Notebook 36: Cerebus #300

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 made it. To Dave Sim’s last Cerebus notebook’s pages for  Cerebus #300. We’ve already seen 57 of the 58 pages scanned in for Notebook #36. The notebook that covers Cerebus #265 though 300. Yes, only 58 pages scanned for 36 issues. Why so few pages scanned for so many issues? Well, if you’ve been following along these past weeks, you’ll know the answer. Or if you want, you can get caught up by using the Notebook 36 tag.

Yup, there were a lot of blank pages in notebook 36, and if they were completely blank, I didn’t scan them. I was scanning the notebooks as efficiently as possible to get them back to Dave in a timely manner while still getting the highest quality scans – so blank pages were skipped.

So what do we have for Cerebus #300?

Notebook #36, page 103

We’ve seen that page before in Lots of Dead Cirinists back in November of 2020. Not much to see. But what of the other two pages that were supposed to be for Cerebus #300. Wouldn’t that be pages #104 and #105?

No. Those pages were blank as well. The next page that had any content was page 107:

Notebook #36, page 107

Wait, is that. . .content? Very faint pencil marks for two pages. The material in the panels is only visible from the page behind it:

Notebook #36, page 108

Yes, we have seen page 108 before, but only a close up of it, in The Final Notebook way back in March of 2015. Ten years. Over ten years ago. Anyhoo, the final layouts of the four pages above almost match the final four pages of Cerebus #300.

Final three pages of Cerebus #300

Instead of four panels per page, Dave went with six panels. The fourth page is blank as there is just the quote from II Maccabees 15:38 – 39. But the dynamics of the pages are roughly the same – Cerebus being shocked in the first page and turning away from the light, Cerebus trying to run away from the light and falling while calling for god, and his final call for help.

Note that in the notebook page layout, the top says HEELLLLLL and then the bottom says PP. I’m wondering if Dave changed it as the top was just basically saying H-E-double hockey sticks. Yes, hell. 

And that is a wrap on Notebook #36. Next week we've had a request for something from a Please Hold for Dave Sim. 

Notebook 36: Cerebus #297 - 299

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’s entry on Dave Sim’s final Cerebus notebook, notebook #36, was three blank pages for Cerebus #294 – 296. And guess what? It is more of the same for Cerebus #297 through #299. I know by this time Dave was using the tracing paper method of working on the original art, perhaps between that and being so close to the end of the story, he had it in his mind and it was just a matter of getting it out onto the art board.

If you want to see all of the other posts for notebook #36, which yes, there are pages with material on them, check out the Notebook 36 tag. Next week will be the last Notebook #36 entry, for as you can tell, there is only Cerebus #300 left. 

Notebook #36, page 94

Notebook #36, page 97

Notebook #36, page 100

And if you missed last week’s post: “Yes, Dave would leave three pages per issue for any notes he might have. Which, as you can see, were none for these issues.”

For this week’s tracing paper sketches – I need to make up for showing you three blank pages with something Cerebus related or boss man will can me faster than you could say Boobah – I found a rough and a tighten sketch for Cerebus #255 page four. Well, at least the top two thirds of the page:

This is the rough sketch for the page. Yes, the tracing paper is a bit bigger, but I cropped the picture just to show what was on the tracing paper. The rest of it was empty. On this rough there is nothing on the back side of it. We can see Dave’s vanishing point lines, the outlines of the panels – sometimes just the corner marks, and some of the dialogue. We even get a bit of background – look at that little airship in the upper right corner.

And yes, with all of these pictures, click to enlarge.

Tracing paper rough and issue

With the tightened sketch, the panels are there as is Cerebus’ dialogue. Though that dialogue is still a bit different then the final page. The dialogue for Mary and Jaka is the same. The background that he sketched out in the rough is gone from the tighten sketch. But as close as it is, this tracing paper wasn’t used on the page – there are no pencil marks on the opposite side of the tracing paper.

