Dave wasn't lying...
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| That missing "y" is gonna haunt me to the grave... |
Hi Dave. Thanks for your answer last month about the Mary Heimingway/Ernestway dilemma in Latter Days. It makes sense, as Cerebus says the encounter with the former really happened, and the encounter with the latter was a dream.And, as I phrased it in my fax to Dave:
My question this time is one you might not get often: Why are the last few pages of issue #186 almost entirely italicized?
I have two theories. One is that the last few pages are a direct continuation of the (also italicized) first paragraph of #186, with everything in-between being what Viktor Davis had written on paper. The other is that the last few pages are narrated by the Female Void character. Her dialogue also seemed to be italicized before (see page 206 of the remastered Reads for an example), so maybe it's her that's talking.
Have fun letting me know how off the mark I am.
Hi Dave!
I noticed when you had written or talked about Alex Raymond's photo realistic inking that you never (hardly ever?) mention Alex Raymond's pencils skills on anything he had drawn before he inked the pages? It seems that you favor his inking over his pencils. Are there even his penciled pages that exist of his to compare before and after he had inked them?
Michael R.
So for Dave:
On eBay, seller "cerebusoverload" recently listed multiple versions of the proofs for Cerebus #1. The first version had, according to the item description, only 8 copies printed ~~ so there's now a new holder for the Most Rare Cerebus #1 In Existence title.
Cerebusoverload had two copies of the 8 of this first proof for sale; I asked the seller where the other six copies were. The seller replied that you had one copy, a fan / collector of long standing (I won't give the name here to protect their privacy) had one copy - but the seller did not know where the other four copies were.
Do you know where they've gotten to?
By the way, the two copies of Proof #1 on eBay sold to one person.
Thanks as always, Dave!
Steve
Hey again Matt -
So, a correction on my question: the Publisher also has one copy of the Proof #1, which leaves three 'out in the wild" ~~ and does Dave know who has them?
I'm also curious, with the eBay / cerebusoverload sales, how much of those sales make it back to Dave?as ever -
Steve
Hello Dave!
Having spent the past five years with voracious young readers in my house, I've spent a lot of time reading (and rereading) (and re-reading) various classic children's books, and simultaneously examining their art in minute detail.
Which has occasionally led me to seeing visual storytelling parallels with your comic work!
So I guess my question could be one of two questions. Either the broad version--
"What children's books did you read that you recall today, and did any have any influence on you, as far as you know?"
or the very specific version--
"Did you ever read and do you recall
-- the Babar books (specifically the first one!)
-- Go Dog Go (written and drawn by the great PD Eastman)
-- Eloise (drawn by Hilary Knight)
-- Madeline
-- Calico the Wonder Horse
(If anyone is curious, I'll compile the visual resonances sometime)
Lastly, if you have time for a second (or third) question--
Do you recall where the device of having graphics inside of word or thought balloons came from? I.e. the device you use on "Night on the Town" most prominently, as well as some other places. Any memories of this device and possible origins of it?
Thanks Matt! Thanks Dave!
Hi Matt,
Please Hold time! I'll be hitting the transcription of it this weekend after you post the podcast version, of course.
Hi Dave,
I recently began collecting the Spirit Archives published by DC, at your suggestion of starting Eisner reading with the Spirit. I've gotten a good deal on them, despite being hardcovers at least a decade out of print, and I look forward to reading them when I get enough in to do so. So thanks!
Have you ever heard of Fletcher Hanks? He was a Golden Age artist who created characters such as Stardust and Fantomah. He did some work for Eisner & Iger. His works have resurfaced as memes for really bad, or at the least especially absurd, comics. Fantagraphics did a collection or two in the past decade, which included an excellent epilogue about Fletcher's son which has a very comic art metaphysics ending to it. I'd love to send it to you, as some of the most interesting conversations on here, to me, are through the lense of "Dave Sim, comic fan" as much as "Dave Sim, comic creator". It might spark a good Weekly Update video or even a New Mutants level response. Or it may just at the least keep your kitchen table level!
