Dave Sim Checks Into Grand River Hospital

DAVE FISHER:
(via email, 17 March 2015)

Sim checked himself into Emergency at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener this afternoon [Monday 16th]. He'd been having severe, painful stomach cramps all weekend. He arrived about 2 pm. I checked in on him around 8 pm. He was dressed in a frock, laying on a bed, hooked up to a saline drip. I asked if he'd ever been in Emergency before. He said no, never. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he refused the painkillers they offered him. He was still in pain & discomfort. The hospital ran an MRI. He wasn't sure if they were sending him home tonight or whether surgery will be necessary. I'll know tomorrow. Send your prayers & good wishes his way.

Dave has a small stack of faxes and phone messages the past few days. He'll get to them momentarily.

UPDATE:
Dave Fisher just gave an update that Dave Sim is currently being prepped for surgery (12 noon, EDT) to clear a blockage. - John Funk

UPDATE TWO:

Troy Thompson, M.D. said...

Just got off the phone with Dave. I am a friend and plastic surgeon and I am also Board Certified in general surgery. He sounded like he was about to go back to surgery. He asked me to post medical information: He felt much better after a nasogastric tube was placed. This decompresses the stomach (and provides some symptomatic relief) but not the colon, which is where his obstruction is believed to be. The presumptive diagnosis is cecal volvulus, which is a twisting of the colon causing obstruction. I pointed out that the diagnosis will not be known until after surgery and pathologic examination of the colon. There are other more concerning causes of colonic obstruction. He was aware of this.

Interestingly, my wife Mia, also a friend of Dave's, had a cecal volvulus and right hemicolectomy around 2001 and talked to Dave during the same conversation, comparing notes on how the condition feels as well as the recovery. We had a lot of laughs and observed that God does have a sense of humor.

He also said he would like all his medical records and imaging released to me and would like me to advise his medical power of attorney "committee", if that becomes necessary (which I doubt). He also asked me to talk to his surgeon, if possible, postop.

Praying for Dave,
Mia Thompson
Troy Thompson, M.D.

UPDATE THREE:

Dave Fisher:

I visited Sim at the hospital today [Tuesday]. He's been removed from E.R. and in the main hospital prepped for surgery. It has been delayed a couple hours, so he's still waiting patiently. He's in good spirits, thanked his supporters for their kind wishes, and says he's feeling some temporary pain relief. They've got a tube hooked to his nose and they're pumping something yucky from his stomach. It was disgusting enough that Sim insisted I get a close-up of the draining tube. I'll report back when I know more.

UPDATE FOUR:

Jeff Seiler:

Just called the hospital. Dave is out of the recovery room and is "sleeping comfortably".

Having done that last year, I can assure everyone that it is VERY comfortable.

REALLY nice stay-cation.

I will call him tomorrow. The attendant said any time after 10 a.m., but I think mid to late afternoon would be better.


Related Posts:
Dave Sim Checks Into Grand River Hospital (17 March)
Dave Sim Recovering After Surgery (18 March)
Dave Sim Recovery Update #2 (20 March)
Dave Sim Recovery Update #3 (24 March)

Neil Gaiman: Starving Journalist

Savoy Hotel, 1986: Sim & Gaiman First Meeting
Backcover, Cerebus 146 (May 1991)

DAVE SIM:
(from The Long, Strange History of Phase II, 2004)

...I've gotten into trouble with journalists who have asked me about being interviewed by Neil because I always tell them, "It was pretty clear that he wasn't going to be a journalist, because the questions he asked were too good." I actually don't mean any offense against journalism in saying that -- journalism is what it is -- what I'm trying to indicate is that, from the questions Neil was asking, he was as much (if not more!) trying to figure out if writing comic books was something he would want to do for a living (maybe I'm not a starving journalist at all, maybe I'm a starving comic-book writer) as he was trying to figure out why I was writing them so that he could explain my reasoning to the readers of his magazine piece.

"I remember asking him what he'd do if there was something he wanted to write about, something he had to say that didn’t fit into Cerebus. "I’d use a big hammer," he grinned.  "I’d get it in somehow."

