“The Strange Death of Alex Raymond (Bookplate #2)” (2021)
by Carson Grubaugh (1981- )
8.75 x 11.75 in., ink and brush on board
Coppola Collection
In The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, Dave Sim, legendary creator of Cerebus the Aardvark, and Carson Grubaugh, talented and creative artist across multiple media, explore and examine the line-making techniques of some of comics’ greatest photorealist creators.
The art is impressive. And thanks to work of master production designer and line-smith, Sean Michael Robinson, the integrity of the printing and reproduction is truly unmatched.
“The Strange Death of Alex Raymond” (SDOAR) is self-contained in a 320-page, 8.25×12 inch oversized hardcover book.
From April 28 – May 22, 2021, the book was available at a pre-sale Kickstarter, a S/N limited edition sold out on May 10. Original art is available from Carson.
Kickstarter.com, search for “The Strange Death of Alex Raymond” for the rest of the history.
I enjoy Carson’s art and really like having the pieces that I’ve picked up or commissioned. He is also a terrific person to work with, and we share a real-life connection as academics.
There was one reward tier in the Kickstarter, a 1/1 edition that included the original art for the bookplate affixed to the book along with a few pages of original art (called the “morbid” level because the tier price of $906.56 is the date of the titular death).
Yes, yes… that was me who got it. I also picked up some other art that I liked from the book.
During the campaign, Carson posted the draft for an earlier version of the bookplate, one where he and Dave were locked in a cosmic battle, swirling in a fray while a Rip Kirby character reassures us that all is swell. Dave rejected it as an idea. I did not. So, for an extra dollop of money, I commissioned Carson to complete the art and to attach it to the inside back cover as Bookplate #2 for the 1/1 edition.
The big reveal was waiting until the book was in my hands.
I scripted the dialog and loaded it with allusions. Even the brief version is too long. Suffice it to say that I am the alchemist, and Dave did warn Carson about me, so that is the origin of this cosmic battle.
Carson’s reply is more direct and practical. The only thing you need to figure here is that because the $906.56 was selected for its honoring the day Alex Raymond died (Sept 6, 1956), I offered the $310.97 for the second bookplate because March 10, 1997, is the day that Stan Drake died, which belongs at ‘the other end of a SDOAR book’ and now does so.
Additional images: the original art for the actual bookplates pasted into the 1/1 edition, and the signed bookplate derived from that art.
Briefly, in case you are coming in late: Dave Sim claims a metaphysical view of a highly interconnected existence that, from what I have read, is an unwarranted POV and is wholly consistent with mystical (based on one’s experience) rather than metaphysical (based on first principles) philosophy. I really cannot explain the rest with any coherence. Suffice it to say that having spoken out a few times, I was assessed as being possessed by the demons of the spirit who lives in the earth, the one who seeks to silence Sim, and who drove me to select “alchemist” as by eBay name, years ago (as opposed to the fact that I am a chemist who loves chemical history and who has drawn one-panel cartoons called ‘Animated Alchemy’ and ‘Al Kemist’). Whatever. Anyhow, Dave did warn Carson about me, so that is the origin of this cosmic battle. Fans of the “Cerebus” comics will recognize the homage to Dave’s lettering and scripting in the way the text is represented in his word balloon.