Tracing paper tighten sketch and issue

And the tracing paper tighten sketch by itself. Yes, this is the condition I received it in straight from the Off White House. The pit of scotch tape along the top of it, the pit of paper from the top right corner torn off, and the bottom left corner cut out. All I did to it was just put it an archival portfolio to protect it from further damage.

Tracing paper tighten sketch

So what will we see next week? Just a blank page for Cerebus #300? Or will there be some actual content on the notebook pages? 

Notebook 36: Cerebus – 294 - 296

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 we went from pages of walls of text as I like to call them to three blank pages last week. Well, not completely blank, they had the issue number box in the top left corner. We’re looking at Dave Sim’s last Cerebus notebook which covers Cerebus #265 through 300. The notebook only had 58 pages scanned – as I didn’t bother scanning in all of the blank pages – and we’ve seen almost all of them. Only a couple of weeks left. Use the Notebook 36 tag to get caught up with all the fun.

And if you thought, well, it is probably more blank pages again. You’d be right. Nothing but blank pages for Cerebus #294, 295, and 296:

Notebook #36, page 85

Notebook #36, page 88

Notebook #36, page 91

Yes, Dave would leave three pages per issue for any notes he might have. Which, as you can see, were none for these issues.

So what about some more of those tracing paper preliminary drawings? Which were more likely used in the production of the original art. Dave can explain it better than I can, from his notes on the tracing paper drawings for Cerebus #300:

During one of these phases, I also began to use tracing paper as a means of correcting imbalances and inaccuracies in the drawings. This technique involved getting a close approximation of how I intended the finished drawing to look and then flipping the tracing paper over and either drawing a finished version of the figure directly on the other side of the sheet or putting another sheet of tracing paper over the first one and doing the finished version on that separate sheet. When a final version of a figure was achieved (in reverse), the finished drawing was then turned face down on the artboard and by tracing over the image in pencil a light pencil impression of the finished drawing was transferred to the artboard which could then be tightened up in pencil and inked.

The tracing paper this week shows us four panels for Cerebus #98. Three of those panels are for page 6 of that same issue (aka Church & State II page 942:

Cerebus #98 page 6: tracing paper and actual issue

Yes, you can zoom in to see the regular pencil over the blue pencil. Dave even penciled in the word balloon for Posey. Okay, okay, here is a more zoomed in picture of just that final panel for page 6:

Close up of Cerebus #98 page 6: tracing paper and actual issue

Here is the other side of the tracing paper:

Flip side of the tracing paper for Cerebus #98 page 6

Yes, there is a four panel on the tracing paper. It looks like the panel of Bishop Powers for the next page – the first insert panel. Now I’m wondering where the tracing paper for the first two insert panels on page 6 is located. Hopefully not a garbage bin. . .

Notebook 36: Cerebus #291 - 293

Last week we saw four pages from Dave Sim’s last Cerebus notebook, notebook #36. Those pages contained a lot of text that appeared to be for Cerebus #289 / 290. We’ve been looking a pages from notebook #36 since January of 2025 and they can all be seen using the Notebook 36 tag. What do we have up this week – more walls of text? One of the few sketches in this notebook? Or just an issue number box and a blank page? 

Notebook #36, page 76

Lovely, another blank page. Well, almost blank page. We see the issue number box in the upper left corner of the page. The text we saw last week is lightly visible on the previous page. And as you can guess, when the first of the three pages allocated to that notebook is blank, so are the rest of them. So the next page is number seventy-nine:

Notebook #36, page 79

Another blank page followed by yes, two more blank pages as the pages for Cerebus #292 were not used. So is there anything on page 82?

Notebook #36, page 82

Nope, more of the same. Another issue number box, and nothing else. Seems that Dave had The Last Day mapped out already and didn’t have much need of the notebook.

So what about some tracing paper preliminary sketches? I went back to look at what older ones I have, and how about one for the cover of Cerebus #97 - and yes, click on all of the pictures for a larger look at them:

Cerebus #97 and tracing paper preliminary sketch

Why was my copy of #97 signed by both Dave and Ger? My checklist spreadsheet says “Signed, LTD to 49 Sim "file copies"”. I still have the envelope which it came in from Aardvark-Vanaheim. Looks like it is dated from 2006. 

