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’re continuing our look at Dave Sim’s 21st notebook used during the creation of Cerebus #164 to 187. We’ll be looking at this notebook, which there were 260 out of 300 pages scanned, until we’ve seen every single page of it. Well, the pages scanned. If you want to see all of the notebook #21 posts to date, just use the Notebook 21 tag.
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Just kidding. I was curious about the Campaign '93 material mixed in with Cerebus #167 and Spawn #10 material. So instead of notebook #21, I went to Cerebus #167 - not the phonebook - and looked at the other material in the issue. So instead of a notebook page with a wall of text - you can look forward to that next week - here is Dave's "letter" to retailers about Cerebus Campaign '93 taken from the 'back matter' in Cerebus #167, pictures included.
Next week will be the notebook matter that refers to these pages.
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Aardvark Comment will return next issue. Please do not adjust
your comic book.
Dear Retailer:
I drew this issue, one page a day, every day, for the first three weeks of this
year. It was luxurious. For the first time in over a year, I climbed back into
my ivory tower and immersed myself in pure creativity. No airport departure
lounges. No hotel rooms. No warehouses. No media interviews. No store
appearances. A large part of me would be very happy to do that for the next
eleven years and one month that remain of the CEREBUS project.
But our work isn’t finished.
TOUR ’92 was a great beginning; a solid foundation for the task that lies ahead
in defining and developing Larry Marder’s Direct Link; the Direct Link between
creators and retailers; the vital connection that will allow creators and
retailers (if they choose) to stop functioning as mere puppets and chess-pieces
in the direct market and to become, instead, full and equal partners.
On the next few pages, I have
outlined what I think is a reasonable, low-budget approach to promoting a
marginal black & white book like CEREBUS, tailored to the needs and limited
resources of comic book stores. It requires belief in yourself and your
abilities as a retailer, as well as a conviction that CEREBUS can sell more
copies in your store than it does now; whether that number, currently, is two,
or five, or fifty or one hundred.
CAMPAIGN ’93 puts control in your
hands. I’m not going to send you a dozen t-shirts. I’m going to send you a
t-shirt design. I’m not going to send you a boxful of buttons. I’m going to
send you button designs. You can print a dozen of them or you can print five
thousand. You can give them away or you can sell them for profit. If you put
those profits back into CAMPAIGN ’93; the program outlined on the next few
pages and the future program as it evolves through the year; then I think the
Direct Link has every chance of success.
Other creators will be watching.
All of them are torn between my description of the retail community as largely
idealistic, autonomous individuals who feel hamstrung and impotent in the face
of Big Picture Distribution and Multi-National Corporate Comic Book Companies.
I have found that the majority of retailers, when given the opportunity to take
the reins in their OWN hands and make things happen in their OWN store, will
rise to the occasion and (as I saw so often on TOUR ’92) exceed even the
wildest expectations for success.
Creators are torn between that
perception and the more widely-held vision of your community (with few
exceptions); as money-grubbing, short-sighted panderers to the lowest common
denominator, disinterested in quality; fan-boy pimps for four-colour crap.
This is not intended as an end-run
around the distributors. It is a CAMPAIGN which is open to anyone who wants to
participate. If it succeeds, it means more profit for the distributors on the
monthly book and the reprint volumes.
I feel that CEREBUS NUMBER ZERO
and SPAWN #10 offer a ‘window of opportunity’ to prove that when creators
cooperate with retailers and retailers cooperate with creators, each doing
their share and remaining aware that we are human beings dealing with human
beings and each has limitations in terms of time and money and energy; that
great things can be accomplished for both parties.
The success or failure of CAMPAIGN
’93 rests on your collective shoulders. Success, I hope, would bring about a
new and multi-faceted era of cooperation between creators and retailers.
Failure would reinforce the view that individuals can’t and shouldn’t make a
difference; that art and commerce are, and must be, mutually exclusive; that
control of the direct market should be left in the hands of large publishing
companies and large distribution concerns and that we all should and must
accept the status q...