See, that's not a journalist question, that's a comic-book writer wannabe question.  What Neil was actually asking was, "I have a lot of ideas for different kinds of stories.  That's why I wouldn't want to do one story for twenty-six years.  Why doesn’t it bother you that you can't tell different stories because you're telling this one big one?"  It wasn't a "lock" that that was "where he was coming from" -- he could just have been an "extreme empathy journalist".  The "extreme empathy journalist" tries to imagine being you and then asks himself the most obvious question that comes to mind while he's play-acting being you (which is really kind of intrusive although the extent to which that's intrusive isn't apparent unless you've been on the receiving end of it, which I assume Neil himself has been many times by now and I assume he has found it as intrusive as I had). So, on the one hand, I was answering the "writer wannabe" question if that was what he turned out to be. (i.e. "The scope of a three-hundred issue story allows for a greater range of ideas than you're picturing, as a result, tangential but relevant stories can be made to fit in direct proportion to the extreme length") while also scaring the "extreme empathy journalist" if that was  what he turned out to be (i.e. "You don't strike me as someone who likes the idea of big hammers.") in the same way that a pitcher will intimidate a hitter who is "crowding the plate" by throwing a 95 mph fastball "inside" (it's euphemistically known in baseball as "chin music"). It seemed to have worked on both counts.  Sandman is the second-longest sustained narrative in human history and Neil developed a lot of interesting ideas in the seventy-five issue story that didn't, in any conventional literary sense, fit the core of the narrative -- Dream Of A Thousand Cats being a good example -- but which in no way diminished the core of the narrative (quite the contrary: many of the seemingly unrelated diversions are some of the Sandman narrative's greatest strengths) -- and as for scaring the "extreme empathy journalist," two pages later in 300 Reasons… Neil writes

Dave Sim is the conscience of comics. It's a lousy, thankless job, and if he wasn’t doing it we wouldn’t have to invent him.  We'd probably just be pleased he wasn't around to bug us. Remember: Jiminy Cricket was squished by a wooden hammer by the end of chapter four in the original Collodi novel of Pinocchio. Were there a wooden hammer large enough, and did he not live out in Kitchener, and were there no fear of societal retribution, Dave would probably have been squished long since.

Bernie Wrightson's Badtime Stories

Badtime Stories (1971)

by Bernie Wrightson

DAVE SIM:
(From Cerebus TV Season 3 Episode 25, 20 April 2012)

This is actually a book that I lost for a number of years - to my great regret - Bernie Wrightson’s Badtime Stories. This is from 1971... I remember vividly coming home on the bus from Toronto with my overhead light on, otherwise pitch-black, and reading Badtime Stories for the first time. Each story done is done in a different technique.

The first one, The Last Hunters, done with craft tint - the grey-tones are actually pre-printed into the art-board, a light-grey and a dark-grey, and you get two little bottles of developer fluid, one that brings out the dark-grey and one that brings out the light-grey – and then for the robot at the end he switches to a strict mechanical tone. All dots, but a very effective effect. Printed on glossy paper - and obviously Wrightson just working at the absolute top of his powers - tired of being printed on DC's, as Neal Adams called it, "toilet paper", and you can see why.

His homage to "ghastly" Graham Ingels, Ain’t She Sweet?. This was the pure black-and-white story, just brush-work and pen-lines and very influential on the Cerebus that would be some day. Look at that wood-grain. The show-stopper panel in this story, George twisting and turning in his sheets, tormented by the voice of the wife he’s murdered in his dreams. I just love that shadow of the rocking chair on the bed sheets with a little heart cut out of it.

The Task, which was done in wash and black ink. Was there any medium that Wrightson couldn't handle? I think that was pretty much the point of the book. Eye-candy? If you look in the dictionary under 'eye-candy' there’s a little picture of Berni Wrightson and a little picture of this panel [with the flames of lunacy and a drop of spittle glistens on his lips]. How does he dooo that? Effortlessly, it looked like.

