Showing posts with label AV Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AV Business. Show all posts

Saturday, 28 February 2026

Dave offers a bit of a business update, I have potential Merch, and an old bit...

Hi, Everybody!

As loooooonnggg time AMOC readers know, Dave likes to do his business on the streets, in plain view of Everybody, with no "behind-closed-doors" shenanigans. Which means I get "faxes" (or Fauxes if you will,) like this:

I VAGUELY remember an email about something like this, but I can't find it. I asked Eddie, and he gave me an encapsulated version, but he's dealing with more important personal matters, so if George wants to swing on by the comments and let us all know what's happening... (Eddie will be by if/when he can...)

A couple of things:
  1. Bill Messner-Loebs books are (presumably) on/from Critical Blast (it's what the website says...): 
    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
  2. A google doesn't turn up Critical Blast's webpage on the first page of results. And "publishing" doesn't show WHAT they publish (that's under "book store"). I think it's a form of print-on-demand publishing, but that's just a guess on my part...
  3. Dave's heritage stuff:
  4. Expect more "weird" Aardvark-Vanaheim auctions like https://www.ebay.ca/itm/127695779028 as Dave trys to find ways of bringing in income without a distributor for his books...
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During the last Please Hold, Dave suggested something like this as Merch for people to wear if they go to the Eisner induction ceremony in San Diego this year:


I had a better thought and reached out to David Birdsong to make it  for me:

(The text isn't final...)

I remembered that "we" had made fun of the San Diego Comic Con in Spore/Batvark, and made this:

And a "colour" version since the eye was red in the original version:

I think this one "pops" better. 

The suggested text is: "DAVE SIM: 2026 WILL EISNER HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE"

(Birdsong's suggested addition is: In small print below it reads "charges more for everything now".)

I also thought this could be a funny option:

I sent all this as part of the March Please Hold For Dave Sim Faux, so we'll see what Dave has to say in a week or so...
___________________________

And while searching for anything in my email about Critical Blast and George's discussions with Eddie, I found this bit I wrote:
"Know ye, O Princess, that between the years of the fall of the Black Tower Empire, to the years of the rise of the sons of Ishmael, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across Estarcion like diamonds inlaid on a necklace --Tansubal, Boreala, Isshuria, Unshib, Beduin with it's merchants and intrigue, Panrovy with its dueling instructors, Eshosopur that bordered Dehrsion, the Red Marches home of the Pigts, Palnu whose trading ships sail carrying spices, and silk. But the proudest kingdom in Estarcion was Iest, largest city-state and center of the political world. Hither came Cerebus the Aardvark, short of stature, shorter of temper, sword in hand, a mercenary, a soldier, a thief, with odd melancholies and odder mirth, to grind the jeweled thrones of Estarcion under his three-toed feet." --The Aardvarkian Chronicles

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Like the logo? I stole it...








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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.
______________
Up to 35% off February 28-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...)
And ComicLink (remember ComicLink? Seiler brought us ComicLink. R.I.P Jeff.) has:
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: Palnu?

Saturday, 20 December 2025

Dave gets stuff, and then I get stuff.

Hi, Everybody!

I totally called it

This is going to lead to:







Plus Dave sent the other Christmas cards he's received:









__________________________
Like the logo? I stole it...








Dave's Variant for David Bransetter's Horace & Buggie Kickstarter. You have until New Year's Eve to get in on this.

click for bigger.

And, coming in February, The 1982 Tour Book (click the link to be notified on launch).
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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 but slightly more expensive...I dunno why...)
The site offers UK shipping, so PRESUMEABLY it's printed and shipped there(?).
And Journey Complete:
And if you wanna see how the book looks in Real Time...

Over on the Facebookees, Mike Jones shared that Dave has a five SEVEN page Strange Death of Alex Raymond story in YEET Presents #68. Mike Jones still has 30 copies of the second printing available, ya gotta back them on Patreon to get it.
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Dave also wanted me to post this:

Lots of little words, click for bigger.
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Our very own Jen DiGiacomo is part of a film production titled The Day Elvis Died. She'll never ask anybody here, but they're crowdfunding to finish the post production on the movie. (It's set in 1977, will a certain obscure Canadian cartoon aardvark make a cameo? (No. Elvis died in August. Cerebus wasn't published until December. Any appearance in the flick would be an anachronism that would ruin the movie for everybody. EVERYBODY!).) Here's the first trailer
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Up to 35% off December somethingth*?
*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@gamil.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.
______________
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...)
_______________
Heritage has:
And ComicLink (remember ComicLink? Seiler brought us ComicLink. R.I.P Jeff.) has:
Thanks to Steve for sending the links. He also sent in:
_______________
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: Old Cerebus?

