Cerebus

Cerebus #1

by Dave Sim

Reprinting Cerebus Issues 1-25

Welcome to Estarcion, the wildly absurd and funny world of Cerebus the Aardvark. This initial volume collects the first two years of stories from Dave Sim's 300-issue magnum opus. Don't be discouraged by the initially crude artwork or the silliness of the stories. It gets better--even noticeably within this volume. This first installment is the most valuable in preparing for the larger stories ahead.

When we first meet Cerebus--a small, gray, and chronically ill-tempered aardvark--he is making his living as a barbarian. In 1977, when the Cerebus comic book series began, Sim initially conceived of it as a parody of such popular series as Conan, Red Sonja, and Elric but quickly mined that material and transformed the scope of the series into much more. Even by the end of this volume, the Cerebus story begins to transform beyond "funny animal" humor into something much more complex and interesting.

High points in Cerebus include the introduction of Lord Julius, the dictator of Palnu, who looks, acts, and talks just like a certain cigar-smoking, mustachioed comedian; Jaka, Cerebus's one true love; Elrod the Albino, an innept swordsman; and the Cockroach, the-mother-of-all-superhero-parodies and "inspiration" for the much-later TV and comic character--the Tick. All of these characters appear later on in the series as part of a constantly present ensemble of supporting figures.

Even if Cerebus doesn't knock your socks off, give its successor, High Society a try, as this is where the plot really gets going.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Humor

534 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1987

About the author

David Victor Sim is a Canadian comic book, artist and publisher, best known as the creator of Cerebus the Aardvark.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Magnus Opus of Canadian Dave Sim, independent comic creator champion, anti-feminist storyteller (he claims not-to-be) and huge influencer of long-form multi-arc storytelling is this 300 comic book issues series. As you will read everywhere, the first volume is by far the weakest but also fundamental reading for the series. Cerebus is the sole anthropomorphic character (an Aardvark) in a fantastical Middle-Ages type limited magical fantasy universe; who is intent in gaining gold for services rendered and/or plundered. The real genre of this work is parody of the swords and sorcery genre and Marvel Comics (Conan/Howard the Duck mash-up). Is it funny? The first half of this volume was dire on multiple fronts, but the second half saw much improved artwork and some comedy that struck me well. Should you read this? Yes, I feel this should be a must-read for anyone looking to read the 100 most influential comic book serials, as this work is the cited foundation for the likes of the Babylon 5 TV show! A 5 out of 12, Two Star work for me, but towards the end improved enough for me to continue, which initially I though three was no chance that I would!

2024 read

[Sosen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hate the looks I get from my friends when they see this on my bookshelf and I tell them it's one of my favorite books. They look at the cover, or hear the word "graphic novel", and I can tell they're thinking, "Haha, whatever, James… You crazy crazy man" (as they always are). Then, in order to save face, I feel like I have to explain to them why it's one of my favorite books. This makes things much worse, since I have absolutely no capability to describe just why and how this particular book is so awesome. Naturally, that makes it a great book for me to write a review about, so here I go!

Like most comic books, Cerebus was released in monthly installments. Unlike most comic books, it was written almost entirely by one author, Dave Sim, over a span of 27 years. (Apparently that's the record or something.) I've only read the first four volumes, so I have a long way to go.

Also unlike most popular comics, Cerebus is ridiculous, bizarre, hilarious, and really honestly just INGENIOUS. I think of the first two books of the series as the graphic novel equivalent of Monty Python—ALL Monty Python. I’ve read a lot of graphic novels, but Cerebus is easily, EASILY my favorite.

Now that I have the time to come up with a good description of what it’s about, I hope I don’t blow it:

Cerebus is mainly a parody of epic fantasy tales. It takes place in some undisclosed world, in a medieval-like era. And then suddenly it’s not medieval any more, it’s more like a mid-sized 19th century European city with Venetian canals; and this city is run by an ingeniously idiotic Groucho Marx, terrorized by The Tick (who I mainly remember from a Saturday morning cartoon that I despised), and filled in/complicated by snobby socialites and bureaucrats and plenty of other silly stuff. Rather than replacing the silly medieval stuff, the silly city stuff basically just blends in with it. It’s quite ridiculous. Cerebus even gets to meet Prince Valiant, that boring b-hole from the Sunday funnies.