Speaking of comic fans, I did in fact finish my video reviews of all 300 issues of Cerebus, plus all miscellaneous stories and major guest appearances, as I said I would do. I've asked my viewers for their suggestions on what series to cover next and have gotten a lot of great ones such as Gaiman's Sandman, Strangers in Paradise, lots of Alan Moore stuff... but I'd love to know, do you have any suggestions on what I could cover? Any particular characters or creator runs that you think might be worth my time to review?
Take care,
Jesse Lee Herndon
I only get a coupla paragraphs on this month's question?!?The Great Hero of Cerebus Twitter (freely admit, I made that up…) Brian West asks:
Well, then, here's question #2. (I was going to save this to next month, but...):
Okay, Dave, so ... last night, I said to my cat, out loud, because, you know when you live with a cat, that's what you do:
"CAT! You get free food and fresh water every day, a relatively fresh litter box every week, free rent, a warm place to live, a soft place to sleep, high perches, more toys than you can count, and free rein (reign) of the apartment. Yet:
"Why do you feel compelled to bite and scratch me several times, daily."
So, Dave, does that question to my cat remind you of anything in particular? As an analogy, I mean?
And, yes, it's a softball question. You're welcome.
But, really, a year and change in to this social contract with my cat (I adopted him; I'm responsible), I can't *wait* for him to grow up. Again, a familiar analogy?
Q for Dave: As an artist who believes in and strives towards absolute creative freedom what are the challenges you see today for artists who attempt to create and thrive in an increasingly conformist and corporate culture, both in the comics field and society as a whole?And Part seven:
Thank you, Matt.
Question for Dave: Do you consider anti-work and anti-ability (again, I've seen lots of both) to be implicit in your consideration of the negative impact on society? Certainly your own work/ability/success was impeded, at the very least.
Margaret is the only reason for AMOC to keep going. The rest of it is trash.And I was a tad...perturbed when I read it this morning. (I get all the comments emailed to me. Because I'm a masochist...)
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| As an example... |
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Hi everyone,
This is the update so many of you have been patiently waiting for.
Spawn 10 is printed, bound and going on the truck Friday. The trip from the printer to our office should take about a week which means we expect to start packing your orders next weekend!
The 24 page Spawn 10 supplemental books arrived today and they look even better than expected!
Have a look at the picture below for a sneak peek!
This one is super rare at only 300 copies. If you missed out, we do have a few copies available here: https://www.cerebusoverload.com
We will post our next update with photos when the books arrive next week.
Thank you again for your support!
The 64 page HS Notebooks also arrived in 2 cover variants.
The black cover is limited to 65, the white cover is limited to 200.
There were 500 of these books (250 of each variant) but half the print run was damaged in shipping and sent to the recycling bin, so now we get an accidental rare book.
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| Good luck getting THAT slabbed in 9.8... |
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| Ditto... |
MARGARET LISS:
Dave Sim’s 18th notebook used in the creation of Cerebus covers Cerebus issues #136 through 141. The notebook cover says it came with 80 pages, but only 64 pages were scanned. There were 8 blank pages in the notebook, and the remainder were torn out at some point. Well, except page 73/74, there was a small corner of that left in the notebook, but it wasn’t scanned as there wasn’t anything on it. We last saw some pages from this notebook in April of 2020’s Cinnamon Tea.
A couple weeks ago we saw Doris, the second of the two waitress who serve Cerebus. So when I saw a sketch of Janice, the first waitress, I stopped for a closer look at the page. The page opens with a quick bit on Cerebus #139. Then we get some dialogue between Cerebus and Mick.
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| Notebook #18, page 36 |
On the next page we have some more sketches – Dino and Sebastien Melmoth. There is a list of characters and some play titles.
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| Notebook #18, page 37 |
Benjamin Hobbs:
Hello everyone! I've started listing CIH? related items on ebay!
In addition to the Batvark: Penis Virgin covers and Hermann #1 HRM editions that I listed last week:
This week I've posted some signed comics with original sketches:
All the comics are listed as BUY IT NOW, so there's no pesky auction to deal with.
Next Week: Something to do with SWORDS of CIH?