April 30, 2007 1992 Tour art

eBay item number: 280102941066
end date: April 15, 2007
Seller: everlovin
Buyer: alchemist57
Price: $131.05

This reminds me, for some reason: someone ought to work with Dave to create some "sim fonts" based on any number of the mega-cool lettering styles that he has invented over the years.

April 25, 2007 Cerebus #27 p 20

end date April 25, 2007
eBay item number: 290105607061
Seller: jalcozerover
Starting bid: $799.99
Buyer: headcold
Price: $799.99

Headcold... dude or dudette... what are you thinking?

Oh, wait... people are supposed to say that about ME!

Heh.

April 21 2007 Comments on Comments

To j_ay (April 19):

Thanks for putting this thought on the record -

Assuming the perpetually bruised ego *has* to see what people are saying: Dave, you know the ol’ saying, ‘I kid because I care’, well, bottom line is I’m a fan. I’m not on sites for Mike Deodato, Alex Ross, Gregs Land and Horn and any of the shedload of those that may rely a wee bit too much on the ol’ lightboard, ranting about their tracing abilities. I’m here because I like to look at your work, but please don’t think that means I’m not allowed to have an opinion about it.

In the real world, it's your friends and colleagues who are willing to actually disagree with you, edit you, correct you, and pull you aside and say there's snot hanging from your nose whom you value. My mention of sycophants was deliberate, and in a way, directly accusatory of the "Cult of Praise Dave" (or, lest knickers twist, praise anyone... all the time... every time). I know going in to every day that there are 20-30 things I might be called upon to have an opinion about, along with the 20-30 other people or groups with whom I am interacting. And the only thing I know for sure is that I cannot be the one who has the most defensible position 100% of the time, and those with whom I interact have the weaker position 100% of the time. Something that I thought was good turns out to have been because I had incomplete information... or I was biased in my reading of the details.. or whatever. I tend to live by the idea that I need to be prepared to change my mind about something important that I thought was true about once a day. And, like proofreading my own writing, proofreading my own ideas and beliefs is difficult without external minds.

To Tim (April 19):

You're probably right. Leaving comments here could be a dangerous thing! ;)

Any time, Tim. Dum..dumdum (drums of doom) "Dangerous ideas are our business!" (dumdumdummmmm)

To dp (April 16):

I have watched this page during both auctions and the reason I haven't bid is the high starting price. I'll like the thought of getting a bargain and I won't pay more than $500 for a page. And I think very few people will.

Nice to hear from you, bud. I think this is the idea that Dave was not getting about buying original art, in general.

April 19 2007 In for a crown...

There are just some itches you have to scratch, even though you know it is a bad idea.

I decided to reply to Dave's "dumping on me" comment.

From my fax to DVS:

Dear Dave -

Dave…
Dave…
Dave.

[Actually, the second "Dave" was tabbed 1/4 of the way across the page, and third "Dave" was tabbed 1/2 way across the page, to give it some dramatic style, but I can't figure out how to make html do that]

On February 21, at Cerebus the Aartvark, I wrote: “And, three for three: I simply do not like them terribly much.” Do you really think that constitutes “dumping all over” your solo commissions?

My reply, from the entry I made at my site, which you might not see for a while:

[you have seen this already... skipping ahead]

Now, rest assured, if this had been an actual dumping, you would be able to smell it. I would be using words like sophomoric, fetid, vacuous… you know, words that skewer. Or I might even say “Well, the old man’s trolley has truly jumped the track, now,” or something. But I did not. What I wrote was what I would say to you over lunch.

“So, what do you think about my new colour pieces.”
“I don’t like them.”

And I would still like to be in the queue for those two 50th birthday requests. The draft that you sketched and faxed for me to give to Will is awesome (“I like that.”)

Cheers.

Oh, man. I am throwing down about rhetoric in front of Dave Sim. I think my trolley has jumped the track.

And check out Bloggin'Male #219 cuz j_ay got Dave's attention. See j_ay's reply in his third installment under the April 17 comments over here at Aartvark.

Hi to Tim Young, who appeared in the comments on the entry about the latest commission. You're next, dude.

Meanwhile, there have been 104 looks in 4 days for the re-posting of that original art page from issue #27.

