Posted in: Comics | Tagged: cerebus, Comics, dave sim, entertainment

When Dave Sim Drew Alan Moore As The Ghost Of Marley

Published Thu, 12 Nov 2015 16:00:30 -0600

Dave Sim is running a Kickstarter for his latest Cerebus Archive selection, Number Four, reprinting original artwork pages of the 300 issue-long fantasy/satire/polemic Cerebus available to him, in publication order, along with a number of bonus prints. Such as this image, created as a commission for Tim W of the Moment of Cerebus blog, showing Alan Moore as the ghost of Marley from Dickens' A Christmas Carol, with Cerebus as the screaming spirits of Scrooge that accompany his spectral trail….

Dave Sim has also been responding to commenters on that blog ahead of the end of the Kickstarter in nine days time. So if you ever did want to chat with the creator of Cerebus online, without having to deal with faxes or sign pledges, now would be the time.

Though I'm not exactly sure how great a marketing job that is, when you get comments from Dave such as,

My concern is what is going to happen on campus when when the Feminist Theocracy approaches their 100% objective — higher education exclusively for women — and that still doesn't fix their STRUCTURAL problems. All Cartoon Collections are on campuses and campuses are about as close as you can get to Stalinist Russia without being there. That's in 2015. The last thing I want is CEREBUS — an intelligent discussion of feminism and matriarchies — "inside" when the Feminist Kristallnacht happens.

The only variable is whether CEREBUS continues uninterruptedly after I'm dead and finally surfaces into society after the Feminist Theocracy and all of its efforts to destroy CEREBUS have exhausted themselves OR if there's an Obliterated CEREBUS Age of however many decades or centuries before CEREBUS RE-surfaces. The only thing I know for certain is that I'll be long, long, long dead before either occurs.

Though he does have self awareness of this attitude.

Again, trying to stay focussed here: we are really "all about" fundraising right now. That's why I'm experimenting with posting daily in these comments sections. Something I would consider repeating with the next (God willing) Kickstarter if there's an uptick in pledges. Present model: no good purpose is served by Dave Sim's presence 1995-to-date. Obviously I don't agree, but that, too, is democracy.

And good business. If Dave Sim hurts the CEREBUS "brand" keep Dave Sim as hidden from view as possible.

[yesterday's Camp David insight: people want to give money to the 1977 to 1985 Dave Sim as directly as possible while — grudgingly — accepting that he's somewhere housed within the Evil Monster Dave Sim of post-1995. In an emotion-based Feminist Theocracy you don't argue with that. You accept it and find a way to reinforce it.

As ever, my attitude has always been Dave Sim is one of the few geniuses who have chosen to work in comic books, and every single one of those people have what I would call "issues". Some people can't get past that to appreciate the work, others prefer to concentrate on the art and ignore any opinions of the artist, if they offend. I prefer to see it as part and parcel. For people to make great art, many end up being a transgressive person, breaking out beyond accepted behavioural norms or beliefs. It's the price paid, before or after the journey. Just some acts are more transgressive than others.

To quote Douglas Adams (who was probably quoting Woody Allen who was probably etc etc…)

"We're terribly worried about Uncle Henry. He thinks he's a chicken." "Well, why don't you send him to the doctor?' 'Well, we would only we need the eggs."

Because Cerebus, from beginning to end, is one of the greatest works in the medium of comics and Dave Sim one of its greatest practitioners. And we need the eggs. In a pristine archive format.

Your mileage, as ever, may differ.

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