The ink and tones story and humour piece - very influential on Cerebus - King Of The Mountain, Man. Very influential on my Dirty Drew and Dirty Fleagle characters. Yosemite Sam - Wrightson’s jumping off point was Lee Marvin – same genetic make-up. Two jaw-dropper panels in a row in this one. The King Of The Mountain Man and the Indian girl coming in to town. Absolute phenomenal balance of brush work, of line work, the tone on the mountain back-drops. And then this panel absolute phenomenal brush work, and I’ll tell you folks, that’ll be some fancy tone cutting there. Boy has he absolutely nailed the light patterns, and that's just taking each little piece of tone out one piece at a time, and you better know which one to cut out and which ones to leave in. And the rest of it beautifully rendered completely in pencil.

...Wrightson admitted that he really ran out of gas towards the end on Badtime Stories and instead of doing a final story, reprinted Uncle Bill’s Barrel, which was definitely a high water mark for the primarily Franzetta-influenced Berni Wrightson of 1968, but not a patch on the Bernie Wrightson he had become by 1971, which definitely showed me you can improve and you can improve exponentially in a very short space of time, but it takes a lot of hard work.

Cerebus Jam: Will Eisner

DAVE SIM:
(from Cerebus Jam #1, April 1985)

The Will Eisner. I didn't want to take up too much of his time, so I pencilled the splash page, Gerhard inked it and I lettered it. Then I laid out and lettered the whole story and pencilled and inked the Cerebus figures. Please, Mr Eisner, all you have to do is tighten up Dolan and the Spirit in pencil.

When the story can back, Dolan and the Spirit were fully inked, as well as most of the window on page two panel one, a lot of the bric-a-brac on page three and the last two panels of the story.

Inside was a very nice note saying he was sorry he spoiled the fun I would have had inking him, but he felt like a kid again and got carried away.

Gerhard did the backgrounds over my rough layouts.

Will Eisner has spent decades proving that this art form, this sequential narrative can aspire to and achieve the level of capital "A" art. With Will Eisner's Quarterly, Life On Another Planet and, most particularly, A Contract With God, he continues to show us, all of us, the way.

Kickstarter Bonus Prints #28 & 29 Revealed!

BP #28: Cast & Cockroach

BP #29: Cast & Moonroach

These illustrations were originally produced for the covers of The Comic Journal #82-83 in 1983 which featured a two-part interview with Dave Sim & Deni Loubert. You can see the final printed version here.

Previously Announced 'First Release' Bonus Prints For Cerebus Archive Number Three:

Kickstarter Campaign Ends Saturday, 21 March 2015

Make Your Pledge Now!

About The Kickstarter Bonus Prints:

The Bonus Prints are ONLY available as an "ADD-ON" to a portfolio pledge for an additional CAD $9 per bonus print. The above 'First Release' prints are now available as Kickstarter pledge rewards for Cerebus Archive Number Three. 'Second Release' bonus prints #1-21 from Cerebus Archive Number Two are also still available. Once the total pledge amount has passed the $20,000 mark, you may add 12 Bonus Prints from the First Release and/or Second Release BP lists. If total pledges exceed the total raised from the previous Kickstarter campaign (CAD $42,028) all 31 bonus prints will become available.

Elephantmen: Shots #1

Elephantmen: Shots #1

by Richard Starkings & Others

Image/CBLDF, May 2015

Diamond Code MAR150521

Image Comics and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) join forces once again to bring readers a new Elephantmen one-shot collection in Shots #1, written by Richard Starkings and drawn by Dougie Braithwaite, Ian Churchill, Boo Cook, Shaky Kane, Moritat, Tim Sale, and Dave Sim. The proceeds of this book will go toward helping protect the First Amendment rights of comics creators, publishers, and retailers. Led by Tim Sale’s nine-page "When the Night Comes", this special Elephantmen: Shots #1 collects all the Elephantmen strips from Hero Comics, Liberty, and The Thought Bubble Anthology. The collection also features the hard-to-find Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, and Marineman crossovers and beautiful covers by J. Scott Campbell and Tim Sale.

