Without Cerebus in it.

So when World of Strange added two new tee-shirts to their Cerebus tee-shirt group, I ordered them. When they arrived, I had one #4 and a #3. . .but no #5, which is what I ordered. So I ordered another #5. I wasn’t concerned about getting a #3 instead of a #5. The way I go through Cerebus tee-shirts, I’d use it in no time.

Though not a day later one of the guys that runs the operation emailed me – he apologized profusely for the mistake, and asked me if I could have any cover on a tee-shirt which one would it be.

So yes, I asked for:

Issue #114. I had a some choices for the color of the shirt – and after thinking about it, I asked for the black you see above. It arrived today along with the shirt for issue #5. w00t!

In episode 95 of CerebusTV Dave Sim tells us that a DVD of the first five episodes of CerebusTV is in the works. He asked Sandeep to come up with a mock up for it:

Here is another look at it:

And of the back with the made up episode titles by Sandeep:

Still in the planning stages according to Dave who says it should be in Diamond comics Previews in summer 2012 at the earliest.  So watch the episode and see for yourself:

So today was pretty much all Cerebus with a little glamourpuss and a bit of Patriots thrown in.

In my mail was Cerebus Archive #16 wherein Dave Sim talks about the creation of the logo for Deni Loubert’s fanzine, Cerebus. This logo would later morph into Cerebus the Aardvark. I read those pages first. . .still haven’t finished it. Savoring it. Read Secret Avengers #16 by Warren Ellis and Jamie McKelvie.  I brought it because of Warren Ellis’ writing credit, and found out I really liked McKelvie’s art. Typical Warren Ellis story and it reads as a stand-alone story. But for $4? For 20 minutes of reading entertainment? Meh. I still haven’t gotten to Batwoman #3 and 4 or to Rachel Rising #2 & 3 or glamourpuss #22.

Also in the mail were some Cerebus cover tee-shirts from the Poetic Press / Fantastic Apparel guys. Also issue #267 of The Comic Journal which has a Dave Sim essay on the passing of Will Eisner. The other item in the mail was a customized New England Patriots jersey. A #87 home jersey with the name on the back of ‘GRONNNNNNNK’. I would’ve put a ! at the end of that, but the NFL.com shop wouldn’t let me for whatever reason. Idiots. But I’m still pretty happy with my Gronkowski jersey.

This morning was spent stapling and folding various issues of newsletters. When I get them, they are usually correlated so the cover is followed by the interior pages, so I just need to separate one issue’s worth of pages, staple and fold. I usually do this to approximately 50 issues worth, and keep the other ones flat for storage.  The newsletters take up a small corner of the living room – several fedex boxes, 6″ x 12″ x 10″, plus a few out to grab quickly for orders or reference.

While I stapled and folded I watched the latest episode of CerebusTV. Luckily for me they went to a flash version so I can start from the beginning and pause if I need a bathroom break. It is also lucky for me because whatever plugin they are using for the stream says that it is missing when I check it on chrome (still works in firefox, but I use chrome now for various reasons). I usually watch it on SimTeeVee over on youtube, but that channel is playing a Christmas special – which I figure I can check out later in the week.

Then this afternoon I went to fellow Cerebite Jeff T’s comic book store and dropped off some Cerebus the Newsletters and pick up the comics I mention above along with a “As seen on CerebusTV” backer board and a copy of zootanapuss #1 – just glamoupuss #22 with a different cover – signed by Dave Sim and #428 out of 519 copies.

After I finish this, I’m going to be doodling ideas for the new logo for Cerebus the Newsletter. With the next issue, #22, that will be my 9th issue as publisher – which is more than Fred Patten (5, issue #1 – 5) and Aardvark-Vanaheim (8, #6 – 13). So if you want to get in on the fun of contributing an article, piece of art, essay, etc for the issue, just email them to me at cerebusfangirl at cerebusfangirl dot com.

If you didn’t notice, I’ve added a couple links to the side of the blog. There has been some interesting new Cerebus themed blogs popping up lately. A bunch of the ‘Cerebus ReRead’ themed ones and some others.

