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.
The first Mind Game took place in issue #20 and was the first issue to be included in one of Dave Sim’s notebooks. We last saw notebook #1, which covers Cerebus #20 through 28, this past June in The Notebook Pages for The Challenge. The notebook was also called Albatross One and had 194 pages out of 200 pages scanned.
It looks like the first 23 pages of this notebook cover Cerebus #20, and the huge poster that can be made from its pages isn’t shown until page 21. Before that is page after page of text. Either dialogue or Dave doing some world building of who these different fractions are.
Page seven caught my interest as Perce, the Cirinist, examines Cerebus, and written down is ‘not male or female’. Perhaps she was confused by the fur pouch that Cerebus’ penis hid in when not erect or perhaps the aftermath of the kitchen knife incident. Or both.
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| Notebook #1, page 7 |
Note that the space where Cerebus is in issue #20 is called the ‘seventh circuit’ on this page. The paragraph with the asterisk: “He’s either a random factor with immense capabilities of disruption or a small green plant with purple flowers” made it into the final issue, albeit slightly altered: “It would seem to indicate that Cerebus is a random factor with immense and disruptive capabilities. . .or else he’s a small evergreen plant with purple flowers.”
And that small glimpse of what Dave was doing with the artwork for Cerebus #21, this is all that I can see in the notebook for it:
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| Notebook #1, page 21 |
That is it, the last five pages of the issue, showing the overall Cerebus sketch. We also see what appears to be some dialogue for page 20:
All black except for small area of grey. Cerebus?
It’s him. I’m pretty sure of it.
You sure?
Look, mate – how many others fit the description, eh?
If it is him, he’s seen better days.
Jaka said dead or alive.
Ok, ok. . .give us a hand than. Tarim, he’s a heavy little bugger isn’t he
That dialogue never made the issue, I wonder what Dave had in mind.
