Posted on 8/8/2019

Excellent page!  Dave is so creative with his lettering.  Very cool!

Posted on 8/9/2019

Thanks! I picked this page specifically for the lettering -- one of his key contributions to the medium. This story line also was a return to form.

Posted on 9/8/2021

You know, I just swung past to leave another comment on your other Cerebus page (LOVE that one) and was surprised to see I hadn't yet commented on this one...  Hmmm.  I think this is an example of a PERFECT Cerebus page; the whole thing at its core is just a celebration of the medium itself and all you can do with it.  The singular combination of Dave'n'Ger was comfortably rolling along, confidently creating pages of extreme quality, firing on all cylinders, and playing to their strengths at every turn; the incredible lettering, the astonishing backgrounds, the layout and "reverse chiaroscuro" of Cerebus wending his way through the snow, the writing and interior monologue...  So good.  Late Cerebus had many more examples of "moments", where Cerebus would slow down (or at least look around and notice a bit more) and we as readers were always in safe hands experiencing those with him, thanks to the artistry of Dave Sim and Gerhard.  Beautiful page, DD - wowza!

1 - Posted on 9/8/2021

Jason, thanks for your (typically) insightful comment. Yep, for all the attention -- and money -- spent on High Society through Church & State, later arcs are the sweet spot for me, at least art-wise. Those two had become absolutely seamless by that point, and "Guys" in particular revisited a lot of the old humor -- "buggid o' scodge," indeed!

This page's layout, balance of figures and architecture, Sim-ian lettering and fx, and above all the monologue really grabbed me when I saw it. I go back and forth on their decision to rule the "panel" borders in white -- wouldn't it work just as well as a single large montage, since we all know there's only ONE Cerebus? -- but find it striking either way.

As Doug Wolk wrote: "A serious, ambitious, completed large-scale work, no matter how deeply flawed it is, beats a perfectly envisioned but unrealized project every time. At the very least, Cerebus is worth reading for the same reason a grand, half-ruined cathedral of a religion not your own is worth spending time in: it's a cathedral. Take what you can from it." 

Posted on 9/8/2021

Okay, first?  That quote RULES.  Well played, sir.

Secondly, what a great point about the panel borders, and it got me thinking about who would have made that call in this case; Dave or Gerhard?  Dave would have drawn in Cerebus and lettered the page, then handed it off to Gerhard, but stripping it down (in my mind), it certainly could have gone either way in the execution; one big snow-shovelled circuit or partitioned, "panelled" pathway (with partial snowpiles blocking parts of Cerebus even in the "one shot"). 

There may be no way to tell for sure, save for accessing Dave's finished Cerebus figure that is partially obscured between "panels 1&2" (did he intend for Cerebus to be truncated - i.e. the panel layout - or did he fully draw him in?)...  There may be nothing for it, DD, except to very carefully peel back that white panel "stripping" and peer beneath...

But you know what?  Not a big deal.  Happy to leave that question unanswered. :)

Posted on 9/8/2021

(maybe they were on a deadline, and it was nice and pretty and easy to leave more white space / unshovelled snow...?)

1 - Posted on 9/9/2021

It's white paint, not tape, very carefully applied after the inking stage (which I guess would be easier than trying to align all the little hatch strokes on either side of a border). Some of Cerebus' ziptone between 1&2 is underneath it, but it also veers around a couple of ink strokes in that "PUFF", so those were deliberate decisions as well.

On the other hand, a little bit of ink peeks through in the borders between 1&2 and 2&3, so the effect isn't quite perfect. Hey, it's a stained-glass window. Take what you can from it.