• Cerebus the Tumblr: As the title says “Tumbling the art of “Cerebus the Aardvark,” Dave Sim, and Gerhard”. A piece of Cerebus art a day or therebouts.
• A Moment of Cerebus: From the blog “”Every day we publish something related to Cerebus & the comics art of Dave Sim & Gerhard”.
• 2011: The Year of the Aardvark: Terrence has been blogging every day – reading an issue of Cerebus almost every day this  year, and when he finishes a phonebook, he posts a summary of it. He is getting close to finishing, up to issue 283 so far.
• Cerebus: A Diablog: They started off strong in 2009, but only got to issue 11. Still some good reading here.
• My Cerebus Year: Another blog started in 2009, only got to issue 20. Again, more good reading.
• Travels Through Iest: This blogger read Cerebus within a year and blogged it by phonebook. He is now reading and blogging about different books, but you can catch all his Cerebus blog entries at the link.

***

Issue #17 of Cerebus the Newsletter has been reprinted with a color cover. Again I was tempted by a discount coupon and managed to get a color cover on glossy paper for the same price point as a B&W cover with cardstock paper. I like the thicker cardstock as it makes the newsletter beefier, but at the same time. . . color. . .

I tweaked the cover a bit so it fills more of the cover space so there is less white space near the margins (since I can’t afford full bleed to the edge). I also tweaked Steve Peters’ art inside so the image was higher res and I got rid of some of the ‘noise’ so it doesn’t look grainy due to the image scan. I also re-scanned Paul Hornschemeier’s art work and put it on the back cover. The original of it is in color so I figured I’d show it off. I put the Cerebus Archive ad in the back inside cover and moved some text to where Paul’s art used to be. Updated the contents page and voila.

I really like what Aviv did with the cover – just the red and the rest black and white. It is making me re-think the whole BW cardstock cover vs color cover on standard paper.

There is a new Cerebus book that is to be published next year – a collection of essays and other Cerebus related articles and bits.  Here is the info:

Cerebus the Barbarian Messiah

Essays on the Epic Graphic Satire of Dave Sim and Gerhard

Edited by Eric Hoffman

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-6889-8
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-9032-5
ca. 70 photos, notes, bibliography, index
softcover (7 x 10) 2012

In December 1977, struggling Canadian comic book artist Dave Sim self-published the first issue of Cerebus the Aardvark, a Conan the Barbarian satire featuring a foul-tempered, sword-wielding creature trapped in a human world. Over the next 26 years, Sim, and later collaborator Gerhard, produced an epic 6,000-page graphic novel, the longest-running English language comic series by a single creative team. They revolutionized the comics medium by showing other artists that they too could forgo major publishers, paving the way for such successes as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bone. This in-depth work, the first collection of critical essays on Cerebus, provides a multifaceted approach to Sim and Gerhard’s complex and entertaining oeuvre, including their innovative use of the comic medium, storytelling and satiric techniques, technical and visual sophistication, and Sim’s use of the comic as commentary on gender and religion. About the Author Eric Hoffman, a poet and essayist, is the author of six books and lives in Connecticut.

You can pre-order a copy here:  http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-6889-8

So season three of CerebusTV started yesterday with episode 84 which showed Dave Sim working on the cover to Cerebus Archive #16, “Enter Cerebus”:

Once Dave got the cover pasted up, his computer guru Sandeep came over and they discussed the coloring of the cover. The issue is currently up for pre-sale at ComiXpress here. Then the episode shows a bit more about the content of Cerebus Archive #16 which includes a detailed look the creation of the comic logo which would later become Cerebus the Aardvark. The second half of the episode is reader mail and Dave announces a contest wherein the winner will get a full set of special zombie cover Aardvark-Vanaheim, inc comics. This contest is announced by Dave posing as Lord Julius – funny stuff.

Then Dave shows Cerebus the Newsletter #15 and showcasing the newsletters:

Dave mentions that after 25 years after issue #13 had been published, I revived Cerebus the Newsletter with issue #14 and have been cranking away at it since then. I just want to mention that issue #14 and the idea to get it started it again was also partially Jeff Tundis, of “The Art of Dave Sim” and “Cerebus the Aardvark” websites. Jeff helped with a lot of the content of the first couple issues, not to mention the cover of #14. Jeff hasn’t had anything published in CtN recently, but we hope that changes in the near future. As Dave stated, I am keeping the issues I published in print, as I’d like to give the opportunity for those that want to get them to be able to find them at a decent price. Dave also mentioned that issue #20 hasn’t come out yet. . .but it did, in July 2011. It would have come out sooner, but like Dave stated, I was enthralled with the Boston Bruins Stanley cup run:

This had what I enjoy about CerebusTV: behind the scenes with Dave talking about his comics and some Dave skits – the Lord Julius stuff is great. Of course I also appreciate the shout out from Dave – one thing to know the work on the Cerebus the Newsletters is enjoyed by my fellow Cerebus fans, but another to know that Dave appreciates it as well. Thanks Dave!

