It was twenty years ago today...

Hi, Everybody!

Guess what?

It was twenty years ago TODAY!

"Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play?"

No Imaginary AMOC Reader who lives rent free in my head, Sgt. Pepper's came out in 1967, so twenty years before that is 1947, and Math isn't my strong suit, but 2023 minus 1947 ain't in the twenties...

THIS happened:

I asked Gerhard about it:

So, I just celebrated the 12th anniversary of AMOC, and the 6th anniversary of my taking over, but I realized that next month is the 20th anniversary of you and Dave finishing Cerebus (I believe yours's is around Christmas.) With that in mind, I thought I'd make a big deal out of it. My question is what is your favorite page (or series of pages) from issue #300? (Bonus points for why?)

And Ger said: 

I guess my favourite (or least hated) part of #300 is the 'falling out of bed' sequence.
This panel in particular:

Why?
I like the balance of black/white/grey
and it has this real 'frozen moment' quality.


Least favourite/most hated part was the fifty-seven versions we went through of the cover trying to get the rays of light to look right.
Never really nailed it. Just ran out of time.
And patience.

As always, Thank You Gerhard!

And Boys and Girls, tonight is the night!

I hope you've been good. Otherwise The Big Guy won't be heading your way, OR bringing the Missus:

Click for bigger on all of those...

You can show support to "Santa" by donating here.

Rigamarole:

New AV Book:

Cerebus #1 Facsimile Edition and Cerebus #1 Facsimile Edition Signed

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The AMOC TeePublic Shoppe: up to 35% off:

December 25-29.

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Heritage has a few Dave Sim/Cerebus items. Including a thing I didn't realize Dave didn't have..

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The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Go Fund Me.

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The Help Out Bill Messner-Loebs Go Fund Me, or buy Rodney Schroeter's book with proceeds going to Bill.

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Larry Shell could use a hand. (I still haven't heard about where/when Dave's donation is getting sold.)

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EVERYTHING on Cerebus Overload is 35% off until the end of the year. The. End. Of. The. Year. Use code "SANTA" at checkout.

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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'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: Christmas! So, Jesus & Friends!

It was twenty years ago today...

Hi, Everybody!

Guess what?

It was twenty years ago TODAY!

"Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play?"

No Imaginary AMOC Reader who lives rent free in my head, that happened in the forties...

THIS happened:

I asked Dave about it:

That means I can run ANY pages from 300...

Next Time: Monday! And more 20th Anniversary Fun!

Who wants some Guinness?

Hi, Everybody!

Hey look what's out:

Yes, I bought one.

And look at page 206:

Let's look a little closer:

There is is!

I find the wording a bit clunky, but there it is.

Okay, Rigmarole:
Church and State Vol 2 Prototype Auction is at $125 (US) to Eric Bahringer.
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You want a prototype The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, you gotta pledge (or up your pledge) here.
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Friend to the Blog, and recipient of his own special themed week here on AMOC (last year), Steve Peters is running a new KickStarter to fund his latest project: Parallel Comicverses #1, will be a softcover black and white, digest-size book, with 70 pages of comics and over 30 pages of glimpses at the creative process. And a new story WRITTEN BY DAVE SIM! With a Cerebus knock-off character: Cerberus
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AND: New Cerebus Merch:

I'm getting me one... gonna wear it to the movies in December

David Birdsong says:

US: Vark Wars Yellow Logo Tee T-Shirt
Vark Wars Yellow Logo Tee Sweatshirt
Vark Wars Yellow Logo Tee Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Vark Wars Yellow Logo Tee V-Neck T-Shirt
UK: Vark Wars Yellow Logo Tee T-Shirt
Vark Wars Yellow Logo Tee Sweatshirt
Vark Wars Yellow Logo Tee Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Germany:Vark Wars gelbes Logo-T-Stück T-Shirt
Vark Wars gelbes Logo-T-Stück Sweatshirt
Vark Wars gelbes Logo-T-Stück Langarmshirt
And still available - "Approval Is An Authoritarian Construct"
US: Approval Is An Authoritarian Construct Tee
UK: Approval Is An Authoritarian Construct Tee
I'll send a copy of Vark Wars signed by both Dave and myself to the first person that sends Dave a Vark Wars shirt. There's really just four versions and the V-Neck for the Ladies is sold only on Amazon US.
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Colin Upton! COLIN UPTON!!! COLIN UPTON!!!!!
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Next Time: High Society. I'm gonna post something from High Society...

