Friday, November 30, 2012

Step Forth And Taste Earth-Pig Steel!

First drawing of Cerebus as a comic-book character (1977)
Art by Dave Sim
DAVE SIM:
(from the introduction to Cerebus #1, Swords Of Cerebus Vol 1, 1981)
In the year prior to my sitting down to pencil the first issue, I had a) met a girl named Deni who was doing a fanzine b) designed a logo for said fanzine herein known as Cerebus (the logo is the same now as it was then) c) persuaded girl Deni that she must have a name for her publishing enterprise d) received two suggestions from girl Deni's brother Michael (Vanaheim Press) sister Karen (Aardvark Press) and e) diplomatically selected both. I proceeded f) to design a company logo featuring a cartoon aardvark (since I didn't know how to draw a Vanaheim). I then supervised the pasting up of the first issue of Cerebus The Fanzine featuring prose and art by g) Brother Michael, Boyfriend me, Sister Karen, Head Honcho Deni, Too Tall Bob and numerous others. Printer h) rips us off for originals and payment and Aardvark-Vanaheim Cerebus The Fanzine bites the big one.

In the course of all this, we noticed that Deni had spelled "Cerberus" incorrectly. I solved this by suggesting that Cerebus was the name of our aardvark mascot. It was a small step from this point to pencilling a page of of Cerebus bouncing merrily a top a horse (yay) and sending it to Mike Friedrich as a new feature for Quack; which he was quick to refuse (boo).

Help Dave Sim Complete 'The Strange Death Of Alex Raymond'


ED BRUBAKER (GOTHAM CENTRAL, CRIMINAL):
(from 'Dave Sim Responds To The Fantagraphics Offer' at TCJ.com, 24 September 2012)
I agree that if it's about money, I would happily subscribe through Kickstarter or paypal or amazon payments or whatever, to just about any comics Sim wants to write and draw for the rest of his life.

DAVE GIBBONS (WATCHMEN):
(via Twitter, 24 November 2012)
Help Dave Sim complete this project. I have.

ERIC REYNOLDS (FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS):
(from 'This Week In Comics' at TCJ.com, 7 September 2012)
I thought the Alex Raymond / Stan Drake serial in Glamourpuss was the most compelling thing going in periodical comics the last two years. I was bummed to learn it was ending. I would love to publish the finished book.

RICH JOHNSON (BLEEDING COOL):
(from Bleeding Cool, 23 November 2012)
I've given him my ten dollars. Won't you do the same?

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Comic Book Values

Cerebus #4, inside back cover (June 1978)
Art by Dave Sim
DAVE SIM:
(from the introduction to Cerebus #5, Swords Of Cerebus Vol 2, 1981)
A few weeks after this issue came out, I got a call from Phil Seuling who was our biggest distributor at the time. He didn't like the issue. He said that the first four issues were great, that they had gotten progressively better -- more humor, more plot, better pacing. But No. 5 "didn't help the book. It didn't hurt, but it didn't help."... He was right...

This tied in neatly with the Gil Kane interview in Comics Journal #38 that had started me re-thinking the whole approach I was taking to doing my own comic book. The particular quote that influenced me was:
"The difference between a comic book and a novel is not labor, not effort, it's the values. In other words, there are no meaningful values in a comic book. The people in comic books are two dimensional people going through the most elementary kind of situations, not enough to sustain anybody's interest beyond an adolescent. A novel has characterization, it has suspense, it has a structured situation full of substantial values that will hold the interest of an intelligent person. That's what I mean. Those values, if they are properly translated - Harvey Kurtzman translated them into comics. His comics were literate, they were intelligent, they were humane, they were interesting, they were funny, they were everything.

For instance, political cartoons, humor strips in newspapers are written in an infinitely more adult way: they're more intelligent, they're written for adults by adults with adult humor. They're really clever, and they represent adult values and that's why adults read them. Adults read them because, regardless of the fact that they're comics, they're dealing with adult frames of reference. And comic books don't have those frames of reference."
After I finished the fifth issue I embarked on an extremely lengthy process of applying adult sensibilities to each issue of Cerebus, trying to approach every plot problem on as mature a level of communication as I could. It was not easy, and still isn't. But at the very least, I wanted to feel that each issue of Cerebus advanced our cause just that much more than the issue that preceded it. Fortunately, fan reviewers, editors, columnists and letter-writers have an uncanny knack for recognising an issue that pulls sideways instead of forwards (I knew they were good for something).

