Cerebus (Cerebus Book 1, Issues 1-25) [Paperback]

In retrospect what is fascinating here is to reconsider these stories and see how a funny-animal comic book, that begins with Cerebus bouncing on top of a horse as he a city to engage in some Conan the Barbarian like thievery. After all, Cerebus is wearing Conan's helmet and has a necklace with large round things on it just link Conan in the beginning. But then in #3 "Song of Red Sophia" and #4 "Death's Dark Tread" two important things happen. The first is that Sim undertakes some parodies of some supporting characters from the Conan comic book: Robert E. Howard's Red Sonja becomes Red Sophia and Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melibone becomes Elrod the Albino who has a tall pointy hat and speaks exactly like Foghorn Leghorn. The second is that these two twisted characters become the first recurring characters in the "Cerebus" world, and from them Sim branched out in other directions for his targets.

Sim did go back and have some fun with turning another of Howard's original characters into Bran Mak Mufin (#5), but ultimately what took "Cerebus" to the next level were three characters. The first was the original character of Jaka the dancing girl (#6), who was clearly intended as a one-shot character. But the pathos of her parting with Cerebus, who has forgotten her once he sobers up, suggested for the first time there could be some pathos in these tales. The second was the ultimate parody character, the Cockroach (#11), who would pop up from time to time in the series and embody whoever was the hot comic book character of the moment. Okay, that makes sense for the Wolveroach but not the Moon Roach, but you get the idea. The third character was Cerebus' greatest foil, Lord Julius, who was first introduced in "Silverspoon" in the "Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom" (Lord Julius is the father of a spoiled Prince Valiant type son) and then took center stage in the Palnu Trilogy: "The Walls of Palnu" (#14), "A Day in the Pits" (#15), and "A Night at the Masque" (#16), at the end of which we learn that Jaka is Lord Julius's neice. However, what is important here is that Lord Julius looks and talks like Groucho Marx, a coincidence that is explained by the fact Groucho's real name was Julius.

Lord Julius is important because he made it easy for Sim to do stories about politics and to do so with a character whose major strength is his imperturbability and his refusal to be cornered on any point of contention. Add to this the fact that he is running the whole show in Palnu and it is impossible not to take great joy in every scene in which he appears. Every other "real" person who appeared in the 300 issues of "Cerebus," from Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, got through the front door because Lord Julius ripped it off the hinges and threw it on the floor.

The Palnu Trilogy is also Sim's first 71-page Cerebus story, which is what sets the stage for the "books," the first of which is presented in the second volume in this collection "High Society." This is clearly the point at which Sim starts thinking of having a big picture and eventually getting to the point where he can announce he knows how the whole thing is going to end. For the record I consider "High Society" to be the high water mark of Cerebus and the justification for giving this first volume five stars as well is because the historical value of watching how Sim turns his funny animal comic book into a first rate socio-political satire becomes a key part of the equation.

I definitely think that there was a point where "Cerebus," in the current vernacular, "jumped the shark," but before that point (which I hope to pinpoint as I reread all 300 issues) there was a period of time when this comic book was as the one I most looked forward to reading each month. Going back and starting over from the beginning certainly reminds me what that was the case.

One of the works that I've always been remembered to pick up was the Dave Sim's Cerebus. And, unfortunately (now I know), I postponed this for a long time!!

Reading the reviews in the net, I decided to begin by the second volume in the Cerebus Saga (High Society).

Then I had a wonderful surprise! I haven't finished to read the fourth story and I've been already engaged in the aardvark adventures, in such way that I had to make a great effort to stop reading the book (I did not want to stop not even to eat!). I began to agree that Cerebus was not only above the average comic book works, it was far above, it was one of the great works of the medium.

But this review is about the first book, isn't?

Yes, it is (I'm just recommending you to buy the second too, and the third, and keep reading until the end of the saga :) . I hope also that Amazon decides to sell all the books, instead of only the first 12).

It is just to agree with some people that say that it is better to begin reading Cerebus by High Society, and come back to the first book. Thus you'll really enjoy the introductions of the characters that you have already met in the second book - and some that you haven't, but will be important in the next books, like: Red Sonja, who will get "marriage" with Cerebus (and make him to like sex); President Weisshaupt, etc.

In this book we see also: Jaka (Cerebus only one true love) who, surprisingly, doesn't seem to be an important character; Lord Julius, who will introduce Cerebus in the world of the bureaucracy and politics; the completely crazy "cockroach" who will incorporate all the cliches of the mainstream super-hero characters; Elrod the Albino, who will bring us a very funny story when he "dies"!!! :); professor "Charles X. Claremont" and his "woman-thing", together with the "sump-thing", and many others that I could write for hours and hours about.

This is probably one of the funniest books in the series. Here we see Cerebus as a barbarian. He goes in wars, fights with wizards and shows his abilities to con people. Cerebus is always trying to get gold, but when he gets some, he never knows how to keep it, or expend it in games and drinks (which are the things he loves most to do, besides sleep and raw potatoes)!

I rated the first book five stars, because although the stories begin a bit crude (as the author himself recognizes), the artwork and the texts increase exponentially in quality (while the nose of Cerebus decreases :), thanks Dave! ).

Finally, I don't agree with some people that say that the book becomes better when Cerebus meets Lord Julius, I think that, if you did like me and began reading High Society, it is better a little early than this!