If you'll kindly indulge me as I belabor the point...

Hi, Everybody!

As I announced last week, Dave has a problem with The 1982 Tour Book. His SPECIFIC example was two photos of the same signing that were labeled as two different signings.

And I pointed out that 

1. Dave has the wrong store. He and Deni were at two stores doing signings that day, and Comic Art Gallery was the SECOND store, but the Tour Diary says Joe Rubenstein showed up at the FIRST signing at West Side Comics.
2. Dave didn't annotate the photos from the '82 Tour material he provided The Waverly Press. (Like he did for ALL the other photos he sent me that are in the AV Family Photo Album.)
3. And there are a NUMBER of "Dave and/or Deni in front of a rack of comics" photos in the '82 Tour materials.

So, to belabor the point, I went through the pile of "to be sorted" photos in the AV Family Photo Album that DON'T include the '82 Tour stops photos, and pulled out a bunch of signing photos. That run from 1982 to the Last Signing in 2010. 

And we're gonna play a little game. "Are these from the same signing?" Also, I'ma troll Dave on two photos that I figured out where they were from that Dave has in the "No idea" pile.

No. It'll be fun.

1982: Are these from the same store?

Harry Kremer at Now & Then Books

And?

Guesses? 

Okay, is this the same store?

No. This is Comics Kingdom. That's Jack Dickens and Susan Avery with Dave and Deni 

198_. Are these all the same store?

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

Well? Everybody got your answers?

Ready? #1 is the "Aardvarks Albinos and Aliens Weedsport NY 1983" signing. #2 is "Dave at Comics 'Nuff Said Charlotte NC 1984". #3 is "Karen McNeil and Dave at Comics 'Nuff Said Charlotte NC 1984". #4-7 are all "Heroes Mini-Tour Chapel Hill NC 6 28 1984".

Okay, how'd ya do?

198_ part 2: Are these the same store?

Yep. There both "Bill Hatfield's Novel Ideas Gainesville Florida 1985".

How about these:

#1

#2

#3 and #4

#5

All the same store? All the same signing?

Nope. #1-4 are "Moondance Comics Nov/23/1985 Hadley MA" that's the signing where Dave met Kevin Eastman (seen in #4) and Peter Laird, and where Stephen Murphy and Michael Zulli first showed him the pages for the Puma Blues (#2). #5 isn't even a comic book store. It's "Suncon Tampa Florida 1986".

Ready for the Lightning Round?

1992: How many different stores are there?

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13 and #14

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19

Nineteen photos. How many stores?

Seven. There are seven stores.

Zanadu Comics Oct/17/1992 #s: 1 and 10. Not sure which store, because there are two.

Zanadu Comics 2 Seattle University District Oct 1992 #s: 15 and 16

And Zanadu Comics downtown Seattle Oct 1992 #s: 17, 18 and 19

Then there's Comix Experience San Francisco CA 1/17/1992. #s: 2, 4-8.

Then Comics Headquarters St Louis March 1992. #s: 3, 13 and 14.

Then Phantom of the Attic Pittsburgh 2/22/1992. #9

Then Star Clipper Books St Louis 3/7/1992. #s 11 and 12.

How many did you guess?

1993: Same store?

Yes, both "Central City Comics Columbus Ohio Nov 1993 Martin Wagner James Owen".

Okay look closely at this next set:

Same store?

What do you guess?

Nope. Top is Now & Then Books before they went out of business, and the bottom is Peter Birkmoe, owner of The Beguiling.

Wanna go double or nothing on this set?

The Laughing Ogre 2004

One more set (no helping the rabble Margaret...):

Was this the same store and signing as...

...this?

Yes. These are from the Last Signing. At...Strange Adventures, Halifax Nova Scotia Sept. 24-25 2010.

My point being, all comic stores kinda look alike.

Now, if you thought all this showed I'm being kind of a dick, just wait...

So Dave had these two photos labeled as "No idea." He doesn't know WHERE or WHEN they were taken.

I'm pretty sure this is the same guy, in the same store, at the same signing.  Compare:

Looks like the same outfit. Just different exposures on the film.

"Okay Matt. Did you figure out where or when these were taken?"