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Gerhard's Photos: Zolastraya

GERHARD:
Jeff Tundis had posted a bunch of my old photos on his Art of Gerhard website quite a while ago. I've just started going through my old photos again and here are a few that aren't on his website.

Dave and "Zolastraya" (I forget what her real name is). This was taken in the "jam room" in a friend's attic. The egg cartons were an attempt to soften the echoes created by all the sloped ceilings.

The relationship didn’t last very long, but they did look good together in limos, didn't they?

Dawn, I think her name is, had her own comic featuring herself which she co-wrote and co-drew, I think.
Zolastraya & The Bard #1-5 (1987-1988)
by Dawn 'Zolastraya' Nash & Terry Echterling

Gerhard provided background art to Dave Sim's cast of Cerebus characters between issue #65 (August 1984) and #300 (March 2004) - contributing to over 4,700 pages of comic art, as well as numerous Cerebus covers and illustrations. Keep up to date on all of Gerhard's current projects at his blog and website, including details of his new book, The Wish.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

High Society Digital #09 - Out Now!

High Society Digital #09 (Cerebus #34, January 1982)
Available from Cerebus Downloads
Out Now! Only 99¢

"Cerebus trying to stay out of trouble as Astoria strictly instructed him when who should walk up to the Regency but Elrod the Albino, last -- I say -- last ruler of the dying race of Melvinbone! BAD news for Cerebus, GREAT news for ME because Elrod -- I say -- Elrod dialogue practically writes itself. IMPROV, that is! I'm Dave Sim, co-creator of comics' only 6,000-page graphic novel (look at me when I'm talkin' to ya, boy) and YOU are HERE!"

People everywhere agree that HIGH SOCIETY is Award-Winning (Eisner; Harvey; Shuster, Ignatz, Wizard) graphic novelist Dave Sim's greatest and most hilarious work. It regularly gets a 5-star rating on lists of the Greatest Graphic Novels of All Time. In addition to the 20 pages of art and story, you also get everything that was in the original comic book -- Deni's Note from the Publisher, the original ads, the original letters pages, the original back cover and inside back cover.

BONUS! Original documents from the time period from Dave Sim's Cerebus Archive as well as pages from Dave Sim's original Notebooks (where he plotted and designed each issue) accompanied by Sim's own annotations.

Gail Simone: 'High Society Digital' Review

GAIL SIMONE:
(from Ape In A Cape blog, 25 November 2012)
...The issues Dave is making available digitally, to my mind, constitute a masterwork of comics. They are so good, there are only a handful of North American comics that can compete with them. When I was a kid, for a long time, I could only afford one comic a month, and that comic was Cerebus. The story being reprinted, High Society, is possibly my favorite single comics story ever... if someone were to ask me what comics to study to learn meaningful sequential storytelling, Cerebus would likely be in the top two or three choices I would recommend.

Gail Simone is a writer of comic books, including Birds of Prey, Secret Six, Welcome to Tranquility, The All-New Atom, Deadpool, Wonder Woman, Batgirl and The Fury of Firestorm.

Monday, November 26, 2012

The Top 10 List To Top All Top 10s

TIMOTHY CALLAHAN:
(from When Worlds Collide at Comic Book Resources, 5 November 2012)
...I was also surprised to realize that I hadn't ever really posted an all-time Top 10. In all my years of comic book punditry, I have done Top 10s on a variety of topics, mostly in a Best of the Year Capacity, but I've never done an overall Top 10. So here it is. The ten comics I would consider my favorites, the best, or the most significant. In alphabetical order...

Cerebus:
When I revisited Cerebus last year [see links below] and did my sprint through the whole series, not many people were talking about Cerebus. There was that one Comics Journal piece that got me (and probably many other people) thinking about the legacy of the Dave Sim series, and a couple of online pieces around the same time as mine, but now Cerebus is part of a massive (but messy) digital rerelease and Dave Sim is publically courting (in his way) the book publishers of the world.

I wouldn't have ranked Cerebus among my all-time favorites before I did the massive reread/read last summer, though I was always particularly enamored of most of the issues between #100-150. But after rereading the whole enormous, hugely personal work, I can't stop thinking about it. It's a monument that can't be ignored, even if you don't believe in what it stands for.

