Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Cerebus vs Scott McCloud's Zot!

Cerebus / Zot! (unfinished, 1991)
Art by Dave Sim & Scott McCloud
(from Cerebus #154, January 1992)
Scott McCloud's Zot!, published by Eclipse Comics between 1984 until 1990, was a lighthearted alternative to the darker and more violent comics that dominated the industry during that time. There were a total of 36 issues, with the first ten in color and the remainder in black and white. McCloud credited Astro Boy creator Osamu Tezuka as a major influence on the book, making it one of the first manga-inspired American comic books.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Cerebus: In My Life - Nate Taylor

Nate Taylor is an indy book author/illustrator from Pittsburgh, USA


A MOMENT OF CEREBUS:
How did you discover Cerebus and how long did you read it for?

NATE TAYLOR:
I first heard of Cerebus when I was around 6 years old, in Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics. When the latter book resurfaced last year, my interest in Cerebus was re-ignited. I was visiting a comics shop and asked the owner if he had any Cerebus - he retrieved a large sheaf of issues, consisting of part of Minds and most of Rick's Story. Shortly afterwards I bought most of the phonebooks, which I'm currently reading. I'm really into Women! The book, that is.

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

I love the way Dave's flowing, linear characters exist inside the tightly-rendered world that Gerhard creates. I've recently borrowed the technique of using an ink brush on characters and doing the backgrounds with lots of little lines in pen; it helps the viewer focus on the story's key players! Dave's ideas are also inspiring. The way he fearlessly lifts icons from pop culture and history has helped me loosen up a lot in my own storytelling.
Cerebus #227 (February 1998)
Art by Dave Sim & Gerhard
What is your favorite scene or sequence from Cerebus?

There's a scene in Rick's Story, issue #227, where Cerebus is drinking; the liquor is swirling around his body and spilling into a black abyss as he contemplates ultimate damnation. The lettering on this page is just beautiful, jumping between voices and giving the audience a crystal-clear image of what's going on in the aardvark's head. It's an amazing scene.

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

After finishing Melmoth (my favorite so far), I passed it off to my brother. He got through the volume in a half-hour. These are great stories; regardless of your point of entry, the art and writing pulls you in. And by virtue of the storyline's sheer length, we REALLY get to bond with the characters. Cerebus is a monumental work, and an awesome example of comics' true potential.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

High Society Audio/Digital Experience

Cerebus: High Society Audio/Digital Experience
Art/Audio by Dave Sim
IDW, $29.99
On Sale: 27 May 2014

The majesty of Cerebus' High Society goings-on come to life in this special presentation of Dave Sim's groundbreaking work. Remastered, animated, and with characters voiced by Sim, this is a must-have for any serious Cerebus fan... and the easiest way for new fans to experience this piece of comics history.

Gerhard's Memories Of Home

"...a commission for Frank of his father's old house in Greece."

"I did a nice little commission for Adam of his house. It's going to be a gift for his wife, so don't tell anyone."


"A musical cabin by the water."


Clay's Cabin


"A thank you gift."


P&T's House

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Weekly Update #17: 'Cerebus' & 'High Society' Reprinting

Previously on 'A Moment Of Cerebus':
Dave Sim, working with George Peter Gatsis, has remastered the first two collected volumes of Cerebus to restore details and quality in the artwork lost over the thirty years since they were originally published (as detailed here and here). After Cerebus' original printer Preney Print closed its doors, Dave Sim moved his printing to Lebonfon in 2007 as at that time they were still capable of working with photographic negatives and making printing plates as Preney had done. And then Lebonfon switched to digital scanning and printing - a technology which struggles to faithfully reproduce Cerebus' tone without creating moire patterns (as detailed in Crisis On Infinite Pixels). Dave Sim continues to work with Lebonfon to ensure the print-quality of the new Cerebus and High Society editions (as detailed in Collections Stalled). Now read on...
Cerebus Vol 1 & Cerebus Vol 2: High Society
Cover art by Dave Sim & Gerhard
DAVE SIM: 
Okay, well, I've been here reading all of the comments on the last WEEKLY UPDATE and the MID-WEEK UPDATE. Which has taken about an hour (and answering them has taken another hour).  Let me try to cover some of the broad strokes:

1) Getting Wilf involved. My own view is that engaging legal counsel just means that whatever is going to happen just became 5-figures-more expensive for the folks in question.  And this would be a REALLY complicated legal case. Picture Sean Michael Robinson and George Gatsis briefing Wilf on the foundational questions of the reproduction involved.  And both disagreeing with each other.  Wilf would have to figure out what the "narrative" was -- how a judge and/or jury would read it -- and then find the shortest way to explain it.  It would be a lunatic number of billable hours for the phone chats just to that point.  Then the billable hours while he actually explains all this in a court of law.  Then the lawyer he was facing going over the same hair-splitting.  5 figures would be a conservative estimate. I would say "mid- 6 figures", not including travel expenses.  

So there's no sense, to me, in going that route. Or asking for legal advice, period.  Unless I was asking the future judge and getting a definitive answer on the merits, all I'd really be getting would be "double down on Red 35" -- that is, a gut instinct call on a complete gamble.  I'm not in the situation of gambling on 6-figure amounts and I assume Lebonfon isn't either.

2) I'm in the unfortunate situation of being both bystander and arbiter in this situation.  I don't know if Sean Michael Robinson is right or George Gatsis is right.  And, in a sense, I really need to decide. My best suggestion would be that Sean and George continue to discuss it and that, possibly, Sean should get a look at some of the digital files in question.  I do tend to agree: "Everything looks good on television".  And that a digital file that looks bad "on TV" CAN BE exactly what the printing press is looking for.  Sandeep did the grayscale to bitmap conversion on glamourpuss and it's the best reproduction of my work I've ever seen.  But, that's a different situation (possibly) because that was pure artwork-to-digital whereas what George has been doing is restoration. So as to whether that's the case here, the odds seem to me to be better of Sean and George coming to a definitive answer on that between them.  I'm way out of my area of expertise.

3)  I can definitely AFFORD, financially, a new fax machine. I bought mine at the same time Sandeep bought his and it was only $45 or $50 as I recall. So thanks to those who want to buy me one, but IF I decide to get one I'll know exactly what I'm looking for (e.g. colour copying I need for various things these days, space restrictions etc). What I've been doing since it stopped receiving faxes (and its quite choosy about which fax numbers I can fax out to, and changes its mind on that quite regularly: some days I can fax Patrick and some days I can't) I'm assessing it on the merits:

Can I afford one in terms of the amount of time I spend running upstairs to see if a fax has come in?

