An Audio Moment Of Cerebus

We're back for 2026.

This time:

• Manly Matt Dow "cuts 'em off at the pass", and answers the question "How was your Christmas Matt?" before anybody can ask him...
• And Dave Sim gets indelicate...
• Dave Sim discusses the latest Tales From the Wedding Present Annual he received from Lee Thacker
• Dave Sim talks about a historical photo of Ernest Hemingway from 1953
• Dave Sim got a Christmas card from David L. Russell.
• Dave Sim discusses Christoph McNeill's 2010 Bill Sienkiewicz commission of Cerebus
• author MJ Sewall has a question for Dave about...rulers?
• Larry Wooten has a question about a con sketch he acquired
• author MJ Sewall has a question about Denis Kitchen and his role in the publication of "Dave Sim's Last Girlfriend", Susan Alston's (so far as I can tell) unpublished book on her relationship with Dave Sim.
• And Manly Matt Dow reminds Everybody about his "relationship" with Denis Kitchen
•  @creative_fey  has comments on last month's Please Hold, and new questions. Dave Sim has answers.

All this and more or something. Honestly, just listen to the thing. You ain't busy...

Cerebus creator Dave Sim returns for the last Please Hold For Dave Sim of 2025, and it's the Christmas episode!

In this Please Hold:

• I have no idea.
• Back when we recorded these things live over the phone, I'd take notes.
• But now that Dave doesn't have a phone, I send the questions and he records the answers.
• Usually I do the Audio after I edit all the videos, but this month I'm pressed for time and wanted to see how long the whole shebang was.
• An hour and thirty five-ish minutes.
• So I haven't listened to anything.
• I dunno if I was supposed to insert audio anywhere.
• It's a surprise for everybody!

It's the November Please Hold For Dave Sim, wherein Dave:

• Dave gets the missing bits from the October Faux
• Dave answers MJ Sewall's question about Music
• Dave discusses Tristan and Iseult and the Research I found on it
• Dave discusses why there's no print glamourpuss collection

Dave wanted me to record my bit from the Faux, but that involves more work than it's worth. Here's what I said:

"Well, the comic art stuff is basically The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, and the fashion parody material is essentially the humor in Cerebus in Hell?, so glamourpuss is (ya know, if you squint a little) continuing in the pages of those two books. In my opinion, your results may vary…"

and

"Ian!

 The sad answer is that the hardcovers don't bring in enough money to justify the cost (I think there are things that could be done to lower said costs, but since Dave isn't a "hardcover guy", it's a moot point...)

 Softcovers are losers too since Diamond is out of business, and them buying a significant chunk of the print run is the only way to finance the 17 to 20 grand printing bill.

Dave has said that he's open to printing expensive "one offs" of any of the out of print phonebooks through Studio Comix Press.

 But, I'll ask, things might have changed...

Manly

 So, there’s that to chew over while you munch your…wait, I already did that joke, didn’t I?"

• Dave discusses a technique he picked up from Little Annie Fannie
• Dave discusses a Fake Cerebus page
• Dave discusses new printings of the phonebooks

It's a hoot.

See you next month...

Hey, look Dave Sim's back answering peoples questions and comments and reminiscing about..."the good times".

Like:

• MJ Sewall wrote Dave a letter. He's also working on a biography of Dave. Jeff Seiler would NOT be pleased...
• Matt (that's me) asked Dave for status updates on The Strange Death of Alex Raymond and the Ninja High School crossover.
• Then Steve Bissette got into the Eisner Hall of Fame. I let Dave know.
• James Banderas-Smith tagged me in a thing about Jim Raymond, Alex's brother and the artist on Blondie dying. And I thought it was weird that both Jim Raymond and Stan Drake worked on Blondie. AND Dave drops some knowledge!
• Then Dave discusses an old WAP article James Bananarama-Smith found...
• and the Marvel "Cease & Desist" letter Dave got about the Wolveroach...
• and the Poster for The Towering Inferno...
• Mario said some nice things about me, Dave says some nice things too.
• And then things in the Faux went missing so Dave talks about his Mom throwing away his comics. (Which led Matt to track down an article from Playboy from December 1970. "I was googling Playboy for the ARTICLES, Ma!".)

Good times, good times...

Dave Sim (acoustically) and Matt Dow (spiritually/editorially/technically/not-actually) return for the...uh...eight, nine, SEPTEMBER Please Hold For Dave Sim. In this one:

• Dave and Matt need to change how they do these things.
• And then Dave discusses the Late Jim Shooter's remembrance of the Wolveroach affair.

• MJ Sewall (who's writing a biography of Dave Sim, I know, Jeff Seiler is spinning in his grave...) has a question that Dave has a sorta answer to.
• Dave remembers the late Jim Shooter and their relationship, including how Dave's portfolio of Marvel characters "Original Sim" appeared in Marvel Fanfare #25. And how the planned Cerebus/X-Men crossover came to be.
• Dave gets follow-ups to the July/August Please Hold from our resident transcriptionist  @SanctuaryofReality ​
• Dave answers questions and comments from  @creative_fey  .
• Dave answers Rodney Schroeter's question.
• David Birdsong has some questions, and Dave has some Cerebus in Hell? ideas...
• Dave answers a number of questions from MJ Sewall relating to MJ's upcoming biography about Dave.
• Dave's dramatic reading of a short story sent in by Byron Dunbar, which ties in to the last two pages of The Strange Death of Alex Raymond Dave has completed.