Read Timothy Callahan's complete Top 10 list at When Worlds Collide and his 2011 Mega-Read here:
Cerebus Mega-Read: Begins (8 August 2011)
Cerebus Mega-Read: Completed (15 August 2011)
Cerebus Mega-Read: 16 Volumes Overview (22 August 2011)

Twitter Talk #5

Sunday, November 25, 2012

"Barry - Go Nuts!"

Unused concept sketch for a Swords Of Cerebus cover (circa 1983)
Art by Dave Sim
BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH:
(from Following Cerebus #10, June 2007)
I didn't use Dave's suggestion, but I really liked his pencil and marker sketch. I had it framed years ago, and it is hanging on my office wall just five feet away as I write this. One of several charming things about this sketch is Dave's notation at the bottom. I knew what Dave meant, of course, but I've always been amused at the unintended double entendre of 'Go Nuts!' It reads like a climatic insult, 'You! GO NUTS!' Also a long term prediction about my mental health, 'Barry, go nuts.' Following with 'Y'r Friend Dave,' it's almost an invitation: 'Barry, if you go nuts, I'll go nuts too. Y'r Friend Dave.'

Barry Windsor-Smith ignored Dave's cover suggestion and drew his own version of Cerebus on the front and back cover to Swords Of Cerebus Vol 5, published in 1983. Between 1970 and 1973 Barry had drawn the Marvel Comics' version of Conan The Barbarian (currently available from Dark Horse Comics), which were to become the original inspiration for Dave Sim's Cerebus stories.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

IDW Covers: Cerebus Attacks!

Mars Attacks: Zombies vs Robots #1 variant cover (IDW, January 2013)
Art by Dave Sim
DAVE SIM:
Any excuse to do my best Ghastly Graham Ingels / Bernie Wrightson pen-work.

You can see all of IDW's Mars Attacks variant covers at Bleeding Cool.

The Kirby Influence

Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vols 1-4
DAVE SIM:
(from 'The 2000 Virtual Kirby Tribute Panel' in The Jack Kirby Collector #27, February 2000)
If I'm not mistaken there was about seven or eight years between the time Jack Kirby went to DC and when I started Cerebus, so I would have to say that we both got caught up in the idea of what you could do with the comic book form on either side of the ground zero point where the direct market came into existence. That is, with the 1966 Batman fad and comic books becoming a collectible and Pop Art and the Esquire "Comics on Campus" thing, there was a sense that comic books not only could be something else but were inevitably going to turn into something else. Meaning no disparagement - okay, maybe a little - I think Stan Lee saw that it could be a very big, fun, lucrative carnival which could be taken seriously and taken as camp and both hands could grab the dough. Not only could you run away and join the circus, you could run away and be the circus. Kirby, on the other hand, looked on it as a chance to tell epic stories and really didn't think much of the carnival side, which only makes sense. However much time Stan spent writing the stories, he had time left over and a carnival sounds like a great idea. Jack Kirby obviously slaved like a Trojan from early morning of one day to early morning of the next. He was probably more concerned about finding time to shave than where he was going to find a good carnival to hang out in. Also, he could look back at 2000+ pages of FF in 1969 and he had started considering what he was going to do on his next 2000 pages and, more importantly, how many thousand more pages in had left in him. Had he known that the direct market was only six or seven yeas away from coming into existence, he might have bided his time - or divided his time between his Marvel workload and his Fourth World epic, using the former to keep food on the table and getting the latter ready to sell to the comic book stores on a non-returnable basis. 20-20 hindsight. I knew enough not to trust any company to have Cerebus' or my best interests at heart when I decided to turn it into an epic 26-year story. Kirby didn't have that option. At the time he started the Fourth World epic he had to trust somebody and the only somebody besides the company he was working for was DC. He trusted that he would make enough money for them that they would see financing the whole epic from start to finish and then keeping it in print to be a smart idea. Of course what he didn't take into account was that a corporate motivation in hiring him away from Marvel had as much to do with hurting Marvel as it did with helping their own bottom line. From DC's standpoint, I think, Jack's departure didn't hurt Marvel enough to warrant seeing the Fourth World through - as Mark Evanier had pointed out and I believe him, the books were still profitable. It was a tragedy and it was very, very regrettable, but that is what corporations are like.