It's been an unexpected benefit: I hadn't realized how much time I spent doing that.  Right now, is there any reason that I should be hearing from people by fax?  I'm writing and drawing THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND and that's really ALL I should be doing for the next three or four years (Which reminds me: Tim! You need to change the dates on STRANGE DEATH on the home page -- 2017 or 2018 at the EARLIEST and probably later -- I'm working on page 18 of issue 4).  That's what I'm doing for a living and then other things to bring money in.

These Updates are really all that I can justify right now when it comes to CEREBUS. Basically dropping by the "lab".  "Come up with anything yet? No?"  Okay, back to STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND.

4) I think I'm safe in saying that there is no QUICK FIX to the CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY situation. We're all waiting to hear from Monsieur Auberge from LEBONFON or someone authorized to speak for him here in this stakeholders' forum.  Depending on what he -- or his agent -- says, then we can move on to the next part of the discussion.  It could take the rest of 2014 and possibly into 2015.  Complicated discussions are like that. I've got two or three different directions I CAN go, based on what happens next. And then -- if experience is any teacher -- two or three different directions once whatever has happened next has happened.

5)  My best advice for CEREBUS fans who want to help is -- if you are missing copies of the trades PAST CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY or if you've got a "read-to-pieces" copy you've been meaning to replace, ask your Local Comic Shop to order it for you.  This will primarily benefit Diamond, but then they are arguably the biggest stakeholder in this situation so anything that helps to bring in some CEREBUS money to them is all to the good. Likewise buying a used copy on Amazon or ebay.  My 21st century sense is that anywhere your book sells counts in your favour.  That even extending to illegal downloads. It's our present 21st century reality so I assume it's there for a good reason, or good reasons, whatever those may be.

6) Prestige editions of the books.  Not going to happen in the foreseeable future.  The more formats you have the books in, the more problems you have getting them into print and keeping them in print.  The more you confuse your customers.  "Oh, a prestige version of READS -- now I can sell all my trades and just buy the prestige versions".  "Oh, I'm going to buy the IDW versions".  It's always worth repeating: 6,000 pages is unprecedented.  A solution that works for 1,200 pages isn't going to work for 6,000 pages.

Some specific replies:

Anonymous: on the auction of CEREBUS original artwork.  That's low on the list for me personally. I'm pretty intent on preserving the CEREBUS ARCHIVE including as much of the artwork as possible.  Selling the artwork works against that plan. You would see the glamourpuss artwork on sale before you would see CEREBUS pages.

Paul Slade.  Hi, Paul.  I don't want to "overdo" the relationship with IDW and I think they recognize that they need to be cautious until they see what sort of market they have for CEREBUS material.  The HIGH SOCIETY AUDIO DIGITAL package will be the first test of that.  It wouldn't make sense for them to commit to a half-dozen CEREBUS projects until they see what (if anything) those projects are likely to do.  I think they've opted for giving me optimum STRANGE DEATH creation time over, say, getting me to write the commentary for the CEREBUS COVERS books.  Which would be my preference as well.

Keith -- "accept the flaws and move forward".  Thanks for your input.  There is a real case to be made that most of the audience just wants to read the books and don't much care about the reproduction.  I do want to make sure everyone knows that I'm not trying to "put one over on them" by "foisting" substandard printing on them.  It's definitely a long process to find out where the "sweet spot" is.

Anonymous - printing in China.  IDW has volunteered to put me in touch with their printer in South Korea.  If possible, I'd like to keep printing CEREBUS in Canada since it's always been printed in Canada.  If it takes some time to figure out how to do that, I don't want to make the decision to go offshore just because I was impatient.

Damian T:  "Can Dave afford to live without revenue from these two books?"  Two years ago, I would have said "no" but -- so far -- the answer has been "yes".  It's been very liberating to know that it's not a matter of "Without CEREBUS, I'm NOTHING!"

Anonymous:  1100 head sketches is a LOT of head sketches, even if they're really quick and bad.  And it would require either me flying up to Val d'Or and doing 1100 head sketches on the unbound covers or having 1100 covers shipped down here.  Since Kickstarter, I've been pretty determined not to turn my home and offices into a loading dock again.

Dave Kopperman - "Vendors don't want your business".  I definitely have to take that into account as a distinct possibility.  It's one of the reasons that I solicited retailer feedback.  If no retailer wants to provide feedback, then that makes the process somewhat easier: a)  the CEREBUS fans and readers and collectors and b) Diamond and Lebonfon will help me decide the appropriate way forward.

Jeff Seiler - re: "ordering in quantities that reflect what customers want".  Yes, definitely.  The question is "Does CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY being off the market this long mean that there is no further demand, that we have entered the 'World Without Cerebus' context and whatever that entails in the long term?"  We aren't going to know that for a while, unfortunately.

The Kickstarter campaign I talked about last time - saying I would know in the next two weeks or so -- is definitely "no go" at this point which I'm very happy about because there are still about a dozen things I want to have figured out before even attempting another Kickstarter campaign.

Thanks to everyone for participating here.

We'll see what the next week brings!


Originally serialised within the pages of the self-published Glamourpuss #1-26 (April 2008 to July 2012), The Strange Death Of Alex Raymond is an as yet uncompleted work-in-progress in which Dave Sim investigates the history of photorealism in comics and specifically focuses on the work of comic-strip artist Alex Raymond and the circumstances of his death on 6 September 1956 at the wheel of fellow artist Stan Drake's Corvette at the age of 46.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Cerebus: In My Life - Chris Woerner

Christopher Woerner is from Lincoln, Nebraska and has served in the United States Army for seven years. He is also the author of Life & Polonia and Double
The Ages Of Cerebus Portfolio (Epic Illustrated #32, October 1985)
Art by Dave Sim & Gerhard

A MOMENT OF CEREBUS:
How did you discover Cerebus and how long did you read it for?

