Dave Sim's blogandmail #37 (October 18th, 2006)

ED THE SOCK & LIANA K SIGNING AT PARADISE COMICS IN TORONTO 3278 YONGE STREET (4 BLOCKS NORTH OF LAWRENCE) SATURDAY THE 21st

NOON TO FOUR THEY SCHEDULED IT DURING RAMADAN! AAAARGGHHH! SO I CAN'T BE THERE…WE'RE SEEING ABOUT MY SIGNING A BUNCH OF COPIES OF #1 FOR THE SIGNING THIS WEEK.

COMPLETELY BOGUS AARDVARK-VANAHEIM IN-OFF-WHITE-HOUSE-MEMO PRESIDENT'S OFFICE TO OFFICE OF V.P. CLASSIFICATION:

EYES ONLY

Ger: Here's Karl's complete description of what he is trying to do here and my part of the first page of his "Madman's Corner" jam story for Hoax. What I decided to do was to just work on it for a few hours and do all of the things that interested me (or that I thought interested me), hence the two inked figures in panel 2, lettering and, of course, the cute girl in panel 5. I figured you could do the same on the basis of what we keep talking about—that pencilling backgrounds is more interesting to you than inking them so, because this is a complete comp for Karl if that's all you want to do then you should do that and leave it to Karl to ink the backgrounds. The way I look at it, the less we do the less frequently we'll have to do another page (this is also a persuasive argument for doing really rough but complicated pencilled backgrounds that will take him forever to tighten up and ink NYUCK NYUCK NYUCK). Or you could just design "Tim's Espresso" Bar on the computer and give him quick marker sketches of what the different angles look like or you could just do tracing paper drawings that he has to transfer himself and ink. I was going to letter the sound effects of the bell over the door and the logo on the windows and the creaking of the floorboards but then, I thought, heck let Karl do it. I have other stuff to work on. This illustration board (Crescent Illustration Board it says on the back) is some of the strangest stuff I've ever worked on. It's like a super-high gloss Bristol or something. I started off trying to pencil on it with a 4H and couldn't even make a mark and then went down to a 3H and even that was no great improvement. Finally I used one of the HB pencils I got you to pick up at Wyndham last time you were there and that did the trick. I found it's actually pretty good to ink on since it has the same hot press finish as the S-172 but with the high gloss it has a kind of extra "skate" to it. You could also take the "film noir" approach (since the neighbourhood is kind of run down as I've drawn it) and black almost everything in and just leave areas lit that you want to pencil and ink. Or if you don't want to do anything, just wrap the sucker up and send it back to Karl. It'll make it that much longer until I see page two. Best, Dave


ONE WEEK FROM TODAY WE BEGIN THE GREATEST AND MOST DARING EXPERIMENT IN

THE BLOG & MAIL'S

ENTIRE FIVE-WEEK HISTORY:

THE BLOG & MAIL

(VERY POSSIBLY)LIVE!

at 1:30 pm EST from Pearson Airport

"But…" You query, excitedly beginning your sentence with a preposition, "HOW is such a thing POSSIBLE when (as every Yahoo schoolboy and Margaret knows) Dave Sim doesn't have

Internet access?"

I'm leaving from

Toronto's Pearson Airport Terminal Three

on Delta Flight 3758 (operated by Skywest Airlines) and I'll be checking in at 1:30 pm for a 4:20 pm flight so if anyone wants to be there with their laptop computer with Internet access and/or digital camera, I'll type in a Blog & Mail entry and/or get my picture taken with them, autograph anything they want autographed and they can then e-mail it/them direct to Jeff Tundis.

If not, Mimi has already agreed to bring her laptop to the Salt Lake City airport so we will (GOD WILLING) be going LIVE at 6:33 pm local time next Wednesday! All Yahoos (AND LURKERS!)are cordially invited to come to the airport and file their live reports and photos as

AARDVARK ONE

Delta Flight 3758 HITS THE TARMAC (GOD WILLING

That's just a figure of speech!) in

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah!

AVOID THE FRIDAY CROWD AT THE LIBRARY!

BECOME A PART OF COMIC-BOOK INTERNET HISTORY!

ASSIST LAPTOP-CHALLENGED DAVE SIM!


MIMI and I also ENCOURAGE ALL YAHOOS (make that BOTH Yahoos—Matt and/or Paula Dow and Jason Trimmer—unless there are any Lurkers willing to come out of the Lurker Closet) COMING TO SALT LAKE CITY FROM OUT OF TOWN TO POST LIVE PROGRESS REPORTS EN ROUTE

AND "ON THE SCENE" SO THE "ATTENDANCE-CHALLENGED" YAHOOS CAN EXPERIENCE

THE WORLD'S FIRST VIRTUAL SIGNING!

IT'LL BE JUST LIKE BEING THERE ONLY AT MATT AND JASON'S EXPENSE!

Apologies for the delayed posting of last week's Wednesday Blog & Mail. Ordinarily Ger comes in on Tuesday but last week (or "yesterday" where I am here in CMT: Central Meatspace Time) Ger still had a day's worth of work to do on the Following Cerebus issue 11 cover because of Canadian Thanksgiving so he bumped his "office day" to Wednesday. So, for however long this is going to go on, I have to bear in mind that I need to do eight days worth of Blog & Mail on any week there's going to be a Holiday Monday. Live and learn.

