Eddie Khanna: CHARIOT OF THE QUEEN, CHARIOT OF THE AARDVARKS

Hi, Everybody!

Your ol' Interim Editor "Manly" Matt Dow is still giving away free @#$%!

And this week's auction is at $101 (US) to Jeff Seiler.

________________________________

Heir to the Throne Eddie Khanna sent in:

Hi Matt, I did another post for AMOC about my visit to Kitchener, for your consideration. Let me know if you need anything fixed or tweaked.

-Eddie

Thanks Eddie! (But I edit stuff all by myself. You forgot an "L"...) -"Manly"
___________________________________
EDDIE KHANNA:

During my visit, Dave took me on the “CEREBUS WALKING TOUR”; locations around Kitchener relevant to Dave Sim and CEREBUS…

(it had started off as a “weird day.” While ordering an iced coffee in the morning on my way to meet Dave, the barista had repeated my order (completely serious) as “a coffee, no ice.” The weather was also different; much more cloudy than it had been up to that point during my stay, and there was something in the air. I mentioned it to Dave when I met him)

…and the last stop was the Buena Vista Villa, significant for being where Dave first lived after moving out of his parents’ house, and where he created Cerebus , and also where he found his landlord dead the morning after a Christmas party (detailed in CEREBUS ARCHIVE #9 and #14). This is the transcript of the tour as we were coming to the end of the tour and wrapping up:

Dave: So this is the Buena Vista Villa, and this is new. I've never seen that inset sign before. This is where I was first living when I moved out. This is actually where I created Cerebus.

Eddie: You talked about it in one of the CEREBUS ARCHIVE issues.

Dave: Yep. Dave Dwyer owned the whole works, who was a local photographer, a local gay photographer, and the house went back further than this. It's all been redone and modernized. This used to be Dave Dwyer’s office on the side. That is where I discovered him dead after one of his parties. If you look at these four windows just about where…here I’ll let you get a better angle on it…

Eddie: Oh there’s somebody in there. I don't know if he's going to want us to…ahhh let's just do it …whatever…

(at this point Dave and I were standing outside of an office window, and you could see someone working at their desk inside. I figured I would just go ahead and take pictures, and stop if they came out to ask me to stop)

Dave: Just about where that drainpipe is, is how far over the house used to go.  It was actually, in terms of the original Buena Vista Villa, it was the pantry at the back that I lived, in which was actually large enough to be a one room apartment. And this used to be the Cameo Modelling school

Eddie: Sorry, the what?

Dave: The “Cameo Modelling School”

Eddie: (laughs)

Dave: And this was a carriage house and that was where Dave Dwyer lived, and you can see where the two walls are fused, that used to go past there, and like I say, the pantry was over on this side and this was just like a laneway going between the two of them. 

So that's pretty much the walking tour.

Eddie: It's interesting how [many of the locations on the tour] are on a line; like a lot of it is just here…here…here.

Dave: Yeah it was definitely a Chess game centering on the Queen, I think. It's Queen Street, and I moved in on Queen Street and then over to Weber Street, and then back to Queen Street. All of that took place after Now & Then Books started [on Queen Street].

A few seconds later, walking back through the parking lot of the Buena Vista Villa, a parked car caught Dave’s eye .

Dave: Look at the license plate. AV 3. It's the paint that's left. It's BAVM 319

Eddie: ..What does that mean…

Dave: (without missing a beat) Three is the number of the Empress, which would be the Queen.

Eddie: (…starts laughing)

Dave: There is some sort of weird texture today. The air isn't quite as heavy as it was, but it feels very very difficult to think today. Might just be the caffeine.

Eddie: Which is fine. We’re adaptable.

Dave: Yes, oh yeah. We're completely philosophical about all this stuff.

Eddie: (laughing)

*****

Of course, I thought afterwards, “AV 3” in a CEREBUS context would also mean 3 Aardvarks. Looking into it a bit further, I found that FIAT can mean “a command or act of will that creates something without or as if without further effort,” and is from the Latin meaning “Let it be Done”. Also found in the Latin translation of “Let there be Light” from Genesis as “fiat lux”.

_______________________________________

"Manly" Matt again,

Thanks again, Eddie!

(Of course you guys are missing the OBVIOUS clue that BAVM 319 is a reference to Uncanny X-Men #319, where Nightcrawler teleports after being attacked by the Reavers, and instead of his regular "BAMF" sound effect, they lettered it as "BAVM". That Fiat is OBVIOUSLY owned by Kitchener's #1 Nightcrawler fan...)

Next Time: F    You! That's TOTALLY TRUE about Nightcrawler! Why would I lie?!?

