Dave Sim's Financial Road Map

Dave Sim's "Financial Road Map" (2015)

Dave Sim pictured with Jim and Keith of Erb & Erb Insurance Brokers

Weekly Update #103: A Cerebus Super Update!

In this week's update....The Great Cerebus Giveaway, news from IDW on the Cerebus Treasury Covers Collection, the soon-to-be-launched Cerebus Archive Number Four on Kickstarter, introduction to The Cerebus Foundation, and more!

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7 October 15

XXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
CIBC Trust Corporation

Hi XXXXXX!

Since XXXXXXXXX is going to be charging for his services from the moment I engage him, I thought I would send you this draft of my letter to him to see if there's anything that I've left out of what the "bare bones" Last Will & Testament should include.

Fax # here is 519-576-0955.

Let me know the next time you're going to be in town and I'll give you a tour of the Off-White House!

Sincerely,

Dave Sim

PS: I'll be posting this to the A MOMENT OF CEREBUS website with your name "xxxxxx"ed out to make sure everyone is "on board" with all developments right from the outset.

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xx October 15

Dear XXXXXXXX:

I got your name from your grade-school crossing guard compatriot, xxxxxxxxxxxxx at CIBC/Hamilton, who is presently creating THE CEREBUS FOUNDATION on my behalf.

It is his suggestion that we need to begin the process with a "bare bones" Last Will & Testament (I am presently intestate) specifying that I intend to leave all of my material assets and possessions to THE CEREBUS FOUNDATION inclusive of:

1) my publishing company, AARDVARK-VANAHEIM INCORPORATED which:

a) is the beneficiary of my Manulife Life Insurance policy No. xxxxxx . (There is no other beneficiary)

b) owns the Off-White House, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx repository of THE CEREBUS ARCHIVE (documenting chronologically, 1968 to the present, the pre-history and history of both Aardvark-Vanaheim and my 6,000-page graphic novel, CEREBUS); periodicals, books, audio and video recordings about CEREBUS; published and unpublished examples of my pre-CEREBUS and post-CEREBUS creative works

b) includes its CIBC business chequing account #xxxxxx CDN$ #xxxxxx US$

c) is the sole owner of cerebusdownloads.com and Patreon.com CEREBUS digital sales portals

d) owns the CEREBUS INVENTORY housed at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in Kitchener

e) owns all of my original artwork 1970-to-date (stored at xxxxx location)

f) owns the Comics Guaranty Corporation encapsulated "Dave Sim File Copies" of the early CEREBUS issues stored in safety-deposit box #xxxxx at CIBC King and Queen Streets in Kitchener

2) My personal effects and possessions contained in the RESIDENCE portion at the rear of THE OFF-WHITE HOUSE

a) my personal RRSPs under management by the CIBC

To specify in my Last Will & Testament:

1) the CIBC will serve as Executor of my Estate and Administrator of THE CEREBUS FOUNDATION

2) THE CEREBUS FOUNDATION will be fully "donate-able" in perpetuity by those wishing to participate in sustaining it financially

3) THE CEREBUS FOUNDATION will have as its mission statement

a) to preserve all of the above in as close to the state in which they existed at the time of my death as possible

b) to allow access to the premises at XXX XXXXXXX Street, with appropriate security precautions, to interested CEREBUS fans after my death

c) to donate a minimum of 10% of all assets accrued in each fiscal year to ST. JOHN'S KITCHEN and THE FOOD BANK OF WATERLOO REGION or successor charities having comparable "feed the poor" mission statements

Further, that the administration of THE CEREBUS FOUNDATION -- both before and after my death --is to include optimal transparency at the A MOMENT OF CEREBUS website created by and wholly owned by Tim Wxxxxxxxxx London, England (or successor CEREBUS website if AMOC ceases to exist at some point).

(that is, that all correspondence between myself and you and and all other participants on the subject of THE CEREBUS FOUNDATION will be deemed excluded from the traditional attorney-client privilege)

with all adjustments and tweaks to THE CEREBUS FOUNDATION taking the form of "codicils" to my Last Will & Testament.

A lot of meat, for a "bare bones" document, as I'm sure you'll agree.

Sincerely,

Dave Sim,
president
AARDVARK-VANAHEIM Inc.

Weekly Update #95: Compensating Gerhard

Dave Sim talks about the restoration of Church & State I (at the printers now!),
and how Gerhard was, and is still, compensated for his contribution to Cerebus.

