Group think, here...
As some of you know, Dave asked me to consider creating a "collecting original art" continuing feature for
Following Cerebus, and he (and Ger) were open to helping as needed (like, being responsive to interview questions, etc).
I have not really seriously followed up with this, although doing this blog was a spin-off from one of the simpler ideas: tracking the original art market.
My original idea was to create 4-5 genres that could form the basis for articles, get about a year's worth in the can, and then launch the feature in
Following Cerebus. The prospectus I sent to Dave, and then to the FC editors, also suggested that a blog would be useful to track suggestions and ideas from the Cerebite community rather than sitting off to the side and imagining what might be interesting. Despite the interesting digressions to the colorful debates that swing through the Yahoo site (yes, indeed, I lurk there), the ability for a shared public forum to generate interesting ideas and consensus is staggering.
Here is as far as I got with possible genres:
(1) "Reading between the lines" People would offer up pages that they own, and we could vote on them, as subjects for Dave and/or Dave'n'Ger to give us a reading of the back-story on the choices that went into that page. We've seen Dave do this for some of the auction pages (particularly the ones that come through
The Beguiling) as well as those re-creations that they're doing for me (his reflections on the dialogue have been fascinating to me). The pages would be of our choice... and unlke the monologues that accompany the auction pages, the article could result from a dialogue that I would edit. Another feature would be to incorporate the Collector's POV: what was it that drew you to wanting to own this page, etc.
(2) "The Cerebus Roadshow" Named for the "Antiques Roadshow" ... collectors can present interesting unpublished goodies... could be an unusual sketch, could be some physical object... for D'n'G to comment on. The possible items could once again arise and get refined through presentation and voting (or... I could simply exercise editorial prerogative).
(3) "Technically speaking" I would like to know much more than I know about how they really go from ideas to the final version. I have the sense that what we know is the tip of the iceberg. One of the things I would love to do is take the opportunity to get to Kitchener on a regular basis and document work as they do it.
(4) "Tales from the Crypt" Another reason to get to Kitchener - dealing with the Archive and documenting what might be documentable.
I am not sure that all 4 of these have enough behind them to sustain years and years of articles *if* each of them appeared in every issue. My thought was that identifying 4 genres and rotating through them on an annual basis was more likely, although nothing would have to be *that* regimented.
Whaddya'll, whaddyacall, think?