I sincerely hope that is not the
case.
Dave Sim
CEREBUS NUMBER ZERO got off on the
wrong foot. By now you will have been solicited for and probably ordered the
“poly-bagged, gold logo edition with a hologram card insert”. I’m afraid I
succumbed to the pressure to launch CAMPAIGN ’93 immediately (like, four days
after I got back from Houston). I projected a net loss on the project of
between eight and ten thousand dollars (it was, after all, a promotion tool;
not a cash cow), but when I had the final quotes in hand, the projected loss
had risen to b...
Back, as they say, to the drawing
board.
It seemed more practical to release CEREBUS NUMBER ZERO in two versions; a
white logo and a gold logo. It is still 96 pages; reprinting “Exodus” (Cerebus
51), “Square One” (Cerebus 112/113) and “Like-a-looks” (Cerebus 137–138). It
will include introductions outlining where the stories fit into the CEREBUS
continuity (between High Society and Church & State volume one, between
Church & State volume two and Jaka’s Story and between Jaka’s Story and
Melmoth respectively) and should be exactly the kind of in...
As is usually the case with these
kinds of projects, one copy of the gold logo edition will be sent to retailers
who order fifty copies of the white logo edition; five copies if they order two
hundred of the white logo edition.
For the average store, the gold
logo is a standard “incentive” along the lines of Vertigo’s platinum Death #1.
For the CAMPAIGN ’93 stores, I would hope that the gold logo edition (either by
auction or raffle or some other way) could provide some cash on hand for
investment in the CAMPAIGN; functioning as a CAMPAIGN fundraiser. Since the
gold logo edition will probably be purchased by a Cerebus fan, the Direct Link
becomes a three party “axis”; creator-retailer-patron. Obviously, I (and I hope
you don’t)...
Since CEREBUS NUMBER ZERO will be
in very high demand from fans who have all the reprint volumes and should be a
steady seller as a supplement to the reprint volumes, I think I’m safe in
saying that this is a good spot to invest your primary amounts of time and
energy and money.
Obviously the biggest selling
feature or “hook” to use for traditional comic book fans is “three for the
price of one” since the 96 page comic will be the same price as a regular
issue. Now that Image has helped to break the “Two Dollar Barrier” I don’t think
there will be as much resistance as usual, and it seems a much better use for a
few thousand dollars of what we have allotted for subsidizing the CAMPAIGN.
Solicitation would be for June, to
allow us all time to get things off on the RIGHT foot with the rest of the
CAMPAIGN in the next few months and to capitalize on whatever interest is
generated by SPAWN #10 in the late spring.
The next most important element
after CEREBUS NUMBER ZERO and SPAWN #10 in CAMPAIGN ’93 will be two pamphlets
promoting CEREBUS to the two most likely target audiences for the book;
traditional comic book fans and women.
First the traditional comic book
fans.
As Marvel is dying on the vine,
and as Image continues to attract rabid fan attention (which is not being
serviced by anyone except Todd), traditional comic fans are more open than at
any time in the history of the direct market to experimentation and sampling of
other kinds of work. Maybe not a majority of them, but I believe a significant
number are now more curious than ever before about what is available.
The front cover addresses CEREBUS’
strengths in the comic book field; no fill-in issues, genuine continuity over
the course of three thousand plus pages and value for the money. These are not
only CEREBUS’ strengths (I feel), but also the mainstream’s greatest
weaknesses; musical chairs creative teams, non-continuity, often stretched out
over five or six titles with no good reason except greed, and inflated prices
on very, very slim graphic “novels” (Tell Me, Dark at 35.95 in Canada? It
took me all of twenty minutes to read. Give me a break).
