Comic Book Of The Week - Cerebus Vol.1 - Review

This book contains the first 25 issues Cerebus, created,written and illustrated by Dave Sim, which actually ran for 300 issues all written and drawn by Sim, and we can all agree that is a massive undertaking and achievement in the field of comics. I had prior knowledge that some of the later volumes were known to be considerably better than volume 1 but I just thought it was the logical place to start reading and to find out if it was worth investing time and money into this massive series.

 

Sim has said Cerebus began as a parody of Conan the barbarian and other wizards and warriors type stories, and for the first half of this book that is the prevailing theme, there's hard to pronounce races,manipulative wizards and scantily clad warrior women a la red Sonja,all of which are used as examples of Sim's perceived silliness and perhaps one dimensional nature of the characters and stories from books like Conan.

 

 

 

But even towards the second half of this volume you can see a genuine interest building in the odd world Sim has perhaps unintentionally created, his scope for satire broadens to include other comics, with characters like The Cockroach, Professor X Claremont and The Woman-Thing. The stories become more engaging, the protagonist Cerebus becomes more than just a finger to point out the flawed absurdity, more than just a vehicle for satire, he becomes an all to knowing (if not jaded) guide for the reader in this otherwise insane world. But there lies the problem, Cerebus shows only a persistent disinterest in the world he inhabits and the characters he meets, and as a reader I couldn't help feeling the same. Cerebus' occasional moments of Clint Eastwood-esque cool the only thing keeping me reading.

 

 

I know the next volume is supposed to be better and even though i kind of got a taste of that from the last couple of issues in this volume, I still wont be investing. If Cerebus couldn't win me over in 25 issues i doubt it ever will.

 

The next comic book of the week will be Squadron Supreme by Mark Gruenwald.