Binding original CEREBUS issues 51-138; size differences mean no trimming

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Matt Stevens	Binding original CEREBUS issues 51-138; size differences mean no trimming	Lead	[-]
Posts: 169 (09/23/08 1:27 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Tags : cerebus, binding, bind, bi-weekly, high society, church state So I snagged an original owner collection of CEREBUS from issues 57 to 136 at about a $1.10 a piece with shipping. It's a true NM set, with white to off-white pages. Absolutely no yellowing of interior pages. No cover soiling. Whites on covers are pristine. Spines are tight and without stressing. Corners are sharp. Gloss is 100%. Simply amazing. I picked up issues 51-56 and 137, 138 locally to complete the three storylines (Church & State I & II, Jaka's Story) and am going to bind in three volumes. Unfortunately, it seems Aardvark changed the size of the book in the upper 50's, making it noticeably smaller. Looking at the issues I think trimming would result in story and dialogue loss. This is for CHURCH & STATE Volume I. The others can be trimmed without any trouble, but then you have one untrimmed volume with two trimmed and that won't look right, so I am thinking I should just go ahead and say to heck with trimming all three. Anyone have any experience binding actual first print Cerebus from this era? Previously I bound the bi-weekly reprints into three volumes (Cerebus the Aardvark, High Society, Church & State I) and ended up getting $300 for them on eBay. After all my costs it was about $40 profit per book. I'll be binding another set of the bi-weekly issues soon, but the originals mentioned above are going to be for me (unless of course I find I can make some real good money on them). I've yet to read past Church & State I, so this will be cool. Also, I have picked up some of the later trade reprints cheaply and am considering binding them if I like them. It does appear gutter loss will be minimal or better, making trades perfect for binding this title. My thinking is for my own collection I should bind either the trades for 1-25 and High Society, or go ahead and use the bi-weekly issues again. It would be nice to have the covers. Back two pages and rear covers would have to be removed since they are the same advertisement, over and over again. That would be annoying. OK, just blah blah blahing here. Opinions always wanted. Last Edited By: Matt Stevens 09/23/08 3:03 PM. Edited 2 times.
leveret1		#1	[-]
Posts: 712 (09/23/08 1:36 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Matt Stevens wrote: Also, I have picked up some of the later trade reprints cheaply and am considering binding them if I like them. It does appear gutter loss will be minimal or better, making trades perfect for binding this title. I have my trades (the first 4-5 anyway) in storage but am considering having them bound in HC as well just to have something more durable. I'm surprised that Dave Sim hasn't produced his own HC set for sale. He could do a LE with some extras or a signed edition. I'm sure there are people who would buy them at a modest premium.
dpbanks	Binding Cerebus issues	#2	[-]
Posts: 667 (09/23/08 2:44 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Anyone have any experience binding actual first print Cerebus from this era? ============ Yes, I have Cerebus 1-300 bound using original issues. Number 1 is a counterfeit but 2-300 are originals. The varying size of width and height is a problem in the early volumes and compromises had to be made to get a good result. I also have a bound set of trades (and have sold 20 complete sets) but the original issues are of more interest to me because of all the other things in the book besides the Cerebus story (letters, photos, stories by other people, etc.). I'm surprised that Dave Sim hasn't produced his own HC set for sale. He could do a LE with some extras or a signed edition. I'm sure there are people who would buy them at a modest premium. =============== I have tried to persuade him to do this and have sent several samples for his review. But for business reasons he has decided not to. dpbanks http://www.singleboundstudios.com/sbsblog.html
Matt Stevens		#3	[-]
Posts: 170 (09/23/08 3:10 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	David, believe me, I'd love to have one of those HC Cerebus Cover editions you created, but likely wouldn't have the coin needed. It's a thing of beeauty. Sim is a strange bird, but most talented artists (artists meaning people of creative talent) are exactly that. From what I can tell, his trade paperback editions sell nicely. They are in every comic shop I have ever been to, not to mention numerous book shops, small or large. Clearly the guy is bringing in money via this method and I guess he doesn't want to rock the boat. Then again, what the hell do I know?! It's possible for me to track down the original High Society issues of Cerebus at a reasonable price, but the page color on most of them would no longer be white. They would be off-white to cream and I really want to avoid using books like that. My first bound volumes, WARLOCK 5 and THE ADVENTURERS, have some issues with off-white to cream colored pages and they really stick out compared to the ones with white pages. You learn by doing and so from here on out I want to be very careful. Of course, as I have mentioned, I have something like two long boxes with prepped books for binding, but the money isn't here to do them right now.
