Hi, Everybody!
Over on the FaceyBookee, Cory Foster shared:
Latter Days sighting in Owen Kline’s new film, “Funny Pages”
And I thought "HEY! I KNOW that Aardvark!!!"
"Yes Matt, it's the Cerebus from the cover to issue 275..."
No, well...yes, it is. But I mean I KNOW that SPECIFIC Aardvark.
Which means I can FINALLY run something that's been "in the kitty" for FOUR YEARS(!!!!)...
Michael R. of Easton, Pennsylvania sends in (well, back on the twentieth of January 2018 he sent in):
2 Against Nature (…or Michael and Grace against nature)
On December 4, 2017, Dave Sim converted CEREBUS Nation into Worldwide CEREBUS Benevolent
Dictatorship and decided to award the CRAZY DEAL BONUS PRIZE to me, Michael R. from Easton, PA. I gladly accepted. Dave called and we spoke about everything he knew about the film and my part.
[This is Mike's wife, Grace. My comments will be in brackets. And I wouldn't hear the end of it until the day of the filming. Mike constantly asking me, "what clothes should I wear?, should I shave or not?, does he look fat?". Mike decided to bring 3 different shirts and a extra pair of pants just in case they needed him to change. ]
I did a little bit of research about Comic Book Jones . I just wanted to see how far of a drive I had, the address, email and phone number. It's wasn't too bad, less than an hour and half. I phoned the shop to speak with the owner, but he wasn't in. He told me to email him, which I did. I emailed Comic Book Jones and then … nothing.
On January 4th, the owner Socko Jones replied to the email I sent on December 21 and was looking forward to meeting me. He also gave me a list of the employees at the store so Dave could personalize issue 275 for them. Issue 275 is the cut out Cerebus in his Charlie Brownshirt and busted leg with a crutch. I also spoke with Socko to see what time he would be there on the day of the shoot. Socko said around 11AM. I wanted to get there before the cast and crew to spend some time with him to interview and take some photos. Socko said it was fine.
Once Dave had all the names, he FedExed me way to many copies of issue 275 for the cast and crew,
Comic Book Jones and for me and my wife, Grace. Grace and I would both be taking the day off for the shoot. Now we had to just wait for the day.
As everyone knows on the east coast the past few weeks we had some frickin' cold weather. A cyclone bomb the weather people said. Except the day of the shoot, we had temperature rise to the low 60's and plenty of rain. If you think about it , that's far better than a blizzard. We had to run a few errands that morning and found that power was lost in the town next to us where we banked. When we finally got on the road to Comic Book Jones it was slow driving because of the rain. I think we were half way there when traffic stopped completely. It had to be an accident. Great! That's all we needed. We were able to get off and take rural roads all over New Jersey with the help of the GPS. [No. It was with my help of my GPS. Lol.] It took less than 2 hours to get there. Oh yeah, we also forgot our EZ pass in our other vehicle. That made going through tolls a bit much longer.
When we finally arrived in the parking lot, we could see that there were many trucks and vans in the lot. A tent was pitched. I couldn't think of any of that for now. I had more important things to think of. I had to find a bathroom. Fast.
I got out of the car to go to the Duncan Donuts which was right behind us. As I started to walk there, I stopped and walked back to Grace. She said, "what's the matter? I said, " I think that's Owen Kline and somebody else.' "How do you know?', she asked. I said, "it sorta looks like him. I'm going to say,
hi". [Yeah, Mike had to go so badly that he made his way back to the car just to tell me that he THINKS Owen Kline is outside of the Duncan Donuts. I watched Mike walk towards Owen and I think they thought he was a stalker because he was just standing there in the rain staring at them.]
Owen was in a middle of a conversation with Rob, the comic book shop owner in the movie. Right away they knew I was staring. I didn't want to be rude and waited for my opportunity and finally introduced myself. Owen seemed overjoyed to meet me. He even took photos of me and the Cerebus shirt I was wearing. Rob, the actor, seemed really puzzled. I told him I would see him inside after I visited the Duncan Donuts.