"Designed by a 77 year-old closeted transvestite.” "Manly" Matt Dow's SECOND glamourpuss pitch

Hi, Everybody

Your ol' Interim Editor "Manly" Matt Dow here. With the NEXT chapter in The Making of glamourpuss #25/ Zootananpuss #4, page 9*:

As you remember from last time, Dave had asked me to pitch a five page story for glamourpuss.

Pitch one was the one at the link. And now,

Here’s the reference I sent Dave for Pitch one:

Ted Kennedy’s 1967 Oldsmobile 

Ted Kennedy’s car as a weapon comes from a bumper sticker my dad has, “Nuclear energy is safer than Ted Kennedy’s car.”  Which is true.  In the US Ted’s car killed more people than Nuclear Energy.

Jodie Foster. (Admit it, you wanna see Dave’s version of this picture.)

The Tardis from Doctor Who,  one of the best known Time Machines in the world.

Yeah, the last panel on page 5.  glamourpuss’ bit about the offer being a hoax?  The idea on page 1 was that -- even though it contradicts the copy -- this story is a dream, a hoax, and an imaginary story.   But I got to the end of page 5 and realized I had forgotten to introduce the date offer which would turn out to be a hoax. So that’s why that word balloon looks so funny.

 Every time I read Iguana’s balloon in panel two I hear Arlo Guthrie’s voice in my head. “You got a lot of damn gall” is a line from Arlo’s song “Alice’s Restaurant.”

I also love that a page ago, Iguana and Beer were mortal enemies and now they’re best pals.

I have no idea what the deleted bits from glamourpuss’ bit in the last panel are. I just figure that all the truly personal details of her life get edited out of her magazine.

It’s a good pitch. A fine pitch. I felt this one was the ONE.  But I also had a few other ideas. As listed in my notebook:

                1: gp VS I VS B

                2: glamour babies

                3: glamourpuss’ Confidential “A-list” Celebrity boyfriend

                4: glamourpuss Reader’s In Crisis

                5: Nixon Reagan thing

Numbers two and three never got to the paper stage, they’re only in my head.

Number four was struck out as it turned into number 5. Which turned into Pitch #2…

Pitch #2:

This idea is closer (I think) to what Dave was looking for, at least in terms of execution.  My uncle had a box of files on various subjects that I inherited after he died.  In the box was a file full of AP photos of Nixon.  One of them, on the second page of pitch 2, was of Nixon writing at a desk.  I was gonna use it in “glamourpuss Readers In Crisis” but couldn’t get a decent hook. Then I found another photo and it all came together.

I needed to introduce the idea, so page one is my rip-off of Peabody's Improbable History.  With everybody’s favorite skeletal dog, Boner the Runt Dog, as Peabody, and my nephew Brenton as Sherman. 

I do love jokey copyright notices...

Here are the photos of Brenton I had taken:

Panel 1

Panel 2

Panel 3

Panel 5

Panel 6

The background for panel 5

For all his hard work, I paid Brenton five bucks.

Anybody who feels I underpaid the little twerp should note that the kid is fifteen now and twelve foot four.
Also, he's "smiting" me with Thor's hammer in this picture.

Frankly, I'm amazed he's still alive...

glamourpuss pitch #2, page 2:

Click to see Tricky Dick in all his glory.

Text: As 37th President Richard Milhous Nixon ends his first term in office, he begins planning his re-election bid. Facing poor approval ratings due to the war in Vietnam and domestic unrest at home, Nixon looks into a WWII era project he first learned about as Vice-President under Eisenhower.

Code named “Rebirth”, the project was considered a failure due to the death of its lead scientist in 1941.
Page 3:
Image: Kirby style Captain America punching out a hippie, but Cap has Nixon’s head
Caption Nixon: 23 Skidoo Hippie!
Text: New research by government scientists was proving promising, leading Nixon to briefly plan on using the new formula on himself.
Unfortunately at 58 Nixon was too old for the formula to be successful. A search for a 98-pound weakling to transform into a new patriotic super-soldier was begun.

Yeah, that’s the origin of Captain America I’m talking about on page two.  Why?  We’ll get there.

Oh I almost forgot, back on page one of the second pitch, the reason Boner says, “…be whisked back to San Clemente, California…” is that Nixon had what was known as “The Western White House” in California for when he would go home on vacation and stuff. Little factoid for you.  Hope it helps if you’re ever on Jeopardy.

