Blog

Check out: This guy read all of CEREBUS so you don’t have to! PLUS: The surprising Cerebus/Wondermark connection

If you, like me, haven’t read all of Cerebus, but are curious what actually happens in those last few books, good news: Tom Ewing has your back, in a book-length series of blog posts.

So here’s a way of thinking about the comic aside from as a 300-issue story. It’s not really one overarching narrative, it’s three overlapping long narratives, which share some of the same material. Pick the one which holds most interest for you…

The first Cerebus is an epic satirical fantasy…

The second Cerebus is a domestic drama about a man and a woman who are unable to be happy apart or together…

The third Cerebus is a highly experimental philosophical novel about the political, moral and theological journey of a writer, Dave Sim, and his creation, Cerebus, as they first explore relationships between men and women and later come to comprehend the divine implications of this initial understanding.

Like many people who were reading comics during the 1990s and 2000s, I have an awareness of Cerebus, the epic 300-issue saga widely acknowledged as one of the most monumental achievements in comics by a singular creator (which is not to minimize the contributions of his artistic collaborator, Gerhard).

I may have read a few issues of it at some point; I definitely had a copy of some crossover comic Cerebus (the titular aardvark character) featured in. They were lousy on the ground, in the ’90s.

But about the content of the comic itself, I only really ever knew the following:

  • The creator, Dave Sim, was well-known to be a fierce champion of independent publishing and creator’s rights.
  • Cerebus began as a parody of Conan, but then came into its own as an original story. It even inspired the term “Cerebus syndrome,” which is when a lighthearted story turns serious and dramatic over time.
  • It featured some of the greatest panel compositions, lettering, and other markers of craft of any comic of the time — or possibly ever.
  • It went totally off the rails midway through, and the last third is basically unreadable.

Given its reputation, I’ve always been curious about its whole “deal,” but reading it seemed impossible (it’s thousands of pages long), with the implied threat that “It won’t be worth it, because of how bonkers it gets.”

So I really enjoyed reading — in many sessions, over the course of weeks — Tom’s 19-part blog series that both summarizes the story, and provides a lot of interesting flavor and context.

Having read it, I now feel, if not fully informed, at least that my curiosity has been satisfied. I’m “caught up” exactly to the degree that I want to be. I recommend Tom’s series!

There is another, slightly weirder way in which Dave Sim and Cerebus connect to my own work.

Sim spent several years post-Cerebus, during a time in which he suffered a wrist injury and couldn’t draw traditionally, making Wondermark-style comics featuring the Cerebus character:

By which I mean, he placed stock drawings of Cerebus over public-domain vintage line art, and added repartee.

It’s called “Cerebus in Hell” and when I call it “Wondermark-style,” I’m not being hyperbolic. From an essay of Sim’s about his original idea for the strip:

…I went to my bookcase to try to find something Funny to read, Laughter being the best medicine as the Reader’s Digest assures us (like THEY would know).

It was a toss-up, my personal “funniest options” being Stephen Notley’s BOB THE ANGRY FLOWER collections: 1) COFFEE WITH SINISTAR or 2) IN DEFENCE OF FASCISM (you can see that Stephen and I share a warm affection for career-immolating guy humour) and 3) David Malki’s THE BEARDS OF OUR FATHERS Wondermark collection.

[It’s actually Beards of our Forefathers – DM]

[…] It’s basically a collage of late 19th century, early 20th century engravings with High Ironic modern word balloons and captions. Partway through, I had my eureka moment… “I can steal this concept and David Malki will never find out.”

In 2016, when he first started Cerebus in Hell, Sim described the same thought process in a blog comment:

Actually this all started with David Malki’s WONDERMARK collection THE BEARDS OF OUR FOREFATHERS which (I think) Margaret sent to me. I had a weird flu over Christmas and I wanted something FUNNY!!! to read. Not funny or “funny”. FUNNY!!! By the time I got to the cat with the online blog I was thinking “I need to do something like this.”

And then when Dave Fisher was scanning the first box of my correspondence — picked at random — there was David Malki’s first collection and a nice letter from him asking for a quote.