CHRIS WOERNER:
I discovered Cerebus in the pages of Epic Illustrated. My interest in the medium had rekindled my father's interest in the medium. He'd noticed I was gravitating towards Spider-Man comics, pulled Marvel Tales #137 off the grocery store rack and told me it was the first Spidey comic ever. [You can imagine how this messed with me. "Who's that guy with the glasses?" But Marvel Tales became a regular purchase, the only comic I've ever had a subscription to, and I may have been twenty years late, but *MY* Spider-Man is by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.] Dad looked for comics that weren't about kids for his own interests. In addition to Epic, he picked up Denny O'Neill's Daredevil which led him to Frank Miller's Daredevil: Born Again which led him to Dark Knight which led him to Watchmen, Elektra and everything DC put out which was "for mature readers." He bought Sandman #1 off the rack, enjoyed the hell out of it, instructed me not to file the "Doll's House" storyline during my 'organizing comics' days until the story was finished so he could read it properly, and gave up on the title shortly thereafter because it was "too good" for him to follow. Less than a year later, I was organizing comics, bored for something new to read, ran into the issues of Sandman and thought 'hey, didn't Dad like these?

Long story short, within a few months I was a devoted Sandman fan, picking up the series on my own, and I have since made sure he has a complete set of the TPBs. Where was I going with this? Oh, right. Epic Illustrated. I read the parts of Epic that were interesting to me. John Byrne's Last Galactus Story was kinda weird, but I knew who Galactus and Nova were. Rick Veitch's stories were always interesting. The stories with naked ladies were stupid because who cares about naked ladies? But the Cerebus stories were interesting and memorable.

A few years later, my father was dating a woman whose son was my age, and a major fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On a trip to the comic book store (a weekly father-son experience I'll always treasure) Dad bought him the Turtles collections, and somehow I recognized the little grey bastard on one of the covers. I was never a TMNT fan, but the comics were a lot better than I was expecting, and of course, there was Cerebus.
The Ages Of Cerebus Portfolio (Epic Illustrated #32, October 1985)
Art by Dave Sim & Gerhard
 
In my teenage years, I had little connection with any goings-on in the comic-book field. But somehow Dave Sim and Cerebus were appearing higher and higher on my radar. Then Marvel exploded with their new #1s by McFarlane, Liefeld and Lee. I was given a free copy of Spider-Man #1, ruined its value by tearing the plastic bag so I could read it and, although I've never liked McFarlane's art, I thought the story was surprisingly serviceable. Todd was the first to admit he's not a writer, but as far as making interesting characters doing interesting things, it worked. Years later, I read the Torment collection and had the same basic reaction. It's an interesting take on Spider-Man. Sure, it ruins "Kraven's Last Hunt" (which was an awesome story - also purchased by my Dad without any effort from me) but it's a Spider-Man comic. Be serious.

So then Image formed. I liked Mark Silvestri's art, I liked the way Jim Lee drew girls, and even though I loved [and still love] superheroes, the only appeal Image had for me was it's basic commitments to creators rights, which I had just been learning about. It was in the air. Around the same time, David Letterman left his show on NBC and suddenly pop culture was bantering around words like "intellectual property". At a Chicaco Comicon [back when it was still called the Chicago Comicon] I saw the first couple issues of Spawn for sale and decided, 'why not? I liked that first issue of Spider-Man, right?' So I read the first issues of Spawn, liked them, and started reorienting my thinking about the concept of creator's rights. Todd isn't doing Spider-Man, he's doing his own character, that he created, that he can decide everything he wants, and can lay out the story in ways that work for his style of drawing [and coloring; Steve Oliff is the one who made computer coloring work, and although it meant suffering through long periods where colored comics looked like a plate of hurl, we've finally made it past the dark ages and the coloring on books like Fables or ABC is absolutely gorgeous, worthy of the art it adorns.]

So there I am, a happy Spawn reader, and Todd announces the series of guest-written issues. I know who Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Frank Miller are, but Dave Sim? Todd helpfully provides an ad for Cerebus just to give us a chance, so we won't drop the series when the little grey bastard shows up.

At this point in my life, I didn't have a weekly comic book store to attend, but when I did get to the store, I noticed these thick books which showed Cerebus, some matching the cover of High Society in the ad. A 500-page comic book? Is that legal? As a kid, there was a point where I wanted to deface my copies of Marvel Tales and staple them together so they would make one big Spider-Man book, but really? Can you actually make a comic book like that?

Have I mentioned that, again, thanks to my father's influence, I had recently become a fan of the Marx Brothers? I had decided that a 500 page comic *MUST* be its own reason for existing, I'd taken the plunge, I'd kinda enjoyed the story, and once I finally realized who Lord Julius really was, I was in fanboy heaven. I started picking up the regular series, roughly at the beginning of "Women", which included the Sandman Roach parody. I gradually filled in the books I was missing and continued following the on-going series. The letters page was particularly helpful, because I'd never read a page like "Aardvark Comment", especially when Dave started dishing about goings-on in the comic book field. My first experience at my first Chicagocon was Chris Clarement saying he was leaving X-Men, and Dave is talking about Claremont [Hssssssss!] being forced out, and confirming my impressions of what crap the X-titles turned into after he left? This creators' rights stuff must be really meaningful.

So, to put it bluntly, I became a fan. Next question.
The Ages Of Cerebus Portfolio (Epic Illustrated #32, October 1985)
Art by Dave Sim & Gerhard
 
How has your own creativity / comics reading been influenced by Cerebus?


My creativity has been influenced in the sense that I have similar interests to Dave. I love looking at the long-term nature of things and telling stories that fit. I realized early on that my novel Life in Polonia was basically trying to write Cerebus in prose, in a month's time - it was part of the NANOWRIMO challenge - and without editorializing or dwelling on particular periods. The main character transforms the (fictional) society he lives in, and he's closer to death every day.

Dave has also influenced my creativity with his 'just do it' arguments. I can't draw worth a damn. My handwriting is so bad that I have trouble reading it. But I became a writer because I want to write comics, and it finally hit me that I should just draw/letter what I write, and if I ever collaborate with an artist in the future, I can give him finished pages and say 'do a better job with these than I did.' As a result, I have a couple thousand finished pages, and several completed books featuring my superheroes the way I think superheroes should be handled. Most likely they'll be seen by very few people until my corpse is found and the causes of my death are investigated, but dammit, I have finished comics I'm proud of. They're just not drawn or lettered very well is all.

And self-publishing. I can't count the number of people who ask who published me and when I answer "I did," flinch and react "No, I mean who's your publisher?" Me. I made these books, I contacted and paid the printer, and now I have finished books for sale. What part of this don't you get? My storage unit has more examples of failed attempts at self-publishing from my life. Dave opened the curtains wide as far as I'm concerned. I still have people complimenting me on my comic book depiction of how to run an Arms Room.

