If you’ve been following the great Moment of Cerebus blog (and if you’re not, you really should if you’re a Cerebus fan – daily updates with tons of great Cerebus / Sim / Gerhard content), you’ll know about the “HardTALK Virtual Tour” that will be going on:

GOT A QUESTION FOR DAVE SIM? 
Already signed up for the HARDtalk Virtual Tour are Bleeding Cool, Millar World, Terminal Drift, Canadian Comics Archive, The Comics Journal, The Beat and Comic Book Resources (CBR link to follow). Add your question for Dave Sim at one of these fine websites before 10 October and if your question is chosen (they’ll need to be tough, interesting questions!) you’ll receive a personalised, autographed Cerebus back-issue, with a Cerebus head-sketch by Dave Sim!

So if you have a question for Dave Sim, just post it to one of those links, and it could not only get answered, but you could get a free issue of Cerebus personalised, autographed and with a head sketch! w00t!

So if you’ve ever written into Aardvark Comment, then you know the number 1674. As in PO box, station C. So of course, when I went to Kitchener, I had to track down this PO box. I wanted to see where all those letters I’d been writing were going to – well, not the off white house, but the PO box.

Do a google search for station C in Kitchener and you’ll find a mystore website that has an address of 618 King St E. So that is what we plugged into the garmin gps and this is what we found:

We didn’t know what to make of it. So we circled around. Nothing near by. We went to 618 King St W thinking perhaps typo? Nope. Nothing there. So we returned to 618 King St E and went inside. The outside said coin shop, but inside we found hockey memorabilia and other such collectibles. And some coins. No comics though. I asked the guy, we were looking for the station C post office did he know what happened to it?

He laughed. Said the building hasn’t been a post office for at least two years. He said that station C was in Market Square. I went ohhh, the large green clock tower. He just looked at me blankly. I said the mall down the street, he responded yeah. I only know it from the introduction to CerebusTV, but had seen it driving down King St as it was only a bit down the road from 618:

Since it was 6pm on a Friday, the mall was closed. I kid you not. Nothing stayed open very late in Kitchener. We did find a lot of people at Queen Victoria Park later that evening. So we returned at 9am on Saturday morning. The mall had just opened and this is what we found:

Closed for the holiday on Monday. Yes. Closed on a Saturday for a holiday on Monday. Civic holiday. Aka Simcoe day. But the access to the PO Boxes was open:

Click on the above picture for much larger version, 1674 is on the far left, the first medium sized box under the four smaller boxes. Yes, it is only a medium size box. There were larger boxes. Surprised me, I’d think Dave would be getting enough mail to warrant a larger box.

When I got back home, I checked google street view and found a picture of the 618 address when it was a post office:

I don’t know how long that location was where all the letters to Aardvark Comment went, but it was one of them. A piece of tangentially related Cerebus history.

So in update #16 for the Cerebus Digital: 6000 kickstarter, it was revealed that the monetary goal that will get the entire sixteen phonebooks digitized:

The Ultimate Goal here is to, of course, digitize ALL 16 of the CEREBUS phone Books. Which would come out to approximately $96,000 (without the 10% loss or taxation. So we’d be looking at around $120,000 – more or less. Let’s just kick it to an even $100,000 as THE DREAM GOAL!! if this fund is met — BANG! whole series in the works!!! We’re grateful beyond belief for every single dollar that has come in and blown away by the response of all the fans! it means everything!

Currently the project stands at just over $37K with 686 backers with twenty days to go. In update #17 Dave reveals that he has “THREE contracts in hand for digital download launch (still on track for October 1st) and another on the way.” So not only is HIGH SOCIETY due to be complete and ready for download by October 1st, but Aardvark-Vanaheim has three contracts for digital downloads.

And if you read the update regarding the negatives being scanned in, but didn’t see that the pictures have been updated – then go check out update #14: pictures of Dave with the negatives have been added to give us a better understanding of what is involved in this project.

So Dave Sim’s kickstarter campaign is up to 518 backers and $28,230 as I type this, after only a couple days – reaching his initial goal of $6K in just 9 hours. He even has some celebrity backs, as seen at the ‘A Moment of Cerebus‘ blog.

Though that doesn’t mean he still doesn’t need your support – for the more money collected, the more funds to digitalize more of the Cerebus epic:

If more than $6,000 is raised (this is where I suspect John is pulling my leg: MORE than $6,000???) then the money would be put aside to do e-books/audio books/digital graphic novels/oral history/weekly serializations of ALL OF THE CEREBUS BOOKS, Beginning with CEREBUS (500 pages), CHURCH & STATE vol. 1 (600 pages). CHURCH $ STATE vol. 2 (600 pages), and JAKA’S STORY (500 pages).  

The kickstarter continues to morph in both content – as Deni Loubert is now participating by doing the audio for her ‘Note From the Publisher’ entries – and rewards – as Kevin Eastman agreed to do a print with Dave & anyone donating over $50 will automatically get one.

We also learned about what formats this digital content is going to take – there will be DRM free PDFs, CBR or CBZ files available for download which will be approximately 35 MB each. And this was this bit of info also:

Only Kickstarter backers will be getting both the High resolution scanned (regular-you-read-it-yourself-version) and the Bells and Whistles Special Audio/Visual Edition. 