This setting is indicative of Dave Sim’s excellent sense of humor, which is evident on every page. Cerebus is seriously not only one of the funniest books I’ve read, but one of the funniest things to exist (ever). Cerebus’s constant bad luck is one of the most endearing things about the book. The silly wisecracks of Lord Julius (who looks like, acts like, and practically IS Groucho Marx) are especially dead-on. The story arcs are completely unpredictable. There’s so many moments while reading this that I just want to cry out, “GENIUS!!!”... In fact, I suppose that I sometimes do just that.

The artwork is excellent, and as I may have mentioned earlier, it’s done almost entirely by Dave Sim himself. (I could never come up with anything as smart and as funny as this book is, but as some one who also has no artistic talent whatsoever, that’s doubly impressive.) There are a few particular chapters that broke new conceptual ground for comics when they came out, apparently (although they’re nothing compared to the weirdness of volume four, Church and State Part II). Those chapters usually aren’t my favorites, but they still have a distinct “How did he come up with this?!” quality to them.

And of course, I can’t forget to lavish praise on the un-italized Cerebus, the incomparable hero of the book. Cerebus is an aardvark. The main character of this book is an aardvark and if you love this book and you're trying to explain to some one how awesome it is, then you probably shouldn't mention that part, like I always do. At first, Cerebus is an extremely bad-tempered ass-kicking aardvark who fights for money, and that’s about all there is to the story. It doesn’t stay that simple for very long; only about two chapters. After that, Cerebus kind of continues to be an ass-kicking aardvark who fights for money, but mostly he becomes embroiled in one ridiculous situation after another for five-hundred pages, and every ass-kicking he hands out is tempered by some terrible irony that befalls him.

Dave Sim has yet to allow a movie to be made of Cerebus, and I’m hoping it never happens because I’m a real grump about new movies. I think they all suck, especially superhero movies. The Moonroach would be a great counter to those... But no, NO! It mustn't be made! They’ve already unveiled a hideous-looking computer-animated version of the foundation of my youth, Tintin, to most of the world (not yet the U.S., so I haven't seen it yet), and Lord knows that will depress me enough for the rest of my days. It's lucky that Dave Sim is a reasonable man and knows that his monumental work of art needs to be protected.

There’s sort of a separate canon for graphic novels. It’s generally agreed that The Watchmen is the best graphic novel ever, and after that it’s debatable what’s “must-read”; but one thing I’m fairly sure of is that not very few people consider Cerebus as part of that canon. Most people have never even heard of it. And people, that’s a shame, because it’s a real gem. Even when I’m reading it for the fifth time, it makes me feel the same joy I feel when I'm first experiencing a work of genius.

[Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fun in small doses but nothing to get excited about. I read it gets really good from volume 2 so I plan to continue the series soon.

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Cerebus, as if I need to say so, is still to comic books what Hydrogen is to the Periodic Table." So said Alan Moore. He ought to know. Cerebus started as an independent comic written and drawn by Canadian David Sims. Written in the late 1970's it is often looked at as a cornerstone of what constitutes comic graphic novel royalty. I am seeing why. Cerebus is really hard to quantify. But one thing stands out- it is funny. A dry, sarcastic humor but one that is prevalent the entire story. It is, at its heart, a parody. A parody of the sword and sorcery genre that was so popular in the late '70's and early 80's.
The tale revolves around Cerebus, a sentient anthropomorphic Aardvark. He is an Earth-Pig Born! A not so subtle nod to Conan, a "son of Cimmeria". In fact the misanthropic Cerebus is himself a parody of Conan. Cerebus is a barbarian seeking gold and adventure. Along the way he crosses paths with parodies of other "famous" characters from Elrood the Albino (Elric of the White Wolf) and Red Sophia (Red Sonia) as well as scathing parodies of certain nationalities such as the T'gihtans (Teutons) and their barbarian horde that greets each other by shouting "Heil Stromm!".