All proceeds earned from Elephantmen: Shots #1 will go toward supporting the CBLDF.

RICHARD STARKINGS:

I’m sure I wasn't the only comic book creator affected by the Charlie Hebdo massacre earlier this year. It was a deeply shocking and terrifying event that sent ripples throughout the cartooning world. It really made me realize the importance of supporting organizations like the CBLDF, who stand vigilant for cartoonists whether there’s a traumatic event capturing our attention or not. I counted up the strips that we'd produced for The Hero Initiative, Thought Bubble and, of course CBLDF’s own Liberty Annual and decided that, rather than do nothing but worry, I could put out a special issue of Elephantmen to benefit the CBLDF. Eric Stephenson at Image Comics agreed and... voila!

Weekly Update #74: With Added Sound & Vision!

In which Dave Sim discusses: the pain in his right hand, progress on The Strange Death Of Alex Raymond, finally printing the remastered High Society 30th Anniversary Signed Edition and scanning Church & State negatives.

Comic Book People 2: Kickstarter Ends Today!

Comic Book People 2

Photographs From The 1990s

by Jackie Estrada

Kickstarter Fundraiser ends Friday 13 March 2015

Comic Book People 2 is a follow-up to last year's Comic Book People: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s, also funded through Kickstarter. The photos to be included were taken mostly at the San Diego Comic-Con, but there are also images from such shows as the Chicago Comic-Con, WonderCon, the Alternative Press Expo, SPX, and various trade shows of the period. You can expect:

• Rare photos of such Golden/Silver Age creators as Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Vin Sullivan, Paul Norris, Martin Nodell, Chad Grothkopf, Al Williamson, Sheldon Moldoff, Bob Kane, Gene Colan, Marie Severin, Irwin Hasen, Harry Lampert, Ric Estrada, Bill Ward, Ramona Fradon, Bob Haney, Nick Cardy, Paul S. Newman, Dan Barry, Carmine Infantino, John Buscema, and Frank Frazetta.
• Pix of the big names in mainstream comics of the period, from Neil Gaiman, George Perez, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Peter David, John Byrne, Chris Claremont, Kevin Eastman, Mark Waid, Alex Ross, Dave McKean, and Frank Miller to Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld.
• Lots of photos of writer/artists who were movers and shakers in the self-publishing/indie comics movement, including Dave Sim, Jeff Smith, Terry Moore, Linda Medley, Billy Tucci, Colleen Doran, David Lapham, Carla Speed McNeil, James Kochalka, Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, Dean Haspiel, Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Donna Barr, Shannon Wheeler, Scott McCloud, Paul Pope, Roberta Gregory, and lots more.

The Final Notebook

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.

We have yet to take a look at the final notebook: notebook #33. Yes, I know I said there were 36 notebooks scanned. So technically this is notebook #36, but there were several labeled "albatross" in there. Notebook #33 is a blue and black covered 'Hilroy' notebook with 108 pages, only 58 of which were scanned.

18 of those pages that were scanned only have the issue number, the same style as on the covers, on the notebook page. With this notebook Dave put an issue number on every third page. The issues covered in this notebook: #266 to 300.

Usually when I scanned the notebooks, I only scanned the outside front cover and outside back cover. There wasn't anything of interest usually in the inside covers, but if there was, I'd scan it. Like in this one, Dave had an outline for Latter Days:

Notebook #33, inside front cover

On page 43 we see the first sketches for Konigsberg:

Notebook #33, page 43

Yes, that is what 1 Samuel 13:6 says.

The final page of the final notebook? Cerebus last grasp and yell for help:

Notebook #33, page 108

Dave Sim Update: Two Fisted Typing Test

DAVE SIM:

High Society Prints On Friday!

SEAN MICHAEL ROBINSON:

Hello everyone!

First off, let me say a special THANK YOU to new Cerebus Art Dragnet participants Scott Stewart and Michael Ragiel! Michael submitted a slick Mothers & Daughters original, while Scott sent us a scan of a beautiful page from Issue 16, featuring Dave's infamous struggle with duo shade. Restoring that page will be really interesting challenge. Thanks so much to everyone who continues to shake those pages free from the trees.