So a couple posts ago I spoke about how the current season tickets were larger then last season’s tickets.

Wrong. This season’s tickets are larger then last season’s playoff tickets, but only slightly larger in width – not length – then the season tickets. The design is much different as you can see:

The four tickets which have the same basic design are the four different designs that were used during the 2010 – 2011 season. The two tickets that are more than just the black / gold / white design are the season tickets from this year. You can barely see that the text along the top of the ticket is an embossed silver in color text and the Stanley Cup champions logo is also silver in color embossed. Shiny.

I like the design of last year’s tickets, but I like the Stanley Cup champions logo and the color pictures of this year’s tickets. I also like how this year, all 42 home games (which includes the 2 pre-season games minus the home opener ticket) have a different picture.

You can see that the tickets are missing the sec / row / seat numbers and they are also missing the bar code down the bottom of the tickets. The price of the tickets went up by $3 a game – while we did move sections / rows / seats we stayed in the same price point area.

The home opener ticket was a different beast entirely:

In the season ticket package – which looks like a calender with the tickets inside – this home opener ticket had its own page. It also had a place holder ticket in between the two pre-season games and game two’s ticket. The place holder ticket said something like ‘this isn’t your ticket’ or some such. I’ll see if I can get a picture of it. This opening night ticket is worthy of framing through, which along with a pic of the Stanley Cup and I plus a pic from opening night it will be hanging on my wall soon enough.

I got off early from work this past Thursday, October 6th, and my fellow season ticket holder and I made our way to the Garden for the pre-game festivities. Thank goodness we did, as that was better then the game, which we lost to the Flyers 2 – 1. Boast all you want Flyers, but I’m still smiling at the Bruins sweeping you in four games in the playoffs and winning the Stanley Cup.

The pre-game “Fan Fest” was right outside the Garden in the team’s parking lot, though it only took up half of the parking lot:

To the left of this picture is the rest of the parking lot, and at the right edge near the bottom corner you can see the North Station T stop exit. They had various tents set up with Bruins alumni doing autograph sessions, raffles and giveaways. They had games like the bean bag toss, shooting on a “goalie”, etc. Plus the big screen that in the above picture is showing the Stanley Cup champions logo, but was showing game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Every time the Bruins scored on the big screen, a cheer went up from the crowd.

After we got Réjean Lemelin to sign our jerseys, we got in line to see the various trophies the Bruins had won in the past season. They were on two tables under the large screen display. With the exception of the Stanley Cup, they were all there:

Seeing as how we got to get our picture with the Stanley Cup on Monday, this was a nice ending. From left to right: Wales Trophy, Vezina Trophy, me, Mark Messier Leadership Award, and the Conn Smythe Trophy. After seeing those trophies and awards, we went to get some eats in the North End. On our way to the eats, we saw all these uniformed personnel: cops, sailors, soldiers, etc who all had white hockey sticks. Turns out this was the start of the parade that we had heard was supposed to be begin at 4pm. As it was now 5:10pm we figure it was the end and we were wondering why they were still hanging around.

As we were getting our eats on, we saw on the teevee that the parade was starting. Starting? It was 5:45pm! What the blue blazes?!?  After we finished our eats we headed back and tried to get a glimpse of the parade, but it was all over. All we saw were more uniformed people walking around with white hockey sticks. So we went back into the fan fest and got in line for Ken Linseman’s autograph. The fan fest was pretty well cleared out at this point, with most people heading in to be at their seats by 6:30 pm as the Bs had requested.