Saturday, 9 August 2025

Off-White House Bulletin 8/9/2025

Hi, Everybody!

Normally, back when any of this was anything like what you could call normal, this'd be a "Please Hold For Dave Sim" post I'd publish at five minutes to midnight. But since we don't "do" normal around here anymore, you can pretend that THIS is August's Please Hold. Or not. I don't get paid for any of this, so what are you gonna do, not tip? Anyway...

Off-White House Bulletin:
Since Dave wants A/V's Business done "on the streets", I should run this here:
The invoice for recent printing, including for CAN12



In case you're old, like me, and can't see well:



Dave continues:

Follow the Cerebus in Hell? Instagram.

Okay that's enough "Moments" for today...

________________________________
Like the logo? I stole it...








The Waverly Comics site is gone.
Big books (Form & Void and The Last Day) are at Waverly's regular site: [https://www.thewaverlypress.com](https://www.thewaverlypress.com/)
Smaller books (comics and the goodies) are on their eBay page: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?item=257022613619&rt=nc...
Just so everybody is aware...
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Friend to the Blog, James Windsor-Banderas-Smith has a new Kickstarter for Papa Balloon & Cactus #5. He's got a few copies of one of Dave's variant covers for the previous issues as rewards. ACTUALLY, he found a bunch of copies of issues he thought were out of print, so I think you can get the whole series. He's got T-Shirts too.
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Our pals at Living The Line are getting it from "Diamond" (Or Whoever Owns Them Now):
Legal trouble. Lost inventory. But great books keep coming.
Hello everyone—

It’s been a wild few weeks at Living the Line HQ here in Saint Paul.

If you follow comics industry news, you may already know that our former distributor, Diamond Comics, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in January. Then, on May 16th, they were sold! End of problem, right?

Not only have we not been paid for any book sales since that sale closed… We've been refused access to our consignment inventory—books that legally belong to us and were merely stored in Diamond's warehouse.

Worse yet, they’ve now petitioned the bankruptcy court to sell that consignment inventory—including our books—without our consent.

This means we haven't been paid for books already sold, and we’re at risk of losing the rest of our inventory in their possession. For a small publisher, that’s an existential blow.

But we’re not taking this lying down.

Living the Line, alongside several other trusted publishers, has retained legal counsel and formally objected to this maneuver. We’re fighting for our rights in bankruptcy court. But legal battles, even righteous ones, are expensive, and we could use your help.

How You Can Help Right Now
1. Preorder My Gorilla Family (Iijima Ichiro)
Our September release is live! My Gorilla Family, sure to be one of the wildest books of 2025, will see wide release the first week of September.

Order direct from us (ships from St. Paul): https://livingtheline.company.site/products

Order through your local comic shop via Lunar Distribution: https://www.lunardistribution.com/home/search?term=My+Gorilla+Family
(We’re temporarily listed under our friends at Uncivilized Books — be sure to request it!)
2. Watch for Our New Book-Trade Distributor (Announcement Soon)
We’re onboarding with a new distributor for the wider book market. First out of the gate: reprints of UFO Mushroom Invasion (2024 American Manga Award Nominee, Best New Edition of Classic Manga) and MANSECT (2025 Nominee for the same category!). Sign up for announcements here: https://www.livingthelinebooks.com/mailing-list
3. Grab a Backlist Title Direct
Most of our inventory is frozen in the Diamond warehouse, but we have limited quantities of many titles on hand in Saint Paul ready to ship in 1–2 business days while supplies last. Browse what’s physically in stock here, including our much-beloved science fiction titles by Brandon Graham, Xurxo G. Penalta, Matt Battaglia, and Miel Vandepitte, and the stunning psychological fiction of Erik Kriek: https://livingtheline.company.site/products
4. Spread the Word
Know someone who digs beautiful, strange, unclassifiable graphic novels & manga? Please forward this email, share a link, or talk to your local shop. Every order and every share helps.
A Few of the Books We’re Fighting For
MANSECT — Koga Shinichi
Order MANSECT direct: https://livingtheline.company.site/products

FACE MEAT — Bonten Tarō
Order FACE MEAT direct: https://livingtheline.company.site/products

Thank you for reading, for caring about independent publishing, and for helping us fight the good (and occasionally slimy, mushroom-ridden) fight. We literally couldn’t do this without you.