Ah yes, “23 Skidoo Hippie!”  That came about because, one day, my wife and I were at my mom’s, and in the course of our conversation, the fact that my mom was eighteen during the “Summer of Love” and -- was sort of a hippie and used to use all those old hippie sayings like “Peace” and “Love” and “23 Skidoo” -- came up.  And my mom got REAL belligerent about how “23 Skidoo” wasn’t a hippie phrase.  And the more belligerent she got the funnier it was. So I had to use that somewhere. And having Nixon say it was just icing on my metaphorical cake.

glamourpuss pitch #2, page 4:

Click for the Gipper

Text: A novel suggestion was made to Nixon by then California governor Ronald Reagan.
Since the formula would turn a 98-pound weakling into an American Fighting Machine, was there any reason the 98-pound weakling couldn’t be a woman?
It was a brilliant political move that could boost Nixon’s numbers with the burgeoning feminist movement in the upcoming election.

Page 5:
Image: A montage of girls. More girls than you can shake a stick at. I mean “Fruitcake Park” numbers of girls.
Text: So a quick change was made to the search criteria, and the hunt began.

Back in the day, famed X-Men writer Chris Claremont used to say when creating new characters, “Is there any reason this couldn’t be a woman?”  Dave then used that logic when creating Madame duFort in Cerebus.  I liked the idea of giving that line to Ronald Reagan.

The “Fruitcake Park”- style parade of girls was mostly put in there to make up to Dave that Nixon wasn’t a hot chick.

[editor’s(?) note: I send this supplement to Dave to see if he had any notes, and he responded:

(actually, I’ve always been completely at peace with the fact that Richard Nixon wasn’t a hot chick.  Even back in my womanizing days – Dave the Proofreader)

Laugh?  I thought I’d die.  Matt]

glamourpuss pitch #2, page 6

You don't have to click on this one to make it bigger, the FBI already knows what they need to...

Text: During a meeting about criminal background checks with J. Edgar Hoover, an offer was made by the veteran FBI director to help design a uniform for the new super-hero.
Image: blurry photo of Hoover in drag, similar to the blurry film
used by Rich Koslowski in Three Fingers, basically a blurry mess that could be anything.
Text: (Rumors that the director had a spare costume made in a size 44 have never been properly substantiated.)

Come on… you would’ve made a “Hoover was a transvestite” joke too…

Yes, you would have.

Whatever…denial ain’t just a river in Egypt…

Anyway, the blurry photo bit seemed like a good idea at the time.

glamourpuss pitch #2, page 7

Click all you want, she doesn't get any bigger...

Text: Finally a candidate was chosen, and on September 19th, 1972 Ms. America made her debut. (A military rank was  deemed too unpopular in light of increasing anti-war sentiment.)
She was a complete failure.
Vogue editor Grace Mirabella criticized the costume saying it: “looked like it was designed by a 77 year-old closeted transvestite.”
Ms. America was soon overshadowed by the Watergate scandal, and was quickly forgotten by the public.
She settled in Ontario where she got married and gave birth to twin girls: glamourpuss and Skanko.

And here we have the photo I came across which brought this whole pitch together.  It’s from Entertainment Weekly’s San Diego Comicon coverage.

When I saw it, I knew I had to use it in a glamourpuss pitch.  I mean, I already had the Nixon photos.

The line: “looked like it was designed by a 77-year-old closeted transvestite” was something I was a little unsure of.  I thought I might be going a bit too far, but hey, it made me laugh.

               

I was actually surprised at how much research a seven-page strip required.

I had to look up what kind of car Kennedy had; I had to look up when Hoover died (which was less than a year after that picture with Nixon was taken) I had to look up who the editor of Vogue was in 1973. 

But I think it was worth it.

So I had two really good pitches, now all I needed was a cover sheet  and to print out all the photo reference and mail it out to Dave.  Which I did in September 2011.

And I didn’t hear anything back for a month.  So I called Dave to make sure he got the package.

Nothing.

So anyway, no response from Dave until sometime in late October I got home from work to find the following in my mailbox:

“Not funny enough.”

Not. Funny. Enough.

Each word a stab into my heart.

Agony. Despair. Sadness.

As the following days turned into weeks turned into months, those words would haunt me.

“Not funny enough.” I mean, looking back, Dave was right. The pitches are clever, but they don’t make you almost piss yourself laughing. No one was gonna be quoting lines from them for years to come (“wuffa wuffa wuffa” being an example of the kind of joke that has legs.)

Was I discouraged?

Does the Pope wish I hadn’t made that pedophile crack earlier?

You bet I was discouraged.

But did I quit? (Obviously not, you’ve read glamourpuss #25 right?)

________________________

"Manly" Matt Dow is still giving away free @#$%!