Weekly Update #94: The Cerebus Trust

Dave describes various options for the Cerebus Trust such as including Gerhard. Also, a look at some other things Dave wants to get done before he dies. Don't miss exclusive video footage of the ACTUAL first-ever Cerebus Superfan Award! It's like an Oscar for Cerebus fans! It's on its way to Jesse Lee Herndon right now! Could YOU be the next Superfan? Make your nominations and vote now!

BONUS ITEM!:

The latest Jesse Lee Herndon video review... Cerebus #45!

Weekly Update #93: Fan Bequeaths $500,000 to Cerebus Trust

Anonymous Cerebus fan "Mr. J." to bequeath $500,000 to Dave Sim in order to preserve and protect the Cerebus Archive after Dave Sim's death. Thanks Mr. J.!

BONUS ITEM!

"Dino's Café Action Set"™ with Cerebus and dying Oscar Wilde (sold separately).

Not available in any store.

Weekly Update #50: Cerebus Archive Number Two -- Launches Today!

Cerebus Archive Number Two

Kickstarter Ends 25 October -- Pledge Now!

DAVE SIM:

Hello, everyone!

Comments last week from Travis and Damian:

Back before I found out that Chester Brown thought I was a misogynist, we used to talk about Harold Gray (and it IS Gray, isn't it?) quite a bit.  I remember one of the things that I wondered about was What did Harold Gray make of Little Annie Fanny?  If I'm not mistaken the strip debuted in 1962 when Gray had (if I'm also not mistaken) six years to live.  Did he find it disheartening?  Typical of the "sort of people" on the opposite side of the political fence from himself (which -- this was the 60s -- was pretty much EVERYONE except, maybe, Steve Ditko).  Did he want to sue?  Did he take a "the dogs howl but the caravan rolls on" attitude?

These are the sorts of "internal musings" -- "am I the only one who wonders about this stuff?" -- that eventually led to THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND.

I would guess that Harold Gray wouldn't have thought it inappropriate to have a black child as Little Orphan Annie but only because Little Orphan Annie is -- and always has been -- white.

I'm not sure how many people would agree with him and how many people know that they better not

DISAGREE WITH HIM.  OR ELSE!!   Which is a very different thing, I think. Even though I know I'm not SUPPOSED TO THINK THAT'S A VERY DIFFERENT THING.  You can only get thrown out of society once.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. CEREBUS COVERS GALLERY is an unsolvable problem that I think IDW has done its best to solve.  It's their money on the table, so it's their call. I think they made -- are making -- a good one.
2. The two- to four-week mail answer delay is over for the time being.  ALL replies that I had finished on 9/12 when my copier was DOA have been copied and will be mailed today.
3. October 7: final orders for CEREBUS ARCHIVE NUMBER ONE the unsigned unnumbered edition.  October 27: final orders for the re-release of CEREBUS VOLUME ONE REMASTERED.
4. THE BIG NEWS THIS WEEK!  CEREBUS ARCHIVE NUMBER TWO (God willing) launches today on Kickstarter at or near to 6 pm ET.
5. End-of-Life Lease on Life for the Off-White House:  The Cerebus Trust
6. Entertainment Content for Kickstarter coming your way "Multi-page Surreal CEREBUS strip" being done for our Mr. $10K Retail Patron!  

1.  Just reading the comments this week on CEREBUS COVERS GALLERY suggests to me what a Mission Impossible it was to conceive of the book.  Once you start including EVERYTHING you really get outside of all sensible proportions.  VERY late in the initial discussion, I suggested to Ted that he consider a 300 page book.  Basically the David Banks model. On the assumption that that would satisfy the largest number of people.  It's all 300 covers.  Some original art, some scans from printed copies, some Dave Sim file copies.  Some recreations.  I think they took that into account and came up with a Goldilocks Spot closer to the 300 covers concept than anything dramatically expansive.

432 pages means an average of one and a third pages per cover.  So it's not STRICTLY the covers and it's not the Exhaustive Overkill I was preparing myself to do if they couldn't decide.  Basically, here's EVERYTHING I have to say about the covers and whatever you don't use I'll give to Tim for AMOC.