Please excuse the tardy post. I've been running around like a crazy person for the past ten days because of this weekend. Friday afternoon, at 3 pm, we're finally going to print on High Society. 

I'd half-written something in my head over the past few days about how hard it is to let go of a big project, about all of the times I've thought I had something finished, only to make one last dive into it when the deadline approaches. But I'm running out of time, I'm still fielding emails from the prepress person at Bang, the project manager, left-handed faxes from Dave... So, my story of last-minute mix adjustments or overdubs or panicked mastering sessions on the various albums I've worked on will have to wait.

Suffice it to say, I've been a maniac the past two weeks, and only now am I beginning to calm down a bit and accept that, barring more original artwork scans being sent to us over the next few years, this is as good as it gets. 

Which is to say, it's really good.

I had somehow avoided looking through my old copy of High Society until very recently. Mara did the scanning, after all, the image selection, picking out from the various sources for each newsprint page and deciding which would give us the best image.

But finishing up the book this week, I was suddenly struck by the oddity of it all. How, for several pages at least, we were using the very copy of High Society I first read, as a teenager, to restore the book for all copies going forward. I had a strange moment, sitting with the now-cut up remains of the book in my lap and the oversized printouts of the newly restored pages to the right of me, trying to remember holding that book in my hand at age thirteen. On a car trip with my family? I think we bought it at a store in North Carolina. I'd already read an issue or two, had seen the TMNT crossover issue via First's color reprints, but this, this was the real deal.

The distance from there to here seemed impossible.

And that's where we're at now. Happy that it's done, happy that it's turned out so well. Thrilled to be moving forward to Church & State. And most of all? Thrilled that, at least until we circle back to the first volume, there will be no more pages sourced from newsprint!

For your amusement and edification-- a few newsprint-sourced High Society pages, sans page. First person to identify them wins a shiny copper portrait of Lincoln, signed by the Treasurer of the United States... or, my undying admiration. Your pick!

(Anything you'd like to see here? Let me know in the comments!)

Cerebus In My Life: Thomas Reale

Cerebus #151 (October 1991)

Art by Dave Sim & Gerhard

A Moment Of Cerebus:
How did you discover Cerebus and how long did you read it for?

Thomas Reale:

I discovered Cerebus when I was around 15 years old and a sophomore in high school.  I regularly visited Sarge's Comics in New London, CT, and a young worker remarked at my big stack of mostly superhero books that I read that I wasn't reading Cerebus.  In fact, he went on to rudely scold me that I only needed to read Cerebus. Period. Since I admired this older clerk, I immediately started collecting Cerebus. This was around 153/154. I read Cerebus until its end and ended up collecting 26-300 and #6 for the first appearance of Jaka.

How has your own creativity / comics reading been influenced by Cerebus?

Cerebus has influenced my creativity immensely. You can see several examples on my website, Dodd Thomas. I also have a bi-monthly book starting on 6/10/15.

What is your favourite scene or sequence from Cerebus?

 

My favorite scene is actually just the cover for issue 151 because it reminds me of the thesis tower at Reed College.

Would you recommend others to read Cerebus, and if so, why?

 

I would recommend others to read Cerebus for the riddle of man in case we genetically engineer a sphinx.

 

 

Update From Dave On The Pain In His Right Hand

JOHN FUNK:

Hi Everyone,

Last Friday, March 6th, Dave posted his Weekly Update: My Right Hand on A Moment of Cerebus in which he focused on the turn of events with regard to a sudden onset of pain in his right hand which is keeping him from drawing and limited other activities like signing prints to a much, much slower level. 

