hereticburger's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
600bars's review
2.0
I have no clue how to rate this. I have a file on my phone of photos of books that I take whenever I go to a bookstore. I took a pic of this in 2019 or 18 at a bookstore in oak park Illinois. This year when someone sold the entire collection I knew I recognized it from somewhere, and it was from the pic I took! I knew nothing about it whatsoever, it just had a sick cover.
It wasn’t like a graphic novely graphic novel, it was more like traditional comics. I’m very inexperienced with comics and it is a detriment at my job when I do comics appraisals, so I decided to continue even tho it’s not usually my thing. I am not very into superhero stuff so I figured this is good that I’m reading a comic that is not superhero related.
Unfortunately the fact that I don’t read comics meant I was likely missing many references throughout. I looked it up after and I know it’s a parody so of course I missed much of the things it’s parodying. I know enough to recognize that the bug superhero guy was making fun of captain America.
It’s also obvious that this collection of issues is the author kinda finding his footing. The art drastically improves over the course of the volume, the lettering gets much easier to read, and the plots start to make sense. So I’m afraid to judge this too harshly because the beginning ones honestly look like drafts. At first the plots were both repetitive and confusing, I felt like the arcs didn’t last long enough and by the time I had a grasp on what was happening the issue would end and a new adventure would begin. But there were glimmers of good stuff, I really enjoyed the sequence where Cerebus is drugged and is playing both sides with the fascist witch women and the spirit sorcerer guy. There were also several bits that were funny on their own even if I didn’t know what the reference was, like lord Julius’s bureaucratic government.
Cerebus the character was fun. I love a curmudgeon. He reminded me of Tyrion Lannister a bit but without the family baggage (that we know of). He’s physically unusual, he loves to drink, he loves money, he’s always falling into snafus. Though Tyrion is not as misanthropic as Cerebus is.
This was like 500+ pages and I found it a slog for the first 350ish. Graphic novels are never a slog so it was kind of a drag! The whole beginning I was just wishing I was reading berserk instead. But I do see the potential of this world and characters. I’m honestly glad I didn’t love it because the books look so cool and they are so expensive and I would be tempted to buy them from work and I shouldn’t. I’ve since looked it up and the rest of the story is like 6,000 more pages and supposedly more coherent. This was like a prequel. But I also read it gets mysogynistic and idk if I’m committed enough to read any more based off this first volume!
It wasn’t like a graphic novely graphic novel, it was more like traditional comics. I’m very inexperienced with comics and it is a detriment at my job when I do comics appraisals, so I decided to continue even tho it’s not usually my thing. I am not very into superhero stuff so I figured this is good that I’m reading a comic that is not superhero related.
Unfortunately the fact that I don’t read comics meant I was likely missing many references throughout. I looked it up after and I know it’s a parody so of course I missed much of the things it’s parodying. I know enough to recognize that the bug superhero guy was making fun of captain America.
It’s also obvious that this collection of issues is the author kinda finding his footing. The art drastically improves over the course of the volume, the lettering gets much easier to read, and the plots start to make sense. So I’m afraid to judge this too harshly because the beginning ones honestly look like drafts. At first the plots were both repetitive and confusing, I felt like the arcs didn’t last long enough and by the time I had a grasp on what was happening the issue would end and a new adventure would begin. But there were glimmers of good stuff, I really enjoyed the sequence where Cerebus is drugged and is playing both sides with the fascist witch women and the spirit sorcerer guy. There were also several bits that were funny on their own even if I didn’t know what the reference was, like lord Julius’s bureaucratic government.
Cerebus the character was fun. I love a curmudgeon. He reminded me of Tyrion Lannister a bit but without the family baggage (that we know of). He’s physically unusual, he loves to drink, he loves money, he’s always falling into snafus. Though Tyrion is not as misanthropic as Cerebus is.
This was like 500+ pages and I found it a slog for the first 350ish. Graphic novels are never a slog so it was kind of a drag! The whole beginning I was just wishing I was reading berserk instead. But I do see the potential of this world and characters. I’m honestly glad I didn’t love it because the books look so cool and they are so expensive and I would be tempted to buy them from work and I shouldn’t. I’ve since looked it up and the rest of the story is like 6,000 more pages and supposedly more coherent. This was like a prequel. But I also read it gets mysogynistic and idk if I’m committed enough to read any more based off this first volume!
mschlat's review
3.0
The review is below. First this...