I'm glad I didn't "muck in" on the discussion.  Scott Dunbier already had the unenviable task of distilling a massive amount of visual material down to an unspecified number of pages.  That's hard enough to do without thinking you've got a massive reworking on the way that you have to negotiate mentally after already having "DONE" a 432 page book.

I'm assuming I'll get 12 pounds of proofs (and Gerhard as well) at some point and I'll just correct any factual errors and try to write some pithy aphorisms if I think of any.

IDEALLY IDW is going to want to do a book that stores want to stock on an on-going basis.  Right now the stores only want CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY but CEREBUS COVERS GALLERY might make "the cut" as a way of representing that this WAS a 300-issue series and -- as it stands now -- none of Gerhard's 20+ years of work is seen on virtually any comic store shelves. It would be nice if stores saw this as a valid way to let Gerhard be represented.

Might have to wait for the softcover for that.  Which is going to be tough if the hardcover only sells once and only in a specific quantity.

Long-term project, in other words.

2.  I'm hoping that I can get back to keeping up with the mail but that may have to be sacrificed to trying to keep SDOAR and CEREBUS ARCHIVE on a semi-reasonable schedule and continue to do these updates AND supply AMOC content.  Something, presumably, is going to have to give, but it might just be that ALL of the schedules become semi-regular.  CEREBUS ARCHIVE is looking like it's going to be three times a year, at best, right now.

3.  Major signposts up ahead: October 7 and October 27.  I talked with Matt Demory, my Diamond Brand Manager and he said that's when I can expect to get Purchase Orders for a) CEREBUS ARCHIVE NUMBER ONE and b) CEREBUS VOLUME ONE REMASTERED.  This is important because it's going to tell me how viable we are in the Direct Market generally and PREVIEWS specifically.  Matt pointed out that he retailers wait pretty much to the last minute when they know how much cash they have on hand (or will have on hand).  So, as always, a lot depends on whether Image or DC or Marvel has a Major Hit that is just spewing cash into the stores at the same time that the retailers are getting down to crunch time.  Nothing new in this.  As much as everyone deplored THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN overreaction in 1993, that spewed out a LOT of cash that retailers used to buy other things.  Don't want to bite the hand that is literally feeding us. Or pretending that there ISN'T such a hand.

How the CEREBUS trade is doing its first time through PREVIEWS since it was REMASTERED is going to colour a lot of Diamond's thinking about HIGH SOCIETY.  And it's quite possible that HIGH SOCIETY will be going to the printer at or around October 27 -- so you see the problem.  They aren't going to know until then how many of the new printing they've sold and won't be able to commit to a HIGH SOCIETY new printing until they do.  While, obviously, WE would like to have HIGH SOCIETY in stores for Christmas.

Compounding the complexity, Diamond has roughly 270 copies of CHURCH & STATE volume one and 700 copies of CHURCH & STATE volume two (mainly because the current printing of volume two was done just before Lebonfon decided not to store books anymore).  So, we're definitely talking about "How do you sell 500 copies of volume two?"  We're going to be discussing a lot of possibilities but the leading candidate looks like "signed bookplates"  (the ones available from Kickstarter) actually stuck in volume two.  My question was:  "Do you want bookplates for volume one and volume two and make it a package deal, blowing out the last 270 volume one and meaning volume one won't be available for -- what? -- a year?  Two years? Or do we just LEAN ON volume two."  I've agreed to sign as many bookplates as they want.  So they're mulling that one over right now.

4.  As Funkmaster John enthused by fax:  "We are AUTOMATICALLY APPROVED FOR LAUNCH ON KICKSTARTER!"  That is, there will be NO assessment delay.  They trust us that we know what we're doing!  As Funkmaster also faxed:  "How COOL is THAT?  Kickstarter Street Cred!"  I'm wondering if we get All Access backstage lanyard passes!  Or Tour jackets or something!

Funkmaster's counting on pushing the button around 6 pm Eastern Standard Time, so everyone can be watching for that!

We're just tweaking the final details on the Bonus Prints (the newest new thing this time).  I faxed both Funkmaster and Sean in the "wee small hours of..." this morning answering their suggestions.  Sean has reviewed the digital files and is MAXING the reproduction (as only SMR can do with his "restoration Kung Fu" as George Gatsis calls it: you KNOW he's the best at what he does!).  He's suggested that some of them are going to better as "mini-prints" in terms of sharpness.  So we're going to have two ends of the scale:  the double-page "Cerebus at the wheel of his Porsche" (glamourpuss No.5) which is two pieces of 11x17 art will count as TWO Bonus prints.  But the mini prints will count as HALF a Bonus Print.  And we might be offering the mini-prints as stickers as well.  For, you know, STICKER people.

