is the flip side of the tracing paper, you can see that there are pencil marks on this, just over his blue pencil from the other side. 

Back side of tracing preliminary sketch for the cover to Cerebus #97

How about another tracing paper preliminary sketch for Cerebus #97? At first I saw this and thought it was for the cover to Cerebus #100, the way the panel is so tall and narrow. But no, it is for the last page of issue #97:

Front side of the preliminary sketch on tracing paper, Cerebus #97, page 20

You can see it is for the fourth panel of that page. Dave sketched out Cerebus to get how Most Holy’s vestments fall on his body as he is walking up the steps away from the dungeon. And yes, there are pencil marks on the back of the tracing paper, but only the black pencil marks, none of the blue:

Back side of the preliminary sketch on tracing paper, Cerebus #97, page 20

Will next week be more blank pages. . .well, pages of just issue number boxes or will we get some more notes?