Otherwise, as a creator, I'd say it's mostly been in lettering. I am pretty good at laying out a page and trying some formalist experiments, but it doesn't work if the 'artist' knows where the word balloons are going to be placed and how big they're going to be. That's how I got started drawing. I came up with an idea for a superhero story, and halfway through, I decided to lay it out. The story will never be finished (it was kinda stupid anyway) but focused my attention on 'writing the story' and once I'd done that, 'screw it, just draw it as best you can.' The stories started coming easier and working better because I had finished comics to rely on. There isn't an unbroken record of creation, but you can see some of my efforts here and here on the internet.

Do you have a favourite scene or sequence from Cerebus?

Don't have a favorite scene. "Junior here can have everything on this side of the viaduct" is as good as Cerebus pulling out a knife to kill Shep-shep. The Real Cirin telling us "Women read minds" is as good as Dave's forceful telling Cerebus to shut for once in his life. We can have a fun argument about which scene is better, but I have no favorite Cerebus scene.

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

Yes, but I won't say why. In my opinion, the reasons to read Cerebus contradict each other, unless you're the sort of person who is blown away by a 500-page comic book, which, in the 21st century, you probably aren't. The reason I'd recommend Cerebus will differ from person-to-person. I gave my Dad copies of "The First Half" and I think he picked the reading order because of which was easier. He later emailed me that Melmoth, Jaka's Story and Church & State were masterpieces that would last as long as comics. He's never said much about High Society and his comments about the first book are limited to 'wow, Dave Sim really improved' and a few jokes about Bran Mac Muffin, who also cleaned himself up in later appearances. If you want 'guy' jokes, you have Guys. If you want Biblical commentary, there's Latter Days. If you want the Marx Brothers, there's High Society. Basically, the series is "too good" for me to recommend it.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Cerebus Crystal Statute Mystery

ED WEST:
(by email, 31 January 2014)
I was wondering if you could tell me something about a small glass, or crystal, figurine of Cerebus on a wood base. It is in a white box with the word Cerebus on white strips of paper that are pasted on. On the top is the following: Cerebus Series F NO= 2 of 50. Inside is a label that reads: Venessa - Crystal Creations and a phone number: 0582 580452. An internet search turned up nothing. I spoke with Dave Sim who did not remember it. If memory serves, Forbidden Planet in New York had this one in the 1990s. Any thoughts about its value?

MARGARET LISS (aka CEREBUS FANGIRL):
(by email, 31 January 2014) 
This is the second such figurine to come up. The first one I heard about popped up on the internets a while back - 10 years? - and I managed to get some pictures. I thought it was Brian "Cerebus Aartblog" who owned it, but I didn't find it on his superb Cerebus original art and goodies website. The series F is interesting - as the pictures I have are of series A but show 1 of 50. The value is hard to say as this one is pretty rare and no confirmation from Dave as to it being authorized or not. At least a couple hundred dollars if not more. Feel free to use the photos on your blog Tim. The high visibility of it perhaps might get some more info from other Cerebus fans out there.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The Caretaker


The Caretaker (1998)
by Michael Cohen & Dave Sim
MICHAEL COHEN:
I'd been an avid reader of Cerebus since issue #14 came out, and Dave's advocacy of self-publishing put the idea in my head to give it a try. When co-creator Mark Sherman and I received our shipment of Strange Attractors #1 in 1993, we sent Dave a copy and a thank-you note, not really expecting an answer. We certainly didn't expect to hear him promise that if we stick it out for four issues, he'd run a preview in Cerebus. That made us all the more determined to stick out the tough slog of getting distribution and readership, and Dave came through, with our 8-page preview appearing in Cerebus #183.

What followed was an action-packed five of years of publishing and promotion, following Dave's advice about getting out there to all the trade shows and to make pals with as many retailers as possible. Dave was kind enough to write an intro for our first Strange Attractors trade paperback Chaos Jitterbug. I had tables at the Manchester, Toronto, and Montreal stops on the Spirits of Independence Tour. Jimmy Gownley and I did an interview with Dave for CBG #1267. Meanwhile, there were lots of letters of support from Dave, and even a surprise phone call, which was one of the highlights of that whole self-publishing period.

I took on a more active role in promoting our comic and other self-published books I liked. I started the anthology title Mythography, which featured fantasy stories by my favorite indy creators. I helped put together G.A.S.P (Giant Anthology of Self -Publishers), which was distributed free to comic shops and featured short previews of a number of indy comics. I decided to follow up G.A.S.P. with B.L.I.P. (Book of Little Independent Publishers) again distributed free to retailers from Diamond. I thought that it couldn't hurt to ask Dave if he'd be interested in submitting a little story.

What I didn’t expect was Dave's offer to do a jam story. I was more than a little intimidated, but couldn't pass up an opportunity like that. I was supposed to start it off, so I settled on doing the first panel in the kind of SF/Fantasy style I was familiar with. I faxed off my panel, and was pretty thrilled to get Dave's follow-up panel, drawn in a nifty Barry Windsor-Smith style. I followed up with panel 3, thinking that we had the beginning of a nice little adventure story. When I got the 4th panel from Dave I realized that he was going to take this into some strange territory, and I was going to be in for a wild ride. Reading the two page story, it's easy to see me trying to bring the story back to a more traditional narrative, and Dave sabotaging it at every turn, letting his imagination go wild, and finally bringing it to a resolution with a 5 panel spread. That might have been cheating, but it did bring the story to a tidy 2 page conclusion.

So that's my collaboration with Dave Sim story. As far as I know, The Caretaker (as it was called) has not seen print since it came out in 1998, nor is there any mention of it on the web. Hope you enjoy it.


In 1993 Michael Cohen and Mark Sherman began self-publishing Strange Attractors, which ran for seventeen issues during the 1990s. You can read Strange Attractors for free online at Web Comics Nation.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Mid-Week Update #16 (b): 'Cerebus' & 'High Society' Reprinting

Previously on 'A Moment Of Cerebus':
Dave Sim, working with George Peter Gatsis, has remastered the first two collected volumes of Cerebus to restore details and quality in the artwork lost over the thirty years since they were originally published (as detailed here and here). After Cerebus' original printer Preney Print closed its doors, Dave Sim moved his printing to Lebonfon in 2007 as at that time they were still capable of working with photographic negatives and making printing plates as Preney had done. And then Lebonfon switched to digital scanning and printing - a technology which struggles to faithfully reproduce Cerebus' tone without creating moire patterns (as detailed in Crisis On Infinite Pixels). Dave Sim continues to work with Lebonfon to ensure the print-quality of the new Cerebus and High Society editions (as detailed in Collections Stalled). Now read on...

