Dave Sim's blogandmail #81 (December 1st, 2006)

Saturday December 1 -

Colin Longcore sent a very nice letter on his 37th birthday which I won't be printing here (although I'm sorely tempted—he just broke up with someone and I think with break-ups becoming more the norm than the exception we need to get past the idea that they are something to be ashamed of or sensitive about. And I think it's helpful for those going through a break-up to know that a lot of folks are going through it. Colin doesn't strike me as the sensitive or ashamed type, but I'm going to err on the side of caution and leave that part out of it). He also sent a couple of issues of Fan Scene ("The Fanzine about Fanzines") from 1985 issues 3 and 4. I had never even heard of this magazine which was obviously Michigan based. Colin writes:

What prompted this letter initially was that I came across this old issue of Fan Scene with Paul Curtis on the cover. In 1993, Paul was an editor at Marvel. I imagine if he stayed in with that organization, he might have had a chance to get pretty high up on the ladder by now. Or maybe he got chewed up and spit out like so much roughage. Who knows? That issue seemed in unusually good condition and when I flipped through it, I thought, "Oh dear, I ought to send this to Dave." Is that really Chester Brown? THE Chester Brown? I'll leave it to you to decide.

It is indeed. The "Namedropper" column in issue 3 mentions

TORTURED CANOE PUBS released a "Yummy Fur" compilation in February, and publisher Chester Brown notes that #7 will be out as soon as he redraws some missing (lost) pages.

I can't wait to take this to Toronto next week and show it to Chet and John and Siu. I had been making a living in comics for eight years at that point and Chet was still considered a "zine" publisher. The whole magazine is amazing from that standpoint. Jeff Nicholson's Ultra Klutz is still a digest sized zine (big cross-over coming up with Tim Corrigan's Mighty Guy). Issue #4 of "Whispers and Shadows" might include work by Erik Larsen and Tim Corrigan. Escape #6 had just been released in the UK "Paul Gravett told us". A Battlestar Galactica oriented fanzine—"Pyramids" #1 with illustrations by Lela Dowling (I'm sure she doesn't include that on her resume much these days). Photo of Matt Feazell looking about twelve years old. Here's a gem:

T. Casey Brennan continues his crusade to get smoking of tabacco [sic] out of comic books. Brennan will be mentioned and his cause in Who's Who in American Comic Books as promised by Editor Jerry Bails.

Tim Corrigan is mentioned in about every third item. List of artists contributing? Yep, there's Tim. A photo of Erik Larsen (I don't think I've ever seen him with hair before) looking about twelve. He's in "Equinox" #3 along with Colin Longcore and sixteen other guys who didn't eventually become Image partners. Gary Panter interview in Artie Romero's Cascade #24 (I've definitely never seen Gary Panter with hair before either—and a LOT of it).

This is too much fun. What's in #4?

Half page ad from Tim Corrigan's C&T Graphics (then in Rochester). 30 different publications. Serious Comics #1-10 are 25 cents each ("Postage: please include 1 stamp for each three (3) 25 cent comics ordered! Books priced over 25 cents require one stamp each). No wonder he never made a nickel in comics. A letter from Erik Larsen:

Dear Kevin

About Giff's column. It is intended for beginners, but it's just that sometimes there's not enough in there for even a beginner to learn from! More meat in this column would be nice.

Erik Larsen, Bellingham, WA

And here's the picture of Chester Brown Colin was asking about. Chet has literally twice as much hair as everyone else in both issues combined and looking about nine years old. "TORTURED CANOE's Chester Brown relays the new `Yummy Fur' book soon to be released is perhaps the `most disgusting' issue yet as some friends have said who previewed the pages for it. Brown is also doing a jam pub with cartoonist Steve Willis." Steve Willis of Morty the Dog fame. Steve always took pride in the fact that he never made a nickel from Morty the Dog. I wonder if the jam pub ever happened?

DITKOMANIA #13 published by Bill Hall is a zine dedicated to Ditko fans [sic]. It strikes home with me. Very informative, nice writing and articles from Rodney Schroeter, Don Martinec and more. There does seem to be a strong lack of contributors however. A shame. I had a problem with the articles, too (not content) for entire pages were nothing but type. Illos stuck in there related to stories would break up those seas of grey. The Brian Waters cover is nice, but awkward. Nice little zine, but basically Ditko fans only. 16 pages, digest, $1.00 ppd.

Chet's got an AD in here! Oh, this is too good. Chet will never live this down. "The Fur Collection. The first six issues of Yummy Fur under one cover. $1.50 plus 5o cents postage. Money orders in Canadian funds preferred. 48 pages, digest size, no new material, grey paper." Fortunately he repented of his self-publishing ways shortly thereafter.

Anyway, Colin concludes:

By the time you read this, I will have completed my proposal for "Ye Bookes of Cerebus" for UICA, The Urban Institute of Contemporary art here in Grand Rapids. As Jason may have told you "Ye Bookes" is also being considered for exhibition venues on the campus of the University of Michigan

Much obliged, Colin. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

And that FINALLY brings me to the end of this week's mail that I picked up on Monday the 6th of November and have finished writing about and answering on the 10th of November and which will be concluded in the Blog & Mail December 1st.

This is getting terribly, terribly confusing.

See you all tomorrow or three weeks from now depending on how you look at it.


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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.