Those files will be roughly 60 – 70 MB. Those are the files I’m looking forward to. It’ll be nice to get the digital Cerebus, as I won’t have to lug around a huge phonebook. But the bells and whistles will provide even more entertainment on top of that.

I’ve put a link to the Cerebus Digital 6000 kickstarter in the sidebar of this blog, so just in case you want to dontate or up your pledge, it is there.

So Dave Sim has started his kickstarter campaign to digitalize Cerebus in its entirety and then some. From the kickstarter’s page:

STEP ONE:  CEREBUS DIGITAL HIGH SOCIETY

Continue to convert HIGH SOCIETY into digital files by producing a HIGH SOCIETY combination e-book, audio book/ digital graphic novel/ oral history/weekly serialization at (so far) iVerse, Diamond Digital and Comixology and hope revenues can help things along by the time I’m getting paid early next year (The “Hail Mary” Pass Scenario)

STEP TWO: CEREBUS DIGITAL 6000

If more than $6,000 is raised (this is where I suspect John is pulling my leg: MORE than $6,000???) then the money would be put aside to do e-books/audio books/digital graphic novels/oral history/weekly serializations of ALL OF THE CEREBUS BOOKS, Beginning with CEREBUS (500 pages), CHURCH & STATE vol. 1 (600 pages). CHURCH $ STATE vol. 2 (600 pages), and JAKA’S STORY (500 pages).  

There is a video:

And plenty of cool rewards. Go check it out and donate so we can get all of the Cerebus epic digitalized – just look at all those extras to the digital copy! Picture Homer Simpson going ‘ummmmm. . .’ and drooling with his tongue stuck out, and that it what I’m doing right now. . .

oh, yes! The link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/189735833/cerebus-high-society-special-audio-visual-digital

For the past couple of days we’ve been given hints by John Scrudder, one of the producers of CerebusTV, on what Dave Sim’s latest project will be since CerebusTV’s last episode has aired. Via his twitter:

and then another reference to it the next day:

And then today in the Cerebus Facebook group John posted a link to potential rewards for the Dave Sim kickstarter project:

Would anyone support a Dave Sim Kickstarter project? Well – it’s coming, and it’s coming soon! Here’s a really quick glance at some of the smaller pledges – we’re talking the $10 – $35 pledges (and that’s not including the MAIN ITEM BEHIND THE PROJECT!!) Disregard the Ultimate Cerebus photo. I needed to cap the foot notes – all in all there’s going to be 26 Pledge items!! Stay tuned faithful Cerebites and ye shall be updated!!

The link: http://www.behindthepanels.com/dave-sim-other.html

So while we wait for what the project is going to be, I’m going to guess that it has something to do with this: the digital versions of High Society, which according to this Reddit post have audio commentary and narration. Dave mentions the digital versions in episode 112 of CerebusTV (episode 28 of season 3) – which is still up at the CerebusTV site. Just click on the ‘click to watch Flash’ link in the upper right hand corner.

I’m excited to see what Dave’s kickstarter will actually be for – I don’t have any insight on this one, I’m waiting to see for myself.

So in the latest episode of CerebusTV, episode #112 (aka season 3 #28), started last night and plays for a week (with a stoppage on Sunday to observe the Sabbath) at SimTV on youtube:

There are a couple of big announcements - one is that he is shopping a digital version of High Society to Comixology, iVerse, graphic.ly and Diamond Digital and that the rights would be non-exclusive so it is possible that all of those digital publishers would carry it. The digital version appears to have some extras – like Dave talking about the creation of the book and using pieces from the Cerebus Archive to high light those talks, the digital versions would contain the front and back covers along with all the Aardvark Comment letters pages.

I already own High Society in single issue and phonebook editions, but I’ll be getting this also – for it is so much easier to carry around my phone or netbook then it is to carry around the phonebook. Plus those cool extras will be nice. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the letters pages will be searchable – but somehow I doubt it – though I do have hope.

Another announcement was that the Dave Sim Art website will have the CerebusTV episodes for download for 99 cents a piece as soon as the guy helping Dave gets it up and going. It was mid-April when he filmed the episode, so hopefully the episodes will be up soon.

The one other announcement was that Zootanapuss and bunny will be coming to an end with glamourpuss #26 – it was fun while it lasted, but I guess that is all Dave had in him for that concept.

There was also a non-announcement with the episode’s title “EPISODE 112: SECOND LAST EPISODE EVER!” Seriously? There was no formal announcement from Dave that I’ve heard of, but  it looks like season 3 will be it for CerebusTV. I’ll be sad to see it go – as I enjoyed the “weekly visits” with Dave, getting glimpses into his creative process and behind the scenes at Aardvark-Vanaheim. But I understand that he probably has a lot of work to do with glamourpuss, Cerebus Archive and now the digital High Society – and beyond hopefully!

Dave has a pin-up in the Madman 20th Anniversary Monster HC which Amazon.com has for $52.60 (nearly half price). But if you can’t afford such a steep price for a single page, take a look see at it:

Cerebus makes another appearance in a pin-up of various indy comics characters by Michel Fiffe that you can check out at Michel’s site.

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