The time was approaching noon. I told Socko that we would try to be by there 11AM. Weather and an assumed accident slowed us down .We walked towards Comic Book Jones and we noticed right away that the film crew was here. There were many trucks and a tent. Steady rain still falling. Grace and I had no problem walking into Comic Book Jones, the door was unlocked. We walked to the counter and next to Gore Jones ( all Comic Book Jones employees are named by Socko) was a 5 foot Cerebus cut out. [The Cerebus cut out was almost as big as Mike] I quickly took a few photos.
I asked Gore if Socko was in and he said, "yes". Socko came out, we spoke a little bit and I asked him if Grace could video us while I asked him a few questions for A MOMENT OF CEREBUS. He said yes. [ I was admiring Socko's tattoos and by the way, Mike has a Cerebus tattoo on his left shoulder. He got it in the late 80's. The tattoo artist did a great job. It is a tattoo of a mean looking Cerebus on top of a chimney with blue clouds on the background. It's 30 years old and it still has its color. ---This is Mike commenting on Grace's comment. Way back in 1985, I joined "FRIENDS OF CEREBUS". Along with the membership I received an 8 X11 1/2 certificate stating, " This Document certifies that Michael has had their name lettered hereon by Dave Sim and now owe him undying loyalty". My name was hand lettered by Dave, but Gerhard, Karen McKiel and Dave's signature was a copy. There was a Cerebus illustration by Dave which I used to get branded to show my undying loyalty. The tattoo artist did a great copy of Cerebus, but did an ok job mimicking Gerhard's line work on the chimney. The clouds are more the tattoo artist freestyling clouds. I gave Dave a photo of it many years ago at a convention. Which Dave mentioned that he was thinking about publishing a tattoo comic of everyone who had given him a photo to him of anything Cerebus related. Well, enough about me.]
After the questions Socko said he had a business to run and went back into his office. Before he went in his office, he told us to walk around and ask any questions about anything. Socko is a gracious host. He must be. Who in there right mind would let a film crew transform their comic book store into a movie comic book store. 3 CHEERS FOR SOCKO!
The first thing I noticed about the store (besides the color red, lol) was that it's big. Really BIG. There was so many new comics all over the walls on shelves, back issues in what looked like hand made wooden containers, long boxes underneath the hand made containers in cabinets, long boxes around the store and graphic novels up the wazoo all around the store. Boxes of comics so high you would need a at least a 12 foot ladder to get them. …or a 12 foot Cerebus. This is definitely a comic book haven. Unique posters and music decorated the rest the store.
Socko's regular customers had been walking in and getting their weekly comics pulled by Gore. I noticed that they noticed something was happening. It was neat to watch how knowledgeable the staff are about their customers wants and needs. While rehearsing and filming stopped, Socko would run out and get the customer. …OR the crew would give the customer the ok to come in to get their stash. Probably a typical day for Socko.
I noticed the older comics, besides being bagged and boarded , had a sticker on them identifying the comic and even has a bar code for easy scanning. A big step from what I was used to growing up. Also, everything was in alphabetical and numerical order. Amazing!
Around this time I noticed a woman walking towards Grace and I.
Around the time we were soaking up the store, Audrey came up to us and we all introduced ourselves. I asked her for a quick interview and she said, yes. I handed Grace the phone fast. While asking Audrey questions, Owen popped up and we continued the interview with him. It was real spontaneous even with some questions that were the same I had for both of them. After we finished with this great funny
interview I noticed on my iPhone that nothing recorded. I must have pressed the "stop" button when handing the iPhone to Grace. I checked and rechecked , but it was never there. Aaaargh!. I was thinking how am I going to ask Owen to do this again. [Mike handed me the phone so fast, I assumed it was recording. I felt so bad. It was funny. I told Mike to ask him again and Mike said he can't do that. I said, "Owen and Audrey are nice and friendly people. They'll do it. Just ask them."]
Owen then proceeded to show where I would be placed for the scene. He explained what was going to
happen. As this was going on, more and more crew were coming in and prepping the store for the scene. Owen and the crew were taking down certain posters, rearranging and adding books in specific spots for the scene. Occasionally, Owen was coming by me and asking a question or explaining in more details about how to look and move in the scene.
