The Seven Cent Nickel part one.

Hi, Everybody!

23 more sleeps until 

NINJA!

from The Waverly Press Kickstarter launches:

Man, that's coming up pretty quickly. How quickly? There's a pre-launch page. THAT quickly!

Mondays:

So where in the Mountain of Cerebus and Cerebus-related ephemera do I wanna visit today?

Mount Barstool.

So, before I took this shit-gig (I mean, it's got it's fringe benefits, don't get me wrong. Like THIS happened:

THANKS GER!!!!!!!), I was gonna write an article for Margaret's revived Cerebus the Newsletter about the economy of Estarcion. I was gonna title it "The Seven Cent Nickel", a nod to a bit in Animal Crackers with Groucho Marx:

Problems viewing this video? Watch directly on YouTube...

For you anti-U2bers:

Captain Spaulding: The nickel is not what it was fifteen years ago. Do you know what this country needs today? A seven-cent nickel. Yes sirree, we’ve been using five-cent nickels in this country since 1492 and that’s pretty near a hundred years daylight saving. Now why not give the seven-cent nickel a chance? If that works out, next year we could have an eight-cent nickel. Think what that would mean. You could go to a news stand, buy a three-cent newspaper and get the same nickel back again. One nickel carefully used would last a family a lifetime!

Which certainly sounds like:

But, I was gonna start at the beginning with Issue #1, and go from there. 

But then Tim quit and I, like a schmuck, took over this place. And my days of freelance Cerebus musings turned into "Say Matt, don't you have a Blog to run?". Which put a serious damper on thinking about Cerebus minutia for fun.

But, feeling Whimsical, I think of revisiting my youth and Estarcion's economy.

Issue one is an action adventure that ends in a pouch of gold.

Issue two is an action adventure with no economic world building.

Issue 3 is an action adventure with the kind of economic world building that little junior accountants get their rocks off to:

No, not the broad in the metal bikini. The "flavour text" at the bottom.

"The Borealan gold mines are said to be failing and the nearly bankrupt government is pressing mercenaries into service on pain of death!"

So, the Estarcion economy is collapsing. This one sentence actually sets the trajectory of the series up until Cerebus kills the economy at the end of Church & State.

How?

Come back on Saturday...

_______________________________________________________________________

SPEAKING OF ECONOMIES!!!

If you got the scratch, here's some places with an itch for your wallet:

___________________________________

If you have not purchased one of these:

You totally should.

Here's how to get yours:

1. Go to www.paypal.com and PayPal Bill directly at - billmessnerloebs@gmail.com if you don't have PayPal, or PM me (Mike Jones).
2. The amount is $50 each (we pay postage in the U.S.)
3. Pay all Paypal fees or use "friends/family" to avoid fees.
4. IMPORTANT! Include on PayPal, your mailing address.
5. Sit back and wait for your print....maybe get a frame ready.
6. First come first serve until all prints are gone. All money goes directly to Bill.

Thanks for your support.

Supplies are limited (I think. I dunno, I'm "Go-and-see-if-they're-interested-in-this-Wise-Fella" not "Let's-plan-the-conquest-of-Estarcion-Wise-Fella"...)

___________________________________

Cerebus in Hell?

CIH presents: New Varks #1 & New Varks #1 Signed:

___________________________________

Physical copies of Cerebus Archives on CerebusDownloads.com

____________________________________

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", "AND AN AARDVARK IN A PEAR TREE!!!" 

____________________________________

Heritage has a bunch of neat original art.

____________________________________

The AMOC TeePublic Shoppe

Up to 35% off site-wide:  

February 8 - 11 

and 

February 22 - 26.

Tell your fans! Remind them that everything will be up to 35% off 

___________________________________

Next Time: It's Monday, which means tomorrow is the start of JenBenMagsDave, and I get time to work on The Seven Cent Nickel part two... (Not really, I "wing" almost all this shit...)

Please Hold For Dave Sim 4/2022: The Notes!

Hi, Everybody!

Picking up from yesterday, here's the notes to Please Hold:

Part one.

We begin with Dave remembering Jeff Seiler by reading a letter Jeff wrote to Dave about Doc Holliday and how he's related to Margaret Mitchell.

Part two.

Jen DiGiacomo asked about the Cerebus Berserker Poster:

And the signatures that have turned up so far (click for bigger):

If YOU have a signed poster, send in pictures of the signature. We'd all LOVE to see it.

Part 3:

Kevin Parr asked:

Hi… Matt?

Saw your blog. Longtime Cerebus reader (ordered first phonebooks in late 80s with my paper route money). I’m looking for trades of the main Cerebus book volumes 13-16. Does AV still function as a company? Can I send Dave a check for the four volumes the way we used to? Of course I’m sure they’re long out of print and that answers my question but… you never know, so I thought I’d ask if you knew.

