Main fundraiser photo

Strange Death of Alex Raymond 2024

UPDATE #2: Our second goal of $8,000 has just been met, meaning we have *three* Giant-Size SDOAR Ashcans to finish producing. That also means 65 pages have been unlocked by generous fans. Wow! The new goal of $12,0000 follows the same model, with a new page unlocked after every $200, and Giant-Size Ashcan #3 will be unlocked when we hit $12,000. Thanks for keeping this thing rolling! -- Jen

PREVIOUS UPDATE: Our first goal of $4,000 has been met, meaning I get to work on ashcans for the first 45 unlocked pages! The new goal of $8,000 follows the same plan. A new page unlocks after every $200, and another ashcan gets unlocked once we hit $8,000. Thanks so much for all of your support so far! -- Jen
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MOSTLY ORIGINAL TEXT: TL;DR: Strange Death of Alex Raymond is back and needs your help! What is The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, you ask?

"[Strange Death of Alex Raymond is ...] comics’ answer to Finnegans Wake, an inspired work of obsessive genius that will take a long time to untangle." - Rob Salkowitz, FORBES
Those of you familiar with the Eisner-nominated but unfinished The Strange Death of Alex Raymond graphic novel might know that legendary Cerebus creator Dave Sim stopped working on the story, leaving Carson Grubaugh to provide his own finale.

Only that's not exactly true. Dave restarted work on the story in 2021 and has mocked up 320 additional pages, many pasted up but an increasing number of sequences drawn by Dave as his wrist has allowed.

After many fax exchanges with Dave, I finally convinced him to approve me running a three-month experiment to see how much money we can raise for him to continue working unabated on The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, a.k.a. SDOAR a.k.a. SDOAR 2023. The good news is Dave lives a no-frills life, literally eating dollar-store tuna and keeping all living expenses to the barest minimum. $4,000 a month is quite sufficient for him to continue working at a clip of 20 mocked-up pages per month until completion. We've unlocked over 40 pages so far and will continue to run this campaign as long as there are pages to unlock (trust me, there are A LOT to get to!)

The plan is as follows, with stipulations per Dave's request:
  • Anyone who donates $5 or more to this GoFundMe campaign is entitled to exclusive online access via Dropbox to any pages unlocked during the campaign. If Dropbox is a problem, contact me for other arrangements.
  • To kick the project off, Dave allowed me to upload to Dropbox the 21 pages he mocked up between July 15 and November 20, 2019, pages that Carson Grubaugh rendered in blue ink in SDOAR HC pgs. 261 to 281 (also reprinted as a Kickstarter exclusive in Strange Death of Alex Raymond Mockups).
  • In addition, we have unlocked 44 more pages, from June 11 to October 1, 2021, already uploaded to Dropbox.
  • In other words, for those who read Strange Death of Alex Raymond hardcover and want to read DAVE’S SOLO continuation of the story directly from page 253 (i.e., the end of “issue 5”), we got you covered.
  • For those who read Strange Death of Alex Raymond hardcover and want to read DAVE’S SOLO continuation of the story directly following page 281 (the completion of Carson’s blue renderings of Dave’s 2019 mockups), we also got you covered.
  • If you haven’t read Strange Death of Alex Raymond, we recommend (nay, urge) you purchase from your local comic book store -or- Living the Line Publishing (physical or digital) -or- Amazon.
  • Now for the good stuff -- for every $200 raised in total, we will unlock an additional page for all donors. In other words, we’re all in this together. Bear in mind that due to the GoFundMe fee structure, we ask that all donations be at least five dollars.
  • For every $4,000 raised in total, we will, in addition to 20 pages added to Dropbox, unlock an exclusive offer to produce full-size ashcans of the pages at the same time. Pricing is TBD but will be done via Alfonso and Studiocomix Press
  • In addition, once we hit our first $4,000 goal as a group, Dave will offer two ashcans. #0 will include the 21 pages from 2019, and #1 will consist of the first 24 pages from 2021 (June 11 to August 14). UPDATE: We are now working on the ashcans!
  • Every additional $4,000 raised (I will update the fundraising goals as we cross each threshold) will unlock another portfolio and ashcan.
  • If we can raise $12,000 in three months, Dave has agreed to continue this arrangement for the foreseeable future. Less than that, well, we’ll have to see what Dave thinks about the whole thing.
  • Once you have donated, please contact me through GoFundMe or at jen at typingmonkeys dot com, and I’ll add you to Dropbox.
  • Manly Matt Dow has kindly offered me the use of the Tuesday A Moment of Cerebus website/blog update to keep everyone in the loop on the latest goings on.
  • Depending on interest, I might also set up a private, super-secret group on Facebook for donors to wax eloquently (or ineloquently, as the case may be) on each new page released.
  • I will update the GoFundMe page regularly, roll out a newsletter if folks don’t find that too invasive, and see if I can keep the train on the tracks for the foreseeable future.

Please drop me a note at jen at typingmonkeys dot com with any questions!!

Thanks!

Jen
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Donations 

  • Joshua Mitton
    • $25 
    • 14 d
  • Keith Hackett
    • $10 
    • 15 d
  • Michael Grabowski
    • $15 
    • 15 d
  • Anonymous
    • $50 
    • 16 d
  • Michael Ragiel
    • $10 
    • 20 d
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Organizer

Jennifer DiGiacomo
Organizer
New York, NY

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