Dave Sim's blogandmail #273 (June 11th, 2007) - with guest host Craig Miller!

Craig Miller (Following Cerebus editor/publisher) here filling in for Dave Sim. Unlike Dave, I have been using computers extensively for the past twenty years or so and am connected to the Internet. I still haven't decided whether I love them or hate them. Both, probably, but at different times.

Yet ironically, Dave has more blogging experience than I do. This is my first time ever, and I have no idea what I'm doing except that I'm typing this up in WordPad (yes, WordPad) and e-mailing it to Jeff Tundis who will, I gather, recite some Doctor Strange-like lines, and this will appear on a "blog."

I'm trying really hard not to sound like some sort of neo-Luddite.


What I'm trying to lead up to is that Following Cerebus #10 finally left for Brenner Printing this afternoon and should be in shops around the first week of July.

Those with long memories--or copies of issue 9 handy--may do the math and realize that there will be approximately ten months between issues 9 and 10. We're into Camelot 3000 territory here (for those with even longer memories...).

No, we aren't bankrupt. No, we haven't lost interest in publishing Following Cerebus. No, Cirinist hit squads didn't wipe us out.

So why did it take so long to get out issue 10?

If you don't really care, you just want to see the new issue, then be my guest to skip the following paragraph. The only reason I'm writing the next paragraph is that we Cerebus fans have become accustomed to getting the behind-the-scenes inside scoop--the lines between Dave's personal and professional lives blurred, or at least appeared to blur within the comic. Readers of Wrapped in Plastic and Spectrum know that John Thorne and myself approach things much differently--we never so much as ran a photo of ourselves in 100+ issues of the magazines. That was by design.

But for the really-curious (overly-curious?), I'll make this one exception: my three-year-old daughter appeared briefly in FC 8. Shortly after the publication of FC 9, her mother decided she couldn't take another moment of living in Texas (an inconceivable thought to most of us Texans) and high-tailed it to northern climes a thousand miles away. No problem there, except she took my daughter with her. Apparently she thought I'd shrug it off. Bad miscalculation. The best friend of a good friend of mine is a board certified lawyer who specializes in family law. He's really, really good. Long story short: a few months and many thousands of dollars later, Jennifer is back in Texas with me, making me (and her) a happy camper. But it really shot the publishing schedule to hell. Oh, and while all the time-consuming legal battles were going on, my mom lost a battle to leukemia and died. As the Comic Book Guy would say: Worst. Year. Ever.

In retrospect, I'm surprised we got issue 10 out so quickly.


So my first blog entry comes to an end. I'll probably cringe if I re-read it later in the week. It's not really the kind of stuff I like to write. If you're of the same opinion, take heart: I promise not to do it again.

Below: a sneak preview of the feature essay in FC 10. You'll get the next page tomorrow. You've waited this long; what's another day, really?

Tomorrow I'll try to talk about what's ahead for FC 11 (yes, issue 11).

A man in a smiling bag,

Craig

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An Early Masterpiece

"The Night Before" (i.e. Cerebus 36)—the subject of this issue's cover illustration—is a milestone in the Cerebus epic. A good argument could be made that it is the finest of the early chapters, or at least the finest "dramatic" chapter (i.e. in which humor is not a dominant element). Even now, with the entire storyline complete, it stands out. It ranks alongside other dramatic high points—say, the conclusion of Jaka's Story, the conclusion of Form & Void, and the retelling of the death of Jerome Howard in Latter Days—as superior moments. If it is not the very best chapter, at the very least it deserves special recognition because Sim was just twenty-six years old when he wrote it....


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REPLIES POSTED ON THE CEREBUS YAHOO! GROUP
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If you wish to contact Craig Miller, you can mail a letter to:

Win-Mill Productions
Dept. B
P.O. Box 1283
Arlington, TX 76004

Or send an email to:

editors@spectrum-mag.com

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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:

http://spectrummagazines.bizland.com/cerebusgn.chtml

Or, you can check out Mars Import:

http://www.marsimport.com/display_series.php?ID=142

Or ask your local retailer to order them for you through Diamond Comics distributors. Here are the Diamond Star System codes:

Cerebus #1-25 $30.00 STAR00070

High Society #26-50 $30.00 STAR00071

Church and State I #52-80 $35.00 STAR00271

Church and State II #81-111 $35.00 STAR00321

Jaka's Story #114-136 $30.00 STAR00359

Melmoth #139-150 $20.00 STAR00431

Flight #151-162 $20.00 STAR00543

Women #163-174 $20.00 STAR00849

Reads #175-186 $20.00 STAR01063

Minds #187-200 $20.00 STAR01916

Guys #201-219 $25.00 STAR06972

Rick's Story #220-231 $20.00 STAR08468

Going Home I #232-250 $30.00 STAR10981

Form and Void #251-265 $30.00 STAR13500

Latter Days #266 - 288 $35.00 AUG031920

The Last Day #289 - 300 $25.00 APR042189

Collected Letters - $30 FEB052434

Collected Letters 2 - $22 MAR073054