Didn’t even remember it coming in!

There’s a third account of this too, in an interview with CBR.

This is a bit awkward for me, the David Malki in question, because — if you aren’t aware — Dave Sim has a very particular reputation related to his personal beliefs, which might be characterized as Most Divorced-Guy Energy Of All Time, Plus Possibly Schizophrenia.

Wikipedia charitably summarizes this as: “In the course of writing Cerebus, Sim expressed opposition to feminism and made controversial statements regarding men and women.”

Today, or back in 2016 for that matter, he’s not a creator I feel particularly comfortable being associated with.

But is his comment true?

Did I, in fact, write Dave Sim a nice letter?

I did, over 20 years ago. Here’s how it happened:

In late 2004, I printed up (“published” would be too strong a word) my first Wondermark book, the now-out-of-print The Annotated Wondermark:

It was very early in the life of Wondermark. I was just starting out. I didn’t really know what to do with the book. I mailed copies to a bunch of famous people, as I wrote about in more detail here:

I made an initial run of about 100 copies and solicited them office-to-office at the ad agency where I worked at the time. Almost everyone good-naturedly bought a copy (with the exception of the unpleasant producer who asked if this was “more of that Trader Joe’s stuff”).

Around the same time, I decided it would be a good idea to send copies of the book to anyone slightly famous that I could dredge up any remote personal connection to.

At the time (late 2004), Neil Gaiman was in regular contact with Dave Sim, who was developing a reputation as, among his other quirks, a sort of Luddite crank. (Sim still communicates with the blog I quoted above by sending them faxes each week.)

On Gaiman’s own blog, which I occasionally read at the time, Gaiman posted a challenge he’d received from Sim, in which the latter basically dared people to send him letters:

Dave wants to know (as, I have to admit, do I) how many of the people out there in internet-land will actually go and do things that don’t involve passively clicking on a link and going somewhere interesting. So what you have to do is write Dave a letter (not an e-mail. Dave doesn’t have e-mail) telling him that you read that he’ll send you a signed Cerebus, and telling him why you’d like him to send you a copy. It’s as easy as that.

So of course, I wrote Dave Sim a letter. And I enclosed my book.

Here’s where it gets weird.

The book, brazen young author that I was, contained a challenge of its own, in the introduction that I wrote:

Dave Sim read the book, including my challenge above, and he replied, sending me a quote for the book as I had requested.

Here is his letter to me:

Dear Mr. Malki:

Well, at least you were open-minded enough to read all that and not just stop with the Internet-core version “Dave Sim is batshit insane”.

[I don’t remember what exactly I wrote to him initially that he’s referring to here. – DM]

As for your own book (and thanks very much), I quite enjoyed it, laughing out loud any number of times. As for your shameless pleading on page 14, I would be happy to provide you with the following quote for advertising purposes:

“Not since CHRIS WARE burst upon the comix scene has there been this effective and bravura a comedic application within the sequential arts of Nineteenth Century iconography, sensibility and syntax. David Malki’s “Wondermark” dazzles with same level of visual appeal while setting the new highest standard in rib-tickling fun and laugh-out-loud humour on every page!”

— Dave Sim, popular creator of Cerebus, although even he freely admits to being substantially less well-thought of than, say, CHRIS WARE

Feel free to exaggerate further the relative sizes of the typefaces if you think this is a little understated for your purposes.

Sincerely,
Dave Sim

I replied back to him, saying in essence, “Thanks, and this is so long of a quote it’s basically one paragraph away from being a full introduction. Would you be willing to add a bit more?”

This, he did. And so the second printing of The Annotated Wondermark contains Sim’s introduction:

I printed just a handful of copies of this second edition. 2005 is when I started to make actual friends in comics, which brought me more perspective on what it would mean to have Sim’s name on my book.

So I printed no more and instead solicited another new introduction, this time from my new pal Ryan North, and most copies out there in the world of this book are the 3rd edition.

(In 2009, I completely reformatted this book once again, but retained the Ryan intro.)

Just one thing remained.

I had promised another free book to whoever wrote me an introduction.