...Disclaimer about Cerebus: From the excellent podcast/essay Cerebus: Misogyny and Madness by Eric Rosenfield:
I started reading Cerebus as single issue comics around 1990 and started buying the collections shortly thereafter. I found the graphic novels [b:High Society|198463|High Society (Cerebus, #2)|Dave Sim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388458651l/198463._SX50_.jpg|191978], [b:Jaka's Story|198470|Jaka's Story (Cerebus, #5)|Dave Sim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1364076045l/198470._SX50_.jpg|191985], and [b:Melmoth|198466|Melmoth (Cerebus, #6)|Dave Sim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386920890l/198466._SX50_.jpg|191981] excellent, and while I thought the plot got a bit too cosmic from time to time, I looked forward to the next installment. That all stopped with [b:Reads|198467|Reads (Cerebus, #9)|Dave Sim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389628150l/198467._SX50_.jpg|191982], where misogyny went from plot point and subtext to text and author commentary. I found it difficult to mesh the author of strong female characters like Jaka and Astoria with the Dave Sim who stated that women were irrational brain-sucking parasites.
Looking back, there are hints of Sim's beliefs. In the early Cerebus, no religious tradition is treated sympathetically, but the all female Cirinists are depicted as dour "let's end fun in our lifetimes" moralists. And then there's the rape scene in Cerebus #94, which can be read many ways (and was at the time of its publishing), but still shows an expansion of the anti-female thinking of Cerebus. But, until Reads, you could argue that the misogyny was an expression of Cerebus's character, not Sim's.
So, it's tough to recommend reading Cerebus now (especially if you're considering the entire 300-issue 6000-page opus). The collections I suggested above I will still suggest as good reads. And, echoing Rosenfield above, there is much to praise about Sim's craft. I can't think of a better letterer in comics, especially when it came to matching emotion with the shape of words. And I find it difficult to identify anyone as adept as doing comedy in comics as Sim --- his linework, panel construction, and pacing were top-notch. But if you read enough Cerebus, you'll hit the unsupported vitriol.
And now, a review of the volume in question: When this volume (which collects the first twenty-five issues of Cerebus) starts, Sim is doing a crude pastiche of the Barry Windsor-Smith version of Conan the Barbarian. There are thick lines everywhere and huge chunks of nearly unreadable prose, all leavened with the absurdity of a cartoon aardvark as the protagonist. When this volume ends, Sim has moved to a fine line approach that better accentuates the comedy, is delivering hilarious dialogue, and is confident enough to handle multi-issue storylines. He has introduced much of the supporting cast (the Roach, Jaka, Lord Julius, Red Sophia, Elrod the Albino) and has firmly placed Cerebus in the role of outsider in the comedic asylum.
So it's a weird read. Rarely have I seen a creator develop this much over 25 issues. And, after this volume, Sim will write [b:High Society|198463|High Society (Cerebus, #2)|Dave Sim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388458651l/198463._SX50_.jpg|191978] (a twenty five issue storyline) and decide to use the title to write a 300 issue novel. But the first twenty issues or so do not in any way feel like the beginning of a novel. They're scattershot --- fun, but undirected.
Do you need to read this to appreciate future Cerebus? Well, probably.... There's a climatic joke in High Society important to the plot that only makes sense if you've read a story in this volume. And I don't know lost a newcomer would be to later volumes without the character introductions in this volume. (Mind you, there's a lot of confusion a newcomer might feel just reading this volume; you need to be fairly familiar with 1970's fantasy, comics, and animation to get all the jokes.) So, if you want to fully understand High Society or (Tarim help you) Church & State, read this. I *think* you can get a lot of Jaka's Story or Melmoth without reading this.