DAVE SIM:
(by fax, 4 February 2014)

Bonjour Patrick!

Thank you for your phone message yesterday. I'm sure all the other stakeholders join with me in welcoming your most gratifying news that Imprimerie Lebonfon's president, Monsieur Auberge, will be taking a personal hand in our discussions here at A Moment of Cerebus.

With my fax machine still not receiving faxes and with my having no Internet access, M. Auberge is welcome to either send me his comments in a letter by escargot mail -- which I will post on receipt (fortunately Tim's is one of the fax numbers my machine is still able to access as is your own) -- or he can just post it here himself and I'll download it on Friday when I download -- and respond to -- all of the comments from last Friday's Update.

As I indicated earlier, structurally, I'm just going to be a week behind everyone else. Please assure M. Auberge that Tim runs a very tight ship here and that he will be welcomed with all the decorum and respect due him. It would be a rare stakeholder -- fan, reader, collector or comic store owner -- present here who have not purchased a comic book printed by his company at some time in the last ten years.

Also please extend my personal felicitations. Although Imprimerie Lebonfon is not the giant engine of the Canadian and International economies as are, par example, Bombardier, Aldo Shoes, Heroux-Devtek (which built NASA's lunar modules' landing gear), Cirque du Soleil, Lassonde, (the aptly named) Power Corp. Quebecor, Delardlns and Banque Nationale, METRO, Couche-Tard... his company has been of infinitely greater importance in the long and -- as he knows better than most -- often troubled history of comics self-publishing and the small press.

Merci, Patrick!

Toujours,

Dave

Aardvarks In Space

Cerebus #165 (December 1992)
by Dave Sim

Bootlegging The Bootleggers

Photo © Max Southall - Cerebus TV

RAY CORNWALL:
(from the comments to Weekly Update #15, 24 January 2014)
...Cerebus has been bootlegged digitally for a very long time. According to the Pirate Bay tracker, there's at least 25 people either downloading or sharing the entire run right now, as we speak (14 seeds, 11 downloaders).

I own a copy of these scans. I also own every issue of Cerebus (either originals or Bi-Weekly reprints) and every phone book, and I participated in the Kickstarter, and I bought the Cerebus digital phone book. And I bought every issue of Glamourpuss. And I'll buy Strange Death, too. So while I own the scans, I at least know I paid up when the opportunity was available.

You don't get a dime on those scans. While you didn't do the scanning, you and Gerhard did the hard part- writing, drawing, lettering, etc. Why not get paid for it?

I've read all the scans- when I did my recent Cerebus re-read, rather than pulling everything out, I loaded everything onto my iPad for convenience. The scans are REALLY good. And the letters page, backmatter, and covers are all there. They're not perfect, and not as good as your hi-res scans, but they're certainly high enough quality for a top-of-the-line iPad. Can't you sell them, through Cerebus Downloads, or maybe even Comixology? Heck, you could add a page of notes, not as much as you put into High Society, but a page or so nonetheless, put out a few issues a week, and get some revenue out of your work. And whatever print product that's available would still be available, and a revenue stream to pay for the continual restoration of the overall Cerebus work would be there.

I might be nuts- this might be a bad idea. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I work for Comixology or Diamond or whatever. But at worst, I wanted to pitch the idea to you. I'd be happy to send you a USB drive of the scans if you don't have them...


DAVE SIM:
(from Weekly Update #16, 31 January 2014)
...Basically, I have NO problem with "bootlegging the bootleggers" -- ripping their ripped files on all 16 trades and posting them to CerebusDownloads.com. I just don't know how to do it myself and I don't know if George has time to do it right now or in the foreseeable future. What I usually do with George is to change the password on the Paypal account at CerebusDownloads.com temporarily and let him add files and Paypal buttons. He lets me know when he's done and I change the password again so I'm the only one who has it. All I have to do is intentionally forget all the other passwords and remember the new one!

If someone wants to volunteer to do it in their spare time, you could contact George at tbdeinc [at] gmail [dot] com and ask him about if that's okay. I'm a complete Luddite so I never know when I'm suggesting something that will turn technically adept children grey-headed. Or George might want to do it himself, I really don't like to arbitrate these things because I know absolutely nothing about it...


GEORGE PETER GATSIS:
(by email, 4 February 2014)
Tim, can you put up a notice on AMOC for anyone to contact me with any bootleg scans of Cerebus Comics... We'll flood the internet with unofficial official copies of Cerebus for everyone!

UPDATE:
I have received a full collection and will be packaging it up within the next 2 weeks and make it available on CerebusDownloads.com. Either it's free or for sale and at what price point... that is up to Dave Sim.

So Dave, what price point -- IF ANY -- should the product(s) be?

George Peter Gatsis
The Black Diamond Effect Inc.
2200 Gerrard Street East,
Toronto, Ontario, M4E 2C7
T: 416-440-4031
F: 206-309-0055
E: tbdeinc [at] gmail [dot] com
www.tbdeinc.com

Monday, February 3, 2014

Cerebus: In My Life - Joseph Barjack

Joseph Barjack formed the band Methadone Kitty in 2001 with his friend Greg. They release all their albums independently on their own label, Neat/Beat Records.


A MOMENT OF CEREBUS:
How did you discover Cerebus and how long did you read it for?

JOSEPH BARJACK:
I discovered Cerebus back in 1994 while reading Wizard magazine when I was eleven. I saw a cover of Cerebus #138 on the page and thought how weird it looked to have a picture of a tea set and toast. For some reason the cover image stuck with me. A few years later I came across a copy of Flight at my local comic store. After that I was hooked, bought the rest of the available books at the time, and continued reading the series until the last issue.

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

The biggest thing regarding creativity was Dave Sim's stance on self-publishing. Growing up I believed (and still adhere to) the hardcore punk idea of DIY. The Cerebus Guide To Self-Publishing, while focusing on comics, has ideas that can be transferred over to other creative endeavors that we've used to release our band's music (available on Neat/Beat Records) and my books of poetry (available on Rhinologic Press). One of the best quotes that Dave Sim wrote was: "First you get good, then you get fast, then you get good and fast." After releasing six independent albums in five years on my own label, that quote became my mantra and I apply it to any creative or personal task I take on.