From where I sit it seems even more regrettable because, had DC seen the project through and released the first "phone books" in 1976 - a 500-page New Gods, a 500-page Mister Miracle, etc. - it would have been timed perfectly with the arrival of the direct market and, presumably, Jack Kirby would have gone on to produce another 500-page story or two before he was done with this vale of tears.

I also have a very large twinge of regret that, through self-publishing, I've been able to make a very good living doing my epic just the way I want to do it and without interference, when I consider that Jack Kirby laboured for forty years in the comic book vineyards and missed being able to do the same thing by a piddling period of time like four or five years or so when I started Cerebus. Of course DC finally recognised that it is worth treating token creators better, so that Neil Gaiman did get to finish Sandman, and with what he makes year after year off of the Sandman collections, he probably leaves larger tips than I make a year. So I guess fair is where you find it. I still wouldn't trust DC and further than I could throw the Time-Warner executive washroom.

Anyway, that's my answer to what effect Jack Kirby had on my doing Cerebus.

In the 1960s Jack Kirby (1917-1994), with writer-editor Stan Lee, co-created many of Marvel Comics' major characters, including the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Hulk. Kirby left Marvel in 1970 for rival DC, where he created his Fourth World saga spanning several comic titles (New Gods, Mister Miracle, The Forever People and Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen), but which were prematurely cancelled before the saga was completed.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Gerhard's Photos: Responsible Sailing

GERHARD:
Jeff Tundis had posted a bunch of my old photos on his Art of Gerhard website quite a while ago. I've just started going through my old photos again and here are a few that aren't on his website.

How not to operate a sailing vessel! When you’re in charge of a brand new, 35 foot, chartered boat, make sure you harbour a blatant disregard for safety procedures, rely heavily on the insurance you've signed up for and kiss your damage deposit goodbye.

Be sure to heel the boat as far as possible in order to scare the crap out of your unsuspecting crew.

Don't wait until the last minute to open the "we're safely anchored" champagne.

(This has been a public service announcement on how not to operate your boat. Do not try this at home. No stupid sailors or passengers were injured (much) and a small portion of the damage deposit was returned.)

Gerhard provided background art to Dave Sim's cast of Cerebus characters between issue #65 (August 1984) and #300 (March 2004) - contributing to over 4,700 pages of comic art, as well as numerous Cerebus covers and illustrations. Keep up to date on all of Gerhard's current projects at his blog and website, including details of his new book, The Wish.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Gerhard's Photos: Comix Experience 1991

GERHARD:
Jeff Tundis had posted a bunch of my old photos on his Art of Gerhard website quite a while ago. I've just started going through my old photos again and here are a few that aren't on his website.

A pleasant enough signing at Brian Hibbs' Comix Experience store in San Francisco, although it seems that this guy deemed it necessary to wear protective head gear in order to get Dave's autograph.

Dave autographs fresh produce! I believe it's a grapefruit.

Before the signing involves autographing various body parts, I decide to go for a walk.

Gerhard provided background art to Dave Sim's cast of Cerebus characters between issue #65 (August 1984) and #300 (March 2004) - contributing to over 4,700 pages of comic art, as well as numerous Cerebus covers and illustrations. Keep up to date on all of Gerhard's current projects at his blog and website, including details of his new book, The Wish.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Gerhard's Photos: Ger & His Camera

GERHARD:
Jeff Tundis had posted a bunch of my old photos on his Art of Gerhard website quite a while ago. I've just started going through my old photos again and here are a few that aren't on his website.

Geez, could my glasses BE any bigger? The Eighties, man... ya just gotta shake yer head.

A recurring theme in my photos: Ger alone in a hotel room in some strange city.

...and then there's me, just goofin' around Victoria Park.

Gerhard provided background art to Dave Sim's cast of Cerebus characters between issue #65 (August 1984) and #300 (March 2004) - contributing to over 4,700 pages of comic art, as well as numerous Cerebus covers and illustrations. Keep up to date on all of Gerhard's current projects at his blog and website, including details of his new book, The Wish.