The pamphlet idea I got from Marty
Hyder of Black Dragon in Tennessee. It is essentially an 11 x 17 sheet, printed
on both sides and folded once to form an 8-1/2 x 11 four page pamphlet. Again,
these would be supplied as glossy originals with space for the store logo
(address, etc. etc.) at the top. The inside front would be a condensed version
of Don Thompson’s very flattering Cerebus review from the December 2 issue of
the CBG (I hope that’s all right, Don?). The inside back page would reproduce
the covers of the CEREBUS reprint volumes, short descriptions and their
suggested retail price under CEREBUS: THE FIRST HALF (Cerebus, High
Society, Church & State I and II, Jaka’s Story, and
Melmoth).
The back page would feature a
personal pitch from the store owner (or manager) for the CEREBUS series and
reprint volumes. We’ll typeset a suggested “note” which you are, of course,
free to modify or change completely. Some stores have already expressed willingness
to include a money-back guarantee on this page, or a coupon for a free copy of
the current issue or a free t-shirt with any new Cerebus subscription for one
year. A lot of possibilities here. I would also strongly suggest that the owner
(or manager) sign the note on the back personally. I know it’s a drag signing
your name a bunch of times (boy, do I know it), but I really think that
personal touch will mean as much if not more than the rest of the pamphlet in
showing that you genuinely stand behind the quality of CEREBUS reprint volumes
and the monthly series.
Apart from just having them out on
the counter, the pamphlets (I think) would work well put in every store bag, in
every subscription file, etc. etc. etc. The big advantage is that you control
the quantity of pamphlets since they can be easily quick-printed or
photo-copied as you need them. The critical element in any kind of promotion
CAMPAIGN is a steady supply of CAMPAIGN materials. Again, you can print up a
hundred, three hundred at a time or ten thousand. The extent of your
involvement is entirely up to you. If you don’t like this pamphlet design or
you’d prefer to do one of your own, you’re free to use all or part of it or use
any panels from the book in your own promotion. It is important that you feel
confident in the promotion that you do. I feel pretty confident that
this pamphlet can do the trick, but your confidence is what really
matters and will make the difference.
The second pamphlet targets a
group that everyone seems to do a great deal of talking about but for whom
nothing seems to be done: Women.
Cerebus has one of the larger
female readerships in the world of direct market comic books and I get a great
deal of fan mail from women who read Cerebus and Sandman (or Cerebus and Love
and Rockets, etc.). There is usually a healthy representation of couples at any
Cerebus signing; most particularly husbands or boy-friends who are long-time
fans and who read a number of comics titles and their wives or girl-friends
who, in an effort to share their interest and out of natural curiosity, have
managed to find one or two titles that they enjoy and are interested in
following.
And, obviously, a four year
story-line entitled Mothers & Daughters should have some appeal for
female readers, as well as the Jaka’s Story reprint volume.
I have intentionally directed the
pamphlet at women, generally, as opposed to the smaller “fan-girl” audience or
an indirect approach to mothers, wives and girl-friends through their sons,
husbands or boy-friends (i.e. “A comic book even your girlfriend will like”).
The greatest potential here, I think is the uncomfortable woman standing in the
corner of your store, trying to be inconspicuous and just wishing she could
leave (not altogether uncommon, right?).
I don’t think you have to go
overboard or anything, but going up and handing her the pamphlet (and perhaps a
Cerebus button pictured later in this section) and saying something very simple
along the lines of “Most of the comics are intended for a male audience, but
there are a few that men AND women like. Let me know if you’d like to see any
of them.” And just leave it at that.
It was Diana Schutz who suggested
the approach for the interior of the pamphlet; pull quotes from letters written
by women to Aardvark Comment broken down into two categories a) what a great
comic book Cerebus is b) what a prick Dave Sim is. These would alternate on the
inside front under the heading “What Women Have To Say About Cerebus… (and Dave
Sim)”; what a great comic, what a prick, what a great comic, what a prick, etc.