In my status update fax this morning, I made reference to the many comments and concerns that have been coming through both AMOC and the KS CAN3 project page, and Dave being Dave, knew it was time to give a detailed update on his situation. He spent 2.5 hours typing this 3 page fax with his left hand, so you know that he really wants everyone to know what his situation is. Here are the three fax pages:

So, there you have it. Let's keep Dave and his hand in our thoughts and prayers and remember to be a bit patient as it will take a bit longer for him to do all the sketches and signing at the end of CAN3, but he is saying he will complete them in a timeframe that his situation allows.

Thanks,

John

Jeff Seiler's Xmas Cards

(Click image to enlarge)

JEFF SEILER:
(via email, 24 February 2015)

Okay, Tim. Explanation:  Every year, I send a Christmas card to Dave and usually get something nice back. This past year, I sent both a Christmas and Hannukah card. This is what I got back, now framed. Original art from an unspecified panel and page from Strange Death Of Alex Raymond.

"Throw The Baby!"

RICHARD PALFREYMAN:
(via email, 20 February 2015)

Tim, Dave, John et al,

With CAN3 about to kick off for Chuch & State volume 1, I was reminded of this old photo I grabbed from somewhere. Always meant to send it to Dave but never quite got round to doing it. Who in the crowd is shouting  "Throw the baby"?

Cerebus Archive Number Three: Diamondback Decks

Diamondback Decks (2nd edition, 1993)

Kickstarter 'Add-On' Reward CAD $9 per set

Kickstarter Ends Saturday, 21 March 2015

Displaying Your Cerebus Archive Portfolios

Itoya Art Profolio: 13'' x 19''

Also available at

Anthony Snyder Comic Book Art

MICHAEL RAGIEL:
(via email, 4 March 2015)

Sometime ago you had posted a few photos of how I display my Cerebus Archive portfolio. There has been a few people still inquiring about how to still display their prints. I created a very amateurish video, but I think it gets my point across. If you feel that it's not too horrible to post, then feel free to get it to all the backers and future potential backers. Hopefully, you can view it.

Cerebus Archive Number Three: Bonus Prints #26 & 27

BP #26: UT. NO "FEELIES" - The Amazing Locke & Key

DAVE SIM:
(from IDW Covers Commentary, 15 July 2013)

It was "T" in Texas, my doctor patron, who turned me onto LOCKE & KEY when I was down there for a week over American Thanksgiving last November. He also turned me onto CHEW and MORNING GLORIES. I like a good Stephen King OO! SOME SCARY STUFF, HUH, KIDS? narrative as much as the next guy, but what I end up getting attracted by is the human moments in the build-up of the story. I liked this moment when the kids are down in the condemned underground facility and the scaffolding collapses and it looks as if they're trapped and they're going to drown.  And the boy asks the girl if he can kiss her so he doesn't die without having kissed someone.  I remember reading that part at "T's" and thinking, "If Chris Ryall ever asks me for a pin-up, that's what I'm going to do."  And then, just a few weeks after I got back, he asked me for a variant cover!  Well, by that time, my unconscious mind had evidently been working on it overtime already -- "an above the water/below the water" shot.  My first thought was the BATMAN "Two-Way Death Trap" cover (#166? #177?).  And then I thought: "No, no!  Ditko's SPIDER-MAN 29 cover! 'Never Step On A Scorpion"  Another chance to do the classic SPIDER-MAN logo (I never get tired of doing that).  And it also had a CEREBUS resonance:  the spider and the scorpion. 

There were a few levels at work.  Is a teenaged boy going to be content with JUST a kiss?  Especially when no one can see what's going on under the water?  Probably not.  But is a teenaged girl going to let him, you know, cop a feel, even though they're both going to die?  I mean, does it matter?  Well, yes, it does, I think.  To the teenaged girl.  Not wanting to die without kissing someone is very different from not wanting to die without copping a feel.  She's not going to want one of HER last acts to be having her body turned into a piece of meat for someone else's gratification.

And, as I considered it, I thought:  it would be entirely unconscious.  If she was letting him move in for a kiss, her torso would be in HYPER-AWARENESS mode.  It's not as if teenaged girls don't KNOW what's going on in the minds of teenaged boys.  Her hand would come up for the block, JUST IN CASE.  That's why I had the thought balloons coming from their hands.  It doesn't detract from the "above the water" kiss, but it's definitely a "below the water" line drawn in the sand.