I don't read comics that much anymore, but I'll always give an indie comic a fair shot and I still read Cerebus.
Cerebus #66 (September 1984)
Art by Dave Sim & Gerhard

What is your favorite scene or sequence from Cerebus?

The scene in Church & State when Cerebus takes the baby from the mother nagging him to bless the child, blesses it, and throws it across the street. After which he says, "The valuable lesson is that you can get what you want and still not be very happy..."

Both a funny and spot on observation.

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

Of course. Cerebus is one of the great literary works of the last 100 years. If people can't get into it because of Dave Sim's views on religion and feminism, or the length of the story, or just out of pure laziness; then they're missing out. Not only does it challenge concepts about the medium of comics, but also the medium of literature and one's reading comprehension. It's a great story of a life and how the title character copes with his inherent miserableness, actions, and relationships. Cerebus is a huge middle finger to those who can't see beyond the pictures and the early issues. There is genius in that series, but one has to work to recognize it. When it's been recognized it's quite rewarding and insightful.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Cerebus / Frazetta Tribute

JOHN CHEN:
(from VFX Forge Blog, 28 December 2012)
Been working on a poster for Cerebus Film in tribute to the great Frank Frazetta, this is a close up test render and comp/post. I’m been brave with the colors here, pushing it a bit I think lol. Final poster will be a complete full profile shot, as seen in the screengrab.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Weekly Update #16: 'Cerebus' & 'High Society' Reprinting

Previously on 'A Moment Of Cerebus':
Dave Sim, working with George Peter Gatsis, has remastered the first two collected volumes of Cerebus to restore details and quality in the artwork lost over the thirty years since they were originally published (as detailed here and here). After Cerebus' original printer Preney Print closed its doors, Dave Sim moved his printing to Lebonfon in 2007 as at that time they were still capable of working with photographic negatives and making printing plates as Preney had done. And then Lebonfon switched to digital scanning and printing - a technology which struggles to faithfully reproduce Cerebus' tone without creating moire patterns (as detailed in Crisis On Infinite Pixels). Dave Sim continues to work with Lebonfon to ensure the print-quality of the new Cerebus and High Society editions (as detailed in Collections Stalled). Now read on...
Cerebus Vol 1 & Cerebus Vol 2: High Society
Cover art by Dave Sim & Gerhard
DAVE SIM:
(by fax, 31 January 2014)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
  1. "bootleg the bootleggers". I'M in!
  2. $500 in donations. Thank you, thank you. THANK YOU!
  3. "All Photography" reproduction is theoretical right now.
  4. Bills for CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY pretty much the price of a really nice brand new car.
  5. Changes are "inaccurate printing corrections" not "author's changes".
  6. Imprimerie Lebonfon offers to drop the price on the "brand new car" by 5%.
  7. Will my going to Val d'Or and supervising the printing personally a) take too long b) cost too much c) not really make a difference?
  8. What would YOU do in MY situation?
  9. It looks as if I need to "retrench" in advertising and Kickstarter and put THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND on hold to keep revenue coming in to pay the bills.
  10. Metaphysically, I'm going through the same thing Alex Raymond went through that I'm actually documenting right now In STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND No.4.
Thanks to all for their COMMENTS on last week's posting!

Basically, I have NO problem with "bootlegging the bootleggers" -- ripping their ripped files on all 16 trades and posting them to cerebusdownloads.com. I just don't know how to do it myself and I don't know if George has time to do it right now or in the foreseeable future. What I usually do with George is to change the password on the Paypal account at cerebusdownloads.com temporarily and let him add files and Paypal buttons. He lets me know when he's done and I change the password again so I'm the only one who has it. All I have to do is intentionally forget all the other passwords and remember the new one!

If someone wants to volunteer to do it in their spare time, you could contact George at tbdeinc [at] gmail [dot] com and ask him about if that's okay. I'm a complete Luddite so I never know when I'm suggesting something that will turn technically adept children grey-headed. Or George might want to do it himself, I really don't like to arbitrate these things because I know absolutely nothing about it.

Total donations and downloads for the last couple of months have been around $500. Many, many, MANY thanks to the donors and downloaders! Every penny counts right now -- even more than usual - since even in my wildest imagination I didn't think we'd be this close to two years with CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY being out of print. And $500 is a LOT of pennies! And now I have to start planning in case the books don't get printed for another few months. More on that in a minute.

Eddie? The photography option is really just for original pages. I THINK it would work, but the extended process of proof/printing approvals -- of scans of original pages and restored digital files and panels -- stretching out over months (as it has) needs to be solved first. The next book would be READS if continuing to print the trades seems viable and -- from George's preliminary notes -- the art isn't really NEARLY as much of a problem there. CHURCH & STATE volume one would be the next time I'd have to look seriously at what straight photography can and can't do. But thanks for reminding me. I can at least make a start by having a conversation with the camera store guy who digitally tweaked all of the transparencies (where that was the only or best version available -- #77 was like that) for the IDW CEREBUS COVERS books.

(I've been trying to keep these Updates to a reasonable "Internet generation" length but this is all turning into a giant Gordian Knot, so apologies to the TL;DR generation from Mr. TL himself! :)...)

It looks as if this long process is going to get even longer. Let me explain. I got a 'pro forma invoice'...

-- (basically Latin for 'a matter of form', USUALLY 'a mere formality' -- there are, however, 15 different dictionary definitions for 'form' one of which is a 'basis for discussion': maybe pro forma is less... abrupt... en francais than it is in English, n'est ce pas?) --

...from Lebonfon for both CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY indicating that they are adding roughly 40% to the CEREBUS bill and 60% to the HIGH SOCIETY bill -- for reprinting 8 signatures (32 page sections) from CEREBUS and 15 signatures (32 page sections) on HIGH SOCIETY.

To put that in perspective, Diamond would have to order roughly 350 EXTRA copies of the CEREBUS trade and 500 EXTRA copies of HIGH SOCIETY -- that is ON TOP of what they have already ordered (500 CEREBUS and 1100 HIGH SOCIETY -- which I considered very generous on their part last summer when they THOUGHT they would be getting their books by the end or July at the latest) just to cover the costs of reprinting signatures that weren't -- in my view and in George's view -- printed properly in the first place.

