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.
Maybe instead of rewriting this opener every week, I’ll be a bit more efficient with my use of time and have this standard opening . . .though Boss Man saying I'm giving the notebook away for free, I see it as a way of advertising all the good stuff in the notebook, and wouldn't it be easier to have a hard copy to flip through and read at your own leisure?
Have you got your copy of Albatross One? That is Dave Sim’s name for his first notebook used in the creation of Cerebus. If you want a copy of the notebook – and trust me, as someone who has held the actual Albatross One, it is a pretty close duplicate and looks great – you can check out this post right here. Well not this post. The one at this link. Go check it out, this post will still be here.
Please buy one so boss man stops yelling at me for "giving the store away for free". Perhaps if he sells one or two or all that he has left, he'll finally give me some PTO. Wait, why am I pushing this, boss man is on vacation. . .I should just take off. . .
And if you don’t want to buy one, you can wait as I release a couple of pages a week and check them out using the Notebook One tag. But trust me, the notebook is much much nicer then my silly little posts.
Okay, now that is done, on with this week’s Notebook One post.
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Dave Sim’s first notebook, which he entitled Albatross One, covers Cerebus #20 through 28 and has 194 pages out of 200 scanned in. Since we’ve started our chronological look at this notebook back in December of 2023, we’ve seen quite a few pages. Last week we ended with page 139 and material for Cerebus #26, the start of the High Society story line. We’re right back at it today with page 140:
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| Notebook #1, page 140 |
This page is mostly dialogue between Cerebus and a person I’m guessing is the desk clerk at the Regency. Cerebus asks if there are any diamondback games, but that is crossed out. We also get references to Cerebus saving Lord Silverspoon, Lord Julius’ kid, the Eye in the Pyramid conspiracy in Palnu, and Lord Julius’ previous Kitchen Staff Supervisors – so Cerebus wasn’t the first one.
As Dave says about this page “More sample dialogue that was going nowhere except 'over-feeding' the continuity junkies”. And I’d have to agree with him. It didn’t make the cut.
Down the bottom of the page is some text written differently then the rest of the page: 3 guys shown to Cerebus. 1 page each. Passionate loves his work not one else must touch it. Pollyannic – if steps are not taken the ruination of the city state of Palnu is just around the corner.”
On the next page, we’re getting material for Cerebus #27! Already, only seven pages for Cerebus #26. And most of it wasn’t used. . .
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| Notebook #1, page 141 |
And the top has the title of Cerebus #27, “The kidnapping of an aardvark”. Then page numbers and a items for a few pages. Mainly #1, 2, and 11. The items by pages #15 – 18 appears to be a paragraph: “Iest is in need of markets for the stuff it produces. We all know about the per capita wealth in Palnu.”
We get a mention to the McGrew Brothers, who are not named at this point: “guys who grab Cerebus think they’re just kidnapping a bureaucrat.” The bottom right corner shows us Cerebus’ original 6 deadly sins with ‘covetousness’ crossed out so it the sins are just: sloth, gluttony, avarice, anger, pride, envy. And if you know the seven deadly sins, lust is the one left out of Cerebus’ six deadly sins.
What will we see next week? More of Cerebus #27 or go back and finish up #26? Or perhaps Cerebus' six deadly sins?