This is a clever parody and testament to a truly creative mind. These stories and characters have scope and you can see that as each issue develops so too concurrently does the corresponding artwork and the depth of the stories. You being to see it is all connected in an epic scope. The dialogue and the writing are tongue in cheek and funny. As I grew up on PG Wodehouse and Douglas Adams humor, I appreciated the dry wit. I recommend this to anyone who likes and funny, but well written story. This is a great parody, but the story is pretty damn good in and of itself. Immerse yourself in the adventures of Cerebus and you won't be disappointed. This is a true classic.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

dave sim may be a horrible, evil, no-good misogynist pig, but cerebus is what got me through high school. i wrote him once to find out what the deal was with the first 25 issues (cuz, hey. as others have pointed out, it's a little disjointed.) he responded and printed my letter in the back of one of his issues, so i was starry-eyed for a long time. (his explanation for the lack of cohesiveness in the first 25 was that he was aimless, trying to mock conan the barbarian, and not really planning to do an epic graphic novel series on an aardvark.)
i've got a total soft spot in my heart for dave, gerhard, and all the cerebus issues.
plus, if you're a fan of the "mind game" issues that popped up now and again, you're gonna need phone book number one, as the first one is issue 20.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 2 out of 5]

Back in those long-ago days when a liking for Cerebus didn’t come with a side order of clarifications about Dave Sim, there was one caveat most people still made: the comic doesn’t get good until Volume 2. The first 25 issues of Cerebus - the early funny stuff, if you like - introduced a lot of recurring characters but were famously a chore to read, Sim working through his Barry Windsor Smith debt while writing a not very good fantasy parody. They presented, fan consensus had it, a regrettable stumbling block to Cerebus being recognised as the Great Work it was.

It’s a testament to how well Sim set his own terms and how weird comics culture is that nobody back then said, look, this guy’s mature work doesn’t actually HAVE to follow sequentially from his juvenilia and be about the same character. The insistence that Cerebus is one complete novel of which this is the first chapter puts a burden on these early comics which they can’t (and surely were never meant to) sustain.

That isn’t to say they’re bad - some are indeed bad, or at least have aged poorly, but Sim became a great visual storyteller remarkably quickly, and even the worst stories are interesting on the level of watching someone explore and push their craft along.

He didn’t become a great non-visual storyteller quite so fast (if he ever did). The comics which hold up best now as narrative are exactly those early Windsor Smith Conan pastiches, because Conan stories have a really solid structure that can withstand plenty of messing around and playing with tropes. Cerebus gets significantly weaker once the focus of Sim’s satirical intent stops being structure and starts being character, especially as a lot of the characters referenced are pop or comics culture flotsam, and the effect is a bit like a stoner trying to insist that a bunch of MAD Magazine stories are really a coherent storyline. It all looks terrific but the jokes and observations are typical of the kind of cynical 20-something Sim surely was, and most of this book is a painful read.

There are three big exceptions in the second half. Two are formal - a joyful sidestep into Prince Valiant style storytelling, and the “Mind Games” experiment with ink, greyscale, lettering styles and dialogue, which still feels like a remarkable creative leap. The third is the three part story introducing Lord Julius, Sim’s first and best recreation of a real/historical/cultural figure. “Groucho Marx as fantasy bureaucrat” is a better idea than the rest of this hefty volume combined has, and it’s not especially surprising that his invention was the springboard for better things.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well then, what a trip!

Still being relatively new to the genre of Graphic Novels, I am not sure how valid my comments are (and I am not well versed on the story that is Dave Sim either). That said...

Cerebus is a riot. I love his one liners delivered dead pan and I often found myself laughing out loud. For me, Elrod and Artemis were supporting characters that Cerebus bounced off of nicely. I enjoyed the brief visit with Jaka and I look forward to the Jaka story that I keep hearing I will love.

