Notebook 21: Cerebus #179 and Astoria’s Revelations

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. 

~*~~~*~

Last week we left off with a post from the past, Dialogue From Reads Part Two, which covered the dialogue on between Astoria and Cerebus in Cerebus #179 page 4, aka Reads page 90. Well, the dialogue from that issue continues on the next page of the notebook. 

Notebook 21, page 161

The above dialogue is on page 12 of Cerebus #179, aka page 98 of Reads. It opens with Astoria’s line of “She’s reasonably certain you could impregnate yourself she - -“. There are revelations on the above page that were edited out for the finished page:

• Cerebus would require Cirin’s help – surgically – to impregnate himself. In the finished comic instead of saying surgically, Astoria says artificial insemination. 
• Cirin has several children all from human sperm, and all human. This is changed to just a “son – human – with no Aardvarkian traits”. 
• The entire bit of Cirin and Cerebus having sex to make their own Aardvarkian kid was removed.
• Astoria never mentions her miscarriage out right, just that she doesn’t know who is infertile: her or Cerebus. Here in the notebook she says “It’s hard to tell – it might mean you’re infertile or maybe after all of my miscarriage I’m infertile.”
• Astoria in the notebook says “Magnus Doran bought you outright from your father. He told you and your mother that you were an apprentice. Whatever you did to him caused quite a stir. Cirin maintained that you attempted some manner of mystical coup against Suenteus Po.”

Whoa. Lots of lore just. . .not part of the cannon.

Unfortuately this dialogue didn’t continue on the next page. But we do get a couple of sketches:

Notebook 21, page 162

We do get a roach page, two actually: pages 18 and 19 of Cerebus #179 (pages 104 & 105 of Reads).