I sent Joe Hill the original tracing paper drawing c/o Chris Ryall and a letter explaining all this.  Even the part that the girl (in the context of the story) has had her fear removed.  It's not a FEAR thing.  She's not AFRAID of him copping a feel.  It's natural female modesty. I never heard back from him.

He probably thinks I'm nuts, same as everyone else.

Anyway, it was nice to work in a pure cartoon style after labouring in the photorealism salt mines. The cover practically draws itself.

BP #27: Old Cerebus Dreams

DAVE SIM:
(from Weekly Update #56, 7 November 2014)

...I am thinking differently lately since we started doing the Bonus Prints. A good example is that I intended to send Tim F. a SIX DEADLY SINS PORTFOLIO and to do an ink drawing on it, which I started this morning (astonishingly, I was absolutely caught up on all the mail and faxes! NEVER happens!).  It was one of those things where I've looked at the portfolio folder for over 30 years and thought a number of times, "That would be an interesting paper to draw on".  It's really like a watercolour paper.  But -- as I figured -- it wasn't as if I wanted to do ALL of the DEADLY SINS portfolios in the Cerebus Archive (six or seven).  Just one for the experience.

If you have a copy you know it has Frank Cirocco's SCHANES & SCHANES logo/illustration in white on a sky blue on the back with plenty of drawing space.  So what I was picturing was in ink drawing and then putting in white highlights with white ink or white paint.  So, that's what I'm doing and it's coming out pretty good, I think.

Up to now, it would be "Well, looks like Tim's the lucky guy who gets this since it's the only one I'm doing".  But, NOW, with the Bonus Prints, I thought, "This would make a nice Bonus Print." And then IMMEDIATELY thought:  POTENTIALLY.  What I think makes a nice Bonus Print isn't necessarily what CEREBUS fans think would make a good Bonus Print.  So, that's interesting.  I'm going to get Dave Fisher to relay a scan of it for posting here and that will be the first FIRST RELEASE BONUS PRINT for CANIII.

I won't KNOW if it's any good (in a CEREBUS fan sense) until I see how it sells during the next Kickstarter. :)

I'm looking forward to that:  WHAT Bonus Prints were the top picks this time and WHAT Bonus Prints are going to be #1/1 (because only one person wanted it)?  :)

Previously Announced 'First Release' Bonus Prints For Cerebus Archive Number Three:

Kickstarter Campaign Ends Saturday, 21 March 2015

Make Your Pledge Now!

About The Kickstarter Bonus Prints:

The Bonus Prints are ONLY available as an "ADD-ON" to a portfolio pledge for an additional CAD $9 per bonus print. The above 'First Release' prints are now available as Kickstarter pledge rewards for Cerebus Archive Number Three. 'Second Release' bonus prints #1-21 from Cerebus Archive Number Two are also still available. Once the total pledge amount has passed the $20,000 mark, you may add 12 Bonus Prints from the First Release and/or Second Release BP lists. If total pledges exceed the total raised from the previous Kickstarter campaign (CAD $42,028) all 31 bonus prints will become available.

Weekly Update #73: My Right Hand

Cerebus Archive Number Three

Signed Limited Edition Prints From 'Church & State I'
Kickstarter Ends Saturday 21st March 2015

DAVE SIM:

Hello, everyone!

1.  Welcome to the LIVE TEST of Dave Sim's right hand, which took a dramatic turn-for-the-worse last Friday around 8 pm and which I have been resting since.  I've written about five cheques and typed VERY SHORT faxes to John and Sean as necessary. I've also done some paste-up with my left hand.

2.  This is, I'm pretty sure, the end of my CORRESPONDENCE days, the-every-other-Friday 1 am to 7 am mail answering, followed by two hours of typing the Update, followed by answering whatever more mail I picked up that afternoon. For the foreseeable future, typing will have to be restricted to "end of life" issues which need to be "on paper" but I'm actually pretty far along with that.  All letters will be answered with a form letter explaining what's happened.