Sgt. Claude Flowers is making good progress on Collected Letters Vol.2 and I should have a mock up of the 230 to 250-page manuscript while you are reading this. Very much appreciated since Claude is still looking for work in the Seattle area. Talk about service above and beyond the call of duty—he even managed to track down a place in Greensboro NC (John Neal Bookseller email info@johnnealbooks.com) online that carries the Gillott 290 pen nib Neal Adams discussed in such rapturous terms in Following Cerebus and, as a result, I have two boxes of them on the way. Two boxes full of Stan Drake pen lines. I can't wait. If anyone has any freelance PAYING gigs, reviewing music and pop culture or commissioned books on same, that's what Claude was doing before his tour of duty at CentCom in Florida. Or high-level security work. He has a complete top-level security clearance if you're a munitions manufacturer or something like that in the US Pacific Northwest. Or if you need a music reviewer, pop culture junkie with a top-level security clearance (now THERE's a job description), Sgt. Flowers is your man. Send any letters of inquiry and I'll be happy to forward them.

Another letter from Scott Berwanger updating me on his progress on Anubis. Right now he's finishing up the drawing end of the last scene in issue 38 and has written the scripts up to issue 47. "Unfortunately, due to my efforts with updating the mini-comic, it looks like 2006 will be a record-low year for total number of pages completed. Hey, at least I know what my New Year's resolution is going to be!" He's got about 80 pages left to go on Book I (the total Anubis project is broken up into four books. "Book II will probably only be a little shorter than Book I. But Books III and IV are significantly shorter than the first two, with Book IV being the shortest of all." Scott will be at SPX with an inventory of Anubis mini-comics if you want to check out his progress up close and personal.

Rick Norwood of Comics Revue and Mountain Home, Tennessee respectively—and thanks to Rick for keeping me on his comp list. Still reading Little Orphan Annie every month as Rick closes in on 300 issues—sent a letter critiquing Neal Adams' science views and sent a copy of the letter to Following Cerebus. Hey, Rick, why not e-mail Neal directly at www.nealadams.com? He puts a lot of time in on the site discussing his scientific theories with all comers and I don't know if he's ever had a mathematician—or, rather, a Mathematician—to tango with. Why not check it out? Thanks again for Comics Revue.

G.S. of Waterloo Ontario sent a letter inquiring "In your writings on religion you often refer to Judgement Day. What/when is Judgement Day." I've sent him a copy of 289/290 with a note to refer to the inside front and back covers for Scriptural references and the story itself for my own best speculations. That's the "what". "When", as the Koran assures us, is known only to God. "Haply, it is nigh."

FedEx'd a signed and numbered "Lithograph No.1: Neil Gaiman" to Neil (via the Fabulous Lorraine) (Hello, Fabulous!). Yahoos with long memories will recall that this is an annual event begun in 2004 where Neil and I both sign (and Neil illustratively modifies and defaces) a pseudo-Andy Warhol lithograph I did of him. There are 50 of them, so at this rate Neil will be in his mid-90s and I'll be 98 when we're signing and auctioning the last one to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund in 2054. "Lithograph No.1: Neil Gaiman" the 2006 edition #3 out of 50. Watch the CBLDF's websites for details on the auction or raffle or however they intend to make use of it.

Nice to hear from Elizabeth Bardawill of London, Ontario who has linked the Blog & Mail to her own www.somethingfell.blogspot.com responding to "Neal Adams, Niagara Falls & Other Forces of Nature" – "The other thing I recall about Niagara Falls is being taken to Marine Land and getting "kissed" by Kandu the Killer Whale. I was in grade 8. Technically, it was my first kiss from a guy…and a pit of a letdown. It felt like 1000 lbs of cold, rough, wet baloney being slapped against my head. If I had to do it all over again, I'd skip all that "Girl meets Orca" stuff and head straight to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum.

She also included a joke her youngest son, Andrew, 15 had just told his father:

Q: Hey, Dad, what's the difference between pornography and art?

A: I dunno, what?

Q: A government grant.

ALL THIS WEEK, THE BLOG & MAIL IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Original Signed & Numbered First Printings of

JAKA'S STORY

Jaka's Story Cerebus, Jaka, Rick, Oscar, Pud &

MRS. THATCHER!

(wait for it)

(BOOOOOO!)

(Oh, You Wacky Liberals!)

THERE ARE ONLY 17SIGNED AND NUMBEREDFIRST PRINTINGS LEFT

WHAT WOULD YOU EXPECT TO PAY? SEE FRIDAY'S BLOG & MAIL FOR FEEDING FRENZY DETAILS!

(regular edition always available; Diamond item # STAR00359)

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REPLIES POSTED ON THE CEREBUS YAHOO! GROUP
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If you wish to contact Dave Sim, you can mail a letter (he does NOT receive emails) to:

Aardvark Vanaheim, Inc
P.O. Box 1674
Station C
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 4R2

Looking for a place to purchase Cerebus phonebooks? You can do so online through Win-Mill Productions -- producers of Following Cerebus. Convenient payment with PayPal:

Win-Mill Productions

Or, you can check out Mars Import:

Mars Import

Or ask your local retailer to order them for you through Diamond Comics distributors.