Saturday 3 June 2017

Swords Of Cerebus Vol 5: Cerebus Dreams


PAUL SLADE:
Published between 1981 and 1984, Dave’s six Swords of Cerebus volumes were his first attempt to collect the book in a more permanent form. He gave each story included in these volumes a prose introduction, explaining where the book stood when he’d been working on that particular issue and how he was thinking of its prospects at the time. This is the last of his five introductions in Swords volume 5, and covers the book’s bonus story by Barry Windsor-Smith. Also check out the full 'Swords Of Cerebus' Introductions Index.

“Patience is the most necessary virtue of the ardent Windsor-Smith watcher,” says Dave.

Next week: How Weisshaupt escaped the gallows.

5 comments:

Jeff Seiler said...

Not to conflate, but a lot of this story parallels (in a pale way) my experiences with Dave over the past 13 or 15 or however many years.

I started out as an obsequious fanboy, writing letters to Aardvark Comment, and then became a regular personal correspondent, starting in 2004, mainly because Dave said he would answer back to any letter he received.

In 2005, and continuing through 2008, he agreed to do art for my little dog and pony show, and we started communicating more regularly.

All the while, mind you, while I was still thinking to myself, "I can't *believe* I'm getting to do this with THE Dave Sim!"

Possibly the culmination of that "collaboration" was when he agreed to answer five (really, six) questions about his then-upcoming not-yet-released "Judenhass" at the back of issue #4 of my little dog and pony show book.

And, then, over the next several years, I began to see and receive more and more examples of his generosity. For my 50th birthday, I received, out of the blue, a package of finished-pencil drawings on tracing paper.

We used to talk on the phone a lot more often, to the point where I got over the "THE Dave Sim" thing, but we kept up the correspondence (just less frequently--for a long while it had been back and forth every two weeks), but then came the wrist injury.

Has it all been peaches and cream? Heh. No. There were two separate stretches of six months with no contact. At all. Chalk that up to both of us being Tauruses--butting heads like bulls do--if you believe in that sort of stuff and nonsense.

But, still, we have persisted (to coin a phrase).

Well, neither of us is a feminist or a liberal, but you know what I mean: We stay in touch.

Dave called me just the other day about the current ebay auction and, in our first talk of the day, we hashed out what we wanted to do to try to raise the most money for Sandeep and Benjamin. And, then, I found out that we couldn't do it that way, because, as I said to Dave, "Apparently, we're both ebay morons."

His second call started with a hearty laugh. "Yeah. Morons."

So, then, we discussed the vicissitudes of ebay for a while and how best to utilize Dave Fisher's (astounding!) willingness to enter bids on my behalf. End of conversation, because a prayer time was approaching, especially important during Ramadan.

And, then, a third phone call from Dave. This time was like the old days, when we would talk at length about the topics on which we both see eye-to-eye. One of the things that still amazes me is that he still (when we have time to talk) asks me for information about things. That day, it was mostly about the arcane (Machiavellian?) workings of ebay.

I reminded him that the reason I asked him to ask Dave Fisher to bid on my behalf was because ebay still has me suspended because they say I owe them $3.85, even though I have never directly won an auction on ebay. I told Dave that I still refuse to capitulate to ebay's extortionism.

"They'll blink first," he said.

Hearty laughs all around.

So, that's just a small taste of the rich and rewarding "relationship" that I have with "THE" Dave Sim. The best part of it is that it has evolved into a pick up the phone and talk like you're talking to your brother or a regular friend.

"Yeah? What do YOU want?" :)

Nevertheless, his calls are the ones I unfailingly pick up.

Damian T. Lloyd, Esq. said...

Jeff S.: What was this "dog-and-pony show book", if it can be told?

-- Damian

Jeff Seiler said...

Damian, it was "Cerebus Readers in Crisis". Four issues, each published annually, released at S.P.A.C.E, between 2005 and 2008. The print runs varied from 200 copies to 75. The first issue was 200 copies with 50 of the meing signed and numbered by the three collaborators--Larry Hart, Dave, and me. The other three issues were all signed and numbered. I am sold out of all but the unsigned copies of #1.

Jeff Seiler said...

"them being"

Sheesh.

Steve said...


I've been active on eBay for close to 20 years now, as both a buyer and seller.

By and large it's been a very nice 'relationship'; when I was laid off 7 years ago I was partly able to keep my family afloat financially by selling all sorts of things on eBay.

It's a neat experience, selling something I've owned here in New Mexico for years to a fan in, for example, New Zealand.

But Jeff, I have to say, for me the value of both what I've purchased and what I've sold far exceeds holding out for a $3.85 "blink" from a corporation that doesn't know me from a grain of sand.

And apart from one item all the original art I own (no pages, just con sketches, the head sketches Dave was selling, that sort of thing) have been purchased via eBay.

Steve