April 17 2007 Finger puppets

DVS, from today's Bloggin'male (re: the most recent commission):

"Anyway, James phoned and absolutely raved on the answering machine about the picture and the tracing paper sketches (which I threw in for free, having forgotten to put the thought balloon in that he had wanted: "That was easier than Cerebus thought it would be") saying that I had made his framer very happy since he was getting the whole works framed and that I'm pretty much going to have a room to myself. So that helped offset Brian C. dumping all over my solo commissions on his website. I don't know if it's just my bad luck but on the rare occasions when I do check the Yahoo discussion group or Brian's website…"

Well, it's never been my way to be a sycophant. I don't like these solo color pieces - simple as that. Which does not at all for a moment take away from the b/w sketches and drawings (including the requested commission for a pair of 50th birthday pieces, one for me and one for Will, that I absolutely still want).

You come across a word like sycophant and just have to wonder where it came from. Here goes... from the Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

sycophant

1537 (in L. form sycophanta), "informer, talebearer, slanderer," from L. sycophanta, from Gk. sykophantes, originally "one who shows the fig," from sykon "fig" + phanein "to show." "Showing the fig" was a vulgar gesture made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, itself symbolic of a [vulgar c-word edited from definition by alchemist57, aka one of the favorite words spoken by NormalRoach] (sykon also meant "vulva"). The story goes that prominent politicians in ancient Greece held aloof from such inflammatory gestures, but privately urged their followers to taunt their opponents. The sense of "mean, servile flatterer" is first recorded in Eng. 1575.

April 16 2007 Meanwhile...

... back in the present, that recent Cerebus page is back up again (umm... really, really soon, don't you think?) at the all-new, all-different, $50-less price of $799.99 (plus $22 s/h equals $721.99). It's up there for a 10-day run, which is longer than a couple of Broadway productions I can think of... including one I liked.

eBay item number: 290105607061
Seller: jalcozerover
Starting bid: $799.99

See ya on April 25 this time (if you want to follow the progress of its last appearance, just go back a couple of days, in case you weren't paying attention or all that talk of asteroids and icebergs-of-mass-destruction distracted you). I renew my public pledge: not interested in this page, so bid y'widdle heart out on it.

April 14 2029 <-- yes, I meant that

We do know that 22 years from yesterday, a big-ass chunk of rock will intersect our space within a few earth diameters - Friday, April 13, 2029. We have been told, as I once pointed out, with dead certainty, that it will not be within our actual diameter. But, as I once pointed out, in my total ignorance of celestial mechanics, that sucker is coming awfully close.

So, figuring that there are at least some real odds that none of us will be around to be blogging on Saturday, April 14, 2029, I figured I would offer it up today.



April 14, 2029

Lunar Relocation Base 12

Cerebus original art prices went right into the toilet yesterday when that big-ass asteroid hit the Earth.

Told ya so.


Oh, yes, by the way... April 14, 1912... this object here below, photographed on April 15, 1912 with red paint at its waterline, has done its job with a fantastic and historical collision.

April 13 2007 Meanwhile...

... over at cerebusart.com, a new "commission" piece with a $900 price tag appeared...

April 12 2007 Wow...

I do not usually say anything about the comics world in general, but I must say that I am blown out of my socks by the sneak peak at the Grey Iron Man armor pic that was posted at AICN this morning.

This.Is.Iron.Man.

April 11 2007 This just in...

Cerebus page...

8 hours to go...

406 looks...

See ya in 8...

...

Hi, I'm back.

Aartvark 1
DVS 0

eBay item number: 290100861473
Seller: jalcozerover
Starting bid: $849
no bidders

April 6 2007 Lookee, Lookee update

Let's see...

no bids on that Cerebus page...

(jump in any ol' time, y'all, I'm not paying that price for it, if that makes any difference to anyone... I think it can be all yours for $849 + $22 shipping & handling... tickytickyticky... $871)

interestingly enough: only 263 views on the counter (started it on April 2 and there are 4 days to go)

how to compare... hmmm...

there is a Howard the Duck page by Gene Colan that started on the 29th of March and has 2 days to go, and it has had 450 views... anyone think that Cerebus page will garner 200 more views by the day after tomorrow?

April 4 2007

We interrupt all streams of thought to bring you this breaking news...

Springtime arriving...

Cherry blossoms in DC...

April 2 2007 Here we go...

Yippee... just what we needed: an original art page (and a nice one at that... all splashy, with the grey dog-like creature, and a couple of popular other characters)...

eBay item number: 290100861473
Seller: jalcozerover
Starting bid: $849

see ya on April 11 with the result