leveret1		#4	[-]
Posts: 714 (09/23/08 3:29 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	dpbanks wrote: I'm surprised that Dave Sim hasn't produced his own HC set for sale. He could do a LE with some extras or a signed edition. I'm sure there are people who would buy them at a modest premium. =============== I have tried to persuade him to do this and have sent several samples for his review. But for business reasons he has decided not to. dpbanks I wonder if he's worried that it will compete with his trade sales. If he made it a limited edition, though, it shouldn't impact sales too much. Besides, as has been pointed out in the forums, there are people who only buy trades versus people who love HC. Obviously, I'm not privy to the "business reasons" but I would think if he priced it so he had a comfortable profit margin, he could make some good extra $ to offset/finance his other projects.
Matt Stevens		#5	[-]
Posts: 171 (09/23/08 4:27 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	There is also the fact that public opinion of Cerebus is that it started to go nowhere after the Jaka's Story issues. 300 issues in multiple hardcovers is a huge expense for most people and likely only the first storylines would be wanted. Look at SIN CITY or LEAGUE OF EXTR GENTS. The first HC sets sold like gangbusters and are commanding huge premium's on eBay (I am putting the slip cased Sin City V1 up on eBay next week) while the second volumes sit unsold. I think HIGH SOCIETY and CHURCH & STATE I & II could do well as HC's, then maybe the first 25 issues, but after that, no way.
leveret1		#6	[-]
Posts: 718 (09/23/08 6:22 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Matt Stevens wrote: There is also the fact that public opinion of Cerebus is that it started to go nowhere after the Jaka's Story issues. 300 issues in multiple hardcovers is a huge expense for most people and likely only the first storylines would be wanted. I stopped after Church & State. I had planned to pick up the later volumes but was turned off by Sim's public rants. Sure, it's his personal work and he can do whatever he wants, but that doesn't mean I have to read or support his misogynistic views. (Yes, I know he claims he isn't one by strict definition but I'm still not interested in his "anti-feminism.") I agree, though, that I think HC of his first few books would do well. Look at SIN CITY or LEAGUE OF EXTR GENTS. The first HC sets sold like gangbusters and are commanding huge premium's on eBay (I am putting the slip cased Sin City V1 up on eBay next week) while the second volumes sit unsold. Actually, it's probably more due to the fact that these first HC sets didn't have huge print runs versus subsequent volumes which is why they're OOP and selling above retail. (Actually, I wasn't aware that Sin City I was OOP.) The same thing happened with Absolute Authority I. Last Edited By: leveret1 09/24/08 2:13 PM. Edited 2 times.
dpbanks	Cerebus 1-300	#7	[-]
Posts: 670 (09/30/08 5:25 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	My personal set of Cerebus 1-300 dpbanks http://www.singleboundstudios.com/sbsblog.html
Matt Stevens		#8	[-]
Posts: 177 (09/30/08 6:51 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Flat out awesome. That front cover die is amazing.
leveret1		#9	[-]
Posts: 778 (09/30/08 10:31 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Agreed. Great-looking set of books. Interesting that you used the front die on all the volumes, though, since Cerebus only looked like that the first few issues.
Matt Stevens		#10	[-]
Posts: 178 (09/30/08 2:42 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Cerebus went through an amazing transformation over the first 25 issues. By the time High Society began, the book was nothing like the first few issues. David, I have to admit, that I am just jealous beyiond belief of that Cerebus collecdtion. That has to be a pride and joy of your collection. It's pretty cool you were able to find a copy of the counterfeit for issue #1. There was a time when even it was commanding a high price because of the nature of the collecting market at that time. I know a guy who paid $225 for one. Soon after the bottom fell out of that thing. Today you'd have an easier time finding AKIRA #38 (which is impossible to find) than the fake CEREBUS #1. Yet it isn't worth much because of the trades. Last Edited By: Matt Stevens 09/30/08 2:50 PM. Edited 1 times.