And this week's auction is at $101 (US) to Jeff Seiler.

Next Time: More glamourpuss?

*Advance praise for glamourpuss archive:

"Up until an hour ago, I would have stated for a fact that [Jeff] Seiler's CEREBUS READERS IN CRISIS was the most uncalled-for example of Dave Sim Ephemera to hit the market, but I think you have him beat with this one."

Dave Sim

Creator- Cerebus, glamourpuss, Judenhass, The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, Cerebus in Hell?

Spider auction (Dave's Weekly Update #299)

Hi, Everybody!

Heeeeeere's

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

Wanna see what you'll get?

Yeah?

Well, tough, Dave sent me high quality scans of low quality art. If I post it, you could just MAKE your own for free.

BUT, I'm ADDING to the Auction.

I'm throwing in this image:

All detailed and "purdy" and Signed by "Manly" Matt Dow and printed on 110# paper. (Maybe I'll send it to Dave to have HIM sign it too.)

It'll look better than:

Ya see what I mean? 

Okay, more previews:

(I think all of Spider-Whore #1 is in here... "It's good to be the King.")

Heck, since I'm in such a good mood, I'll even throw in an original drawing of Spider-Iguana:

NOT ACTUALLY THE ART YOU'LL WIN!!!!!

Winning bidder will get a drawing of Spider-Iguana parodying the cover to a Spider-Man comic of their choice.

Let's start this insanity off at ten bucks US... (Sound off in the comments if you want in.)
UPDATE: Byron Dunbar has already bid $100 over on youtube, so that's where the bidding stands.- "Manly"
___________________________________

"Manly" Matt Dow is still giving away free @#$%!

Next Time: AMOChive. Something from the AMOChive...

Melmoth One

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 August in Issue Summaries was the last time we saw Dave Sim's notebook #17. The notebook covers Cerebus #127 to 135, which are some of the last issues in Jaka's Story. So when I was looking through the notebook and I saw a bit for Melmoth I did a double take.

Notebook #17, page 65

On page 65, near the end of the notebook, which had 76 pages scanned, shows us Dave's first sketch of a logo for Melmoth and a sketch of Melmoth's Oscar.

That Melmoth logo wasn't the one that was used though.

Cerebus #140 cover

In Progress CIH? Cover!

Benjamin Hobbs:

"Manly" Matt Dow suggested several covers for future issues of CIH?. One of them was Cerebus: The Last Aardvark In Hell? #1.

"Manly" Matt's ACTUAL suggestion notes!

David Birdsong took those notes and made this fantastic cover rough:

 

I spent about 10 minutes putting in some rough colors for the image and adding some clouds to the background.  

 

The tag line will be changed before the issue sees print, and David isn't sold on the blonde hair for Cerebus.  I think it will look better with a solid black line holding it together.  

Next Week: Alternate taglines for the issue! 

Agents of CiH?/Free Stuffs

Hi, Everybody!

"Manly" Matt Dow, your friendly neighborhood Interim Editor of A Moment of Cerebus here.

(I point that out for a reason, that I'll get to momentarily (heh.).)

So, remember when I signed up to be an Agent of CiH? on the faceybooks?

Well the Agent of CiH? on the tweeters: Brian W. and I got this message sent to us by Dave:

And here's what Brian W. tweeted:

I gather that Brian is getting messages from Dave and then tweeting them.

I hope you people are happy. I had to go on the twitters for this. You all KNOW how I FEEL ABOUT THE TWITTERS!!!
______________________________________

As I keep mentioning, "Manly" Matt Dow, Interim Editor of A Moment of Cerebus, is giving away the Free Stuff.

Well, I got this message at momentofcerebus@gmail.com:

Dear Mr. Sim,

Free stuff from my favorite comic book author of all time? Sign me up!

I got one of your signed postcards wishing me a happy birthday that my older brother commissioned after donating to one of your Kickstarter campaigns. Even though it was just one among countless other postcards, I just wanted to thank you for it. It really meant a lot to me. It's tucked inside the plastic packaging of my Cerebus Issue #0 next to my 16 phonebooks of Cerebus where it shall stay forevermore.

I hope this email finds you in good health and thank you in advance for the free stuff.


May peace be with you and Go On. Beat it. Scram.

Thanks a bundle,

Dylan H. Perry

So, I replied:

Well Dylan,

I got the proverbial "good news, bad news" for you.

Good news: you're getting free stuff!

Bad news: it's not from Dave Sim. It's from "Manly" Matt Dow, the Interim Editor of A Moment of Cerebus. But it'll be "terribly funny" (and hopefully not "funnily terrible"...).

