Cerebus was a comic that I had always meant to get around to reading. I liked the idea that creator Dave Sim used his hero to explore different genres of comics and that he was committed to completing at least 300 issues. As the series went on, I read that it became more of a platform for Sim's beliefs than the ongoing adventures of the characters he created, so I lost interest in checking it out. Is it worth seeking out the earlier issues?
This cover comes about as the result of a suggestion by Mike Shirley, a Patron of this blog - thanks, Mike!
Cerebus is is worthwhile through "Jaka's Story." Granted, I fell out of comics after that and found it difficult to get back in it. But most definitely check out Church & State and High Society. Sim is a very important piece of the history of comics and sadly has some hand ailments that are preventing him drawing.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Zorro could meet the closest thing to a dinosaurian doppelganger; The title could probably be called "The Mark of Saurro".
ReplyDeleteYou'll love the first 50 issues or so. Well worth the time.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, this team-up just astonished me. Yes, yes, yes, I would buy that comic!
ReplyDeleteAragones is a charming gentleman and a cartoon maestro. I grew up on his work in Mad. Wife and daughter and niece still get starry-eyed thinking about meeting him at ChiCon once.
Sim broke all kinds of boundaries with Cerebus. I have a large middle-part Cerebus comics collection (no earliest issues), and all the collected editions... up to a point. IIRC, he was deep into riffing on Hemingway when I gave up the series. The series was intriguing on many levels. Felt bad that, um, we drifted apart. "Marvel and Decease" was funny for comics fans.
Didn't these two actually cross paths, once or twice, in real-world stories?
ReplyDeleteCerebus is worthwhile through about 200 issues, and intermittently after that. There are 2 or 3 exceptional issues during the circling-the-drain period.
ReplyDeleteAnother excellent artistic cover...
ReplyDeleteand it made me think Groo ever met Groot???
or for that matter how about Groot, Groo and Roo (from Winnie-the-Poo)???
They never met in story, but there were a couple of jams...
ReplyDeletehttps://goo.gl/images/kqGvXL
Warning: NSFW
https://goo.gl/images/Tt2BGb
Cerebus is worthwhile through the first 200 issues or so.
The first two volumes are available to download for free in the official Cerebus website: http://www.cerebusdownloads.com/freecerebus/getBOOKs.html
ReplyDeleteWorth a look, even if you're reluctant to dive in.
Groo and the Fat Cave Broad from Johnny Hart's "BC." Separated at birth?
ReplyDeleteHow about Luann DeGroot, and Groot.
ReplyDeleteReally can't recommend Cerebus due to Sim's virulent misogyny. Ya, ya I know he's the groundbreaking indie comic guy but that all gets wiped away by his hatred of women.
ReplyDelete- Alena
Yes yes, yes, Cerebus is Well Worth reading, reading as far as you like and then skipping on to whatever next catches your interest, and finally, some really affecting final pages. If you must skip the earliest issues, yes, High Society.
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to agree to permanently disagree, Walking Man. Literally nothing about Cerebus caught my interest!
ReplyDeleteIf you enjoy reading things from authors who believe that women are generally capable of rational thought, I would avoid Cerebus. John Parker at ComicsAlliance did a short Tribute to Sims a while back that has a quick summary of this, and there are a few comprehensive reviews of the whole 300-issue package out there that are worth reading, but I'd skip the books themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe earliest issues are pretty much sword and sorcery parodies. When he hit his stride he had some very good parody characters like Elrod of Melvinbone, Cootie/Moon Roach/Wolveroach, and Lord Julius. The last was one of the best-written Groucho Marx I've seen.
ReplyDeleteThose issues are well worth it, but I agree about the later issues.
How about Wonder Woman and/or Hercules teamed with Cerebus to fight Cerberus?
ReplyDeleteI've only ever wanted to see Cerebus encounter Wonder Warthog.
ReplyDeleteOr failing that, how about Groo meets Marvel's Razorback (driving Hot Rod The Autobot)?
ReplyDeleteP.S.---unlike me, Hot Rod IS a robot. ;-D
Oh, do read Cerebus. The first volume is mostly unremarkable barbarian stuff -- Sim is very new then -- but start with the second, High Society, in which Cerebus becomes an amusingly resentful catspaw in political intrigues.
ReplyDeleteCerebus truly carved out its own place in comics history. Very heady for its time. The combination of Gerhard's dramatic, textured, gothic backgrounds with the cartoony, simply colored Cerebus was a mind-bending visual for me at the time.
ReplyDeleteNot to be antagonistic, but after watching the ambitiously misandrist "The Last Jedi", I may have to revisit Mr. Sim's hatred of feminism lol.
That viewing experience was a whopper for me. I am now grateful not to have children...boys specifically...