I did indeed, Imaginary-AMOC-reader-who-lives-rent-free-in-my-head, indeed I DID.

In the first photo, (which as with ALL the AV Family Photos in the AV Family Photo Album,) (are HUGE scans, like when I cropped JUST the single photo, it was 2000some pixels wide.) (I crop everything for posting to 640 pixels as per Tim's rules.) I zoomed in and found:

That's an early Aardvark, it COULD be an old poster, but I don't think so. Also, ya got one of THESE Mags?

And this rack of Comics:

In the "HEY KIDS NEW STUFF!" section is (on the left):

Which came out in...October of 1985. And lower on the rack (bottom row visible in the picture) is Squadron Supreme. I google searched, and it's issue #6, which is cover dated February 1986, but was released October 22 1985. So if it's "new" this has to be late October early November 1985.

Do we know if Dave was at a signing or such in November of 1985?

I do. And if you been paying attention, you probably do too...

Well, look at the background of the comparison photo again:

On the right. 

"Walden" as in "Walden Books". Which (for the Youths) was a chain of bookstores located in Shopping Malls. So, this was a comic store in a Mall. 

Do we know of any comic stores in a Mall?

I do. And if you been paying attention, you probably do too...

What's above the "Walden"? A Symbiote Spider-Man logo.

So, let's look at are clues:

• A comic book store in a mall
• in October/November 1985
• With a Symbiote Spider-Man logo

Could it be...

"Moondance Comics Nov 23 1985 Hadley MA"

You can SEE the Symbiote Spidey logo. AND the "HEY KIDS NEW STUFF!" sign (if ya squint...)

I mean it didn't take Hercule Poirot to crack THIS case...

Get it together Granpaw...

__________________________

Like the logo? I stole it...

The next Dave Sim eBay Auction is live:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/267576287026

Dave Sim NINJA HIGH SCHOOL / CEREBUS (#1) Signed 8/12 (#95/199) 9.8

Ends in two and a half days...

Dave's heritage stuff:

• The original art to Cerebus: the Six Deadly Sins Cover 
• Avarice
• Gluttony

And probably not Dave's:

• Cerebus #81 page 11 
• Cerebus #81 page 12 

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And, coming in February, who knows. Who. Knows. The 1982 Tour Book (click the link to be notified on launch). They've been sharing updates on the Instagram. 

And Tyrant. Don't forget Tyrant. Sean's remastering it. I've been sending sketches and jams I find. I should look through the Spirits stops in the AV Family Photo Album...

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The Help Out Bill Messner-Loebs Go Fund Me, or buy Rodney Schroeter's book with proceeds going to Bill. OR(!) you could buy Bill's book with the Dave backcover. I have discovered links:
Wanderland (Paperback)
Wanderland (Hardcover for the guys who get "hard" for hardcovers...)
Wanderland (Paperback but slightly more expensive...I dunno why...)
The site offers UK shipping, so PRESUMEABLY it's printed and shipped there(?).
And Journey Complete:
Hardcover
Paperback
And if you wanna see how the book looks in Real Time...
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Larry Shell could use a hand to keep his house.
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Dave also wanted me to post this:

Lots of little words, click for bigger.

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The AMOC TeePublic Shoppe

Up to 35% off February 25-March 1.*

*Sale dates are not final and therefore subject to change.

Speaking of Merch, if you want a strange near-antique, shoot an email to momentofcerebus@gmail.com, and I'll tell ya where to send the $20USD I want for these. No shipping charge in the States or Canada. Everybody else add $10USD for shipping. I'll send 'em anywhere the postman is willing to go...

Back and front.

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You can get all 16 volumes of Cerebus, many of them Remastered for $99CANADIAN at CerebusDownloads.com (More if you want the Remastered Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing...)

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Heritage has: (I talked about this up top...)

• The original art to Cerebus: the Six Deadly Sins Cover 
• Avarice
• Gluttony
• Cerebus #81 page 11 
• Cerebus #81 page 12 

And ComicLink (remember ComicLink? Seiler brought us ComicLink. R.I.P Jeff.) has:

• Cerebus #39, page 8 currently selling for $950
• And a list of ALL the issues they got (including a couple of slabbed #1s)

Thanks to Steve for sending the links. 

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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: Should I troll Sim more?