Auctions End, and Something from Gerhard.

Hi, Everybody!

So, the TWO Auctions ending today:

#1: The Steve Ditko/Neal Adams Riff Material drawn by Dave Sim:

Cerebus' left arm: All Ditko/Adams'd up

Worried Cerebus: All Ditko/Adams'd up

Cerebus Staining to NOT be consumed by the Spider-Beast: All Ditko/Adams'd up

Cerebus straining to NOT be consumed by the Spider-Beast: All Ditko/Adams'd up

The Amicable Spider-Vark Logo: Pretty much just Ditko'd, 

Bidding was "UPDATE: Bill Ritter is making Seiler scramble for change in the couch to beat Bill's bid of $103 (US)! UPDATED UPDATE: Seiler sold a pint of blood, so bidding is now $120 (USD)!" 

Well, Bill emailed momentofcerebus@gmail.com and said:

Mm. How much blood and how many couches does he have...

$153.00

 Well, I about died laughing, but I sent Jeff a message to let him know where we stand.

#2: The Please Hold Strip I drew:
Bidding is at $20.01 with Jeff Seiler winning ('bout fifty minutes left...)
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Got an E-mail from Gerhard:

Hi Matt:

In case no one else has let you know about this yet:

http://gerhardart.com/blog/

Feel free to link/post away!

Best,Ger

Well if you click over there, you get directed to Brian Coppola's website, where he's got Take On Me (or ‘Little Carson’s Adventures in Cerebus-land’) tribute story and extensive director’s cut commentary available as a download or e-book.

For free. But:

If you are inclined to make a gesture of appreciation for the available copies of the artwork done by Gerhard and Carson, please consider a charitable donation in any amount to the Pride Stables.Pride Stables offers therapeutic horseback riding to people with disabilities. Ger and his partner Shelly (“Shel”) both volunteer at Pride.Pride uses canadahelps.org for direct online contributions:www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/5181General information about Pride Stables:www.pridestables.comGeneral information about Pride contributions:www.pridestables.com/support-us/how-to-donate

 So, please do make a donation.
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Oh, yeah, this stuff:

This week's Auction:

Click to see Spiderbaby! bigger!

Is at $100 (USD) from Byron Dunbar!

COMIC LINK AUCTIONS!!! Where you can get: a Platinum edition of Birthday card #1 signed by NEAL ADAMS, and DAVE SIM, with a NEAL ADAMS Superman stamp. OR, a Gold edition of Birthday card #1 signed by NEAL ADAMS and DAVE SIM with NO STAMP. Or, OR, a print of the Cover to GREEN DANTE/GREEN VIRGIL #1 (Pretend you're Seiler. Impress your friends. Pester your enemies.) there are three of them, but one of them shall be mine! (Ya know, as long as none of you guys got more money than me...)

Wanna give Dave and David And Davjamin... er, Benjamin, and Sean monies, but don't wanna deal with the hassle of going to a comicbook store and tracking down a copy of the latest Cerebus in Hell? One-Shot (The LGBTQetc. People is the next one coming,)? Well, we've got you covered.

If you're in the market to dress like Dave Sim, you can buy a "Matt D's A Moment of Cerebus" t-shirt right here. Or, if you're one of those nostalgia buffs who likes the earlier funnier A Moment Of Cerebus posts, the Tim W. Logo is available too. 

The remastered Volume 1 is available digitally for $9.99. 

If you got a couple of extra bucks and want to do a fellow Cerebus fan a solid, Friend of the Blog Mike Battaglia has a go fund me here. 

If you're looking for Cerebus the Barbarian Messiah, or Conversations. You got more than one way to behead a Borelean, Conversations, and Cerebus the Barbarian Messiah

Next Time: A Blast From The Past!!!

Hey, I've done more than 300 posts, where's MY record?

Hi, Everybody!

