MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!! cerebusoverload.com!

Hi Everybody!

I know, I know, "three posts in one day? What madness is this?"

But it's BREAKING NEWS!!!

From the Waverly Press:

Hi backers, we have received numerous requests from some of you asking about picking up some of the extras from this campaign. We have just launched a new page called "Cerebus Overload" where we will offer VERY limited overflow from our Cerebus projects including the Cerebus No. 1. We will also be offering prototype items related to the development of this and other projects with Dave Sim as well as occasional offerings directly from the Cerebus Archive. We have a few things up now and will add more in the coming days and weeks. Also, from now until midnight Sunday we are offering 20% off everything. Use code: 1977

Please note that for the time being, the shopping cart is only set up for U.S. orders. We can possibly arrange for shipping to international addresses if you contact us through the website.

cerebusoverload.com

Thank you for your support!

Well, if you click over to cerebusoverload.com, there's this:

The first deluxe signed & numbered, hardcover edition of the classic graphic novel by Harvey, Inkpot and Kirby award-winning writer and illustrator, Dave Sim.

High Society: The Regency Edition collects issues 26-50 of Cerebus with stunning remastered art along with 32 additional pages of rarities from the Cerebus Archive.

Each hardcover book will arrive hand signed by Cerebus creator Dave Sim and will be accompanied by a collection of unique “Artifacts” including a poster, signed print, and a special anniversary edition of Cerebus No. 26, all created exclusively for this edition, and housed in a bespoke slipcase.

At only 150 Signed & Numbered sets, we expect High Society: The Regency Edition to sell out quickly!

THAT'S RIGHT! Cerebus Hardcovers! (I know some of you are gonna be so excited by this news you're gonna need to change your underwear...) 

So, never let it be said I don't give you the breaking news as it breaks (I mean I DO, but not this time...)

Next Time: I'm NOT even supposed to be here today...

The time has come, the Walrus: review of Cerebus

Hi, Everybody!

So your pal and mine, Sean Robinson, sent a big ol' batch of links to momentofcerebus@gmail.com, And I'm gonna be running them as I want.

Like today!

Now everybody say, "Thanks Sean!" and enjoy:

ACTUALLY, Glen sent this link first...but we won't quibble.

https://thewalrus.ca/canadas-cantankerous-aardvark/

It's a "fun" little review of Cerebus. (I mostly like the series of Cerebus/Dave Sim/Gerhard links in the article. (Although I question this: "Issue 186—as notorious a number to Sim’s fans as 237 is to Stephen King’s—horrified the comic world." Um...237 is from the Kubrick film. It's room 217 in the novel. And I don''t know any King fan who is haunted by it.))

Anyway, Blurb time!:

In december 1977, the first issue of Cerebus, a comic about an aardvark barbarian, appeared in black and white. Written and illustrated by Dave Sim, a cartoonist who lives in Kitchener, Ontario, Cerebus would persist for nearly three decades, expiring in the twenty-first century. At its peak, back when comics had pesky material needs such as ink and distribution, Sim’s book enjoyed a print run of 36,000—a feat for a self-published series.

So, everybody say, "Thanks Glen! and Sean, we guess..."

Thanks Guys!!!

Image courtesy CerebusDownloads, most images from the series come our way from CerebusDownloads

Next time: Shark Tank secrets to getting rich FAST!!!

Links! Links! Links!

Gerhard Commission:
Dining At Dino's Cafe...

The Comics Beat:
Dave Sim’s wrist injury may prevent him from ever drawing again...

Orbital Comics:
Staff Picks of 2016: Greatest Return -- Cerebus in Hell?...

Comic Book Resources:
Wolverine Knockoffs...

Comic Book Resources:
Top 100 Comics Book Runs -- No. 56 Cerebus...

New York Times:
Woody Allen ("Konigsberg the not-so-good Samaratin") reviews Edward Sorel's graphic novel about Mary Astor (partial model for "Astoria")...