What I noticed about Owen is his eye for detail. Constantly picking and moving comics around for the
scene. One of the first Dave Sim/Cerebus things I noticed was behind the counter where Rob was (the actor who plays the comic book store owner) on the wall behind was Dave's "COLLECTED LETTERS 2004". To the left was an Alan Moore Swamp Thing graphic novel and to the left of that was a Jeff Smith's RASL.
We rehearsed the scene with me being a preoccupied customer reading a comic, who stays in the store way too long and probably never buys anything. Daniel, the star of the scene and probably the movie, rushes in the store, races past me and asks Rob for a specific comic. With me lying on the floor reading, Rob kicks me out of the way to get the long box for Daniel. [I was thinking Mike is too old to be rolling around on a carpet.]
Owen decides that this won't work. He places the 5 foot Cerebus by the front door where Grace is sitting. [I was sitting by the door and was like "HOLY MOLY!" I think I'm going to be in a scene.] A crew member asks Grace if she wouldn't mind being the scene. Grace said yes. So now we are both in the scene. [I wasn't expecting to be in a scene, but very excited and then even more excited when asked to be in a second scene.] While all this is going on, the camera crew is setting up the tracks for the camera to move on and the camera placed on the tracks. Lighting and sound was being set up, as well.
My new spot was on the other side of the cabinet, sitting on the floor reading a comic with headphones lost in my reading. By the way, the comic Owen chose was a 15 cent DC comic drawn first by Barry Smith and the middle part by Wally Wood. I close my eyes and I can't remember the comic. Same sequence for Daniel and Rob. Grace was now in the scene where Daniel opens the door, walks past 5 Foot Cerebus cut out and Grace sitting on a chair.
After a few more rehearsals, I was told to move back on the other side. This time standing up and looking through comics, pulling up a comic, putting it back. Repeat. Rob and Daniel repeating their scene. The only thing different is Owen added another extra for the guy sitting on the floor reading and being in the way. Grace and 5 foot Cerebus cut out stayed in place. A few more rehearsals, Owen and crew satisfied with the scene decide to film the first take. [Thank God. I was bored out of my skull.]
After each take (there were 11?), the scene was discussed and tried again. Whether Daniel moved too fast, change of line spoken or placement of long box, each take was corrected until all were satisfied with scene. We thought we were done. Grace had looked through the same Walking Dead comic over and over and decided that she was going to Kohl's. She asked if that was ok. A crew member said no. [I probably couldn't go because I hadn't signed a consent form. Without my consent, they wouldn't be able to show the scene that took all day to get.] They wanted her in another scene. Now Grace was going to be in a second scene. Jacket off. Standing on the other side of the store looking at a comic while 2 other extras would walk past Daniel (who was holding "Church and State I" on specific pages Owen selected) discussing a comic.
After this scene we both sat at the table near the 5 foot Cerebus cut out. Grace ran out and got us ice coffees and a couple of donuts. While setting up the final scene, I got a chance to talk with Rob and Daniel. Rob, I found out, is in Owen's 2nd film. The first was a short film called Foul Play. Rob said if you YouTube Owen Kline Foul Play, you can view it. Rob, is not much of a comic book guy, but is a Flaming Carrot fan. Daniel came around as well and asked me if I read Cerebus everyday. I laughed at that. I told him that I had a job and there is not much time to constantly reread 6000 pages all the time. [If Mike won the lottery that's what he would spend his time doing, reading Cerebus everyday.]
The final scene was shot and everyone was told they would break for lunch. It was around 5PM and it
took around 5 hours to film the 3 scenes. The first scene that I was in took much of the afternoon. The other 2 was done rather quickly.
At this time Audrey and Owen approached Grace and I.
Owen and Audrey approached us and thanked us for coming to the shoot and Audrey wanted get a photo with Owen, me and 5 foot Cerebus cut out. I believe this photo of us will be shipped to Dave to personalize it and send it back to me.
After a couple of photos, I mentioned to Owen what happened earlier in the day when I hit 'stop" on my iPhone when I handed the phone to Grace. I then I if we can recreate the small interview. Owen said yes.
We made sure the phone was recording and started. We were still by the front door and Audrey noticed that there was too much foot traffic by the crew. The crew was dismantling and removing equipment very quickly. It was decided to bring 5 foot Cerebus cut out to the back corner of the store to do the small interview. This time we added Sean, a crew member and Cerebus reader. Grace and I managed to
get this recording. So all was not totally lost. Whew! What a relief.
