Note From The President, Cerebus 120, March 1989
Copyright 1989 Dave SimI just finished over seventeen hours of interviewing for a Comics Journal interview that should be coming out this summer. For that reason, as well as strict adherence to an achtung-three-week-maximum-allowed-drawing-time for each issue so we can get caught up on our cover dates, this Note is going to be a little shorter this time and for the next few times. I will just have to be. ..a word that means interesting but not interesting. ..enough to. ..a phrase that means 'to make you not notice' but not as plain-sounding as 'to make you not notice.' I'll probably rely on a lot more gimmicks like . ..what I'm doing here with writing down in-between thoughts that you get when you're writing before the writing starts to come out. I'll try to do. ..or not do; not do it. ..too much. Maybe just a paragraph or so.
Oh wait! I know. Magic really exists. I mean the horsey ride in Jaka's story. Yeah! That's a for real playground (albeit with the background suburbs eliminated, as well as most of the rest of the playground equipment that's there). Can you believe it? I've been meaning to mention that since 114. Jeez. That's good for at least a paragraph or two.
Or hundreds of lines.
Like this.
But no. That would be cheating.
Yes. Magic the wonder horsey ride exists between Mill Street and Highland Road right here in Kitchener, just behind the lawn-bowling and tennis club. I decided to walk down there the day I finished Church & State, while Ger still had the last few pages to do. I was free! Free, I tell you! I had a whole gaping novel ahead of me. Most of the Rick/Jaka/Cerebus/Pud part I had already worked out, but I got to pick and choose from all of the incidents in Jaka's past I wanted to work with. I was sitting on the park bench (Oh, hey! Right. I forgot. The park bench exists, too) staring at the horse when I started getting all of these mental pictures of Jaka and what she would be fantasizing while she played on this horse. And. The best way to write a character. ..is. ..you've got to hear them. And. Like they're in your head. And. Suddenly there was Jaka. And. She way only so many years. And. That's Magic. Magic's my horse. And. When I'm playing on Magic I'm playing that it's Pageant. And. I get to go to Pageant. And. I sit right behind my uncle. And. He's Lord Julius.
Well you know how a three year old tells a story. I think I sat there most of the afternoon listening to ages three and four. And. I still left most of it out. The original idea had been to do a Prologue that was all text about Jaka's earliest years. Try as I might to compress her childhood (mentally) into twenty pages of text and single illustrations (which had initially seemed like a lot of pages to fill) it just wasn't going to fit. I tried the first two pages. One tenth of the way through, she was out of bed and having a bath. It did not bode well for that. . . word that means intimidating but on a grander scale . . . climb to age twelve (Ooh! Ooh! Teacher! Pick me! Pick me! Yes? Daunting? Very good!)
Whoa. This is almost a full length Note from the President. I'm spoiling you guys.
Later.
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The Poet is dedicated to Barry Windsor-Smith for "The Ram & The Peacock" (Gorblimey Press) and P. Craig Russell for "Salome."
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Gerhard is now vice-president of Aardvark Vanaheim and in charge of the day-to-day running of the company. We'd like to welcome Monique Kaptein as Gerhard's Administrative Assistant.
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