Cerebus Volume One

By Dave Sim
Collection Published in 1991, Originally Published in 1977
Published by Aardvark Vanheim

Cerebus is one of the most successful independent comic books of all time, right?  Or is it one of the most successful independent publishing ventures of all time?  Either way, it's the longest running comic series by the same author.  And it's one of the longest single fictional narratives in recorded history.

How bad do you want to read it now?  Knowing that it's author has been written off as a misogynist, that you're never (and by never we mean absolutely never) going to find anyone else who has read the whole thing, that it's never going to be widely popular, that you're probably not going to understand portions of it, you're definitely going to dislike entire books of it, and that anytime you give to it will never be returned.  And you may finish it and not find it rewarding in the least, except for a spirit of completion.  Isn't Epic Movie the number one movie right now?  Shouldn't you be leaving?

If you're interested, than you mine as well start here, with Book One.  And although random Internet critics might point out that the book never completely returns to the poorly constructed parodies of these pages, and any cursory exam shows that the art is never this bad again, and those same critics will say that you could actually go ahead and skip the whole book entirely and start with the much better (supposedly) second volume High Society and not miss much of a step, what's really the point?  After all, Cerebus is made up of 25 300-500 page volumes.  Why skip only one?  It's a stupid idea to try to read them all anyway, so why attempt to make the adventure only a tiny bit shorter? 

Yes, a few of the characters from Volume One will show up on a regular basis over the course of Cerebus 6000-odd pages.  Except for Jaka and Elrod, they don't make much of an impact that registers--as aforementioned, the majority of this volume is taken up with parodies, most related to sword and sorcery books like Conan the Barbarian.  (Although they don't feel like parodies--in essence, they seem like they're supposed to be taken seriously, something that was never that easy to do when the main character was a human douchebag like Conan, much less when it's a drunken asshole aardvark.  If anything, it almost seems like Dave Sim wanted us to enjoy this low-rent version of Dungeons & Dragons straight up, and it's only called parody now that he's proved to be a much better writer.)  By the close of the book, the stories begin to stretch over larger chapters, and they become much funnier, even when they cleave to close to becoming overlong jokes.  Although this first volume will do nothing to make one desire to read more, it does serve as a relevantly useful introduction to one of fictions most successful creations.  But if you're still interested in Cerebus Volume 2 at the close of this book's 500-odd pages, that's more a testament to advertising and recommendation: this book will have done little to warrant it.

-Tucker Stone, 2007

Comments

[Margaret]

Two comments:

1. There are people out there that have read the entire Cerebus epic, including all the teeny tiny type in Latter Days. I include myself in this small number of people. While you might not run into us in RL, we do exist.

2. There are 16 "phonebooks" or volumes of Cerebus, not 25. Most people start with High Society and later come back to read the first volume.

[TFO Moderator]

No, there are actually 25 volumes--9 of which "Margaret" clearly hasn't read.

-Tucker Stone, 2007

[Margaret]

I'm missing 9 volumes! Gah! I guess I'll get rid of the "fangirl" designation then. . .

[jhunt]

Only 16 collections are listed in the Cerebus wikipedia listing. What are the other 9 you are referring to?

Nice piece on Sim's epic, by the way. You can count me among those who skipped the initial volume in favor of beginning with High Society. I've read through to Flight (which I understood virtually none of, I fear) and have yet to pick up vol. 1. Someday, maybe, but I'm in no hurry to read pages upon pages of an anthropomorphic Conan-type.

[Todd Murry]

Nice quick summary, but I think there are really two issues here that need to be sepperated: What the self motivated reader should read, and what you should suggest to others to do. If you skip the first volume, you might not miss much in terms of the parody laden early stories, or the goofyness of the first few issue's art, but it settles down quickly, and there is a dramatic change and improvement within a short span of issues. The most significant thing you'll miss is Mind Games, probably the most recognizable single issue of the title, but most of the key character intros take place in issues 4-7, truly interesting stuff starts to happen in issue 8, Issue 13 is a single issue gem, and I don't see how you could even claim to get the most out of "High Society" if you havent read the Palnu trilogy (issues 14-16) where all the groundwork is laid. In a way, the entire first trade is colored by peoples impressions of the first 3 issues, which are (I'll admit) pretty useless, except from a art-in-progress standpoint (which I would argue is worth is in and of itself). So, for the interested self motivated reader who has any sense of comittment at all, skiping the first trade is a ludacris idea. BUT (and its a big but) if you are trying to hook someone on the series (who is, thus, not self motivated) the first years worth of issues might be a deal killer. Thus, most people suggest that you read High Sociey then go back later to keep the attrittion rate low, not due to artistic reasons. Oh, and I can't clam to have read the whole thing (I will admitt to skipping areas of the larger text pieces), but I have read the entire COMICS part, and I don't think it is unheard of to find someone whose read the whole thing (I know 2 people who have done it other than Margaret). Thanks.

[Carl]

Add me to the list of read it all. I went seriously off it by the time the rampant mysogony and religious claptrap kicked it, but I'd been reading since the beginning, so I figured best to read it to the end to make an overall judgement.

To be honest I loved Volume 1. Sure, Cerebus is really about the political, social and religious analogies of the later books, but what drew me in were those early, raw stories. A writer/ artist learning his craft, and clearly enjoying himself in the process. A simpler time, and in a way a lot more fun than the wittier, more complex stuff that was to come. As I battled my way through objectionable chunks of Reads, the frankly tedious Latter Days and dollops of reactionary bile in The Last Day, I found myself looking back increasingly fondly on Volume 1.

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad I read the whole thing. It's great to read something of that complexity and depth over that length of time. Just because I don't agree with a lot of it, or enjoy some of it, doesn't mean I don't admire the achievement overall. It's brought me a great deal of enjoyment over the years, and it's made me think, which is more than the vast majority of stuff I read.

It's just that sometimes I read to not think, and when I do that, enthusiasm and a sense of fun are what I'm after. Volume 1 delivered that in spades, along with an irresistable lead character. Hell, it must have been good, to suck me in all those years ago, and keep me reading through thickm and thin, right up to the end.

[Carl]

Oh, and the 300 issues of Cerebus were (mostly) reprinted in 16 books. Volume 17 will reprint letter responses by Sim, apparently. The extra bits from the 300 issue comic run that were not covered in the graphics (along with new material) appeared in Cerebus Zero, Cerebus Jam and Cerebus World Tour, along with a great Roach appearance in the AARGH anthologuy (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia: Ironic really, in light of Sim's later leanings on the subject).

The 25 book vs 16 book confusion may be over the way Volume 1 was originally reprinted in shorter volumes, before being collected as Volume 1 after High Society came out.