Dave Sim's blogandmail #129 (January 18th, 2007)

It's STEVE PETERS WEEK

Here on the Blog and Mail

DAVE SIM & STEVE PETERS

www.awakeningcomics.com

In a (sort of) dialogue


Okay, we're starting Steve Peters Week a little later in the week than I thought we were going to, so let's get right to it:

Dear Dave:


I've been putting this letter off for a while because I knew I was going to have a lot to say, and that it was going to be somewhat time-consuming to write. I keep reading in your blog how you'd rather not have so much mail to deal with, so I've been thinking about not writing anymore so you'd have one less correspondent to deal with. But your entries about your Doctor Strangeroach commission couldn't be more coincidental (more on that later)--I decided I had better write, and tell you about a number of things I've been withholding. Unfortunately, that means a lot of back story to talk about and therefore an even longer letter—sorry. I'll try and be as concise as possible. Feel free to use any of this as blog fodder.


I'll get some smaller things out of the way first. I'm glad you got some more mileage out of our panel at SPACE ["Spirituality vs. God" which I ran a transcript of a while back and which is available in audio form, as well, I believe], and that you fixed up the transcription—I made an attempt, but realized how time-consuming it was going to be and put it off. I was going to offer the panel to the Following Cerebus guys in case they wanted to run it at some point. I mentioned that when I emailed them letting them know about our 4-page jam in The Origin of Sparky, but their primary email address doesn't seem to work anymore, and when I tried again with their secondary email, I never got any response from them.

Yes, the boys have been having a rough go of it the last while. Craig's been fighting an on-going custody battle for his daughter and his mother died, suddenly, in the middle of November and John's been having on-going back trouble which limits his ability to contribute. I told Craig to take as much time as he needed before finishing up issue 10. I'm not sure if he's back to it yet: he's naturally a little sheepish about his marital and custody woes with Dave Sim but, hey, you can't turn back the clock, all you can do is keep forging ahead and do the best that you can. I told him I would call Bill Schanes at Diamond if it got to a desperate point and haven't heard back from him, myself.


Could I make a general suggestion, though? If these sorts of things happen on the Internet, I think you have to follow up with a phone call or a letter. There is this weird Internet phenomenon that if the email doesn't work you just assume that the other person has ceased to exist which is understandable if you're one of those people for whom the Internet has become a substitute for reality, but I do think that's an unhealthy state to get to. I do know that Craig and I have generally agreed that if something is on the Internet (like "Spirituality vs. God") that it's probably a bad idea for the magazine since the magazine only comes out three times a year and there's a need for new content. The Origin of Sparky would qualify as a news item, but those tend to get bumped depending on what's happening at the last moment that an issue goes to press (which is the only way to make sure the news is actual news). As was the case with Cerebus and as is the case with the Blog & Mail, there's virtually no response to Following Cerebus so all content questions tend to be guesswork. I think it creeps Craig out a little bit since he got a lot more response to Wrapped in Plastic and Spectrum but I told him it's just like an old Western: "Maybe TOO quiet." But, what are you going to do? You keep moving forward and if a horde of Apaches suddenly descend on you, you deal with that when you get there. I don't know how Craig does with answering his email, but then I don't know how—or why—anyone would answer email or have it in the first place.

You thanked Dan Parker and D.B. Little for their help in getting the transcription to you, but I think Eric Wilmoth deserves some thanks as well, because, if he hadn't videotaped the panel for me, there never would've been any record to transcribe from.

Yes! Definitely! Thank you, Eric!

I have a couple of corrections to make about the panel—not that it really matters to anyone besides me, but if the panel does get into the Archive or if Margaret posts it, I'd like to set the record straight. The paragraph that was attributed to me, that you suspected was not me, was indeed not me. There was another line that was attributed to me – when someone mentioned the "Whenever two or more of you are gathered in my name I am there" saying, it was actually someone in the audience who said, "I am SO there." I wish I had said it, but I didn't.


Also you mentioned that "[There] was a wonderful scene that was in the National Post. That the American troops in the city, I forget, I think it's Nazeera that's got the tomb of Ali, coming down the street to the mosque that is the reputed tomb of Ali, and the Shiites just coming out into the streets and forming this mob in front of the Americans. And the U.S. Commander said, `Everybody smile,' and all of the Americans smiled and went down on one knee.'" And I said that the commander said "Turn your guns down." I always wanted to add that I said that because I happened to see that news item on TV – the soldiers actually held their guns out in front of them, away from their bodies, with the muzzles facing towards the ground. It was an amazing moment that I never heard any mention of again besides at our panel. It's be nice to have that clarification in there as well (you did get to add a few comments to your own part of the dialogue).

Yes, by all means. Obviously, I can't do it because I'm not on the Internet and, as far as I know, nothing can be added to the Blog & Mail items when they're posted because of the form in which they're posted. I think it is an important addition if only to keep this from being another instance of Crazy Dave Sim making things up. It seems apparent to me that the reason these things disappear and are never discussed again is because they don't fit the Vietnam Bug-Out Template that the liberal media has been working towards all along. The victor dictates how the war is remembered and in all cases where the United States goes to war, the ultimate victor is going to be The New York Times and The New York Times only has one mode: all wars are quagmires, the military never does anything right and any leadership that authorizes a combat role needs to be replaced. Oops, there I go again…


…Best of luck to the Democrats over the next two years. You GO, Democrats! I look forward to seeing the brilliant foolproof plan you have for fixing the mess that the White House and the Pentagon have made in Iraq now that you have definitively established that it's an unqualified mess even though Crazy Dave Sim thinks that President Bush and the U.S. Forces have done an amazing job over there under very trying conditions.

I noticed that you changed "Yoowhoo" to YHWH in the dialogue, but I think in the interest of historical accuracy it would be best to change it back. I realize that you currently use the name YHWH when referring to that entity, but on the panel we were using the name "Yoowhoo" extensively (actually, exclusively) because I was asking questions referring to Latter Days.

Again, I can't do anything about it, personally. Would a footnote or additional introduction be okay? Something saying that this wasn't how I pronounced it at that time but that this is the only polite pronunciation that I can see using. I followed your lead and that being the first time I discussed my theories on YHWH publicly "Yoowhoo" was easier to enunciate than "YHWH" but I don't think there's any good purpose to be served in calling an entity by any other name than his, her or its chosen name so now I make a point of spelling it out. If I'm talking about YHWH, I call him/her/it Y.H.W.H.


Tomorrow: Much More Steve!

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REPLIES POSTED ON THE CEREBUS YAHOO! GROUP
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