Though of course, the festivities didn’t happen until 7pm. A curtain had been dropped underneath the jumbotron. A large flag of the Stanley Cup with the Bs logo on it made its way around the loge. Sitting in our balcony seats we could see the top tip of the new championship banner inside while on the jumbotron played a summary of the playoffs from the first series against the Habs to the finals against the Canucks. On the curtain different pictures from the series were shown while around the Garden the flags of the players that were waved during the play offs once again waved and their names circled the the Garden’s display.  As the almost tear producing video got to the part of Chara raising the cup at the end of game 7, the curtain surrounding the banner dropped revealing it to the crowd. The noise was incredible, flashes from cameras going off every where and everyone on their feet clapping.

The team then came out from the Zamboni entrance in their black and gold home uniforms and Chara with the cup in hand. The entrance had some sort of special lighting so it looked like they were coming through the championship logo, pretty neat. Chara raised the cup above his head and the crowd went nuts. Myself included. Then they started handing it from player to player. Each player got a chant of a name or a resounding thunder of applause – well, except some of the lesser known guys after Rask. The cup was then placed on a table near the banner and the team possed for a picture at center ice with the banner behind them while the surrounding the cup:

Awesome. Well, not my slightly blurry picture, but the team in black and gold surrounding the cup with the gold championship banner behind them at center ice. Then there was a series of speakers presented by Andy Brickley. Cam Neeley got the best response from the crowd, but followed closely by the response for the team captain, Chara. Team owner Mr Jacobs got some boos and some clapping – a very mixed bag from the crowd. Seems the crowd remembered the previous years of losses and crushed dreams for lack of spending. . .Whatever. I clapped as we finally had another championship.

Part of the Bruins from the 1972 Stanley Cup championship team came out to help move the banner from the spot at center ice to the spot were it would be raised to the rafters. Watching it be raised to the rafters, I thought I’d never see such a sight – let along have the chance to watch the Bs play a Stanley Cup finals game in the Garden. The raising of the rafter, the 2010 to 2011 seasons, being able to touch the cup and get a picture with it on two different occasions, the parade, all of it: just amazing. A season I’ll never forget. Thank you Boston Bruins. Thank you.

A month? A month since my last blog posting. . .yoinks. What have I been doing since August 19. . .Bruins pre-season and training camp started back up. Oh, and I went on a two week vacation to Vancouver, BC and Alaska. Beautiful places, good times.

But this blog post is about Bruins season tickets. See, my friend and I got season tickets to the Boston Bruins. Last year the tickets came in what appeared to be a calendar type presentation, four tickets to a page. Each ticket was a player’s picture on it in tri-color: black, gold and white. The four different players repeated each page, so there were only four types of tickets for the entire season.

This season’s tickets? I haven’t seen them yet – my fellow season ticket holder has the whole shebang at his place. He says they’re all different. I did get the pre-season ticket and the ticket holder that came in an earlier package, a ‘welcome package’ for season ticket holders:

Yuppers. A picture of Timmy Thomas lifting and kissing Lord Stanley’s cup. The ticket is bigger then last season’s ticket, just under 2″ by 5″ , at approximately 2.75″ x 6.75″. And the picture of the player on this year’s ticket as you can see is in color, vs the tri-color of last year’s ticket. And the new tickets also have the Stanley Cup Champions symbol emblazoned on them in shiny silver colored ink, which also surrounds the edges of the ticket and is the color of the text at the top of the ticket. Pretty neat looking. I can’t wait to see the entire group of this season’s tickets. . .

So after I realized that I had to reprint Cerebus the Newsletter #15, I took stock of the rest of the back issues. Issue #16 needed to be reprinted also and #17 is getting pretty close as well.

It was the first picture cover I had done for the newsletter, and came out halfway decent. Not great, but okay:

And the original was in color – so when I went to reprint it, I knew I could find a coupon online that would save me a few dollars so I took a look at how expensive a cardstock color cover would be. . .and whoa, no thanks. So I checked out the standard laser paper – and while it was more expensive then the black and white cardstock cover, it was still under my price point of $1.50 per issue. There was a way that I could just get the front page (so the back and front outside covers, not the inside covers) in color and the rest in black and white.

So I threw caution to the wind and went with the color cover:

I’m not too sure about the black logo on the color background – along with the black number / month combo. . .doesn’t really ‘pop’ like it does on the black and white version. But I’m still pretty excited about the first issue of a Cerebus the Newsletter with a color cover.