Diana was certain that this would spark more curiosity than review excerpts or
panels from Jaka’s Story, and having gone back through Aardvark Comment
to find the best examples of both category, I find myself in complete
agreement.
The inside back would, again, be
pictures of the reprint volumes, short descriptions, prices, etc.
The back would, again, be a
personal pitch from the owner or manager, addressing head-on (I think this is
critical) the fact that a comic book store is basically a boys’ club since
comic books have been traditionally an adolescent male medium full of guys in
long underwear beating each other up. This could be followed by a list of
critically acclaimed comics with female creators (Pini’s Elfquest,
Gregory’s Naughty Bits, Doran’s A Distant Soil, Duffy’s Nestrobber,
etc.) as well as books that enjoy a larger than average female audience (the
usual suspects: Sandman, Swamp Thing, Hate, Love &
Rockets, Beanworld, Hepcats, Yummy Fur). You could
include a coupon or money-back guarantee just as on the first pamphlet; or if
you’re really feeling adventurous, a straight twenty-per cent or ten per cent
discount on their first purchase. If you keep the note general enough, you
could even use it as a flier to hand out to women on college campuses,
coffee-houses, waitresses, etc.
Even if you choose not to do this
in association with Cerebus and CAMPAIGN ’93, I think the idea is long overdue.
Comic stores by their nature do not look like places that would welcome or
tolerate women. If you don’t want to re-inforce that impression, I think you
have to find a concrete way to change it and I think a pamphlet specifically
tailored to a non-comic fan female audience that is informative without being
aggressive and which will pique their curiosity would be a large step in the
right direction.
Here, especially, I think it would
be important to sign the back of each pamphlet, because you are dealing with a
potential customer whose first reaction is apt to range from bemusement to
outright horror (Oh My God I Don’t Look Like A Comic Book Fan, Do I?). It’s a
personal touch and that means a lot if you want to accomplish your goal.
Merchandise is going to involve
more of a judgement call on your part. As I mentioned in the introductory
letter, I’ll be providing you with two button designs and a t-shirt design. You
can limit your participation to just producing enough of each for use by your
staff. Or you can mass-produce them in whatever quantity. I would hope that you
would incorporate your store logo into the t-shirt design so that both the logo
and design are recognizable (some stores on the TOUR ran their store
information so large in the co-op advertising plan that Larry Marder’s ads
couldn’t be read with a magnifying glass). I think everyone would agree that a
black t-shirt is going to sell better than a white one which will require printing
the design in white ink (basically a reverse of what you see here, printing all
the write parts in white ink rather than the black parts in black ink). The
store logo can go at the top or at the bottom. Either the full address of the
store or just the store logo and “(name of city) CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS.” Or you
might want to pool your resources with other stores in your city or area and
put all of the logos and addresses on the back. Where the judgement call (or , more
accurately, the balancing act) comes in is on pricing. You can set a price that
is comparable to current market prices (about fifteen or sixteen dollars, I
guess) and turn a pretty health profit, which can then be used to help finance
other aspects of your store’s CAMPAIGN ’93. Or you can price the t-shirts at a
dollar or two over cost, which would probably mean more of them would be out in
circulation working as promotional tools, but less profit for your CAMPAIGN.
Same thing with the buttons. The “I Love Cerebus” button is two colour (I mean,
the heart should be red). If you price them at or near cost, you’ll cell
more, but have less of a profit. If you get them printed commercially, it’s
going to cost more than if you buy one of those badge-a-minute button makers
and do them yourself (Depending on the cost for your labour or that of an employee).
I
should probably mention again what I said about Cerebus merchandise in last
issue’s letters page; if someone you know wants to produce Cerebus merchandise
of any kind during 1993 and sell it in your store, by all means go for it. The
same principle obtains; you can keep the price close to your cost and sell a
lot, or raise the price and produce revenues that can go toward the CAMPAIGN.