If you got a couple of extra bucks and want to do a fellow Cerebus fan a solid, frequent commentator Mike Battaglia has a go fund me here 

 
The Green Dante/Green Virgil cover auction is NOW at $1300 US Dollars from: Jeff Seiler! If you want in on this action (and come on, who doesn't!?!), just comment on this post, or e-mail momentofcerebus@gmail.com

Friend to the Blog, and the guy who Executed Order 66, but only on Wesley Crusher: Steve Peters has another Kickstarter going. (I have a joke in one panel.)

The remastered Volume 1 is available digitally for $9.99.

The second Postcard From Hell Kickstarter is up (four days left.).

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So, if you pay attention to the comics news, you've probably heard Todd.

Well, as you may recall, we've talked Todd before.

AMOC's Friend, and Superman's Frenemy: David Birdsong sent me:

Click to see it bigger.

 And then said:

Dave is formally congratulating McFarlane for the milestone on the cover of the September issue of CIH?

Buy two!

In some of Todd's PR, he says:

"What the record is that we're going to set is the longest-running creator-owned comic book on the planet," an excited McFarlane recently told ComicBook.com. "So, that's more than an independent comic book -- somebody can own your rights on [an independent comic book], right? It's saying, just like with what Dave Sim laid down to start with, that you can create a book and 25 years later you can still be staring that book and owning that book. That possibility exists. Dave Sim proved it, and I'm just gonna become another example of doing it and then you're gonna see the Robert Kirkmans of the world probably go past my number. It's doable. That should be the takeaway, for anybody that has any aspirations to doing anything artistically -- there are examples in all the mediums that we deal with, in which people have been able to survive on their own. So to me, that's way more important than whether you think Spawn's a cool character or whether you like Todd McFarlane's artwork. To me, that's second or third. Its the possibilities that exist, and the only thing that's going to prevent you from replicating that is your own personal effort." 

The only problem, is that Dave's record ISN'T for "the longest-running creator-owned comic book on the planet", it's for:

Most consecutive issues of a comic book written & drawn 

Sorry Todd. But Spawn isn't beating Cerebus' record in August, although, as Dave said:

So, ya got that going for you...

Next Time: I'm working on it, I'm working on it...

A clever callback

Hi, Everybody!

So today will NOT be me getting "Back Into It Again" as I suggested in the "Next Time" yesterday.

I've been working twelve hour shifts at da factory, and da wife and kids are a handful, but mostly I just ain't had the time to go through the links on Comicsgate both pro and con I've gotten.

EVS did show up in the comments on Back into it. Or, ya know, somebody posting under that name (I didn't ask to see an ID or anything. We work on the honor system here). So there's that.

I hope to knuckle down and tackle this ONGOING CONTROVERSY OF EPIC PROPORTIONS on Saturday.

Ya know, unless I find something better.

ANYWAY!

As I mentally have been writing my post where I tackle Dave working on Cyber Frog, and all that that entails, while working twelve hour shifts at da factory, a clever callback in the Cerebus story-line occurred to me.

In the comments about the Cyber Frog thing it's been said of me that, "heavy is the head that wears the tall pointy hat" a reference to:

Courtesy CerebusDownloads.com 

Which is a funny bit that is universally beloved.

It's also a bit that gets a clever callback later in the series.

As WE ALL KNOW (Except YOU Kevin, "Where's my F@#$ING Column!?!") Cerebus ends up Pope of the Eastern Church of Tarim in Church & State I.

And in Church & State II, Cerebus "unites" the Eastern and Western churches of Tarim and becomes the Pope of the new Unified Church of Tarim.

But, how does one show such a momentous (heh,) change to Cerebus' personage?

Not saying this has happened to me while reading comments, also NOT not saying this has happened to me while reading comments

With a Tall Pointy Hat...

"Status, boy! You can argue with me, but you can't argue with status!"

The reason I found this, was that, in the post I've been mentally writing, I was gonna use this image:

"No, Cerbus, I'm sorry that the wrong answer. The capital of France is NOT 'Truth'. Let's see how much you wagered."

And, as we all know, in this sequence, eventually Cerebus losses his hat:

"Conveys my status!"

 And when he goes looking for it:

I think the makers of Se7en owe Dave some money. "What's in the box, man, what's in the box?!?"

