I bought my first true original art "grail page" this weekend on-line. I'll be picking it up from the dealer at SDCC.
This one set me back quite a lot of $$, probably more than the 25 other most expensive pages I've ever bought. As a result, I'm not going to be buying any more Original art, sketches, or "big ticket" (more than $10) back issues for the rest of the year.
On one hand, it's kind of a drag the week before SDCC.
On the other hand, I'll have a very small & limited budget for SDCC that will allow me to pick up a few things if I see some really insanely good deals.
This will mean that I'll be spending a LOT more time in panel sessions instead of wandering around the floor spending $$$, that's a good thing, I think. When I do buy something, I will need to be VERY selective.
Let me start by saying I'm a big fan of Cerebus & Dave Sim's art. The 1st issue I picked up was #16, off the rack at the LCS in 1980. I was in my last couple of months of High School & I was drawn to the image with a little grey aardvark and what appeared to be Groucho Marx:
I read this issue & was instantly hooked. From that point up until issue #300 24 years later! Lucky for me, Dave Sim put out "Swords of Cerebus" in 1981-1982 (some of the earliest TPBs) and I was able to pick up the issues I had missed. I even picked up SoC #5 & 6, my 1st experience with "double dipping". I went on to pick up #s 1-15 as back issues after I graduated from college.
I bought a couple of Diamondback decks when they were advertised (based on a game introduced in one of the early issues). I picked up a plush Cerebus that a fan made & was sold via an ad in the comic:
I got the Cerebus "Six Deadly Sins" portfolio:
....and the Animated Cerebus portfolio:
Portfolios were big in the 80s, I bought a lot of them. I had plates from the Cerebus portfolios up on my walls.
I had the Cerebus Dictator & Cerebus the Pope T-shirts ("He doesn't love you, he just wants all your money") I wore these for years!
Over the years, I expanded my "double-dipping" as I bought every phonebook as it came out. These were originally sold direct by Dave Sim & you needed to call A-V on the phone to reserve your copy. You would call up & reserve the copy with them & then mail a check. I reserved copies with Dave himself & with Gerhard. In later years it was often an office assistant on the phone, but in those early days it was the main folks answering the phone & taking the orders.
They let you "lock in" the # you got of each signed limited edition. I was phonebook #98 after they started doing the #'d editions.
I met Dave at a SDCC back in the 1990s. I don't remember what year, I got some comics autographed & gushed about my love of the earth-pig. I regretted for years that I didn't spring for a sketch. A couple of years ago Dave was doing sketches (advertised on the Cerebus group, I think Lenny clued me in about these) and I was finally able to get a Cerebus sketch:
Last year I was lucky to have won a very nice inked Cerebus commission sketch in a Heritage auction:
I can get another Cerebus sketch. I'm getting a "Pope Cerebus" this time :yes:
But I didn't have a page of art from the book. Boy would I love to have a page of art from a Cerebus comic, especially one featuring Cerebus himself!
In all the years I have been collecting OA I've never seen a page of Cerebus art for sale. That's not to save there have not been any, just that they never passed in front of my eyes while still available.
Until yesterday.
And what a page. A full page splash. The splash page to issue #17, the 2nd issue I ever read off the rack back in 1980. I pulled the 1st phonebook off the shelf and scanned though it.
Very few full page splashes with really good images of Cerebus. I'd have to say, this looked like what I would consider to be one of my personal favorite images from the 1st 25 issues. Early, but late enough that Cerebus had morphed from his original look to the shorter-snout version that carried the majority of the series. I like this splash more than the cover to #17.
I conversed with my wife & got her permission to drop the wad of cash, promising to cool it on my spending for the rest of the year.
Then I sent in my order & crossed my fingers. Had I gotten to it before some other collector snapped it up? Around mid-day today the seller contacted me & let me know it was mine if I wanted it. We worked out the details & the deal is done. I'll be picking it up on Previews night at SDCC.
So, here it is...... Thanks for bearing with me & reading my story. This page makes me very happy.......
Bob's Cerebus Grail Page
Cerebus #17, Page #1
PS: Now I get to do a hi-res scan of my page once I get it (the dealer doesn't have a scanner) & send it in to Dave Sim for the Digital project!!!!
PPS: After that I'll be springing for the $$ to get this one professionally framed.
PPPS: I'd also love to one day get a panel page with Cerebus & the Regency Elf!
I would probably blow several budgets to get these. The humor in this run of X-Factor, and the misfit nature of the characters really helped get me through high school.