By the time my next book came out — 2008’s Beards of our Forefathers, which got a proper release from Dark Horse — Sim had adopted a new policy for correspondence.

Mail was still his preferred mode of communication, but he had started replying with form letters:

…If you want a response to your letter or submission all you have to do is return this form letter stating for the record… “I don’t believe that Dave Sim is a misogynist.”

If you aren’t willing to extend that minimum courtesy to me, then I would respectfully ask that you not attempt to contact me in the future.

I had no intention of complying with this weird requirement, so I didn’t expect a response, but I did want to honor my side of the bargain, so in early 2009, I mailed him a hardcover of Beards along with a short note.

No form letter was enclosed, and indeed, no response was received. But apparently, he read the book.

And that, I assume, is how it came to be on his shelf, and why the world has me to blame for “Cerebus in Hell”.

The whole form letter premise (if you read the whole thing) is Sim asserting that he’s unwilling to expend energy interacting with people who don’t respect him, or more pointedly, who won’t defend him.

Which I suppose is his prerogative. I’ve no particular interest in crawling out on any limbs for him myself, so yes, even I, recipient of his glowing compliments, am one of the many who “refuse to” defend him (or simply don’t have much to say on the matter — aside from this lengthy post, of course).

But as I see it, our balance sheet is even: He did me a favor, by providing the quote; that was genuinely a nice thing for him to do for some rando, which I was (and remain).

He then got something in return, which was the inspiration Wondermark gave him for Cerebus in Hell.

I think we’re square.

He may see this post, which I’m okay with. I’m glad that he likes Wondermark, or at least liked the books that he read, the same way that I’m glad anyone likes Wondermark.

I’m also pleased and flattered that he continually gave me credit for his inspiration.

In case anyone wonders, I have no “objection” to Cerebus In Hell; I’m certainly not the first person to do this weird collage-thing, nor have I been the last. (Private aside to Scott of DDT, if you read this: Would you please email me? I have a question.)

But neither do I think Cerebus in Hell is all that good. That should be okay to say, too.

It’s possible the collage bit is over, now; last year, one of the Cerebus in Hell printed issues (an Akira parody) was solicited as “the first hand-drawn Sim comic in years.”

So what I take away from it all is this:

I can’t believe I outlasted Dave Sim at something involving comics.

TUESDAY, 1/21: Tune into EXPERT PANEL on Twitch

THIS WEEK, I’ll be streaming live with fellow historical-art-enthusiast Dylan Meconis for a new show we’re calling Expert Panel.

We’ll be trawling through the archives of historical newspapers and magazines, and trying our best to puzzle out what’s going on. What was the intended joke here?

This is an exercise born from my own research for Wondermark source material, marveling at some of what I’ve unearthed and excited to share it with the world in a whole different way.

This first episode will be streamed live at:

• TUESDAY JANUARY 21
• 1:00 PM PACIFIC TIME
• twitch.tv/davidmalki

You can even add a reminder to your calendar, if you like!

UPDATE: For a limited time, you can watch the archived stream on Twitch!

Requesting email newsletter advice!

Embed from Getty Images – Search result for “Frustrated with Computer”

UPDATED TO ADD: Thank you for the many emails and suggestions! I am evaluating the options and will have more to announce soon!

Do you have professional expertise with email newsletters? Perhaps you can advise me!

Compared to social media — and the algorithms that control what you do or don’t see in your feed — email has classically been considered a safer, more reliable way of reaching readers.

However, you still have to GET your email into the inbox of your readers, and I’m finding that harder than expected these days.

In 2025, my ambition is to return to publishing new Wondermark comics on a regular, consistent schedule. In preparation for that, I’ve been blowing dust off of things and seeing what still works and what needs to be fixed.

My goal is pretty simple: to have a website where you can read my comics, and to provide my comics to you in convenient ways!

Some individual sub-functions of that effort have used third-party services, which have come and gone over the years, and so I’ve been trying to find replacements when necessary.

One key thing I’m troubleshooting right now is email delivery of my comics.