Best,
Kevin Parr
Lawrenceville, NJ

And Dave answers.

Part 4:

Well, this is the "big" one. Our ol' buddy Michael R. asked about Pieces of Turtles 8 #2:

Hi Matt! Here's some questions for Dave.

Hi Dave!
I have a few questions about the POT8 comic that has been offered.
1- Now that POT8.2 is being made, will it be offered in a quick Swordfish Canadian version then a U.S. version Kickstarter?
2- Will all the POT8 versions be offered again in the future TMNT/Cerebus #8 Kickstarter? OR will they be offered in the TMNT/Cerebus #8 Kickstarter in a different form like a complete single volume separate from the remastered TMNT #8 comic? OR will they be combined into 1 HUGE HC book combining all the "pieces" with all the remastered TMNT/Cerebus #8 comic book content?

Michael R.

Dave's answer to #1 is yes. But he's thinking of doing the Swordfish offer for a shorter window of time. Like, REALLY short. Like, two hours. But this is ALL up in the air, and nothing is set. So feel free to bitch about it in the comments. I'll send everything up to Dave before we Please Hold in May.

Part 5:  

MJ Sewall asks:

In the backup story to Matt Wagner's Mage in 1984-86, the Grendel storyline unfolded as diary passages with visuals telling the story, no dialogue balloons.

Question: Did Grendel: Devil by the Deed text block style/format inspire Jaka’s Story in any way?

Thank you for all you do.
M J Sewall

Part 6 :

“Borgy Borgonia” asked:

Hey, Dave! You mentioned the Cerebus books will be PD in the future, but is it ok to use the character of Cerebus now under a Creative Commons license? Just asking for clarity, if ever.

Matt sez: it’s okay. Dave’s not gonna sue anybody. The long standing policy is that anybody can use Cerebus in an original creative work. (Matt just asks you send Dave three copies for the Archive…)

And for anybody that's paid attention, my answer was THE answer.
Dave Kopperman asked:

Matt,
Okay, got one: Is there a comic that Dave regards as the artistic and philosophical heir to Cerebus? That is to say, a work that both expresses the creative vision and ambition of the author but also grapples with their answers to the “big questions” in a compelling way? Maybe ‘heir’ is the wrong word, since I don’t necessarily mean something that came out after Cerebus was completed (after all, Dave’s work was highly influential during the run). So maybe from the last forty years. I’d nominate Finder by Carla Speed McNeil and Paul Chadwick’s Concrete.
Dave

Matt’s guess: Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog series which ran for 290 issues. And Batman…

Part 7:

Brian West said:

Noticed that the subscriber level for Cerebus YT channel is near 1500. Normally when a channel hits a milestone number of subscribers they celebrate the occasion in some shape or fashion. Now, I know the Cerebusonline YT is Small potatoes, compared to other channels subscription numbers. But, maybe we can mark 1500 subscribers in some shape or fashion? Maybe give away a free copy of a future CIH? or gift bag of Cerebus related items?

Just an idea.

Take care,
Brian West

And Birdsong made this:

 So, there's an AMAZING prize coming to the 1500 subscriber to Cerebus Online YouTube Channel.

________________________________________

At one point, my 6 year old, Natasha, came up and gave me this and said "It's Cerebus!"

I faxed it up to Dave, along with an explanation, and he sent back:

That was pretty neat...

Next Time: I catch up on the faxes...

Sketches of Young Jaka

MARGARET LISS:

A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

Dave Sim’s 13th notebook had a post-it on it saying it was for Cerebus #112 / 113, but as we’ve seen in the last post with pages from it, Layouts for Page 9 of Cerebus #114, it also covered bits of Jaka’s Story. The notebook had 80 pages scanned, and a couple of them had some sketches for Jaka’s Story.

Like page #33, which has a couple pencils sketches: one of Jaka at age five and another at age 10. Missy even shows up:

Notebook #13, page 33

I wonder what the quote down the bottom right corner of the page was in reference to, possibly a line from Jaka?  “I want to see you starring at me.”

The next page which jump out at me for Jaka sketches was page 45:

Notebook #13, page 45

Close to page 16 of Jaka’s Story, aka page 6 of Cerebus #114:

Jaka’s Story, page 16

The blue pencil and ink drawing in the notebook is pretty similar to the one on the finished page. Just a few minor differences – Missy / Nurse’s head turned and how Missy / Nurse’s right arm is no longer holding Jaka’s head up are the ones which jump out at me.

There is also some text in the top right corner:

Missy had black hair. Missy wanted blond hair (like Jaka’s) but Missy had black hair. Many of their conversations were about this exact topic.