Here is the flip side of the tracing paper, you can see that there are pencil marks on this, just over his blue pencil from the other side. 

Back side of tracing preliminary sketch for the cover to Cerebus #97

How about another tracing paper preliminary sketch for Cerebus #97? At first I saw this and thought it was for the cover to Cerebus #100, the way the panel is so tall and narrow. But no, it is for the last page of issue #97:

Front side of the preliminary sketch on tracing paper, Cerebus #97, page 20

You can see it is for the fourth panel of that page. Dave sketched out Cerebus to get how Most Holy’s vestments fall on his body as he is walking up the steps away from the dungeon. And yes, there are pencil marks on the back of the tracing paper, but only the black pencil marks, none of the blue:

Back side of the preliminary sketch on tracing paper, Cerebus #97, page 20

Will next week be more blank pages. . .well, pages of just issue number boxes or will we get some more notes? 

Notebook 36: Cerebus #289 / 290

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 pages from Dave Sim’s 36th notebook for what was supposed to be for Cerebus #287, as that is what the cover issue box. What we saw were pages for Cerebus #288. Kind of. What we saw are the sixteen questions that New Joanne was going to ask Cerebus starting on page 5 of Cerebus #288, aka page 445 of Latter Days. 

This week we get to page 70, which starts off the pages for the final phonebook, The Last Day.

Notebook #36, page 70

The quote on the page says: 

“Everyone dies in the end”

“No. In the end everyone is dead. It isn’t the same thing at all.”

And I didn’t find it during my quick look at The Last Day phonebook. Looks like Dave already knew what the name of the new phonebook would be: The Last Day. And he crossed off ‘Jacob’s Ladder: “Break forth” for some reason. I even got my copy of Cerebus #289 / 290 out to see if the quote made it to the finished book, and it did not. Unless it was with all the small text.

There are no pages scanned in for #71 and #72 as there was nothing on them. So we jump forward to page #73, and Cerebus #290:

Notebook #36, page 73

And we’re back to walls of text . The Jacob’s ladder quote shows up for Cerebus #290? Nope, not that I could find. I tried matching up some of the text on this page with the text in Cerebus #289 / 290 and couldn’t find it. The text on the notebook page:

“3:10 And in each place each spirit gathered in the dust as aforetimes, which soon gathered unto itself as aforetimes, pressing sore upon itself as aforetimes.”

But on page 14 of Cerebus #289 / 290 (same page in  The Last Day phonebook), the text for 3:10 says:

 “And straightway, many of the divided spirts of God, now separated one from another, began again to move, as great waves, upon the face of the Deep. Each, as aforetimes, in going and gathering the dust before him, each unto his own Word which had come forth from within him.” 

This text and the rest of it appears to be the preliminary text for pages 14 and 15. And yes, as you can see there is text on the next page as well.

Notebook #36, page 74

More preliminary text for Cerebus #289 / 290. Though my quick look didn’t find these exact quotes in the finished work. The next page has more of the same text:

Notebook #36, page 75

Ahh, the word God showing up multiple times. It was on page 73 down near the bottom, but just once. Here it shows up multiple times. This text while not the same is very close to the text on page 19. For example, third row, middle text says:

“And who repent of their disobedience and repent of seeking to become the equals of GOD.”

And on page 19, text box labeled 7:

“For it is true of all spirits that there are some who repent and desire to be with God always, and there are some who repent not and do always desire, in secret, to become the equal of God.”

So more preliminary text for Cerebus #289 / 290. In some of the other notebooks Dave would write and rewrite text multiple times. But not here. 

Yes, Dave had more notes for Cerebus #289 / 290. He took notes on the books he read for the issue in notebook #34. Notebook #34, which was known as #31 at the time, only had the covers and four other pages scanned in. We saw them in The Smallest Notebook back in October of 2015. Will next week be more of the same, or will we get some material for Cerebus #291? We shall see.

Notebook 36: Cerebus #287 - Not Really

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.