The Bonus Prints will be $8 each and an extra $1 for shipping (which is average across US, Canada and International).

Speaking of which, a Big Shout-Out to the Aussies and Kiwis who are STILL waiting for their CEREBUS ARCHIVE NUMBER ONEs.  We DID offer FedEx, but the rate is absolutely outrageous, so that really just left surface mail with NO tracking (even if we HAD tracking, Canada Post won't consider an international package "missing" for Six. Weeks.  And, yes, virtually ALL packages will arrive in six weeks so...THAT's why we're having this Big Shout-Out to the Aussies and Kiwis! Because that's, like, really ALL we can do from here!  HELLOOO AUSSIES!  HELLOOOO KIWIS!)

Seriously, though.  Six weeks puts it at the beginning of November.  So if you haven't gotten your package or your package has arrived damaged let Funkmaster know then.  By November 7 and we'll start getting replacements together.  From May to November -- that gives you an idea of what it's going to take for us to get All The Way Through this first round and do a final assessment -- and improve on it.

5.  End of Life Issues Update:  I just found out that my lawyer, Wilf's, retirement -- which seemed so long off in the future -- is coming up November 30th. YIKES!  And, as he explained, once he retires he is forbidden to practice law.  DOUBLE YIKES.  And he also pointed out that his "I can barely afford these rates" rates are actually between twelve and fifteen years out of date and gave me a ballpark figure of what I can expect to pay with the law firm that's inheriting me.  TRIPLE YIKES.

Fortunately, we had a fruitful half-hour discussion on the phone where I pitched him on the plan I've been developing for preserving the Off-White House -- which is basically to fold Aardvark-Vanaheim Inc. on paper ahead of time (A-V is the beneficiary of my life insurance) so that CEREBUS goes into the public domain and the insurance money provides a pool of cash as The Cerebus Trust that will just keep paying the bills on the house.  It's just that no one will live there.  Which should REALLY slash the old grocery bills, I think.  Laundry!  Dead people don't NEED No STEENKEEN' LAUNDRY done, MON!

But, seriously, the idea is that the keys to the house will be in one place, the security codes for the alarm system will be in another place (and changed frequently by the security firm).  If someone wants to visit the house, they make arrangements through The Cerebus Trust and pay the hourly rate for a security guard to let them in.  Where they can look at whatever they want as long as they don't break it and put it back where it came from if they take it out.

There might only be one visitor every eight months for two or three hours.

But that seemed to me to be the best thing to do with all of the Debris of Dave Sim's Life. Just leave it all in one place so that people who think that was (and IS) important can have access to it.

The problem with trying to do it LEGALLY -- rather than as a FINANCIAL thing -- is that a Legal thing has to be "bulletproof" -- or the lawyer is culpable for any metaphorical "bullet wounds".  It won't be "bulletproof" but it should be viable for however-long and that's really all I can ask.

It definitely favours people with money who can afford to hire a security guard and it does limit what can be done with the house after I'm gone.  But hopefully, that can be "worked on" by CEREBUS fans  "of good will" which, in my experience, virtually all CEREBUS fans are.

The next thing I have to find out is if I can make The Cerebus Fund "donate-able" so that anyone who wants to contribute a few bucks (or if Bill and Melinda Gates want to drop $1M into the kitty), that means my life insurance just provides the "base" and it gets built from there.

I'll keep you posted on developments, but this is really the first time in twenty years that I've been working on this that it's looking "do-able".

6.  Still trying to figure out how to say THANK YOU loudly enough to Our $10K Retailer Patron, TF. I had pulled out some CEREBUS tracing paper drawings used in the production of the issues and figured I'd do some "display lettering" on them.  THANK YOU TF WHO SAVED THE EARTH PIG'S BACON (THAT kind of thing:  as in, nyuck nyuck nyuck.)  (Parlez vous, nyuck nyuck nyuck?  Oui?  C'est tres bon vivant!)  That led to turning these pages with all of the images turned this way and that into pencilled comic pages, tightening up some of the drawing.  Surreal doesn't half sum it up.  I ran across a Zootanapuss pencilled tracing paper page.  "How the heck did that get in with the CEREBUS tracing paper?"  Hmmm.  This would be FUN to tighten up.  So, that's now page three.