3.  This shouldn't affect the Kickstarter autographing.  Signing my name isn't "targeted" or "specific". It's a general shape that lands where it lands.  I'm not bearing down when signing my name.  That will be tested next week when I sign the 850 HIGH SOCIETY bookplates, but I'm not anticipating any surprises.

Okay. That's the EMERGENCY INFORMATION in case that's all the hand would take and it's further than I thought I was going to get today. :)

4.  The question right now is: to what extent does Aardvark-Vanaheim "consolidate" around my autograph.  i.e. that's all that I CAN do and since that's what generates the money, that's all it makes sense for me TO do.  I'm preparing a structure, mentally, around that which will involve a big boost in hourly rates to Dave F. and Rolly S.  Basically: "Okay, your right hand no longer exists. NOW what do you do?"  It's a big job, mentally, but not an unsolvable one, I don't think.

5.  I'm not sure how this affects THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND but "negatively" seems obvious.  I just don't know HOW negatively.  The biggest problem with my hand is tracing and transferring traced drawings.  Which is most of what SDOAR consists of. I might have to get someone to do that for me, under my direction.  Which I'm hesitant to do because I've done everything on SDOAR until now solo.  Today is just about testing my capacity for typing.  About half an hour so far (forty minutes now that I'm doing final corrections).  Tomorrow I'm going to try inking for the first time in a week and then see how long it takes to do the next full page when I get there. That will tell me How This Is Going To Go, I think.

6.  This might be the last TYPED Update.  I'm going to talk to Fisher about posting either AUDIO or AUDIO VISUAL Updates which won't require my right hand except for turning the camcorder on and off.  We'll see how the next week goes.

7.  I'm not a medical science guy.  My mother went through this with her hands and went for the "steroid junkie" option.  Pregnazone (sp?). Basically steroids just mask symptoms -- which they do really well:  check out Stephen King's NEEDFUL THINGS the movie or the book if you want to see what the effect looks like --  so when they wear off you need to get another dose and a larger dose. And then you find out why steroids are such a bad idea.  But, by then you're a junkie and you've been using your hands carelessly and worsening them.  So you need MORE steroids. And then you find out what those things REALLY do.

Okay, that's about all I'm going to type this week.

God willing, we'll see you all next week in one form or another.

John's been updating me daily on the Kickstarter campaign. It's interesting watching the CANO vs CANT vs CAN3 patterns.  I wouldn't rule out the Hardcore Cerebus Readership actually breaking the $42K record!  They're an amazing bunch!

Okay, back to planning What Happens Next.  Wish me luck.

Bang Bang SMASH

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.

More from Jaka's Story, though the later half. Notebook #14 is another one we haven't seen any pages from yet, and it covers issues 127 to 135. The notebook originally had 80 pages in it, but only 72 were scanned, and there were 4 total blank pages. Well, kind of. There was a 5th blank page, page #14, but the ink from page 13 came through so I scanned that as well.

One of the more shocking turn of events in Jaka's Story occurs in issue #130, which starts on page 333 of the phonebook. The first hint we get of it in the notebook is on page 31 where Dave has not only written down some plot notes, and some thumbnail page layouts:

Notebook #14, page 31

Then on page 35 we see more thumbnail layouts, this time page 1 through page 11, with some dialogue written down:

Notebook #14, page 35

All of those pages are pretty much laid out the same as the finished pages. From the small Jaka standing off to the side as she enters the party and sees them to the side to falling panels as Pud falling down dead on the floor.

What about some of the  things that didn't make the final cut of issue #130? On page 352 of the phonebook you can see the Cirinists and Oscar, with Oscar saying 'No, no please.'  Oscar does say that, along with "I didn't know. . .I didn't know. . ." And that is where the issue ends.

However, on page 45 of the notebook you can see the Cirinist holding the book and drop it to the floor with a 'thump'. What is the thing coming out of the book on the floor? Perhaps it is on fire?

Notebook #14, page 45