This (WordPress) site generates an RSS feed, and ages ago, you could plug that feed into Feedburner and it would send out an email to your subscribers on any day there were any new posts created.

Then, Feedburner was bought by Google, and of course that meant it was eventually shut down, and now that service no longer exists. So, the goal is to replace that functionality.

Options I’ve considered so far, and what I’ve learned:

  • There is a one-for-one replacement for Feedburner called FeedPress. (You can sign up for the beta-testing FeedPress version of the Wondermark newsletter here.)

    It does exactly what Feedburner did, with one major downside: The FeedPress mailing servers do not appear to be widely trusted by spam filters, so there is no guarantee that the emails will actually make it into every subscriber’s inbox.

    This is my initial observation about the service based on some limited testing — if that proves to be true, I think that’s a fatal flaw.

    It is not a free service, but the cost is reasonable and within my budget.

  • Mailchimp and similar email providers also offer RSS-to-email functions. I find myself in a double-bind, though, because my email list is large enough (~5k) that Mailchimp would be a $100+/month outlay, and it would only increase from there.

    If that cost is unavoidable, it’s unavoidable; but I’m trying to explore all options before committing to that, since ideally this would be a commitment for the long term.

    Every other email provider in this class seems to be roughly the same cost (including newsletter-focused providers such as beehiiv and ButtonDown).

    I do like Mailchimp’s robust tools for segmenting and so on.

  • Notable exception to the above blanket statement is ConvertKit, which has a free tier up to 10k subscribers… But this free tier does not support RSS automation. This means every email would have to be manually created.

    And their goal, of course, is to lock you into their ecosystem if/when I exceed the threshold of the free tier — but perhaps by then I’d be back into the swing of things here, with a more reliable income stream again.

  • If you’ve been getting my emails over the past year or so, you’ve been getting them from Sendfox, which is a pay-once provider (rather than a monthly subscription).

    That felt like a great solution at first, except that recently I’ve run into some troubling hiccups with their service that has me rethinking sticking with them for the long haul.

    Additionally, using their service requires drafting a manual email for every single update, and over the past year I’ve realized that what I really want is an automated solution.

  • I think there is probably a way to use an app within WordPress to send out emails directly from the blog.

    This would involve hitching up an app to a third-party mailing server such as MailerSend, and I am not familiar enough with that process to know what it involves or whether it is a good option.

    The costs involved appear to be similar to a service like Mailchimp.

  • I use Shopify for my online store, and customers who opt into the newsletter at checkout are one main source of new subscribers.

    So I briefly considered whether there might be a way to use Shopify’s marketing tools as the entire newsletter platform. I imagine it would once again mean drafting manual emails each time the WordPress site updates.

  • Finally, some cartoonists are starting to use Substack as a newsletter platform, meaning that becomes a mirror to their main blog, and their subscribers are reached through Substack instead of via the WordPress blog.

    Substack is another potential source of exposure and new readers, but once again it means duplicating everything onto another platform, and also, I don’t care for that platform much personally.

Making the choice

I want to figure this out once and be confident with the decision. The ideal platform is:

  • Cost-effective — it’s a free service I’m providing to readers, after all.
  • Reliable — the whole point is for subscribers to actually get the emails they’ve asked for. This factor seems to depend a lot on the particulars of the sending servers.
  • Simple — automated via RSS would be really great, but I would also accept a Zapier or similar automation that generates emails from the RSS automatically.
  • Flexible — custom segments and the like are nice. My main complaint with Sendfox is that they control the parts of your subscriber list that you can send emails to, and yet have no useful tools for segmenting your list yourself. Super frustrating!!

I guess the point I’ve come to now is: I only know what I know so far, and I’m not super happy with what I know. It doesn’t yet point to a clear choice.

I would love to hear from anyone with good ideas in this realm who can give me their best advice, or some kind of sanity check on whether I’m considering the above in the right way.

Or do you have experiences with any provider mentioned above that you can share, positively or negatively?

ALTERNATIVELY, if you would like to become a SPONSOR of my email list to help cover the cost of one of the more reliable solutions, I would consider including SPONSORED MESSAGES in the emails while also providing ABSOLUTELY NO GUARANTEE of their effectiveness in terms of ROI or whatever!