The invoice charges are marked by Lebonfon as being for 'Author's changes'.

I don't consider these 'Author's changes'. If I was saying 'Stop the presses, I want to redraw Cerebus in roughly 85 panels and rewrite his dialogue' Yes, those I would consider 'Author's changes'.

George agreed to restore CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY on condition that he and I got proofs to correct and then unbound printed copies to verify that the printing looked like the proofs we had approved.

Lebonfon agreed to this. So, it seems to me self-evident that if George's restoration work IS reflected in the proofs and ISN'T reflected in the printing -- which is the case -- then it isn‘t a matter of "Author's changes“, its a matter of "printing inconsistent with the proof stage version". Not an author's problem but a printing problem.

Had Lebonfon said -- when George indicated to them that he would require proofs AND unbound printed copies before approval -- 'Sorry, we only do one set of proofs and we don't guarantee that your printing will look like your proofs. You have to just take whatever we give you,' then George might have decided not to do the restoration in the first place.

Who could blame him?

Or, I might have said to George, "Well, we won't be able to fix everything the first time. This may take two or three printings to get everything fixed." And then George could decide if he could live with that. POSSIBLY he might have said, "In that case, don't describe this printing as FULLY RESTORED or even PARTLY FIESTORED. Don't tell anyone what I'm doing, until the book IS fully restored." Then, we could have announced it that way: as a work-in-progress and I could have saved the 'Gold Logo' signed and numbered treatment for a fully restored book, possibly years from now.

MID-WEEK UPDATE: Having read the discussion last week, the General Manager at Imprimerie Lebonfon has relayed word through Patrick that he is willing to drop the 40% increase to 35% and the 60% increase to 55%.

This is very far from what I was picturing when I posted last week's Update -- which sketched the outlines of a "first time through the mill" "sharing of the pain" between the stakeholders: I would pay 33% of the additional costs, Lebonfon would pay 33% of the additional costs and Diamond would agree to order 33% more books (that is, roughly another 117 copies of CEREBUS instead of another 350 copies and roughly 160 copies of HIGH SOCIETY instead of 500 copies). Lebonfon taking on 5% leaves me and Diamond to split 95% of additional costs.

SECOND MID-WEEK UPDATE: I have spoken to Matt Demory at Diamond about getting ACTUAL orders for the CEREBUS trade. But that's another REALLY complicated issue. Of the 500 copies I have outstanding orders for, the Purchase Orders date back at least to November of 2012. At the time I asked Diamond not to issue any more purchase orders because they would just get voided when the 30 days ran out. In November of 2012, I thought I was asking tor a "breather" of a few months.

And -- under present circumstances -- I can't really legitimately ask Diamond to issue a P.O. NOW for CEREBUS because, at the moment, the situation is still the same. I still have NO idea when it's going to printed. That depends on what the next printing looks like and how long it takes to get an acceptable printing. We've been in a holding pattern pretty much since last July.

This IS becoming a problem for Diamond because without CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY, orders on the later trades are flat-lining. As Matt said, a store that doesn't have volume 1 doesn't have much chance of selling volume 7. Which is leaving Diamond with a lot of "non-performing" inventory that "performs" less well with every week that goes by. So at the exact point that CEREBUS is not exactly the Diamond Poster Child for Skyrocketing Trade Sales, I'm being forced -- because of Lebonfon's additional charges - to ask Diamond to boost their orders from what even basic number-crunching would tell them is sensible.

Further complicating things. Lebonfon suggested that me or George or both of us should go up there tor press approval. Frankly, I don't understand that. That's why you do proofs so that you don't have to BE THERE as the books are being printed. The printer sends you a set of proofs that you approve and then the printer has a set of proofs that match the set you approved so at that point the printer takes printed sheets off the press and compares them to the proots to make sure they look the same. if they don't look the same then you adjust your ink levels and coverage until they do. If -- as happened this summer -- they send George and me the unbound copies and they DON'T match the proofs, then it's pretty easy to settle the question. Here's the proofs. Here's the printing. They don't match.

At one point I was asking Tim Lenaghan if I could get Marty Grosser to referee. Marty (one of the great unsung heroes of the direct market) has the unbelievable Iron Man streak of getting every PREVIEWS catalogue out on time and pretty much word-perfect for, like, decades (he missed, like once, but only because of the big ice storm in La Belle Provincel). He also deals with dozens and dozens of advertisers who have tens of thousands of dollars tied up in making sure that their ad looks the way it's supposed to and is reproduced properly. "Here, Marty, George and I will leave it up to you: are these accurate proofs and do you think this is acceptable printing?" It's still an option, but we opted for another approach in the interim:

George spent the entire summer finding a way to do more accurate proofs and he did find a way and Lebonfon is using it. 600 dpi instead of 300 dpi. You're also talking about George and/or me taking an extended period of time off of work and paying transportation and hotel bills if we go to Val d'Or to approve the printing as it's coming of the press.

This MIGHT be viable -- in my case rather than George's, George is in the middle of producing a movie which is not a "lots of spare time" gig to say the least -- if there was some guarantee that the printing would be better. If I'm just going to sit in Patrick's office and they're going to hand me printing that looks the same as it did last time and stick to their "the problem is the digital files" position OR they stretch the printing over the course of a week or two so that I finally have to leave... then what? How long do I have to spend in Val d'Or to supervise the printing of two 500-page books, one signature at a time?

I'd be interested in Patrick or Josee giving me an idea of how long it will take to print the two books and how long I would have to be there to supervise the printing of 30 or so different 32-page signatures. And then I can look at whether that's feasible in both best case -- everything goes smoothly and takes a day or two -- and worst case - I don't even want to speculate -- scenarios.

So, turning to YOU the participating stakeholders in this situation, the decision is definitely mine, but you're the only ones who have accepted my invitation to sit down at the table here, so, Does this seem acceptable to you? If the decision was yours, would you accept a 5% decrease in the quoted prices that effectively adds roughly 40% to what is the price of a brand new car (if you combine both bills)?

Let me add that I'm not rich and neither is Aardvark-Vanaheim. It's no easy task to keep the cash price of a brand new car intact -- anybody out there tried to do this? Show of hands? -- for eight months in a bank account waiting to pay for two jobs that never seems to move forward.