It sounds like something from Jaka’s Story, but it isn’t on page 16.

Layouts for Page #9 of Cerebus #114

MARGARET LISS:

A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

We last saw Dave Sim’s 13th notebook in November of 2019 in What Could You Do Forever? The notebook covers Cerebus #112 / 113 and “Jaka’s Story Overall Map”. With 80 pages scanned of the 100 pages the notebook originally started out with, it does cover bits and pieces of Jaka’s Story. Like page 82 of the notebook, which shows layouts for not only page 9 of Cerebus #114, but small thumbnails for Cerebus #114:

Notebook #13, page 82

Page 9 changes a bit from the finished page.  The notebook page is a bit of Cerebus #114 pages 9 and 11, aka Jaka's Story pages 19 and 21, as Rick gives up and comes back dressed expecting Jaka to lighten up. However, in the finished page 9, Rick doesn’t listen to Jaka when she tells him to put some clothes on and he playfully teases her about the kiss she gave him, which results in the look be given. Rick still gets the look, it is just a matter of what is irritating Jaka. 

Cerebus #114 page 9 and page layout from the notebook

The little thumbnails on the right side of the page do match the layouts of the actual pages. From the opening page ‘prologue’ to the pages that have the text on them to the two panels of art on those text pages. 

Jaka Finds Fred's Note

MARGARET LISS:

A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

We last saw pages from Dave Sim’s 17th notebook in August of 2019 in Melmoth One. Notebook #17 had 72 pages scanned and covered Cerebus #127 through 135. Going over the scans I saw a single notebook page that contained the dialogue and some sketches for Jaka’s Story pages 293 to 297, aka Cerebus #128 pages 1 to 5:

Notebook #17, page 7

What I noticed is it looks like Jaka near the top of the page says “Cerebus is gone” and then Fred is written over Cerebus. While the dialogue isn’t 100% the same as the finished pages, it is close.

And then on the next two pages of the notebook, Dave puts the text and action to specific pages and panels:

Notebook #17, page 8

Notebook #17, page 9

On page 9 he continues onto Oscar writing Jaka’s Story and another page of Jaka and Rick. Note on page 8 that Dave wrote down Fred instead of writing Fred over Cerebus as he had done on page 7.

I’ve no idea where dialogue on the left side of page 8 is from: “I have however been stricken (emphasis my physician’s) with a severe bout of Panrovian flu.” 

Jaka, Magic, and the Pageant Story

 MARGARET LISS:

A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

So for the past couple of weeks we looked at some pages from Dave Sim’s fourteenth notebook, which covers Cerebus #113 through 117. Jeff in the comments section a while back asked for more text, which he thought he saw last week. Well, we got even more text this week.

A lot more text. Dave would write down Jaka’s Story in his notebook. And then rewrite the same segment again. And then again. This segment deals with Jaka and Thunder, the horse that she called Magic. If you want to follow along in your phonebook, it is page 26 in Jaka’s Story (aka page 26 of #114, try telling my younger self in September of 1988 when she first picked up an issue of Cerebus, yes #114, that she would be scanning in the notebook pages from The Dave Sim that had this text hand written down by The Dave Sim, she would’ve laughed at you).

Notebook 14, page 37

The top of the page is Julius’ experience with Thunder, and then about halfway down it switches to Jaka’s experience with Thunder Magic. Lots of text crossed out and re-writes. 

Notice that the top of page 38 shown below starts again with Jaka’s experience with Magic.

Notebook 14, page 38

On page 38 to the middle of page 39 of the notebook, Dave writes out the text for page 26 of Jaka’s Story, with only a few corrections. Then on the bottom of page 39, he starts writing the text again:

Notebook 14, page 39

However, if you flip to page 40, while it is more text, it isn’t a continuation of this same passage, but the start of the next passage of text for Jaka’s Story. 

Next week: More text? If you want even MORE text, we could try the notebook for Reads. 

What Could You Do Forever

MARGARET LISS:

A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

Last week we saw page 26 from Dave Sim's 13th notebook in Old Friends, Familiar Faces. The notebook covers issue 112/113 and "Jaka's Story Overall Map". And in the comments to last week's entry, Tony requested more of the preliminary planning of Jaka's Story. Well. . .way back in June of 2014, we saw some bits in Jaka's Story.  Then in January of 2016 in Jaka the Dancer we saw a bit more. And just because Tony asked, here are a few more pages showing some preliminary planning of Jaka's Story.

On page 18 of the notebook, we see some sketches of Pud, looking a big older and more tired. And some sketches of Jaka dancing. Notice in the first sketch of her in a very long dress she has short hair, that has another line that appears as if Dave wondered what about giving her long hair?

