Saw Neil Gaiman On Wednesday

ROB McCUE:
(via Twitter, 21 June 2013)

...I had him sign this issue of Cerebus. In it there is a really silly parody of Sandman characters. Why I had Neil sign it was that it was Neil himself who a few years back asked readers of his blog to contact the creator of Cerebus because he had spare copies of the issue and was looking to get rid of them.

So I did what was asked, I wrote some snail mail to Dave Sim out of nowhere, figured I would include some samples of my work and pick his brain about the business. He wrote stuff on this wishing me luck and plugged my work on his blog. We exchanged a few letters for a bit about various subjects. People give him a bad rap, he's really actually a good guy. So thanks to Neil I got some damn good advice from a good independent mind. Which encouraged me to dig in deeper into my creations and expand my horizons.

So in a way, it was like taking it full circle. Neil got me through a lot, with Death: The high cost of living during my high school years, Mr Punch, Sandman, Black Orchid served to expand what my idea of a visual storytelling medium could be. That little voice to tell me to dig deeper. Culminating in a few months of long form old school letter writing with Dave Sim, thanks to Neil about the business end of things and how something like Cerebus comes together. Which gave me the nerve to reach out to Kim Thompson at Fantagrafics (I always fuck up spelling that) who just passed this Wednesday morning from lung cancer.

It was through that random blog Neil chucked up that I got the greatest education I never would have discovered without reaching out. It got me involved in donating and trying to do more for the Comicbook Legal Defense Fund and expand my skill set in creating my personal works. It all comes full circle. So I had Neil sign it. Now it's a cherished heirloom that'll be in a nice frame next to my workstation.

I nervously blurted out about bits of the story and told Neil I met him on NYE at the Amanda Palmer show, saving him from an aggressive drunk. He was clearly tired, but he thanked me for that. I will always have Neil's back. He's like the older brother I wish I had. Good guy all around.

Now I'm writing that novel that's been eating at my soul for a decade. Wednesday night flipped that switch. Thanks Neil.