Geez, you thought it was over just because it was the first Saturday of the month?

Fool!

"Having no working phone or fax, the idea of recording these as a live conversation between Dave Sim and Manly Matt Dow on the first Thursday of the month has pretty much gone out the window. Now, Matt sends whatever questions he's gotten up to Dave once a week, and Dave records answers and sends those files back. And then Matt edits them into these things forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and..."

Dave talks alot about the things I sent him. I dunno, writing these synopsizes is a pain...

Having no working phone or fax, the idea of recording these as a live conversation between Dave Sim and Manly Matt Dow on the first Thursday of the month has pretty much gone out the window. Now, Matt sends whatever questions he's gotten up to Dave once a week, and Dave records answers and sends those files back. Which means it's easier to produce the video version on the YouTube then it it to make the audio version on the Spotify...

This month, Dave talks for around three and a half hours. And this isn't even all the questions, so there will probably be a part two...

So... Dave Sim currently has no working phone, or fax machine.

"That means no more Please Hold right?"

Sorry Imaginary Spotify listener, who I didn't even realize lives rent free in my head, as they say "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds". Which means, Dave and I found a workaround. I email the Qs to the printshop, and they print them out, Dave's assistant picks them up, and then Dave records his As on his professional recorder (so the sound is REAL good!), has it sent to me, and I cobble it all together.

"Wait, no Matt-meandering-gobbledeygook? That's gotta make this pretty short..."

You'd think that, but the Audio runs two hours and thirty-five minutes...

This time: (I haven't listened to these fully, so I can only go by what I sent Dave)

• Dave discusses a box of stuff Matt Sent
• Then a PRE-Hold For Dave Sim, of things I would have just faxed up as they came across my desk, but I sent to be printed the same day as this month's questions
• Then the official questions:

1. Matt remembers Jeff Seiler
2. Dave remembers Jackson "Butch" Guice and Peter David
3. A message from Zolastraya
4. Fernando Ramirez's next Cerebus short story
5. @creative_fey AKA April C.'s next batch of questions
6. Jesse Herndon's Please Hold transcript for July 2024
7. Zombie Cerebus covers
8. "CEREBUS ARCHIVE - FIRST RELEASE" gold seals
9. the indicia on issue #6
10. the day Elvis and his mom died and Madonna was born
11. Strange Death of Alex Raymond original art portfolios?
12. This month's Please Hold strip

That's what I asked, but, again, I haven't listened to the whole thing, so no idea what Dave may have skipped/cut out.

Let's find out together!

Cerebus creator Dave Sim and A Moment of Cerebus Interim Editor Manly Matt Dow return for the May 2025 Please Hold For Dave Sim.

In this four HOUR+ conversation, Dave and Matt discuss:

• Is it TOO SOON for the next Cerebus Archive Portfolio Kickstarter?
• Last month's Please Hold strip.
• THIS month's Please Hold strip.
• The wonderous dangers of Internet access.
• The insane legal precedent of the word "Medieval"
• Dave remembers Cerebus Fan Jeff Seiler.
• Dave's answers to the latest questions from April C. AKA @creative_fey
• Dave answer's Robin McConnell's questions about Canadian comics work published from the late 60's to about 1982.
• The Fish Slingin’ Auteur of Lompoc, California: MJ Sewall's question about Dave's comic collection.
• Dave's idea for MJ's next book.
• Matt's childhood.
• The radio voice of the Yankees...Dave SimS?
• The Guys Prizes from the LAST Kickstarter.
• Owen Kline's film Funny Pages and the Cerebus cameo that wasn't.
• Dave's favorite Jam pieces and creators rights
• Dave's studios
• Matt's fundraising efforts for his daughter's dance team.
• AV in 3D
• How Dave did the colour for early Cerebus covers
• The price of original art on Heritage
• Dave's exclusion from Eclipse comics 1992 Famous Comics Creators trading card sets
• SPOGZ!
• The origin of the Fleagle brothers
• Dave discusses lettering
• Matt reminds Dave of the time Dave impressed Will Eisner.
• Page 5 of issue #173
• Dave's answer to four "celebrity questions"

All this and more (it's four hours long!) await you in this month's Please Hold For Dave Sim!

“We choose to Please Hold and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…and because we ain’t too bright…” -Manly Ferry-tits Kennedy

This month:

• Cerebus Fan Jeff Seiler: REMEMBERED!
• Please Hold For Dave Sim comments: ACKNOWLEDGED!
• Canadian Underground Comix: BEGRUGINGLY RECOGONIZED!
• Beavers (and How Yours Is): REVEALED!
• Questions: ANSWERED!
• Prizes: WON!
• This bit: ANNOYING!

Dave Sim and Manly Matt Dow discuss all the things they're asked about. Was your question/comment/marriage proposal dealt with? Listen pal, I just RECORD the damn thing, I don't LISTEN to it...but sure, they dealt with you and your problems. How's about you just listen and see if any of it is familiar to you? Capisce?

Great! See ya next month...