...Disclaimer about Cerebus: From the excellent podcast/essay Cerebus: Misogyny and Madness by Eric Rosenfield:
Cerebus stands as curious thing. It’s an indelible part of comics history by one of its most skilled practitioners whose whiz-bang pyrotechnics of graphical storytelling–framing of pages, sequencing actions, establishing a mood, communicating emotion, are virtually unrivaled. It’s plot seems to meander off into whatever Sim happens to be thinking about at the time and has very little relation to classical notions of structure or character development, with long textual passages and virtuosic pastiches of the styles of other writers and various comedians. It is the singular and untrammeled vision of a creator, and in a world where every marginally notable piece of art is hailed as unique, it can truly be said that there is nothing even remotely like it. And it’s an example of how someone can make it completely on their own, earning a good living creating precisely the art they want unencumbered by interference from major corporations.
It’s also thousands of pages of unbridled hate speech.
I started reading Cerebus as single issue comics around 1990 and started buying the collections shortly thereafter. I found the graphic novels [b:High Society|198463|High Society (Cerebus, #2)|Dave Sim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388458651l/198463._SX50_.jpg|191978], [b:Jaka's Story|198470|Jaka's Story (Cerebus, #5)|Dave Sim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1364076045l/198470._SX50_.jpg|191985], and [b:Melmoth|198466|Melmoth (Cerebus, #6)|Dave Sim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386920890l/198466._SX50_.jpg|191981] excellent, and while I thought the plot got a bit too cosmic from time to time, I looked forward to the next installment. That all stopped with [b:Reads|198467|Reads (Cerebus, #9)|Dave Sim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389628150l/198467._SX50_.jpg|191982], where misogyny went from plot point and subtext to text and author commentary. I found it difficult to mesh the author of strong female characters like Jaka and Astoria with the Dave Sim who stated that women were irrational brain-sucking parasites.
Looking back, there are hints of Sim's beliefs. In the early Cerebus, no religious tradition is treated sympathetically, but the all female Cirinists are depicted as dour "let's end fun in our lifetimes" moralists. And then there's the rape scene in Cerebus #94, which can be read many ways (and was at the time of its publishing), but still shows an expansion of the anti-female thinking of Cerebus. But, until Reads, you could argue that the misogyny was an expression of Cerebus's character, not Sim's.
So, it's tough to recommend reading Cerebus now (especially if you're considering the entire 300-issue 6000-page opus). The collections I suggested above I will still suggest as good reads. And, echoing Rosenfield above, there is much to praise about Sim's craft. I can't think of a better letterer in comics, especially when it came to matching emotion with the shape of words. And I find it difficult to identify anyone as adept as doing comedy in comics as Sim --- his linework, panel construction, and pacing were top-notch. But if you read enough Cerebus, you'll hit the unsupported vitriol.
And now, a review of the volume in question: When this volume (which collects the first twenty-five issues of Cerebus) starts, Sim is doing a crude pastiche of the Barry Windsor-Smith version of Conan the Barbarian. There are thick lines everywhere and huge chunks of nearly unreadable prose, all leavened with the absurdity of a cartoon aardvark as the protagonist. When this volume ends, Sim has moved to a fine line approach that better accentuates the comedy, is delivering hilarious dialogue, and is confident enough to handle multi-issue storylines. He has introduced much of the supporting cast (the Roach, Jaka, Lord Julius, Red Sophia, Elrod the Albino) and has firmly placed Cerebus in the role of outsider in the comedic asylum.
So it's a weird read. Rarely have I seen a creator develop this much over 25 issues. And, after this volume, Sim will write [b:High Society|198463|High Society (Cerebus, #2)|Dave Sim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388458651l/198463._SX50_.jpg|191978] (a twenty five issue storyline) and decide to use the title to write a 300 issue novel. But the first twenty issues or so do not in any way feel like the beginning of a novel. They're scattershot --- fun, but undirected.
Do you need to read this to appreciate future Cerebus? Well, probably.... There's a climatic joke in High Society important to the plot that only makes sense if you've read a story in this volume. And I don't know lost a newcomer would be to later volumes without the character introductions in this volume. (Mind you, there's a lot of confusion a newcomer might feel just reading this volume; you need to be fairly familiar with 1970's fantasy, comics, and animation to get all the jokes.) So, if you want to fully understand High Society or (Tarim help you) Church & State, read this. I *think* you can get a lot of Jaka's Story or Melmoth without reading this.
