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Something Fell
Mar. 11th, 2004 09:10 pmSo Cerebus is done.
Issue number 300 dropped this week, and the short grey bastard is no more.
Cerebus was, and still is, very influential to my writing. No other comic book in my mind comes close to telling a story with characters so compelling and realistic, or comes close to taking its subjects so seriously (yet not without levity thrown in for good measure). I'm guilty of writing "cool scenes" because of Cerebus. The arc in C&S when, in a moment of weakness, Cerebus gets Bear to find Jaka, only to be turned away because she's happily married to Rick, is still one of the strongest, heart-wrenching scenes I've read in awhile. Whether or not I do it on purpose, most of the intense scenes in my stories lift the mood directly from those two issues alone. And let's not forget Dave's use of 'cinematography' in the artwork. Because the scenery is always so vivid, even when it's sparse, I've come to view my own stuff visually while I'm writing it.
Thanks, Dave.
* * * * *
Overall, I enjoyed it as a whole. There were story arcs that were hell to get through ("Reads" and "Latter Days" come to mind), others works of brilliance ("High Society", "Church & State (I & II)" and "Jaka's Story"), others bits of fluff that were just fun to read ("Guys"--by far one of my favorites after C&S). Dave created some great characters, even when they were pastiches of famous people. Lord Julius, Astoria, Red Sophia, the many faces of the Roach, Mick and Keef…great stuff. I particularly liked how he threw them all into the last few pages.
By the way, Dave, great job on the vaudeville hat-tipping dance. Heh.
So! Did Dave answer any of the questions he'd posed during this run?
(Note: This is just my view. I could be totally wrong about this.)
Let's recap:
1.) "Die alone, unmourned and unloved." Yeah, he did that. His Cerebites had dwindled in number (according to his son, Sheshep, or "Shep-Shep" if you desire), to be replaced by the Muslims (Dave Sim has become a Muslim over the years, apparently). His son was disgusted with him, thinking him a liar and a complete bore. His wife had deserted him. No one else really cared. When he died, he fulfilled the Judge's prophecy, intentional or not.
However, once he died and started ascending to heaven, it looked as though the people who did love him were already there waiting for him. And aside from Ms. Henrot-Gutch (Red Sophia's mum, of course) (another nice touch, Dave), they were all quite happy to see him again.
2.) "Something fell." Well, yeah. He did. Broke his neck in the process. I like how Dave summarized "Cerebus' Greatest Hits" (including the baby tossing and the "pssssssssenk" scenes) as Cerebus' life flashing before his dimming eyes.
3.) That thing about the son visiting the father before the father dies. Cerebus thought it had meant he had to visit his father, when in fact it had been Sheshep visiting Cerebus. The last ten or so issues took care of that nicely.
I'm sure there's more, but I'm in the middle of writing Book III, so I don't have the time to analyze at the moment. Once I pick the phone books up again (I do that at least once every two years or so) and read them in one go, I'm sure I'll find more. Any comments are welcome, of course.
Issue number 300 dropped this week, and the short grey bastard is no more.
Cerebus was, and still is, very influential to my writing. No other comic book in my mind comes close to telling a story with characters so compelling and realistic, or comes close to taking its subjects so seriously (yet not without levity thrown in for good measure). I'm guilty of writing "cool scenes" because of Cerebus. The arc in C&S when, in a moment of weakness, Cerebus gets Bear to find Jaka, only to be turned away because she's happily married to Rick, is still one of the strongest, heart-wrenching scenes I've read in awhile. Whether or not I do it on purpose, most of the intense scenes in my stories lift the mood directly from those two issues alone. And let's not forget Dave's use of 'cinematography' in the artwork. Because the scenery is always so vivid, even when it's sparse, I've come to view my own stuff visually while I'm writing it.
Thanks, Dave.
* * * * *
Overall, I enjoyed it as a whole. There were story arcs that were hell to get through ("Reads" and "Latter Days" come to mind), others works of brilliance ("High Society", "Church & State (I & II)" and "Jaka's Story"), others bits of fluff that were just fun to read ("Guys"--by far one of my favorites after C&S). Dave created some great characters, even when they were pastiches of famous people. Lord Julius, Astoria, Red Sophia, the many faces of the Roach, Mick and Keef…great stuff. I particularly liked how he threw them all into the last few pages.
By the way, Dave, great job on the vaudeville hat-tipping dance. Heh.
So! Did Dave answer any of the questions he'd posed during this run?
(Note: This is just my view. I could be totally wrong about this.)
Let's recap:
1.) "Die alone, unmourned and unloved." Yeah, he did that. His Cerebites had dwindled in number (according to his son, Sheshep, or "Shep-Shep" if you desire), to be replaced by the Muslims (Dave Sim has become a Muslim over the years, apparently). His son was disgusted with him, thinking him a liar and a complete bore. His wife had deserted him. No one else really cared. When he died, he fulfilled the Judge's prophecy, intentional or not.
However, once he died and started ascending to heaven, it looked as though the people who did love him were already there waiting for him. And aside from Ms. Henrot-Gutch (Red Sophia's mum, of course) (another nice touch, Dave), they were all quite happy to see him again.
2.) "Something fell." Well, yeah. He did. Broke his neck in the process. I like how Dave summarized "Cerebus' Greatest Hits" (including the baby tossing and the "pssssssssenk" scenes) as Cerebus' life flashing before his dimming eyes.
3.) That thing about the son visiting the father before the father dies. Cerebus thought it had meant he had to visit his father, when in fact it had been Sheshep visiting Cerebus. The last ten or so issues took care of that nicely.
I'm sure there's more, but I'm in the middle of writing Book III, so I don't have the time to analyze at the moment. Once I pick the phone books up again (I do that at least once every two years or so) and read them in one go, I'm sure I'll find more. Any comments are welcome, of course.
