Name: Dave Sim
City: Kitchener, Ontario
Comics: Cerebus, glamourpuss, Cerebus Archive, Poit, Judenhass
Websites: www.CerebusTV.com

QRD – How old were you when you first got into comics & did you always stick with them or did you come back to them?

Dave – I was probably three or four when I first got into comics.  I left them around age ten for a year or so when I got into chemistry & came back around age 11 for good.

QRD – What was the first comic book you ever bought? 

Dave – The first one I remember buying was Superman #165, November, 1963.

QRD – How old were you when you put out your first comic? 

Dave – Self-publishing? 21.

QRD – What decade do you think produced the best comics? 

Dave – Late 60s to mid 70s.

QRD – Why comics instead of just writing or drawing? 

Dave – More challenging.

QRD – Do you see mini-comics & indie comics as paths to mainstream comics or as their own unique media? 

Dave – Their own unique media.

QRD – How many copies of your comic do you print in your first run? 

Dave – glamourpuss is at around 2,700 copies every other month.

QRD – How much do you think comics should cost? 

Dave – 10¢ sounds about right to me, but I’d go up to 12¢ if it’s a really good one.

QRD – How many books do you produce a year & how many would you like to? 

Dave – 6 issues of glamourpuss & 6 issues of Cerebus Archive.

QRD – Do you think stories should be serialized or delivered as complete works? 

Dave – Depends on the story & the creator.

QRD – How are comic strips different than comic books & which medium do you prefer? 

Dave – Comic strips are kind of simplified & redundant, but I think I would prefer them if they were still viable & if I could be autonomous doing them.

QRD – How long is it from when you start a comic until it’s printed? 

Dave – With glamourpuss between five weeks & two months.

QRD – What do you better with your comics now than when you first started? 

Dave – I ink better.

QRD – At what point in the artistic process do you work digitally? 

Dave – I don’t.  I get Sandeep to do my scanning & putting the lettering in.

QRD – What do you think of digital comics & webcomics? 

Dave – I think they’re a good entry-level way of doing comics.

QRD – Do you prefer working in color or black & white? 

Dave – Black & white.

QRD – How many different people should work on a comic & what should their jobs be? 

Dave –Depends on the comic, depends on the people.  I think it works best if each person is doing what he enjoys doing best.

QRD – How do you find collaborators? 

Dave – I don’t; but in a general sense I would think online, at conventions, & by word of mouth.

QRD – How tight do you think a script should be as far as telling the artist what to draw?

Dave – Depends on the artist.  If you work the way he wants, I think you’ll get better results most of the time.

QRD – What comic book person would you be most flattered to be compared to? 

Dave – Al Williamson - either as an artist or a person.

QRD – What do your friends & family think of your comics? 

Dave – No friends & no family to speak of.  When I did have friends & family it was mostly as if I was building scale models of famous buildings out of earwax.  “Isn’t that… interesting.”

QRD – What do you think of superheroes? 

Dave – Good “Reader’s Digest” form of good & power wedded, ideal for adolescent boys to understand the concept.

QRD – Marvel or DC? 

Dave – Haven’t looked at either in a long while, so I couldn’t say.
 
QRD – What comic characters other than your own would you like to work with? 

Dave – Bacchus would be fun.

QRD – Ideally would you self-publish? 

Dave – Evidently.

QRD – What conventions do you try to attend & why? 

Dave – All done with conventions unless the field ends up deciding I’m not a misogynist & signs the online petition.

QRD – What do you do to promote your books? 

Dave – Cerebus TV.

QRD – Do you think your comics are well suited to comic shops or would sell better elsewhere? 

Dave – Comic shops.  I think I think it’s the only place you can sell comics.

QRD – What other medium would you like to see some of your comics made into (television, film, games, action figures, etc.)? 

Dave – I wouldn’t “like” them to be made into any other medium, but simple 2011 economics might make it necessary.

QRD – Do you consider yourself a comic collector or a comic reader or both? 

Dave – Both, but primarily a reader.

QRD – What do you see as the most viable mediums for comics distribution 10 years from now? 

Dave – Comic stores, hopefully, with some online elements.

QRD – What would you like to see more people doing with comics? 

Dave – Subjects for which they have a unique perspective & in which their own interest is incandescent.

QRD – Anything else? 

Dave – Gee, I sure hope so.