dpbanks		#11	[-]
Posts: 671 (10/01/08 8:12 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Matt Stevens wrote: Cerebus went through an amazing transformation over the first 25 issues. By the time High Society began, the book was nothing like the first few issues. David, I have to admit, that I am just jealous beyiond belief of that Cerebus collecdtion. That has to be a pride and joy of your collection. It's pretty cool you were able to find a copy of the counterfeit for issue #1. There was a time when even it was commanding a high price because of the nature of the collecting market at that time. I know a guy who paid $225 for one. Soon after the bottom fell out of that thing. Today you'd have an easier time finding AKIRA #38 (which is impossible to find) than the fake CEREBUS #1. Yet it isn't worth much because of the trades. Hi, The picture shows version three of this project. Meaning that I did it two times before and I wasn't quite happy on how I arranged things. I agree the front stamp doesn't look like Cerebus throughtout the series but it was the first die I ever created so it had sentimental reasons attached to its use. I paid $50.00 for the counterfiet #1 and $200.00 for issue #2. I probably have $700 tied up in just volume one. Hello, my name is Dave Banks and I am a binding addict. I doubt if I will ever let loose of these books, but I do have a standing offer of $2,500.00 for current bookbinding client. As for Akira #38. Dean at Krypton comics is looking for a copy for you. I'll keep you posted. dpbanks http://www.singleboundstudios.com/sbsblog.html
Matt Stevens		#12	[-]
Posts: 179 (10/01/08 9:11 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Much appreciated, David. It's amazing how something that fetches just $10 to $40 can be so hard to find. But it is what it is. That issue had a very low print run. I'm still debating exactly how I will bind Cerebus. Not sure if I should go hog wild and just use original issues (with the bi-weekly for issues 1-50) or maybe use some trades for everything past Jaka's Story since it's economical.
dpbanks		#13	[-]
Posts: 673 (10/01/08 12:41 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Matt Stevens wrote: Much appreciated, David. It's amazing how something that fetches just $10 to $40 can be so hard to find. But it is what it is. That issue had a very low print run. I'm still debating exactly how I will bind Cerebus. Not sure if I should go hog wild and just use original issues (with the bi-weekly for issues 1-50) or maybe use some trades for everything past Jaka's Story since it's economical. Matt, The trades are very well done and they bind well so I think you would be satisfied using them for all or part of your project. dpbanks http://www.singleboundstudios.com/sbsblog.html Last Edited By: dpbanks 10/01/08 1:43 PM. Edited 1 times.
Matt Stevens		#14	[-]
Posts: 180 (10/01/08 12:59 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Excellent. Thanks for the word on that. It makes economical sense for me, since living here in NYC is loony expensive (the main reason why I have bound nothing in months). My current thinking is use the bi-weekly issues until Church and State, at which point I have originals in ultra high grade up to 138. From then on I will buy the trades and bind what I like. Guess that makes the most sense.
dpbanks		#15	[-]
Posts: 674 (10/01/08 1:44 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Matt Stevens wrote: Excellent. Thanks for the word on that. It makes economical sense for me, since living here in NYC is loony expensive (the main reason why I have bound nothing in months). My current thinking is use the bi-weekly issues until Church and State, at which point I have originals in ultra high grade up to 138. From then on I will buy the trades and bind what I like. Guess that makes the most sense. Matt, Something to keep in mind as you do this. The depths of your volumes will vary unless you note to the bindery to make sure every cover is the same height and depth. dpbanks http://www.singleboundstudios.com/sbsblog.html
jhalbright		#16	[-]
Posts: 3572 (10/01/08 1:50 PM) Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Dumb question... but didn't some of those early (pre-phone book) Cerebus trades have extras in them that were never collected elsewhere? Also in regards to binding just the phone books, didn't the phone books skip an issue or three? Of which some of them were reprinted in Cerebus Issue Zero? Things to consider. Hey Chicago, whadda say? The Cubs are gonna win today. Go Cubs Go. Go Cubs Go. Hey Chicago, whadda say? The Cubs are gonna win today. They got the power, they got the speed, to be the best in the National League. Well this is the year and Cubs are real, so come on down to Wrigley Field. They're singing... Go Cubs Go. Go Cubs Go. Hey Chicago, whadda say? The Cubs are gonna win today
Matt Stevens		#17	[-]
Posts: 181 (10/01/08 2:20 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Yes, all to be noted. This won't be a slam dunk easy bind. I have to plan it out carefully. David, that's good info. Wouldn't have thought of that. I'd likely do this with LBC because I made a die with them. For AKIRA I'll use Capital. Last Edited By: Matt Stevens 10/01/08 2:24 PM. Edited 1 times.