With appreciation,
Sean Michael Robinson
Publisher, Living the Line
St. Paul, Minnesota
https://www.livingthelinebooks.com/
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TwoMorrows has a new book on Marshall Rogers. Does it include the Name of the Game is Diamondback? Do they talk to Deni? I dunno. You might if you buy a copy...
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Acquaintance to the blog Travis sent in:
My Kickstarter was unsuccessful. Thank you for adding it to the blog in the last several days.
I appreciate it.
I decided to just put the comic for sale on Lulu.
https://www.lulu.com/shop/fanny-kelly-and-hal-kolbeck/my-captivity/paperback/product-459wr8z.html?page=1&pageSize=4
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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 but slightly more expensive...I dunno why...)
The site offers UK shipping, so PRESUMEABLY it's printed and shipped there(?).
And Journey Complete:
____________
____________
Our very own Jen DiGiacomo is part of a film production titled The Day Elvis Died. She'll never ask anybody here, but they're crowdfunding to finish the post production on the movie. (It's set in 1977, will a certain obscure Canadian cartoon aardvark make a cameo? (No. Elvis died in August. Cerebus wasn't published until December. Any appearance in the flick would be an anachronism that would ruin the movie for everybody. EVERYBODY!).) Here's the first trailer. And if you're going to Edinburgh Fringe, Jen's doing her One Woman show Woman in the Arena, pretty much all month. If you go, "swordfish". And send pics...
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Up to 35% off August 9-10, 21-24, & 29-31.*
*Sale dates are not final and therefore subject to change.
______________
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...)
_______________
Heritage has (coming soon):
  • Page 16 of issue #44
  • Page 5 of Cerebus #20
  • Inside Back Cover art from Cerebus #3
  • The covers to Issue #74 and #76
  • other stuff
And ComicLink (remember ComicLink? Seiler brought us ComicLink. R.I.P Jeff.) has:
Thanks to Steve for sending the links.
_______________
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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Got a message from Studio Comix Press:
If you wanna support "local" Canadian publishers...
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Next Time: I dunno, I'm locked up in the AMOC A/V editing suite. Send pizza, and caffine...

Sunday, 18 May 2025

INCOMING! Catching up on the not Faxes... (New Dave Art!)

Hi, Everybody!

Even though his phone and fax aren't working, that doesn't stop Dave from making me post stuff on his behalf...

INCOMING!

Dave said Monday that he didn't care about this, and things keep happening with Diamond (I've decided until I hear from Dave what HE hears is happening, I'm not reading anything anybody posts on the Internet about any of this...) I don't think Diamond was in arrears to Aardvark-Vanaheim for any money, so Dave really doesn't care until it is "Meet the New Boss, same as the Old Boss" time. But he sent it, so if maybe you're a creator who needs their ka-ching from Geppi & Co.:











Which leads to the "Back-up Plan" (one of my favorite gags from the Flying Kkaramazov Brothers was when they were doing a flaming juggling trick and they said, "Don't worry, we have a Back-up Plan. Everybody BACK UP!") and Dave's notes/thoughts:







Enough business, let's talk Art:










In a follow up to the last Please Hold:

And since the next CAN (#12 for those of you playing at home...) is a'comin':
OFF-WHITE HOUSE BULLETIN. 8 May 25
519-576-0610 LAND LINE and FAX LINE are FRIED.  PERMANENTLY?  Stay tuned.
AMOC
BIRDSONG
c/o Rolly
CAN 12/VARKDALORIAN (projected June launch)
subject line:  From Dave Sim re: CAN 12
 
1)  Hello, CAN 11 Backers!  We’re going to be trying something different this time to accomodate those of you who are in some form of financial distress (only a handful in February but this is May which is, like, a thousand years later in 2025 terms):
 
Everyone who participated in the last Kickstarter is going to get everything on CAN 12/Varkdalorian ahead of time in digital form for free.  The Digital Package will be offered for $20 on the Kickstarter to everyone else 
 
2) Varkdalorian [CAN 12] and Possum-At-Large vs. Super-Cerebus [CAN 13] are both written by Chad Lambert.  Rather than trying to explain Chad Lambert I got Rolly to scan his Kill Me & Other Curiosities and this will be e-mailed to you as soon as I make sure that this isn’t a Tragic Luddite Mistake that’s going to make anyone go ballistic. Always a danger with we Tragic Luddites (:
 
Chad won two Harvey Awards in 2015 for “Breaking Out” (Best Single Issue or Short Story) and “Kill Me” (Promising New Talent), both of which appear here. 
 