 Which contains:

Part of me wants to just fax this page up to Dave titled: "re:ComicsGate"

Okay, I "momented", I'm gonna go to bed. See all ya'll on the flipity-side!

Next Time: "Jingles getting ridden, or GTFO!" Damnit Seiler, quit writing the "Next Times"!!!

The 300 Club

Hi, Everybody!

*sniff* *sniff* Do I smell money?
SOMEBODY WITH A LITTLE HAMMER by MARY GAITSKILL PB signed by DAVE SIM
SOMEBODY WITH A LITTLE HAMMER by MARY GAITSKILL HC signed by DAVE SIM
And check the  bonecrusher86 on the eBays to see when the next thing is up.

So a little over a month ago, somebody posted on The Cerebus Facebook group a tweet from Todd McFarlane about Spawn #286, and how he was looking forward to breaking Dave's record of 300 issues. And there was much discussion of if it even COUNTS, since Todd didn't write and draw all 300 issues.

So, I faxed up to Dave and asked:

Hi Dave,

So, I joined the Cerebus Facebook group (incognito, so as not to arouse their suspicion if they’re bitching about AMOC since the regime change,) and Oliver Simonsen shared a tweet from Todd McFarlane:

todd_mcfarlane_official Soon #Spawn will break Dave Sim's CEREBUS comic record of 300 issues of an independent comic series. TODD

And people were discussing the various aspects of Spawn hitting #300, and it got me thinking.

As the “founder” of the 300 club, how do you see Spawn hitting #300?

Is it closer to Cerebus hitting #300, or closer to Batman hitting #300?

I assume that while an achievement, Erik Larsen hitting #300 with Savage Dragon will be closer to Cerebus hitting #300, than Spawn hitting #300, right?

I guess, I’m wondering: What exactly IS the record?

300 issues from a non-Marvel/DC title?

300 issues by the same creative team?

300 issues of a creator owned title?

300 issues self-published?

Some combination of the four?

I can see the case for an asterisk for the second and fourth for Cerebus. Yes, you wrote and drew 300 issues, but Gerhard didn’t come on board until #65, which means you guys were only (ha! “Only”!) a team for 235 issues. (Which beats the Lee/Kirby FF run, and are the leaders for “Longest run by a single creative team” (as far as I know,).) And Deni was listed as the publisher for the first 70 issues, so was it truly “Self-publishing”? (I’d say yes, since you and her were a team (again, as far as I know…) right?) which means Cerebus was only (ha! again,) self-published for 230 issues (if Deni doesn’t “count”).

I mean, Cerebus IS a monumental achievement. It’s like you’ve described it, “climbing Mt. Everest”. I just wonder if publishing 300 issues of a comic you created, and had a partial hand in its production (ie: Spawn,) is the same, or more like “climbing Mt. Hood”, still a difficult task, but not the exact same thing. Yes, they’re both mountain climbing, but ya know, Everest is Everest, and Hood is just Hood…

Also, tangentially, what are the parameters for “same creative team”? The Lee/Kirby FF benchmark IS a benchmark, but how many different inkers and colorists did they have? I mean, Erik Larsen has written and drawn 235 (tying you and Ger, how about that?)  issues of Savage Dragon. But he’s had a number of letterers and colorists (no more than a dozen guys I think). Does that mean he isn’t tied with you and Ger? And when he hits #300, will it “count”?

I dunno, just some stuff rattling around my head. Made me wonder what your opinion was.

Matt

And Dave responded thusly:

Which is nice and gracious, and a TOTALLY reasonable response.

But seeing as how this is a blog dedicated to a comic that ended FOURTEEN years ago(!), nice and gracious, and reasonable aren't really our "forte".

We're more about the nitpicking, sniping, and being petty little bitches. 

So, "Yay" to Todd for almost hitting 300 issues. But much like Barry Bonds record breaking home run ball, I say there needs to be an asterisk. While Spawn is gonna hit 300 issues, it's more in line with Batman hitting 300 issues, than Cerebus hitting 300.

Erik Larsen hitting 300 with Savage Dragon is light years closer to Dave and Cerebus than Todd and Spawn. No asterisk required.

Okay, start yer bitchin' in the comments, I'm out!

Next Time: I mean, COME ON, Spawn has had how many different creative teams?