Sorry for the confusion,
"Manly" Matt Dow

Dylan's gonna get something like what Oliver Simonsen is getting (has gotten? I mailed it Saturday...)

Click for biggerness.

Surprise Oliver! (If it hasn't shown up yet...)

If you want the Free Stuff, follow the link.

Next Time: Wanna see the kind of horrible $#!* I send Hobbs? You're gonna...

From the depths of the AMOChive, I bring you a...fat bearded guy...AND SPIDER-HAM!!!

Hi, Everybody!

While looking for my "lost Dave Sim Letter", I found all sorts of neat stuff.

Like:

'emember Dave's cover for Ultimate Spider-Man #100?

Yeah, that one...

Well, here I am with Hero Initiative president Jim McLauchlin, and I AM HOLDING THE ORIGINAL COPY OF DAVE'S ISSUE #100!!! (Back in 2007...)

I'm the Slacker on the left. Jim's the guy on the right.

You guy's remember the Hero Initiative, right? They helped out Russ Heath and Gene Colan?
___________________________________

Also:

I'm still giving away free @#$%!


And, the EXPERTLY REMASTERED CHURCH AND STATE VOL II is available to order NOW (Diamond Order Code JUL191359) Submit your ideas for the bookplate contest.

Next Time: I got ALL my other letters from Dave...

From the depths of the AMOChive, I give you: gammakpoos

Hi, Everybody!

From the depths of the AMOChive (actually, from my bedroom wall,) I bring you:

gammakpoos!

You remember gammakpoos right?



Next Time: I promised another letter from Dave a few days ago, didn't I?

Please Hold For Dave Sim: 8 2019

Hi, Everybody!

So, on Thursday, I got home from work, and was getting ready for Dave to call so we could record the August Please Hold For Dave Sim, when the phone rang. My wife answered and talked to Dave while I got ready. Dave called Forty-five minutes early. 


We talked for an hour and forty-three minutes. I broke this one up into eight parts, but they're all less than fifteen minutes long.

Part One: where we discuss; the Cerebus restorations, my drawing for this month, Cerebus Downloads and the newer remaster phonebooks.

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

Part Two: Dave discusses Rabbi, Garth Ennis, page layout, Conan and the Fleagle bros., and Elrod the Albino

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

Part Three: Dave discusses The proposed 2020 California "NOT a tour" Sales trip for The Strange Death of Alex Raymond.

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

Part Four: Dave continues discussing the proposed 2020 California "NOT a tour" Sales trip for The Strange Death of Alex Raymond.

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

Part Five: Dave continues discussing the proposed 2020 California "NOT a tour" Sales trip for The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, and a possible documentary.

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

Part Six: Where Dave continues discussing the "Death of a Comics Salesman Sales trip", and then starts answering more reader questions.

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

Part Seven: Dave answers more reader questions/comments.

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

Part Eight: Dave answers the last of the questions.

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

Next time: Something quick, this damn thing took all damn day. Damn.

A Friendly Reminder...

Just a brief reminder that you have roughly 680 hours (from the time some mysterious CIH? team member is typing this) to get yer mitts on some sweet, sweet Cerebus In Hell? gear.  Whenever David Birdsong gets up on August 30th he's throwing everything out and replacing it with something else.  There will no longer be a vast array of items to overwhelm the shopper, just a few simple choices.  Have a great weekend everybody!

_____________________________________

[They're having a sale too. 10 bucks!-"Manly" Matt Dow]

A.V. After Hours Special (Dave's Weekly Update #298)

Hi, Everybody!

Heeeeeere's Dave:

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

Darrel Epp's After Hours

I'm still giving away free @#$%!

Also, the EXPERTLY REMASTERED CHURCH AND STATE VOL II is available to order NOW (Diamond Order Code JUL191359) Submit your ideas for the bookplate contest.

Next Time:

Which is an hour and forty-three minutes and forty-two seconds long, so I hope you don't have plans for tomorrow...

Pursuing Thoughts

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 October in Fascination & Fruition is when we saw Dave Sim's Cerebus notebook #8. It covers Cerebus issues #70 through 79 and had 86 pages scanned.

One page 51 we get an overview of issues 75 through 79 and for some reason Dave wrote down "issue three hundred". Looking at the issue summaries for 75 through 79, it appears that a couple points were written with a different pen. Perhaps written at a different time than the other points.

Notebook #8, page 51

At the bottom of the page are in thumbnail format the last three pages of issue #74. Along with some text "The kid from the milk carton, Janine, Jolie, Lady Jane, Kim". I'm not sure what that is all about.