The Dave Sim Fund

DAVE SIM:
(from Kickstarter Update #125, 12 November 2012)
...In the meantime, having to make a living, I have signed with IDW to do four work-made-for-hire covers a month.  Unlike everything having to do with CEREBUS, THAT's going smoothly.  I e-mail the covers from PostNet, I get reaction back, voucher the covers and get paid. So, I'm working on THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND (when I'm not RE-RE-recording audio for George) and making some progress.  That's pretty much what I see my future as being since the earliest that George could finish HIGH SOCIETY AUDIO DIGITAL and HIGH SOCIETY DIGITAL is next April.  If the schedule stays the way it is now, you can make that closer to June.  So, what I picture is trying to get by with the $17K left out of the $30K and whatever I can make doing covers with IDW.  If I'm not "covering my nut" I'll do more covers (they've got 19 -- count 'em 19 -- possibles for me) and cut into the three weeks out of the month that I have to work on STRANGE DEATH...

...Rick Norwood of COMICS REVUE (one of my favourite publications, reprinting classic comic strips that he sends me for free. Thank you, Rick!) wrote recently suggesting three possibilities for my career as it stands: 1) Collect glamourpuss and the ALEX RAYMOND material as "Princess, Die!"  2) get 1,000 CEREBUS fans to send me $5 a month so I can keep working and not worry about overhead and 3) do a cover of Cerebus with Mandrake for COMICS REVUE for $100.  I'll be trying option #2  "as soon as/if" viable instructions from George arrive on how to create Paypal buttons.  I'm just going to have a "Dave Sim Fund $5" button.  I'll let you know every month how much money comes in. But, after all of my bad CEREBUS experiences over the last decade? Two decades?  I'm thinking work-made-for-hire covers, THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND and ZERO CONTACT with computers (except when I have to come back to coffee shop hell to let you know what's happening with YOUR money) is my best bet...

...Okay, back to STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND.  I've just finished a new "bridge" between the Alex Raymond RIP KIRBY introductory material and the Stan Drake HEART OF JULIET JONES introductory material covering BIG BEN BOLT and TWIN EARTHS (the second and third photorealism strips).  Some good stuff in TWIN EARTHS (the "twin earth" planet is 92% women!) for the later "Metaphysical" sections.  So, TECHNICALLY I'm on page 61 when it comes to doing my roadmap.  Actual drawing, I'm still a ways away from. But ZERO CONTACT with computers.  That counts for a lot with me...

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Cerebus Pole-Vaulting!

The Flaming Carrot Kickstarter Print: 'The Great Race' with the Turtles on jet packs, and Cerebus pole-vaulting into the lead, Flaming Carrot rides a flying dragon, as Hugo Ball tries to keep up on a Harley. What looks like Tickle-Me-Elmo rides behind Flaming Carrot with a completely freaked out face.

BOB BURDEN:
(via Facebook, 21 November 2012)
Wow! I just got this in from Kevin. This is the poster for the Kickstarter campaign. Originally I wanted Dave Sim and Kevin Eastman to just mail me their drawings, and I could pop them in, but Dave insisted I send the original and we should do it right. So when Kevin got it he went nuts on the thing! so much more ink on this than the original that it bumped to a higher fed ex ship rate!
The original print without TMNT and CEREBUS drawn in.

High Society Digital #08 - Out Now!

High Society Digital #08 (Cerebus #33, December 1981)
Available from Cerebus Downloads
Out Now! Only 99¢

"It's that classic love triangle we've all seen SO often in literature -- a three-foot-tall barbarian aardvark, a manipulative woman heading up her own revolutionary political movement and a six-foot Bug in a black leotard and flowing white cape -- that it practically needs its own Dewy Decimal number at the library! Sure it's a cliche now, but back then it was considered 'new' and 'different'. I'm Dave Sim, co-creator of comics' only 6,000 page graphic novel and I really do write all this stuff myself."

People everywhere agree that HIGH SOCIETY is Award-Winning (Eisner; Harvey; Shuster, Ignatz, Wizard) graphic novelist Dave Sim's greatest and most hilarious work. It regularly gets a 5-star rating on lists of the Greatest Graphic Novels of All Time. In addition to the 20 pages of art and story, you also get everything that was in the original comic book -- Deni's Note from the Publisher, the original ads, the original letters pages, the original back cover and inside back cover.

BONUS! Original documents from the time period from Dave Sim's Cerebus Archive as well as pages from Dave Sim's original Notebooks (where he plotted and designed each issue) accompanied by Sim's own annotations.

Twitter Talk #4