So, that's what I'm going to be working on in the work time I had allocated for doing THE CEREBUS COVERS book in microcosm over -- what?  The next week?  Two weeks?  So, no idea how long the strip is going to be.  But one thing I can promise:  it won't make a Blind Bit of Sense as a coherent narrative.  Complete Comedy Improv.

I'll be scanning the pages as I get them done and feeding them to Funkmaster to post on the Kickstarter site.  God willing.

Thanks to everyone planning to help us out with CEREBUS ARCHIVE NUMBER TWO!

Don't watch the skies!  Watch the clock!  Six PM!  Funkmaster! Has! Spoken!

See you all NEXT Friday, God willing!

Eight Days Of Dave - Day 2: Dead Dave

DAVE SIM:

Hi Tim - I think what I'm going to do is just blather -- since this is our first time doing "after the issue" -- and leave it up to you if you want to run the whole thing all at once or dribble it out.  Issue 2 of The Strange Death Of Alex Raymond took about two and a half months. I hope I get faster but I'm not counting on it.

Cerebus #161 (August 1992)
Art by Dave Sim & Gerhard

DEAD DAVE

Speaking of my death, I finally got around to phoning Schreiter-Sandrock funeral home a year after the fire at Sandeep's place destroyed the only copy of my funeral arrangements. Sandeep and I were working regularly together, so he seemed like the person to leave them with. Now we're not working together there's no obvious candidate, so I'm going to get you, Tim, to print it here when you get some space. I mean SPOILER WARNING! Here it is:  the end of Dave Sim's life whether it happens next week or thirty years from now. Do I think it's actually going to HAPPEN the way I described it?  Mm. No. Probably not. But I would appreciate it if anyone reading this who is remotely interested would speak up or cut and paste and e-mail it to Schreiter-Sandrock funeral home when the time comes. Of course, it's not a funeral that 99.99% of CEREBUS fans are going to want to BE at -- religious content and all -- so that's going to count against it. People don't speak up about things they dislike. But, anyway it will be here for as long as AMOC endures.

AFTER DEAD DAVE

I'm working on it, I'm working on it.  Have been for twenty years. At some point I hope to be able to post that here as well.  Rough sketch: I hope to have Aardvark-Vanaheim cease to exist and all assets converted into a Fund that will be used to maintain the house in exactly the state it was when I died. You'll be able to make a reservation to come and see the house. You hire your own bonded security guard who is right next to you wherever you go, but you're free to look at whatever you want for however long you want to pay the security guard. The idea really started when "J" was here. And I asked him what he wanted to look at. And he wanted to look at someone's letters for a specific time period. Okay. Give me the dates. Gave me the dates and I dug out the correspondence box and went through it and just pulled out the letters as I came to them.

And I thought, that's a really CEREBUS kind of thing.  Everyone's going to want to see something different.  And they'll be perfectly happy being by themselves in the house.  "What's in here?" Well, the security guard isn't going to know. He or she is a security guard. They're just there to break your arm if you look like you're going to steal something or break something.

I mean, if I die a natural death (koff koff) in my 80s a lot of you will never live long enough to do that. And by that time, there might only be 8 people on the planet who are remotely interested.  But it would be as if there was an Alex Raymond House or a Stan Drake House. Would I be interested? Are you kidding me? I can just go through his desk drawers and read whatever I want as long as I put it back where I found it?  And all I have to do is to hire a security guard for however long?

In terms of What's Left After Dead Dave, that's the only thing that made sense to me. No one is going to go to Columbia University and ask to see Box 1 and Box 2 and Box 3. I just can't picture it. It's CEREBUS.  It's something you have to do on your own and immerse yourself in it.

Anyway, that's what I'm working on:  if I can make it to, say, age 86 there would probably be enough insurance money to keep the house as it is for a couple of hundred years.  There might only be 6 visitors in those couple of hundred years, but that's not the point.  To me, it's debris that I'm leaving behind but it was YOU the fans that made it possible.  I didn't turn out the way you wanted me to, but you helped me to turn out the way I wanted to.  So it seems a sensible trade.  Here's all my insurance money and RRSPs and what's left of the bank account and it will be used to keep the debris intact so any time you want to come and see it, you're more than welcome.