Notebook 13, page 18

Then on page 25 we get to see a bit more about the Guardian that was mentioned on last week's page. Along with who the sailor was supposed to be.

Notebook 13, page 25

The text that was crossed out? "Abandoned by her father under the pretense of doing good for her." "The most interesting stories don't have endings." "He told her he would be to see her when he could - a lot at first every day. Not as often. Then. . .I'm afraid it might be almost. . .never."

The Locked Door Opened

MARGARET LISS:

A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

We last looked at Dave Sim's fifteenth notebook, which covers Cerebus #118 through 122, in September of 2018 in Oscar's Cigarettes.

On page 27 and then on page 29 there are almost full page sketches of a young Jaka opening the Locked Door.

Notebook 15, page 27

Notebook 15, page 29

In his sketches Jaka is motionless, just standing there. On the finished page, Jaka shows movement into the room beyond the locked door.

Cerebus #119, page 19 (or page 121 of Jaka's Story)

_____________________________________

Vark Wars, SEP191310. Meme by Birdsong

Drinking at Dinner Time

MARGARET LISS:

A few years ago I scanned all of Dave Sim's notebooks. He had filled 36 notebooks during the years he created the monthly Cerebus series, covering issues #20 to 300, plus the other side items -- like the Epic stories, posters and prints, convention speeches etc. A total of 3,281 notebook pages detailing his creative process. I never really got the time to study the notebooks when I had them. Just did a quick look, scanned them in and sent them back to Dave as soon as possible. So this regular column is a chance for me to look through those scans and highlight some of the more interesting pages.

We last saw Dave Sim's notebook #16 in June of 2017 in One Fondue Set Please. With 67 pages scanned this notebook covers Cerebus #122 through 125.

On page 50 of the notebook is a sketch of Jaka, a timeline of issues #135 through 139, which turns out to be Melmoth #1, and a quick summary of what happens to each character. Though as we know it wasn't Pud who ended up going to jail for 2 years.

Notebook #16, page 50

At the bottom of the page, the dialogue and the page layout is for Cerebus #124, page 12 (aka page 224 of Jaka's Story).

Cerebus #124, page 12

For the dialogue Jaka's drinking was removed and it was just left as her dancing. The page layout also changed. I'm wondering if the outside frame of the panel's in the sketch being pushed in a bit was intentional. As the finished page has the panel frame pushed out a bit.

*ring* *ring* Dave's calling!

Hi, Everybody!

The Cerebus In Hell? "Approval Is An Authoritarian Construct" T-Shirt is available in the US and UK. But for some reason, not Germany...

The remastered Volume 1 is available digitally for $9.99. 

AND SEND IN YOUR @#$%ING FLIMSY @#$%ING POSTCARD FROM HELL? KICKSTARTER SURVEYS ALREADY!!! (What the HELL? is WRONG with you people?)

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.

________________________________________________________

Dave Sim is gonna call me on Thursday (unless for some reason he doesn't. But assuming he does,) anybody got any questions they want answered? No holds barred. Nothing is forbidden, everything is permitted. Any question:

 Anything at all:

Doesn't even have to be Cerebus related:

Anything you wanna know:

Honestly, anything:

Except that...

So, sound of in the comments!

________________________________________________________

Hey, and Dave sent me a copy of the bookplate that's gonna be in Jaka's Story:

So there you go.

Next Time: Oh, the pile of stuff I have to get around to just keeps getting larger...

My Cerebus "mood ring"

Hi Everybody!

Ad nauseam:

The Jaka's Story remaster has a Starcode!  APR191258 First month orders will be signed and numbered! Dave will be signing the ENTIRE print run of the book. Also, there's a "contest" to select the image for the bookplate Dave's gonna be signing. Ya gots three more days before they cut it off...

Greg Hyland is Kickstartering the second volume of the Monster Atlas, and it's gonna have Gerhard art like the first volume. It's gonna look a little something like this. Ya gots eight more days to get in on this...

The remastered Volume 1 is available digitally for $9.99. Ya gots... well forever I guess...

The Auction for the Green Dante/Green Virgil cover is up to $1277.00 US Dollars from: 高伯乐 (Gao BoLe)! Ya gots to get a second job if ya wanna beat 'im, just sayin'...

______________________________________________

One of the things I love about Cerebus, is that with over six thousand pages in the series, there's a page to fit every mood.

You're in love? There's a page for that.

You're no longer in love? There's a page for THAT.

You're drunk? There's a page for that.

You're feeling whimsical? There's a page for that.

You're feeling maudlin?  There's a page for that.

You had a bad day?

(As you can probably guess, I didn't have that great of a day, but I'm feeling MUCH better now...)

Next Time: HIGH jinks!