Welcome Dave Sim!

[CraigRJ]

Question The Third...

As you come screaming towards the end of 100 hours online, coupled with your earlier - if not antipathy towards the internet, then coolness, certainly - have your experiences online changed any of your opinions about the 'net or its denizens?

[eatless2slim]

Originally Posted by Dave Sim

Just to keep the record straight, Manichaeism for me is in the same category as Wm. Blake: non-Scriptural and consequently not relevant to the discussion.

In my view the danger is that the further you get from Scripture the more you're trafficking in Jungian archetypes (i.e. here's something Isaiah has in common with Greek mythology) and turn the quest for Truth (or Reality, if you prefer) into an intellectual exercise, LitCrit and so on.

The Chester Brown illustrations will accompany my commentaries, Big Little Book style -- although probably not on every other page.

Glad to hear that the idea to include the Chester Brown drawings with Koine Greek text has been established a bit more than what it was a couple of years back when you sent me that trial panel to show where you wanted to go with the project. I'm still very interested in reading your Gospel commentories.

I have to agree with what you say about mixing the non-Scriptural with Scriptural teachings when it comes to belief. Though I have to admit that I do get a kick out of noting when a specific Bible commentator sticks to what the Scripture is actually saying and comes up with honest explanations of what the text says, based only on the text itself and if necessary on passages from other parts of Scripture. I'm finding a lot of that in my reading of John Milton's "Christian Doctrine", but he also goes off the tracks from time to time, like in his trying to Scripturally defend Divorce. I don't use such reading to add anything to my own beliefs which I try to keep to Scripture only (though as Dave knows for me The Writings and Paul's letters are Scripture and the Koran isn't), but it is interesting and encouraging to read about people who independently through their own reading of Scripture have come to the same not widely held Scripture-based conclusions that I myself hold as True.

In reading this thread it was also good to remember our late Sunday evening of Bible reading and discussion. That's something I'm looking forward to doing again if you ever pop back over to Italy!

Billy

[CraigRJ]

Question The Fourth

Do you intend any internet promotion of Judenhass beyond the website (www.judenhass.com), or is that it? I understand not wanting to distract attention from glamourpuss at this stage, but - given it will be solicited soon in Previews, and your schedule on gp, it seems to me that maybe the website will be it?

[CraigRJ]

And finally, Question The Fifth

Any chance of the whole of Cerebus appearing on DVD any time soon? I'm back over to India next week, and I'm considering taking all the phonebooks with me to help pass the downtime when I won't be working...except...they'll need their own (big) bag...they'll be heavy...and I sure as heck am going to get some funny looks at Customs....a DVD would be rather more convenient!

[Dave Sim]

Originally Posted by eatless2slim

Glad to hear that the idea to include the Chester Brown drawings with Koine Greek text has been established a bit more than what it was a couple of years back when you sent me that trial panel to show where you wanted to go with the project. I'm still very interested in reading your Gospel commentories.

I have to agree with what you say about mixing the non-Scriptural with Scriptural teachings when it comes to belief. Though I have to admit that I do get a kick out of noting when a specific Bible commentator sticks to what the Scripture is actually saying and comes up with honest explanations of what the text says, based only on the text itself and if necessary on passages from other parts of Scripture. I'm finding a lot of that in my reading of John Milton's "Christian Doctrine", but he also goes off the tracks from time to time, like in his trying to Scripturally defend Divorce. I don't use such reading to add anything to my own beliefs which I try to keep to Scripture only (though as Dave knows for me The Writings and Paul's letters are Scripture and the Koran isn't), but it is interesting and encouraging to read about people who independently through their own reading of Scripture have come to the same not widely held Scripture-based conclusions that I myself hold as True.

In reading this thread it was also good to remember our late Sunday evening of Bible reading and discussion. That's something I'm looking forward to doing again if you ever pop back over to Italy!

Billy

Hi, Billy. Yes, it's an uphill struggle for everyone, each person making his own decision about what factors in and what doesn't. I do think the "publish or perish" axiom applies -- particularly now that the Internet makes "publishing" easier than ever. It's going to be a tough job to keep people from getting offended, but I think it's gratifying that the structure is there when and if we all decide to make use of it.

I hope I can sell a few copies in the comic-book stores. We'll have to wait and see.

I'd be happy to "pop over" to Italy if "popping" was all that was involved. It's a pretty long "pop" though!

[Dave Sim]

Originally Posted by CraigRJ

Hi Dave - just checking in on the final leg of your tour with a few questions to stop you feeling lonely!

For ease of quoting, I'll post these as separate messages....

I've read the first issue of glamourpuss, thank you so much for that, review will be up at CV soon, and the first thing that really strikes me is it's a hugely art-led project, more an essay on photo-realism, illustrated with comics trappings. Is this how you see it going for its entire duration, or is there a structure in place to switch to a narrative thread later on, or will you just follow the glamourpuss muse wherever she leads?
Best,
Craig.