With last week’s post we looked at the pages labeled for Cerebus #286 from Notebook #36, Dave’s final notebook for Cerebus, but those pages didn’t have material for Cerebus #286. It was more of Dave’s writing on Jung. After a couple of weeks of this writing, we come to another blank page. This one for Cerebus #287:

Notebook #36, page 64

Was there anything for Cerebus #287 on the other two pages for this issue? No, we skip forward to page #67 as pages 65 and 66 were blank. However, we already saw pages #67 and 68 in Sixteen Questions Before Breakfast. Well, not those sixteen questions, but sixteen questions that we would love to ask Cerebus.

Going to the next unseen page from the notebook, page #69, it seems I should’ve but this page with pages #67 & 68 as it kind of continues with the sixteen questions pages:

Notebook #36, page 69

Some good quotes on this page:

“So you didn’t actually call forth the Queen of All Demons? Rick just imagined it or something?”

“You thought the three Wise Fellows were quote religious nuts unquote for thinking Rick was a Prophet?”

“I think why wouldn’t Sarah Buttz was the actual Prophet. It was her three Wise Fellows who declared your Three Wise Fellows to be SUBEREC.”

“And you agreed with her. You said yourself that they had forgotten the word they were supposed to speak to you.”

“Far from skipping the Sarah Mickey Donald and Walt story – you’ve as much as admitted that Sarah Buttz was the Chosen One.”

I went looking for tracing paper preliminary sketches for Cerebus #287 and instead came across an old one for Cerebus #92:

Cerebus #92 cover & preliminary sketch front

While the preliminary sketch looks really close to the cover, I think it is for page 16:

Back of the preliminary sketch & Cerebus #92 page 16

Part of me wonders how many of these early preliminary tracing paper drawings that were used in the creation of the original art still exists. I’d ask boss man to ask Dave for the next Please Hold For Dave Sim, but he said Thursdays were his day off. . .Or was it Tuesdays are his day off? Anyhoo, it is probably his day off. Good luck.

Notebook 36: Cerebus #286 - Not Really

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 are continuing with our look at Dave Sim’s last Cerebus notebook, notebook #36 (see all notebook #36 posts using the tag of the same name). Notebook #36 covers material for Cerebus #265 through #300 and had 58 pages scanned in. Many of those pages were just the notebook page with the Cerebus issue box number in the top corner. I scanned those pages in. I didn’t scan in the many blank pages that followed some of those pages. So far we’ve seen 42 out of those 58 pages. Only 16 pages left. Will this week be more of the same as the last couple of weeks – just pages of  text? Or will they be those pages with just the issue box number? Lets jump in and take a look with the next sequential page:

Notebook #36, page 61

The cover box number says #286, but at the top we get more of Dave’s writing on Jung. Or more like Dave writing as Konigsberg writing about Jungfrau. The Names Elisabet Vogler and Alma are from the movie Persona which goes into some Jungian theory. 

And then the next page of the notebook is Dave taking notes and writing about the book The Basic Writings of C. G. Jung. 

Notebook #36, page 62

Note that the top left corner says page 72 and last week on page 59 of the notebook we saw a reference to page 58. Either there were pages of the notebook which were ripped out or Dave just didn’t find anything interesting enough, or relevant enough, to write down notes. I’m leaning towards the latter as the issue box numbers were put in the notebook first, and those are still in order with each having three pages.

But yah, having only taken intro to psychology in college, this text is not my cup of tea. Do we get something more interesting on the next page? Eh, looks like more of the same.

Notebook #36, page 63

Since I don’t have a copy of the book Dave was reading, I can’t match up his notes to the book. Does any of this show up in Cerebus #286? If it did, it was in the small teeny tiny type that I only skimmed. As far as I recall the Jungian theory material was used in Cerebus #284 and #285. So this is just Dave’s notes extending past is previous self-imposed limit of three pages per issue. If you want to readd more on Dave’s writings on Jungian theory, check out the ‘Notes on Latter Days’ in the Latter Days phonebook.

