Lest ye forget, Dave Sim is a very funny man. Here he signs off to a reader on an order for the final CEREBUS collection:
"Thanks again for your order and I hope you enjoy The Last Day when it arrives.The book, I mean."
I'm still laughing, three days on.
I haven't read all 600 pages of this yet. It only arrived last week and my priority, when I have time, is currently these comic-type things we're peddling. But I have dipped in to check references to myself (naturally) and there's only two: what an utter swindle! But I can reassure those of you who are worried - and disappoint those of you who are hoping - that none of the correspondents' own letters are printed here, only Dave's replies.
Some of them are short, some of them are vast, and if you've ever read a letters page in CEREBUS, you'll already know that Dave is as uncompromising as he is honest and intelligent. One may not agree either with some of his conclusions or the arguments that take him there, although I am on record as agreeing with a surprising number of arguments (with a couple of substantial exceptions). I don't care, the man is always worth listening to because he gives everything such penetrative thought - and if you don't argue, you don't know where you stand yourself sometimes.
So these are the letters he wrote upon the completion of the most remarkable comic of all time, CEREBUS: all 6,000 pages of it. The topics range from Critiques Of Self-Published Works By Novices, The Comic Book Legal Defence Fund, The Elfquest/Cerebus Schism, and where he stands now on the promotion of all 16 graphic novels that make up the saga to Why I Quite Drinking and How I Quit Smoking, Malthusian Theory & Ebenezer Scrooge, Aesthetic Responsibility and Borderline Schizophrenia.
Correspondents include Neil Gaiman, Chester Brown, Brian Hibbs (oh dear, poor Brian - I have enormous affection for Brian of Comix Experience in San Francisco, and he does receive a roasting I find it impossible to believe he deserved), Denis Kitchen, Jeff Nicholson, Craig Lemon (né Johnson), Norman Mailer and Stephen L. Holland.
I never thought I'd ever see those last two names next to each other. And I probably wouldn't if I hadn't typed them myself.
While I'm here, CEREBUS co-creator Gerhard has just emailed me the web address of a <Actinic:Variable Name = 'LINK'/> he's constructed for advertising all the rare artwork and prints Dave and Ger are auctioning (I am so tempted...) and there are links from there to help you find out all about CEREBUS, including Margaret's excellent Fangirl website. But I'm not going to give you that link here, I'm going to make you go through Gerhard!
