Jen DiGiacomo, Interim Head of SDOAR Division, Aardvark-Vanaheim, here (at least that's what Dave jokingly said I could call myself). Let me start by thanking Manly Matt Dow for the trust he has bestowed upon me by allowing the aforementioned me to take over one post a week on A Moment of Cerebus.
Manly, stop laughing. I know it's a Tom Sawyer situation -- I was attempting to be politic.
Anyway -- welcome to my weekly update on Strange Death of Alex Raymond 2023 a.k.a. SDOAR 2023.
As a reminder, and to drop a really cool quote on you, "[Strange Death of Alex Raymond is ...] comics’ answer to Finnegans Wake, an inspired work of obsessive genius that will take a long time to untangle." - Rob Salkowitz, Senior Contributor, FORBES (see
full review)
Pretty cool, right? Well, it gets cooler.
Dave Sim's Strange Death of Alex Raymond is back with a GoFundMe campaign and could use your help!
Those of you familiar with the Eisner-nominated but unfinished Strange Death of Alex Raymond graphic novel might know that legendary Cerebus creator Dave Sim stopped working on the story, leaving Carson Grubaugh to provide his own finale.
Only that's not exactly true. Dave restarted work on the story in 2021 and has mocked up 281 additional pages, mostly pasted up but some sequences drawn by Dave as his ailing wrist has allowed.
 |
| Click for bigger |
After many fax exchanges with Dave, I finally convinced him to approve me running a three-month experiment to see how much money we can raise for him to continue working unabated on Strange Death of Alex Raymond, a.k.a. SDOAR a.k.a. SDOAR 2023. The good news is Dave lives a spartan life, literally eating dollar-store tuna and keeping all living expenses to the barest minimum. $4,000 a month is quite sufficient for him to continue working at a clip of 20 mocked-up pages per month until completion.
The plan is as follows, with stipulations per Dave's request:
- Anyone who donates $5 or more to this GoFundMe campaign is entitled to exclusive online access via Dropbox to any pages unlocked during the campaign. If Dropbox is a problem, email me for other arrangements.
- To kick the project off, Dave is allowing me to upload to Dropbox the 21 pages he mocked up between July 15 and November 20, 2019, pages that Carson Grubaugh rendered in blue ink in SDOAR HC pgs. 261 to 281 (also reprinted as a Kickstarter exclusive in Strange Death of Alex Raymond Mockups).
- In addition, Dave has approved the next four pages he mocked up, from June 11 to June 17, 2021, to be uploaded for kickoff.
- In other words, for those who read Strange Death of Alex Raymond hardcover and want to read DAVE’S SOLO continuation of the story directly from page 253 (i.e., the end of “issue 5”), we got you covered.
- But wait, there's more! For those who read Strange Death of Alex Raymond hardcover and want to read DAVE’S SOLO continuation of the story directly following page 281 (the completion of Carson’s blue renderings of Dave’s 2019 mockups), we also got you covered.
- If you haven’t read Strange Death of Alex Raymond, we recommend (nay, urge) you purchase from your local comic book store -or- Living the Line Publishing (physical or digital) -or- Amazon.
- Now for the good stuff -- for every $200 raised in total, we will unlock an additional page for all donors. In other words, we’re all in this together. Bear in mind that due to the GoFundMe fee structure, we ask that all donations be at least five dollars.
- For every $4,000 raised in total, we will, in addition to 20 pages added to Dropbox, unlock an exclusive offer from Dave to donors to order physical portfolios of Dave’s mockups (for an additional cost). I’ve also convinced Dave to offer full-size ashcans of the pages at the same time. Pricing is TBD but will be done via Alfonso and Studiocomix Press
- In addition, once we hit our first $4,000 goal as a group, Dave will offer two portfolios and ashcans. #0 will include the 21 pages from 2019, and #1 will consist of the first 24 pages from 2021 (June 11 to August 14).
- Every additional $4,000 raised (I will update the fundraising goals as we cross each threshold) will unlock another portfolio and ashcan.
- If we can raise $12,000 in three months, Dave has agreed to continue this arrangement for the foreseeable future. Less than that, well, we’ll have to see what Dave thinks about the whole thing.
- Once you have donated, please contact me at jen@typingmonkeys.com, and I’ll add you to Dropbox.
- Depending on interest, I might also set up a private, super-secret group on Facebook for donors to wax eloquently (or ineloquently, as the case may be) on each new page released.
- I will update the GoFundMe page regularly, roll out a newsletter if folks don’t find that too invasive, and see if I can keep the train on the tracks for the foreseeable future.
Phew!
So if you can, please help out Dave with a donation. With any luck, we start unlocking pages such that everyone can enjoy the amazing work Dave has been doing on SDOAR for the past 18 months!
SDOAR 2023 GoFundMe campaign URLs:
And check out the new logo!
Shouldn't that be Jennifer DiGiacomo's A Moment of SDOAR? And in purple? I'm just asking Matt! Stop revoking my publishing privileges!
_________________________________________________
Well, thanks Jen!
(I made the logo "Carson Grubaugh" blue. And it's "Matt Dow's" because altering the text is a colossal pain in the ass... Maybe next week...)
And:
57 more sleeps until the Remastered Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #8 from
The Waverly Press Kickstarter launches:
of the stuff the Waverly Press has made in conjunction with Aardvark-Vanaheim are still available.
Manly Matt Dow
Next Time: Hobbs jumps the gun, and we start celebrating the Chinese New Year, "The year of the Kid in the Bunny suit", early...