For this week’s Latter Days tracing paper page is for Cerebus #276 page 15. Well, the top two panels of the four panels on the page:

Cerebus #276, page 15 tracing paper front (click for to see it bigger)

I only call it the front since Dave signed it on this side. Both sides of the tracing paper have pencil on them. On the above page you can see the rough for the top panel and at the bottom you can see the tighten sketch for the panel. 

Then we flip the tracing paper over:

Cerebus #276, page 15 tracing paper back

Along with flipping the tracing paper over to show the other side, I also rotated it to put the finished sketch by the panel it corresponds to. (Yes, this never gets old for me. I love looking at Dave’s process material. Just holding the tracing paper with the phonebook or issue beside it makes me ‘ohhh’ and ‘awww’ as I look at the differences between the two).

And yes, there are differences between the two looking at them. Even the text has slight differences between the finished page and the tracing paper prelim.

Notebook 36: Cerebus #285 - Not Really

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 looked at some boring pages from Dave Sim’s 36th notebook. The final notebook used during the creation of Cerebus. I only say boring because the pages were walls of that appeared to be Dave writing down thoughts on the book The Basic Writings of C. G. Jung. A step above the blank pages we had been seeing from this notebook. If you’d like to see the pages of Notebook #36 we’ve seen so far, there is a tag, Notebook #36, that you can click on.  

Last week we ended with page #57, the third and supposedly last page for Cerebus #284. Now with page #58 we have the issue box number for Cerebus #285:

Notebook #36, page 58

And we’re still seeing material talking about Jung. It appears to be discussion about Jung’s thoughts on our shadow selves? The next page of the notebook shows us more of Dave’s notes on Jung.

Notebook #36, page 59

The phone number at the top left corner of the page is for a hotel in Toronto called the InterContinental Toronto Centre. That hotel may not be as nice as the Ritz-Carlton that is a block or so away, but the InterContinental is right by the Metro Toronto Convention Center so it is less of a walk if you’re going to a convention there. Cerebus #285 has a cover date of December 2002. So too early for the Toronto Comic Con of 2004 when Dave was a guest of honour (along with Will Eisner!). 

The rest of the page is Dave taking notes on more of Jung’s writing. The next page of the notebook is more of the same. With a lot of mark-ups:

Notebook #36, page 60

Well, after buggids of text, how about some tracing paper drawings? I’ve wanted to get this hockey sweater. . .umm. . .Fred Hammer’s Five Bar Gate sweater for some time. Can’t find a blank one anywhere. This tracing paper is a rough sketch for the cover of Cerebus #267:

Cerebus #267, tracing paper rough & actual issue for scale

Yes, you can click on the picture - any of them in this post - to get a larger view of the image.

If you know where I can find one, please let me know in the comments.

And then we have the tracing paper for Cerebus #280 pages #16 and 17. Like the prelim we saw for Cerebus #283 pages 3 and 4, this one goes across two pages:

Tracing paper drawing and Cerebus #280 pages 16 and 17 

There is also another sketch of Cerebus in the top panel. Looks like he is giving the stink eye to Konigsberg. That drawing is from the bottom left panel on page 20 of the same issue. He is listening to Konigsberg talk about YHWH and in the final panel of the issue, Cerebus declares her Yoohwhoo.

Notebook 36: Cerebus #284. . .Kind Of

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.

After a blank page from Dave Sim’s 36th notebook book last week caused us to look at some preliminary artwork used in Latter Days, we have three pages this week full of text. Dave’s 36th notebook contains materials for Cerebus #265 through Cerebus #300. There were 58 pages scanned and the cover says there were 108 pages in the notebook. Many of the pages were nearly blank – with only a cover issue number box, but those pages were scanned in. Dave put a cover issue box number, leave a blank page, and then put another issue box number. This would give him three pages to work with for that issue of Cerebus. 