deepfreezebatman's review
2.0
I wish these volumes were a lot shorter because I really began losing interest by the end. The beginning was kinda slow, but I can tell that Dave Sim keeps getting better.. but by the end I just wasn't feelin it.
darylnash's review
3.0
The first several issues are very rough, more homage to Conan comics than parody, except for having an aardvark standing in for the heavy-thewed barbarian. They improve dramatically as they go along, but even Elrod and the Cockroach were not as amusing as I remember. The book really starts to improve with the appearance of Lord Julius, and Sim's deft use of dialogue and voice, one of his greatest talents, comes to the fore in the teen issues. The first Mind Game, in issue 20, is not as trippy as subsequent instances, but it does introduce the conflict that will become central to the later series: The mother-loving Cirinists verses... well, everybody.
Knowing what's coming later in the 300 issues, I can't help but look for signs of misogyny in these early stories. If it's there, I don't see it. The female characters are no better nor worse, no wiser nor stupider, than the male characters. I did find it interesting to note that in the first "quote" from one of Cirin's books is the phrase: "As we learn to face toward the hub of the wheel, it is incumbent upon us all to show the path of reason, of love, and of obedience to those who are unable to perceive the symmetry of mother, child, and the true path." Now her concept of "reason" may be different from Viktor Davis' in the infamous screed from 186, but it seems to be a far cry from those "Female Voids" that devour male reason.
Can I enjoy re-tracing the journey of Cerebus knowing that the end will disappoint me? We'll see. Next up: High Society, which takes the goofy earth-pig barbarian to a whole new level.
Knowing what's coming later in the 300 issues, I can't help but look for signs of misogyny in these early stories. If it's there, I don't see it. The female characters are no better nor worse, no wiser nor stupider, than the male characters. I did find it interesting to note that in the first "quote" from one of Cirin's books is the phrase: "As we learn to face toward the hub of the wheel, it is incumbent upon us all to show the path of reason, of love, and of obedience to those who are unable to perceive the symmetry of mother, child, and the true path." Now her concept of "reason" may be different from Viktor Davis' in the infamous screed from 186, but it seems to be a far cry from those "Female Voids" that devour male reason.
Can I enjoy re-tracing the journey of Cerebus knowing that the end will disappoint me? We'll see. Next up: High Society, which takes the goofy earth-pig barbarian to a whole new level.
cmcrockford's review
4.0
Absurdist, ecstatic creativity, moving from sword and sorcery to superhero parody to political satire with clumsy grace. The key here seems to be the grounding of it all in Cerebus as a character, an amoral wanderer whose cartoonish look makes him a permanent outsider in a land of pomposity and human realism. (Bone by Jeff Smith clearly took heavy cues from Cerebus.) Sim is never truly patient with one genre, choosing to gleefully parody them all as he hopskotches from one idea to another. Sometimes that makes chunks of this really messy and hard to sit through. At his peak though Sim is the heir to Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Kirby. It is restless and funny and extraordinary.
arthurbdd's review
4.0
Before the art got extremely detailed, before Gerhard joined to contribute to the background illustrations, before the plot got incredibly dense, and before Dave Sim absolutely threw all the goodwill he'd earned in the fire by turning the comic into a soapbox for his tirades about the evils of feminism and homosexuality... Cerebus was a pretty funny parody of sword and sorcery nonsense. This phone book-sized volume collects the early, episodic parts of the Cerebus story, before High Society - the first major plotline, kicks off. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2019/10/02/the-short-and-episodic-origins-of-apocalyptic-aardvarks/
n8hanson's review
3.0
I finally started on the "phone book series" graphic novels I'd seen in stores for decades. I'm glad I waited - half the fun was in the references I would've completely missed in years past.
All in all, it proved occasionally entertaining satire of sword & sorcery, but was largely derivative and aimless.The art was mostly functional, but some panels are gorgeous stunningly detailed.
I pushed through mainly in anticipation of the highly reviewed sequel, "High Society". So far, though, I can't recommend volume 1 on its own merits.
All in all, it proved occasionally entertaining satire of sword & sorcery, but was largely derivative and aimless.The art was mostly functional, but some panels are gorgeous stunningly detailed.
I pushed through mainly in anticipation of the highly reviewed sequel, "High Society". So far, though, I can't recommend volume 1 on its own merits.