The movie comic book store was starting to look like a real comic book store with everything now mostly gone. Around this time I noticed that no one was moving, removing, touching or even looking at 5 foot Cerebus cut out. I started to get this CRAZY notion that I should ask Owen what their plans were for 5 foot Cerebus cut out?
[And I was like I hope Mike is not going to ask Owen for it. How embarrassing.]I had brought my Cerebus Covers Book. I had issue 151 marked off in the book. The reason I picked issue 151 was because that was issue that Owen when was born. October 1991. It also is the first issue of FLIGHT. It also was the feature in CAN7. It was also when Dave mentioned the BONUS CRAZY DEAL OF THE DAY! stating that Owen Kline would filming 2 AGAINST NATURE and that he wanted to use a 5 foot Cerebus cut out for the movie. It was also mentioned by Dave that if a Cerebus fan could be an extra that he would ok the deal. Everyone agreed. …and here I was asking Owen to personalize my Cerebus Covers Book. Which he did.
[Owen is such a nice guy.]
After I thanked him, I asked what they were going to do with the 5 foot Cerebus cut out? …and if I could have it?
[Oh No! Mike is really going to it.] Owen asked someone in the crew and that person gave an ok. I was in a state of euphoria. I then asked
[Mike didn't look like he was asking, Mike looked he was begging.] Owen if he could personalize the 5 foot Cerebus cut out. …and he said yes, again. For me, this keeps getting better and better. Good thing I brought with 1 black Sharpie and 1 gray Sharpie. After that everyone was gone or pretty much going to lunch.
I picked up 5 foot Cerebus cut out and Grace and walking out the door. When outside there was a light rain, we were moving pretty fast. When we arrived to the car, I told Grace, "he's not going to fit." Grace, always the optimist, said "he's fitting." We tried putting him sideways in the back seat. Legs
were too wide. We tried rearranging the trunk and fitting him feet first. Legs too wide. Flip him around and put him head first. Ok, now we're making progress. We almost got him in , but the feet were too damn wide.
Looking back at this it probably was comical. We tried it a few more times and you guessed it, feet too wide. Even 5 foot Cerebus cut out was getting a little upset. Dave and Gerhard probably had less trouble getting Cerebus to issue 300 then we did trying get him in our car. Only one thing to do. I bent his right foot slightly to fit him in. Poor guy. His left foot was already in a cast and I'm wreaking havoc to his other leg. But he was in … and dry. I wished I snapped a photo.
When we were in the car and started to drive away, I chuckled in my thoughts. I was thinking that 5 foot Cerebus cut out does not have that stench that 3 foot comic book Cerebus when it rains. Thank goodness. The ride home would have been even worse. Haha.
It was a such a long drive home. There was a lot of traffic leaving Staten Island that slowed things to a crawl. We decided finally to stop somewhere in New Jersey to get some dinner. We got back on the road driving through rural roads. The temperature was starting to drop and getting foggy. [ I never seen so much fog come so fast in my life. I was getting a little concerned. We couldn't see 5 feet in front of us. The back roads were real windy and no street lights.] We made home. We put the car in the garage. Took everything out. Put 5 foot Cerebus cut out in the living room. Finally, we were able to relax. Our day in show business.
I want to thank Socko Jones for welcoming Grace and I to his store, Comic Book Jones. For the cool video we recorded. For his patience to the cast and crew. To Gore and the rest of Comic Book Jones. Your store makes comic book reading fun again!
I want to thank Owen Kline, Audrey, Rob, Daniel, Sean and everyone else who were kind enough to make sure we were comfortable and relaxed and everyone else who's names I already forgot. Owen you assembled a great team. Grace and I wish you and everyone nothing but success!
To my wife, Grace, who put up with all my shenanigans before, during and after the filming. You are the best!
Finally, Dave, thank you for picking me to represent Cerebus Nation in the filming of 2 Against Nature. You are truly the second best!
Thanks Michael! [And Grace!] Truly, you are the pride of Easton, PA.
(Unless you got left on the cutting room floor, in which case, you're Nobody! Nobody I tells ya!!!)