I don't mind working in Extreme Poverty Mode -- I did it from 2007 to 2011 when I was  repurchasing Gerhard's shares. But at least there, there was an end in sight: December 31, 2011. Here. it's like being in some weird story by Kafka or a self-publishing version of WAITING FOR GODOT.

(Also -- a brief tangent in addressing the stakeholders -- I had hoped to have some comic retailer feedback in addition to reactions from "end-user" customers. But I do realize that a) most store owners don't have time to "cruise the Internet" and when they do, What Dave Sim is Doing Right Now is hardly going to be at or near the top of their destinations list. So: Would it be possible for the fans / readers / collectors who ARE participating and who have reserved copies of CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY to ask their retailers for input? We don't have to identify the retailers or their stores here if they'd prefer that we don't (and please ask them if it's okay before doing so yourself) -- all that matters is that they be stakeholders: people waiting for CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY. So, basically here's a question for your retailer AND for you:

"Should Dave Sim just go ahead and authorize printing the books and live with what he is going to get and what you are going to get and what your customers are going to get? And just accept that there are going to be flaws in both of these printings of CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY and just hope there aren't too many of them and that they aren't too noticeable?"

OR

"Should Dave Sim keep going with the approvals process on the understanding that each time George or he find a flaw in the unbound printed copies, we get that signature reprinted? (and -- gut instinct ancillary question -- if 15 of 16 signatures had to be reprinted this time on HIGH SOCIETY and 8 of 17 signatures needed to be reprinted this time on CEREBUS, how many signatures do you GUESS will be needed to be reprinted next time?) And how long do you think it will take to produce a flawless version the way we are going? Too long? Just long enough?"

OR

let me guess: "I don't really care. Just send me books when they're printed. Flawless or flawed: SURPRISE me and my customers!"

In the middle case -- keep going no matter how much it costs -- I really need to plan for that financially which will involve (and already does involve) stopping work on THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND temporarily -- HOW temporarily I don't know -- and doing design, writing and drawing on a local advertising job that I HOPE can be "franchised" and provide a regular stream of revenue while I'm waiting for CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY to take up some of the slack, soliciting more donations you, as stakeholders, can either look at as financing my work on THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND or helping to pay for continuing the approvals process expenses on CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY. Since it's both, really. Even if you or your retailer has no reaction, it would be nice to get a "Wow, I have no reaction to that" rather than just, you know, silence.

In terms of "where to now?" in financing with my two biggest selling books out of commission (and returning to the direction of the original comments posted here):

It would be nice if all 16 volumes could be made available on short notice at cerebusdownloads.com but I'm not really counting on that -- even if it happened tomorrow -- providing a lot of revenue. The overlap between CEREBUS fans and CEREBUS fans who are "digitally-minded" seems pretty close to minuscule. "Margaret Liss and seven other CEREBUS fans" with the seven other fans rotating in and out of participation from project to project seems to be the "max" for any CEREBUS thing on the intemet. E-bay auctions, CEREBUS TV donations, the Blog & Mail, cerebusdownloads.com (the donations side does a lot better than the downloads side), Comixology, Diamond Digital, etc.

The only exception was the 2012 Kickstarter campaign but that seems to have been the -- one-time? -- exception to the rule. I have another Kickstarter campaign planned and I'm ready to "pull the trigger" on short notice if the financial situation continues to tighten around my neck. The decision of "go" or "no go" will be made in the next couple of weeks. It might be too soon after the last one, less than two years. I'd be doing this one with John F instead of John S because I think you need a full-time person doing order fulfilment. Financing CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY -- which keep getting postponed and postponed and postponed -- with a Kickstarter campaign where it takes months to get your pledge items... well, personally, I just can't do it. I have to KNOW everything is going to ship close to immediately after the pledge period closes. If I can't KNOW that, I don't want to do it. Reliable R Us here at Aardvark-Vanaheim. Unreliable and I don't sleep so good.

Any wonder that I said that -- in a LOT of ways -- I've found work-made-for-hire a lot easier than sell-publishing? :)

As I said to Eddie on the phone in one of our marathon discussions of the research tor THE STRANGE DEATH OF ALEX RAYMOND, this is really a perfect example of the Comic Art Metaphysics that I'm attempting to discuss and (even more difficult) depict in STRANGE DEATH. As the Metaphysical Gordian Knot of CEREBUS and HIGH SOCIETY continues to tighten around my neck I am... of course, I am!... working on the issue of STRANGE DEATH which is most concerned with the drastic reproduction issues associated with Alex Raymond's "Nightingale Brush Strokes" on RIP KIRBY. Was Alex Raymond a good custodian of his own work (he owned RIP KIRBY which was unusual for cartoonists at the time)? Well, no, not really. And, yes he was. He did the best work he knew how to do and accepted that only a percentage of it was going to show up on the newspaper page. But he also accepted that only a percentage was going to show up on the syndicate proofs. His lines were that fine that the syndicate engraver was presented with damned if you do, damned if you don't options: thicken up the lines and get all of them or reproduce most of them with 100% accuracy but lose the finest lines. In that case, it was irresponsible of Raymond (in my view) to give away as many originals as he did since the original was the only accurate version of each strip. He really needed to either do full-size negatives of each one -- at his own expense -- and keep those for a future time when they could be used to produce ACCURATE book versions of the strip OR hang onto all of the original art.

But, to be fair, he had no idea that there would ever come a time when an ACCURATE book version would be viable. I didn't have an idea myself until I came up with the phone-book sized trade a good five years in.

It's easy to find fault but, then, I'm in roughly the same situation. I didn't keep the originals, but I did keep the negatives which were 100% accurate or VERY close to it -- until the computer revolution when negatives were no longer used and everything needed to be digitized. I was pretty far-sighted about a lot of things but I'd have to have been Nostradamus to say "Ut! Better not use LT 24 for Cerebus's dot tone because someday all of that LT 24 is going to have to be converted into digital "O" and "1" form on a dot matrix and that's going to create MAJOR moire headaches!"

But, there you go. Me and Alex Raymond: "The best laid plans of mice and men..."

See you next Friday.


Originally serialised within the pages of the self-published Glamourpuss #1-26 (April 2008 to July 2012), The Strange Death Of Alex Raymond is an as yet uncompleted work-in-progress in which Dave Sim investigates the history of photorealism in comics and specifically focuses on the work of comic-strip artist Alex Raymond and the circumstances of his death on 6 September 1956 at the wheel of fellow artist Stan Drake's Corvette at the age of 46.