July 10 2009

No one (I say) no one is moving any money around on Cerebus art, it seems... at least not in public. Looking back, there's been a total of 10 pages sold on eBay this year, and none since early May.

Just in case you're paying attention to that sort of thing, that is.

On the fandom side of things, we're seeing some interesting things: "Cerebus Readers in Crisis" ... the revival of "Cerebus the Newsletter" ... and today's announcement from cerebusfangirl that an Italian translation of "Cerebus" is going to be available, starting with "Alta Società" ... and their web site even talks about la bella margareta: Il sito http://www.cerebusfangirl.com/ è una ricca fonte di contenuti su Cerebus e tutto ciò che riguarda il suo mondo, la cui consultazione è consigliata a chiunque voglia approfondire la conoscenza di questa importante serie.

I'ma wonder howza dialecta speakin offa Duke Leonardi will be translate in Italiano?

And in the works: French and Spanish.

Let's see. What else is new?

Rakov #2 is ready and on the way to me!



I spent the last week in DC, and that was the first time to be in town for the 4th of July.



If you've not been to it, I'll take this opportunity to give another big plug to the National Museum of the American Indian, which is part of the Smithsonian and located just to the east of the Air and Space Museum. It is by far one of the top museums in the world - and I like museums, in general.

July 1 2009

I have been ranting about this all day to anyone who would listen, so I might as well post it for posterity (and posterity is really the right word for this, because the idea that lots of humanity more closely resembles the hind end of a horse comes to mind).

OK, let's start at the beginning. You are a woman who is called to the police officer station because you need to make a statement in defense of a buddy of yours who is a murder suspect.

You go to the police officer station and, during the interview with the police officer, a small squirrel crawls out from your cleavage.

What do you say? What do you do?

Really. Now hang with me here.

Now you are the police officer who is interviewing a woman who needs to make a statement on behalf on a buddy of hers who is a murder suspect. As you are interviewing this woman, a small squirrel pops out from her cleavage.

What do you say? What do you do?

OK, one more. You are a CNN reporter who is has heard about the woman with the cleavage and its resident squirrel that made an unexpected appearance during an interview with a police officer who... who ... you got the picture.

In the universe where I used to live (a place where irrational things were called irrational), police officers who were interviewing women would perhaps just stop when a squirrel makes its presence known. I might even expect police officers in the place where I used to live to say WTF? (perhaps even a few times) and they might talk to this woman about the relative credibility that this interview might reflect about her and so have in defense of her buddy who is a murder suspect.

Instead, the police officer in this universe said NOTHING, and just continued the interview.

And in the universe where I used to live, people who need to make statements in defense of their buddy who is a murder suspect might even be able to think this through.

Instead, the woman in this universe said NOTHING, and just continued the interview.

And in the universe where I used to live, reporters would see this story and take a perspective, like, WTF is wrong with the world when a squirrel pops out of cleavage during an police interview related to a murder case and no one says anything.

Instead, the reporter in this universe, well, you can see it for yourself.

The Squirrel Video

Someone please tell me where I can get a ticket back to my universe. This one is just too weird.

June 18 2009

Just back from (yeah, where else) China.

This is enough of an original art item to include (given how little is going on right now! - one of the Gerhard-colored set of 30 "First Fifth" portfolios, picked up by the CerebusFanGirl!)

eBay item no. 260426796028
Seller: angelina-steven
Buyer: moewfisher
Price: $766



And, a few cool things from China.

(1) I went over to Tiananmen Square on 6/4/09, the 20th anniversary of the events of 1989. Among any number of interesting things to report, it was fascinating to glimpse what looked to be US flags flying with the China flags. In fact, they were Malaysian flags, commemorating a visit from the head of that country.





(2) On a trip to Xi'an with the students in our summer program... noontime water and music show at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda plaza... participation welcomed.



(3) Saturday June 13 was the first day that the 3rd-ever excavation of the Terra Cotta warriors archeological site was begun. We were there at 1 pm, just as it opened up to the press.



(4) Xi'an has the only fully intact city wall, and you can rent bikes (20 RMB ca $3, for 100 minutes). A great ride. Always wanted to do this and finally had the time.

May 23, 2009 Cerebus 219 p 12

eBay item no. 250358755851
Seller: coollinesart
Buy It Now: $1195



I have been remiss not to list this page. In case you don't know them, Los Bros Donnelly are sitting on a treasure trove of comic art, and have for a long time. They have exceptionally prideful prices, and tend to cater to finding the buyer for whom a given page is a grail piece so they can get their price. Just before the Age of eBay I found out they had some Cerebus stuff and tried to put something together, but as I recall I never did.

They contacted me recently with most of this stuff, as have a few other sellers in that last 6 months (it's the economy, stupid), and I will only offer what I consider to be the established market value for pages... so these conversations have not gotten terribly far.

Here are the pieces they list currently; the prices are listed as... "please enquire."

The cover of issue 30 is sweet. They've had that for a loooong time.

May 21, 2009 Cerebus 153 cover

eBay item no. 320371317421
Seller bidderbound
Buyer: none
Price: $3450 (did not meet reserve)

May 20, 2009 Cerebus 153 p 14

eBay item no 320371318499
Seller: bidderbound
Buyer: concealed
Price: $810

May 12, 2009 Odds & Ends

It's all ghosts and phantoms in the Cerebus art world right now, I guess.

So let's talk about other stuff.

Like (holy crapola) the end of the current most-excellent season of "LOST" ... I got no idea (well, I got a couple of ideas, but they're always wrong) about where this is going. It's tomorrow, and we've not heard from LostFan108 this year. Argh.

Like (wow!) that terrific "Star Trek" movie that just came out. A 21-phaser salute on that one.

Like (woah) my recent trip to Tibet... some highlights: Yak Butter...everywhere; lots and lots of praying... everywhere; lunch (twice) at the "Yak Steak House" where you can order Yak Sizzlers and Yak Burgers; high altitude illness, which seems to hit everyone differently - it made me sleepy and when I was awake I felt kinda in a stupor; and (I'm sparing you the details here) in a country of about 3.5 million, about 85% are consigned to a "Sky Burial" when they die (google or youtube this, probably not while you are snacking, however).

Like (ahhhhhh) a weekend visit to Danny Macchiarini ("Macchiarini Creative Design" an uber-cool artist at 1544 Grant Ave in San Francisco). Danny is the son of uber-uber-famous 20th C modernist Peter Macchiarini. Danny's partner in art is his daughter, Emma, who is also an awesome design artist in her own right.

"Rakov" by Peter Macchiarini (bronze, about 12" high; design ca. 1939; #2 of 9)

May 1 2009 Cerebus 200 p 13

eBay item no. 320364096981
Seller: bidderbound
Buyer: comicartboston

Price: $1225

April 24 2009 Cerebus 210 p 18

eBay item no. 320357329859
April 12, 2009
Seller: bidderbound
non-Buyer: migueltig
non-Price: $2550

migueltig... a bidding rascal... did not come through with the do-re-mi

relisted: eBay item no. 320360795615
April 22, 2009
Seller: bidderbound
Buyer: graphittid3m7q
Price: $965.55

Still a goodly amount of money for this page.

April 12 2009 Cerebus 34 p 6

We interrupt this travellog for some regularly scheduled business...

eBay item no. 400040685783
Seller: zerbutz
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $610

This is the last original art page in the sell-off of the Zerbutz collection