The way to reach me about any of the above topics is, of course, email: dave@wondermark.com

I figure there’s got to be smart people who have already been around the block on this, and I would love to hear from you if you have!

(Comments is yet another thing I’ll have to figure out how to fix on this site.)

THIS SUNDAY: Tune in live to my basement!

I’m doing a very simple one-day-only holiday promo – I’ve created a convention table at home, and you can visit it virtually!

It works like this:

  • Tune in anytime you like on Twitch between 11am–6pm Pacific time on Sunday. I’ll be working on comics in between chatting with “attendees.”

  • You can also pre-browse my current merch offerings on my site and on BackerKit to familiarize yourself with what’s available.

    (I’m leaving the pre-order store from the pins project open until the end of the year. After that, some – but not all – of the products will migrate back to my online store.)

  • To “approach the table,” join a one-on-one call by going to wondermark.com/bc. This will open a Google Meet that will let us have a face-to-face conversation!

    (Our call will be visible to the Twitch audience too, so you’ll be able to see whether I’m currently talking to anyone or not.)

  • While we chat, I’ll be happy to answer questions about any individual items you like; sign books or prints; and you can even commission a Roll-a-Sketch! Which I can probably draw right there while you watch!

  • You don’t need to buy anything to join and chat! But if you DO want to buy something, I’ll create an online payment link for you.

All U.S. orders will get FREE SHIPPING for any orders placed at BasementCon! You don’t even have to pay for parking or overpriced convention-center pizza!

Of course, you can also place regular store orders (at the links above, or over at TopatoCo, where they offer an overlapping but distinct set of fine Wondermark products) and we’ll get those out promptly to you as well, no conversation required.

For example: Multi-Purpose Greeting Card Sets were out of stock for a while, but they’re back, baby – I’ve reprinted both the holiday editions and the general-purpose versions.

Hope to see you on Sunday!!

Check out: Cabel Sasser’s amazing XOXO 2024 talk

A few months ago, I attended the final XOXO conference in Portland, Oregon.

XOXO is (was) an IRL gathering of “the good internet” — bloggers, hackers, artists, journalists, makers, all coming together to bounce off each other for a few days to see what happens.

Each annual installment was a place of learning, of inspiration, of friendly collegiality and of bonding over shared interests (and shared distress, sometimes — after all, the subject at hand is the internet, and what it does to people).

This year, XOXO returned for the first time since before the pandemic. It was billed as “Once more, with feelings.”

One of the themes that emerged from the talks, presentations, and conversations was the state of community on today’s internet.

Lots of people at XOXO, myself included, have spent the last few years reeling from the hyper-fragmentation and accelerating commodification of online spaces.

For example: Twitter used to be a place where I could reliably converse with and broadcast to a lot of like-minded people. Now, personally, I’m done with Twitter. I’ll never post there again.

That space has become toxic, and not merely toxic, but useless to me with respect to what I want out of a social network (conversation; reach; entertainment).

Bluesky…Threads…Mastodon…Private Discords and niche subreddits…Substack newsletters and Facebook groups just one spam DM away from being hacked…Everyone I know who works online has had to face the question, lately, of what is going to work now.

For now, I’ve personally shifted my focus to Bluesky – here is my personal profile, and here is one for Wondermark comics. I hope to see you there!

As for the video linked above…

All the XOXO speakers were great, and you can watch all their talks on YouTube (from this year and years past).

But I’ve chosen to highlight Cabel Sasser’s talk in this post for a few reasons:

  • It’s very entertaining. The entire audience was on the edge of our seats the whole time.
  • It’s on a topic I care deeply about: remembering, and cherishing, artwork from the past that can speak to us in the present in a new way.
  • It’s about taking time to save, and bring along with us, things we love that might otherwise be lost as we move from place to place, platform to platform, website to website.

Watch the whole talk, and then, visit the website Cabel set up in its aftermath. (No spoilers from me.)

[ Cabel Sasser describes how he discovered a forgotten artist – XOXO 2024 ]