But not with Cerebus #284’s three pages.  And whooo, boy. You thought there were walls of text in Latter Days, well, get ready for the preliminary writings for those walls of text:

Notebook #36, page 55

Notebook #36, page 56

Notebook #36, page 57

Yup, three nearly solid pages of text. It appears to be Dave reading The Basic Writings of C. G. Jung (as he mentions in ‘Notes on Latter Days’, back of the Latter Days phonebook, page 504). And if you haven’t read ‘Notes on Latter Days’, here are Dave’s thoughts on Jung and Freud’s writings: 

“It was interesting to read Jung’s theories only insofar as I found them to be just as obscure, jargon-rich and devoid of content as Freud’s, equally unfound on anything remotely resembling scientific proof albeit skewed, as I found them to be, in a different and more mystical direction.”

So where in Cerebus #284 does any of the above text make it into the story? The final page of that issue:  page 20, aka page 380 of Latter Days, in Konigsberg’s journal. My eyes are getting too old to read all that tiny text and do a gap analysis between the notebook pages and that page of Cerebus #284. 

To make up for that, here is a piece of 9” x 12” tracing paper with a preliminary sketch of Konigsberg in his jester’s outfit when he is playing the fool:

Maine's I Scream ruler & Prelim art front

Back of preliminary art

Yes, there is pencil on both sides of the paper, so it was probably used on the artwork for Cerebus - as Dave would draw on the tracing paper, then flip it over so the pencil was on the Bristol art board he used for Cerebus artwork, and then use another pencil to transfer the drawing onto the artboard. This appears to be for page 3 of Cerebus #282, aka page 323 of the Latter Days phonebook:

Cerebus #282, page 3 top panel

Notebook 36: Cerebus #282 & 283

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 finished up with page 46 of Dave Sim’s 36th and final notebook used in the production of Cerebus. To see previous posts for Notebook #36, just use the Notebook 36 tag. And if there is one thing you’ve probably noticed in the Notebook #36 posts, is that we skip a bunch of pages from time to time. That is because those pages were blank. If there was anything on a notebook page – to include the pencil sketches that are barely visible or just the issue number box – that page was scanned. 

So this week we start with page 49 as pages 47 & 48, which were reserved for Cerebus #281, were blank, which we could deduce because page #46, which had the issue box number for Cerebus #281 was blank except for the issue box number.

Notebook #36, page 49

Welp, we have started to “Chase Yhwh” part of Latter Days. Just walls of text, which at the moment I do not want to reread to see if the above text is in Cerebus #282. If you find it, boss man will send you a special “No Prize”. Not really. He’ll probably just fire me and have you do these posts.

But in no surprise to anyone, pages 50 and 51 are blank. I’m thinking Dave already had his thoughts on the bible and was just using this page as a way to get into the flow of writing as Cerebus talking about the bible.

And then the next page, which should  be more walls of text for chasing yhwh, but nope, just the text box number for Cerebus #283:

Notebook #36, page 52

And you all have Mr. P to thank for the encouragement, I dug through my Cerebus collection and found something I forgot I had that was used in the production of Cerebus#283:

Tracing paper and backer

Click on the picture to see it a bit bigger. It is a 14” x 17” piece of tracing paper on a white piece of paper. There is tape on the top left and right corner of the tracing paper attaching it to the backer paper.

The text on the pages is for Cerebus #283 pages #3 and 4. Or Latter Days pages 343 and 344 if you’re following along in the phonebook. Those pages are not side by side in the finish issue nor in the phonebook. Here is the paper backer by itself:

Backing paper

Yes, it is just a photocopy of what I’m thinking is the original art of Konigsberg and his seventeen year old. . .friend and the text for each page. At the top of the picture is the tracing paper as I didn’t want to remove it from the backer. That tracing paper is hiding a bit of the text at the top of those pages. Then we have the tracing paper:

Tracing paper for Cerebus #283 pages 3 & 4

I’m wondering if Dave gave this mock-up to Gerhard to show what Dave had in mind for the background. There is even a little camera angle shot shown under Dave's signature.

While Konigsberg and his. . .friend show up on the finished pages, and Gerhard’s background bring it to life, the Cerebus figure that appears on the tracing paper doesn’t show up on those pages. Perhaps we can ask boss man to ask Dave about this tracing paper and backing paper was used for. Other than for us to look at 20+ years later. . .