Aardvark News Round-Up #3

Cerebus Guide To Self-Publishing

The recent release of the digital download version of the long out-of-print Guide To Self-Publishing drew a guarded response from Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter who noted:

My hunch without re-reading is that this may serve better as a historical document than a how-to and as a world of insight into the unique publishing achievement that was the 300-issue Cerebus best of all. 

Other opinions strongly disagreed and argued that it is still a highly relevant resource, most notably by Stephen Holland at the Page 45 store in Nottingham, UK. In a review of the first edition back in 1997, Stephen said, "Without a doubt I would not want to enter this industry as a creator without having read this first, regardless of whether I intended to self-publish or sell my creativity to/through other publishers...".  A recent tweet confirmed that his opinion still stood:

Comicbook artists, writers but also retailers, I stand by my quote: I would honestly read this CEREBUS guide now: http://t.co/orlEWhsd9k

— Page 45 (@PageFortyFive) May 18, 2015

Why not risk $9 and decide for yourself?


Gerhard At Motor City Con

Gerz Blog this week posted a wall of photos from Gerhard's guest appearance at last weekend's Motor City Con. Here's just a couple of great Cerebus illustrations swiped from that post:

Charles Burns At The Believer

The McSweeney's Store is now offering a giant poster of 130 portraits drawn by Charles 'Black Hole' Burns for the cover of The Believer magazine. Sadly, that poster doesn't include the Cerebus illustration the magazine ran back in 2005, but it's all the excuse I need to run that picture again. As Dave Sim said at the time: "Wow. A Charles Burns Cerebus. Hitler or Rembrandt: once a fanboy always a fanboy." A gallery of Charles Burns' portraits can still be seen online at the Adam Baumgold Gallery.

Aardvark News Round-Up #2

Gerhard's The Walking Dead

Over at Gerz Blog this week, Gerhard posted the above stunning variant cover for The Walking Dead:

"I was asked to do the exclusive variant cover for the Wizard World St. Louis edition of The Walking Dead... (any Cerebus fans recognize the sunset?)... and there will be a black & white variant edition as well... These will be available at the Wizard World St. Louis show, also coming up soon."

Gerhard's limited edition cover will only be available to attendees at the Wizard World St. Louis con to be held on 22-24 May. VIP attendees also receive an additional black & white sketch version of the comic.

Neil Gaiman: Thinking Of Metal Bikinis

Game developer Larin Studios took some flack this week for their game Divinity: Original Sin. News site Games Skinny reported that: "...gamers were less than pleased about the advertising art for one of the characters: Scarlett. Scarlett had been decked out in the RPG worlds favorite piece of female armor: the metal bikini. And possibly no pants or underwear. From the image, I'm not actually sure where her underwear would go." The back-lash forced Larin Studios to redesign her costume, and prompted a tweet from Neil Gaiman invoking Red Sophia in Cerebus #10:

http://t.co/qD5smOniPf is still all I can ever think of when it comes to metal bikinis, alas.

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) May 12, 2015

Bill Sienkiewicz: Ask Me Anything

While promoting his latest project H8 Society with an AMA session over at Reddit this week, Bill (Elektra Assassin, Moon Knight) Sienkiewicz was asked for his thoughts on Cerebus:

"Dave's an old friend. I think Cerebus is one of the greatest accomplishments in comics, not only as a work of art, but as a commitment to a vision."

Jeff Seiler: Dave & Me

Jeff Seiler has been busy tweeting exerpts from letters he has received from Dave Sim over the years. Here are a few examples to whet your appetite from letters Dave wrote back in 2004:

"If it wasn't for missing prayer times, I seriously considered getting a job after I was done Cerebus. No usable job skills, no recommendations from previous employers and I'm just this side of 50 years old. So, I figure washing floors or dishes would probably be about it and it would probably take me 5 tries to get in on the ground floor there."

