Notebook 21: Cerebus #176 Cote d’Azur Becomes Part of Ascension

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.

We’re continuing our look at Dave Sim’s 21st notebook used during the creation of Cerebus #164 to 187. We’ll be looking at this notebook, which there were 260 out of 300 pages scanned, until we’ve seen every single page of it. Well, the pages scanned. If you want to see all of the notebook #21 posts to date, just use the Notebook 21 tag. 

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Hey, look what we’ve got? Yes! More “walls of text”.  .  .But hey, it is straight from Dave Sim’s notebook to your eyeballs. We’re continuing on with Cerebus #176 material of Victor’s life as a writer of the Estarcion equivalent of comic books: reads. The next page we have up goes into some Cirinism and Kevillism:

Notebook #21, page 154

The next page continues this Cirinism / Kevillism discussion. The second paragraph on the page shows us Victor’s thoughts on Astoria’s role in all of it. That final paragraph is a nice summary of not just Reads, but of Dave’s notebooks:

Perhaps Cote d’Azur wasn’t a separate work at all. Perhaps it was the core of thematic core of Ascension that had proven so elusive. 

At the bottom is the issue box number for Cerebus #176 and a page by page list of what would be on each page.

Notebook #21, page 155

On the following page is more of Victor’s story as he has finished a chapter and at his local tavern. It goes into what that last paragraph above mentions – putting t he material for Cote d’Azur into his Ascension story.

Notebook #21, page 156

This continues on the next page, where Victor goes into how he would show all of this and how Astoria’s revolution changed everything.

Notebook #21, page 157

If you can’t wait a week to see the next pages of the notebook, then don’t fret! Back in October of 2020 pages 158 – 160 appeared in Dialogue From Reads Part Two. Hey, at least they aren’t walls of text.