Cerebus

[freakylynx]

The last day or so I've just had this urge to read up on Cerebus on wiki and some other sources such as the Cerebuswiki, which I only just glanced at today. It's been probably four years at least since I've read any of that comic, fairly sure that Guys was the last collection I read, though I bought almost all of the phonebooks

Comments

[sabotlours]

I tried reading this back in the 80's since I considered it a "furry" comic because it had an anthro character in it. The "plot" just got too convoluted and I could never really figure out what the hell was going on nor where it was heading. I have a few collections and a few individual comics in my collection. I should dust them off and have another look after so many years.

[freakylynx]

I thought it funny that I was thinking about writing this post the other day and then this morning I was checking out FA and someone mentions Cerebus Syndrome :P

[freakylynx]

Ah, one interesting thing from the comic you may enjoy. There was a scene in one of the issues, I think it was from the Guys storyarc, in which Cerebus is repressing a homoerotic crush on a long-time friend and war-buddy of his who, aptly, is named Bear. I mean part of this may be explained by a revelation you find in an earlier issue that Cerebus is actually physically a hermaphrodite, though he goes out of his way to see himself and behave as a male. Not entirely sure why but that scene has stuck in my head for so long, possibly because it was before I started to... explore a bit more my own sexual identity ^.^;;;

[pogo101]

[freakylynx]

Bring all your gold to Most Holy or the world will end!

[mishicougar]

I used to read it back in the 80's as well, but started to lose interest when the plotline barely progressed. The final straw was an entire issue devoted to Cerebus getting out of bed, going to the bathroom and getting back into bed :P

[freakylynx]

I could not imagine buying the entire series issue to issue, I tried at one point and then got so disgusted by how little was going on I gave up and waited for the collection to come out.

[eratis]

I've never been able to bring myself to start Cerebus, because, despite the fact that everything I've read about the series acknowledged the general brilliance of the beginning, they also tend to discuss the...interesting directions the series goes as it progresses. I also have problems separating the politics of the artist from the art itself - even if the product is masterful, I have a hard time enjoying it if they creator is bigoted.

That said, sword and sorcery fiction has traditionally been pretty misogynistic, bordering on male empowerment fantasies. (I'm thinking specifically of John Norman's Chronicles of Gor, but the Conan novels aren't exactly progressive) How much is based on the tradition of the genre and how much on Sim's personal beliefs?

Eh, makes me wish I was a kid again and could just enjoy reading things without worrying about all that messy subtext.

[freakylynx]

It's not so much on male-empowerment, there are a number of powerful and capable women in the comic and in terms of percentage the women shown are probably more stable than the males. The misogyny comes more on the interpretation in the comic of I guess God and the birth of the Universe. There's a bit that gets transposed at one point, somewhere in the first half of the series you get a mystical character talking about how the Light is female and world began after the Void (male) rapes it. Later on you get another view talking about the Void being female and the Light being male - and that, if I'm remembering correctly, seems to dominate more for the remainder of the series. Not that it comes into play a lot, you'll see more with the Cirinists for a negative view on females or more specifically - radical feminism. I don't know if Sim ever really pointed to one view as being correct, it tends more to bring up a lot of negatives on a number of subjects