Yes, I see that as how it's going to go. Having put in as much hard work as I did for thirty years on CEREBUS I'm looking forward to something that's just pure pleasure. The pleasure is in drawing the pretty girls in my best Al Williamson style so I have no problem incorporating anything as long as that remains the primary thing that I'm doing.

In fact, if anything, I can picture doing a glamourpuss on every page and just fitting the photorealism essay points in and around her.

It's very easy to lose sight of the original idea of why you chose to do something artistically. I was talking to Kitchener's artist-in-residence at City Hall about that -- that we come up with these great ideas for art that we want to do and then shift things around as we go until we're doing very little of what we originally wanted to do and a lot of "prep" we don't want to do.

Why? Artistic masochism, maybe -- but this time I'm determined to not let it happen.

[Dave Sim]

Originally Posted by CraigRJ

Question The Third...

As you come screaming towards the end of 100 hours online, coupled with your earlier - if not antipathy towards the internet, then coolness, certainly - have your experiences online changed any of your opinions about the 'net or its denizens?

I thought "In cyberspace, no one can hear you scream."
I'll have to be more careful -- John, Jake, Duane and Richard are used to it by now.

I can't say that my opinions have changed hugely, no. I'm not going to get my own laptop and get hooked up, as an example. It eats up a lot of time and I already have writing and drawing comics to do that for me!

As well it's such a diverse environment -- all those websites! all those threads! All those posts! -- that it's hard to imagine how it actually "works": what the net effects are. It's all theoretical.

I think it's probably necessary for any kind of promotion in 2008 and I think there will be a few indie creators who will be looking at what I did here over the last month and be making decisions of their own: more than 100 hours? Less than 100 hours? More websites? Fewer websites?

Also I'd imagine it would come up at a few meetings at DC, Marvel and a few of the other companies: is this a way to promote and can we promote this way? Anything they come up with is going to be pretty theoretical as well. Try it and see if it works.

My bottom line assessment will have to wait until I get my TRU Report from Diamond and see how many glamourpuss No.1 I've sold. Even then it'll be hard to see how much impact the 100 Hours had and how much is attributable to the phone campaign and the free copy in Diamond Dateline.

[Dave Sim]

Originally Posted by CraigRJ

Question The Fourth

Do you intend any internet promotion of Judenhass beyond the website (www.judenhass.com), or is that it? I understand not wanting to distract attention from glamourpuss at this stage, but - given it will be solicited soon in Previews, and your schedule on gp, it seems to me that maybe the website will be it?

Distracting attention from glamourpuss is really the least of my worries. The retailers are either tracking "up" or tracking "down" in the remaining t-minus four days. It's hard to picture that anything I can do or say today or tomorrow is going to have much effect.

No, my concern with JUDENHASS is to avoid trivializing the Holocaust and (no offence) the Internet is pretty adept at trivializing everything.

I was supposed to be gone before the URL was announced but I forgot that there are retailers who get their PREVIEWS FedExed. No one jumped the gun with glamourpuss but evidently someone did on the comics journal message boards and, at that point, Jeff and Lou had no choice but to move up the announcement.

I am hoping to keep this from turning into just another Internet circus today and tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

[Dave Sim]

Originally Posted by CraigRJ

Question The Second....

What's mostly amused me with the various bits of kerfuffle online from Marxist-feminists, is that people are kicking off over Tangent. But no-one is taking you to task over Mama Boy's, which puts the boot in to guys rather than Tangent doing the same for girls (I know, I know, a very simplistic summation, but...).

So when girls get criticised, everyone gets upset. When boys get criticised, no-one bats an eyelid.

Er...does that not sort of prove something of what you've been saying?

Well, yes, but to be fair I think it's always worth remembering that women are suffering many, many consequences as a result of the differences between men's nature and women's nature.

To use your own example, most of the guys who read "Mama's Boy" weighed the argument and the discussion points, measured themselves against them and either decided it didn't apply or in several notable instances -- long-time CEREBUS Yahoo Larry Hart comes to mind -- experienced life-changing epiphanies. Nothing remotely like that took place with "Tangent".

Women get easily offended and Being Offended comes with its own very, very severe consequences. Men tend not to get offended and Not Being Offended tends not to have any consequences.

It's one of the reasons that I never "lashed back" at Jill Thompson, Colleen Doran and all the others who were so Offended by "Tangent". There was nothing -- and is nothing -- that I could do to them that would be a patch on what they had chosen to do to themselves.

[CraigRJ]

Originally Posted by Dave Sim

Why? Artistic masochism, maybe -- but this time I'm determined to not let it happen.

You've got priors of course in sticking with your course on a book no matter what, which is why the Cerebus fanatics are precisely that, no compromise on the original vision, but with glamourpuss content-wise this will be a bit of a sea-change for many readers....is there a concern that the gorgeous art will draw a lot of people in for issue one, but for those who want a story will depart with issues two or three, moreso than the "perceived" wisdom that there's always a drop-off with #2 and #3?