"That's what I always think about when Gerhard says that he doesn't know why anyone would be interested in the piles of crap I'm carefully sorting through." [This was a reference to Dave and Ger organizing the Archive, back in '04.]

"As you'll find in The Last Day annotations, I was less concerned with who was or wasn't in the light than in the larger point that virtually everyone Cerebus knew was there, emphasizing the 2:98 neutrino ratio from [issues] 289/290. Yes, I did decide to leave Bran Mak Mufin out because of his suicide (and left Ham in because it was murder, in my You never hear about suicides who are rescued from the brink of death having the same near-death experience with the light and all that."

"Well, yes, the tunnel of demon heads and skulls from the end of 'Church & State' could be seen as a kind of "anti-light" tunnel. There are a lot of physical metaphors for the same things throughout the story. I knew that was where I was headed for."

1970's Cerebus Stuffed Toy

I don't normally feature eBay auctions on AMOC but the current auction for the little fella above took me aback. The current bids are already over $500. Yikes! Is that some kind of record? If you can't live without your very own Cerebus, you'd better hurry. That auction ends today.

Update from Margaret Liss:
It isn't a bid that is over $500, it is the 'buy it now'  feature that is at $519.99. There is no way that will sell at that price. While the dolls are rare, it isn't nearly worth that much. This is the 16" version, which is the 2nd version of the dolls,  and is more common from what I've seen. The smaller, 12" version with longer snout, is more valuable. However, I would say neither is worth $519.99.

Aardvark News Round-Up

Puma Blues: New art by Michael Zulli

(Click Image to enlarge)

New Zulli Puma Blues Art!

The Dover Books twitter feed (@DoverPubsDrew) is posting new art by Michael Zulli to be featured in the forthcoming Puma Blues collection, which will also boast an introduction by Dave Sim, the original publisher of the monthly comic series. Pre-order your copy at Amazon.com.

Meet Gerhard At The Motor City Con!

Gerhard follows-up his recent appearance at the 2015 Calgary Expo with his next convention attendance at Motor City Con on 15/16/17 May, which also features guests Neal Adams, Matt Wagner, Simon Bisley, Ted McKeever, Don Rosa and many more!

Chris Oliveros Steps Down As D&Q Publisher

Noted journalist/commentator Jeet Heer reacts to the news of announced changes at Canadian indy-comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly:

"The fact that Chris is able to pass along his company to a new generation is also a rare achievement in Canada, where many small presses tend to be one-generation affairs. Prior to Chris, Canadian comics publishers tended to be flaky and eccentric: Dave Sim, Bill Marks. Chris created an actual company that will have a long life past his retirement."

More details of the changes are discussed at The Globe & Mail.

Major Kurtzman Biography Features Dave Sim's 1974 Interview

Bill Schelly's new book from Fantagraphics on the life and career of comics legend Harvey Kurtzman (MAD, Trump, Humbug, Help, Little Annie Fanny) features snips from a young Dave Sim interview with Harvey in 1974. Read the full original interview as it appeared in CANAR #25 here.

Reassessing The Cerebus Tumblr

Sandeep (I Knew Dave Sim...) Atwal is the man responsible for the current @CerebusOnline social media initiative and is seeking feedback on the timing and content of the Cerebus Tumblr which aims to make all of Cerebus available to read online for free. Post your thoughts in the comments section here.

New idea...instead of a page a day, an entire issue on Tumblr every Sunday night. Ideas? Suggestions? http://t.co/kLYPIwSyKj #Cerebus

— Cerebus Online (@cerebusonline) May 7, 2015

Cerebus 'Action Figure' Update

News just in from George Peter Gatsis is that he is sending Dave Sim a disassembled, boxed prototype of the HUGE Cerebus action figure with hints of a future Kickstarter campaign to raise the required +$6k production funds. Will Dave give his approval for the project? Will he be able to assemble the action figure? Watch this space!

Got an Aardvark News scoop that should be featured here?

Contact: momentofcerebus [at] gmail [dot] com