Yes, I’m well aware that there are unscrupulous individuals out there who are
going to take advantage of this to produce over-priced merchandise and use the
proceeds only to line their own pockets. It's the cost of doing business and
having a wide-ranging and effective campaign in place. Thank you for your
concern, but we make our money off of the monthly book and the reprint volumes;
I figure the least I can do is let the stores have whatever merchandising
revenues they can rustle up on their own (and it is only the individual stores;
if someone wants to solicit the distributors for any merchandise they are going
to need written permission from me).
 |
| Margaret notes: this 'cover' was never published, so don't get my hopes up. |
Okay, that’s the basic ‘bare
bones’ of CAMPAIGN ’93.
If you are a store owner or
manager and you’d like to be included on the mailing list for CAMPAIGN
materials, please fax your name, the name of your store, mailing address, phone
and/or fax number to me at (519) 576-0955. The core mailing list consists of
the TOUR ’92 sponsor stores as well as any store whose owner, manager or
employee gave me a business card throughout the course of last year.
I wish I could do a personal
appearance at every CAMPAIGN store, but it simply isn’t practical. I am very
open to any suggestions about the future course of the CAMPAIGN and I will be
publishing the better ideas here in Cerebus as we go along. As an example,
Carol Denbow (Star Clipper in St. Louis) has suggested in-store displays
featuring colour photo-copy enlargements of Cerebus covers. In considering
ideas for the CAMPAIGN, the key is to keep the costs down to amounts that any
store can comfortably afford and which require some, but not a lot, of time and
effort.
BB Sports Cards of Calgary Alberta
has committed to ordering two thousand copies of the April issue of Cerebus and
an equal number of Spawn 10’s as part of a 2 for 1 promotion campaign.
Naturally I don’t expect every store to do this but it certainly was a large
motivating factor in getting me to spend a week in Calgary and Edmonton in
April (see personal appearances). This is a good example of the Direct Link in
action; a store going that extra mile above and beyond the call, and a creator
reciprocating by also going that extra mile (or thousand miles in the case of
Alberta). We will be ‘fronting’ them a bunch of reprint volumes and have sent
some autographed copies of Cerebus Jam #1, A-V in 3D, the
animated portfolio, etc. to use as the contest prizes leading up to the
signing. We’ll also be selling the April issue of Cerebus to them directly (never
as a rule; but with this kind of commitment to CAMPAIGN ’93, I have no qualms
about selling direct on a one-time basis). For Cerebus 169, BB Sports Cards
will be our third largest distributor.
I would also like to know if
stores participating in CAMPAIGN ’93; the Cerebus Direct Link stores; are
interested in having their names and addresses published in Cerebus as stores
that are willing to get involved in more Direct Link programs of this kind
(i.e. Steve Bissette’s Tyrant). Not as a way to get “free stuff” but as a means
of connecting with creators who want to work with you to promote their books;
who will match your efforts with their own best efforts. Of course all of this
would be strictly voluntary; while you would be on the mailing list you would
be free to participate in or pass on any program that came across your desk.
I’m also willing to do a certain
amount of ‘specialty artwork’; designs for in-store t-shirts and such that
would be exclusive to your store. Again, this would be on the basis of
reciprocal effort; I’m not going to fly down and paint your front window for
you or do a group shot of ten Cerebus characters for your staff t-shirts, but I
am very open to any ideas you might have. Let me know.
If you’re a Cerebus fan and you
know a store owner who might be interested in CAMPAIGN ’93, I would appreciate
it if you would show him (or her) your copy of Cerebus or photo-copy this
section so he (or she) can look at it at their leisure. And if any of you have
any ideas, I’d be happy to take a look at those as well.
Next time I hope to have a few
preliminary details on radio and TV advertisements (which Tom Kintner has
generously offered to supply to interested stores just at the cost of the
videotape and which he will be producing at Atlantic Video in the Washington
area).
Okay. I’m all done yammering at
you. You know what has to be done.
Let’s give ’em hell.