So him doing two Cerebus in Hell? comics is kind of a big deal.  And this seemed like the easiest way to explain it.
 
3)  I’m hoping Chad has a deal with Dark Horse where he can buy copies of Kill Me at a discount so he can offer them autographed on the Kickstarter.  Basically wait and see how many Backers want them and then order that many, get Chad to sign them and ship them to Rolly to include in your packages or ship them directly from Chad’s home Somewhere In Ohio if that makes more sense
 
4). As I said, Chad is the writer which means if all of the artists also sign
 
- Tom Williams
- Christine Larsen
- K CZAP
- Apri Kusbiantoro
 
that would be a) really cool b) possibly a logistical nightmare (depending on where they all are).
 
Fallback position:  KILL ME THE BACKING BOARD with space for everyone to sign
 
Which is why this is the first thing you’re hearing about CAN 12 VARKDALORIAN because this is the one that has logistic nightmare written all over it. 
 
5). Please
a) don’t share your digital KILL ME with others since it’s just a personal FYI for you and definitely borderline illegal even if it’s copyright Chad Lambert and Chad is (hopefully) cool with this. 
b) do buy a copy from your local comic shop if they have a DIA order code for it and autographs aren’t really your thing.  It just came out in December 2024 which is i) a thousand years ago and ii) recent enough it should theoretically work. 
 
NEXT:  The CAN 12 side of this which should be easy-peasy (famous last words)
I haven't heard if that phase of the project is "GO!" If I hear anything, I'll let y'all know...

Dave continued a few days later (my philosophy now is: wait until somebody questions if  I posted it/they do something first. That way it is never possibly my fault when things go wrong. As I frequently say, "I didn't do it, unless it had to get done, in which case I did it twice.")
Would have been nice if Dave had had that page sent to me...

Ya know...I have a short box FULL of Vark Wars and Walt's Empire Strikes Back that my wife has stopped acknowledging as existing, that has some of them lower #ed Walt's Empire issues (I'd have to look which ones.) (Vark Wars was BEFORE they started numbering the print run on the covers.) I COULD grab a bunch and sign them and send them to Dave to sign so you could get a copy with two of the...eight(?) creators signatures on there. I also have a couple of the hardcover Swords of Cerebus in Hell? collections (volumes 8 & 10 that have the Vark Wars issues in them) I could sign and sketch in and send to Dave to use as add-ons or Postcard prizes. I guess I have to find a box...

Anyway if you made it this far, Original Dave Art time (click for bigger): 

Sans notes:

I THINK that's everything from the past 8 days...

Rigamarole:
THINGS ARE TOUGH ALL OVER: It seems like EVERYBODY has a crowd funding campaign type thing going on:
Friend to the Blog, Steve Peters has launched his latest campaign: Comicverse #6. He's got all sorts of neat stuff on offer, some of it from previous campaigns, meaning "there's Dave Art in them there add-ons!" I dunno, click around and see what he's offering. The campaign has met it's goal, but he followed KickStarter's advice and lowballed that. So more money would mean he doesn't lose money on the deal.

I'm selling bootleg Cerebus trading cards featuring my art, coloring by Hobbs, and unused art of MY characters by Dave. $10 a set for 11 cards plus TWO HANDDRAWN cards (by me). Email momentofcerebus@gmail.com and I'll explain how to pay.


The Help Out Bill Messner-Loebs Go Fund Me, or buy Rodney Schroeter's book with proceeds going to Bill. More on this as I'm allowed to post stuff...

Our very own Jen DiGiacomo is part of a film production titled The Day Elvis Died. She'll never ask anybody here, but they're crowdfunding to finish the post production on the movie. (It's set in 1977, will a certain obscure Canadian cartoon aardvark make a cameo? (No. Elvis died in August. Cerebus wasn't published until December. Any appearance in the flick would be an anachronism that would ruin the movie for everybody. EVERYBODY!).) 

The current thinking is that CAN12/The Varkdalorian will launch in June. Dave has ideas, more on this as I figure out what the hell Sim is planning...
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Up to 35% off May 21-26.*
*Sale dates are not final and therefore subject to change.
One of those is the Mother's Day Sale. Show Mom you care with a T-Shirt of the comic she doesn't understand why you like so much...
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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:
  • Nothing. But there are THREE pages of original art coming soon...
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The Last Day Without nothing.
   "      "     "        "  Dave's signature.
   "      "     "        "  an Old Cerebus Remarque
   "      "     "     Auction catalog for the Panoramic Remarques 
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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: Well that WAS everything except the Monday Report, but I'm saving that for tomorrow...