I found some of the stories mid way lost me ( mind I was forced to put this down for a time so it may just be that I lost track of what was happening ) but over all I found the collection was a bit disjointed.

The drawings are fun and I really enjoyed and appreciated Sim's creative use of the grid. Quickly flipping back to earlier pages I can recognize a maturation of Sim's drawings. The stories are fun but I hope the story telling improves in volume 2. I look forward to the next installment!

[Rockito · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tratando de imitar a Barry Winsdor-Smith y con tramas tremendamente simplonas empieza Cerebus.
Este primer tomo es una murga durante varios números, Dave Sim irónicamente sin rumbo alguno escribe historias sobre Cerebus viajando sin rumbo alguno mientras busca reliquias que valen fortunas o se ofrece como mercenario, sumado a parodias de personajes del género de la Espada y Brujería como Red Sonja o Elric, transformados en Red Sophia y Elric The Albino. A partir del número 13 es cuando se empiezan a notar cambios drásticos, mejoras en el humor y el ritmo de la serie así como un abandono casi total de la Espada y la Brujería. En teoría en el proximo tomo, High Society, es cuando Dave Sim comienza verdaderamente a exprimir todo el potencial de Cerebus.
De todas formas los últimos 10 números no tienen desperdicio alguno.

[Nate D · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think that knowing how much better this gets makes me actually have less patience for the flat barbarian comic parody of Cerebus' early days. It's actually amazing (despite David Sims' already really well-formed linework and inking) that the narrative ever went anywhere ambitious. Yet it did. To the tune of three decades of increasingly post-modern theorizing. (However increasingly colonized by schizophrenic rants of very dubious value in the second half of that period).

Anyway, I don't love this, but it lays the groundwork for fuller appreciation of the later bits, like Jaka's Story

[Paul Mirek · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a faithful comic-buying consumer just starting to expand his palate beyond DC and Marvel IP, Cerebus felt like one of the obvious places to start. This was the early 2000s and the series was nearing its conclusion, and seeing those triple-digits on an unassuming indie comic was catnip to me (I got into Savage Dragonaround the same time for similar reasons). I remember getting the first of these phone books for Christmas one year and feeling like I had made the right choice. This is a series that will flatter you into submission with your own intellectual bona fides if you let it, which I was happy to do when I was in high school.

More than twenty years later, I’m not as immediately won over by what Sim is doing in this original volume – mostly parodic deconstruction of ‘70s comic tropes that has lost what little bite it might have had in the intervening years. But the moments when Sim aims higher (a deft pastiche of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant strips, bits of the Lord Julius stuff, and the all-too-brief introduction of Jaka especially) show why the series remains a seminal bit of independent comics history, as much as we might wish otherwise.

[Hamish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lot better than I remember it being. That said (and before I get all long-winded), this may not be the ideal starting point for new readers. I personally started here, knowing future volumes were considered much better but that the story makes more sense if you start from the beginning. This plan worked for me. However, I've lent this to two different comic-loving friends, hoping they would also get bit by the Cerebus bug, and they both gave up early on. So if you're a completist like me who finishes every book you start, and if Cerebus sounds like it's right up your alley, start here. If you're more of a casual reader, start with High Society. I personally think you'll get better results starting here (a lot of plot twists in High Society will lose their impact to you if you haven't read this one), but I guess it's better that you're converted by the excellent High Society than start here and just give up.

However, I think this one is a lot of fun. The early issues are kind of a one-note Conan parody, but are good for what they are. And you can see Sim get more ambitious pretty quickly, as the book changes from a parody of an adventure comic to an adventure comic with humorous overtones. Sim has an excellent sense of pacing, able to get a single, satisfying story into one issue (which is a lost art, let's face it). Even when he moves on to multi-part stories here, each part feels like a complete piece in and of itself. His art also progresses by leaps and bounds here, going from a crude Windsor-Smith clone at the beginning to the Sim we know and love by the end. He's a fine story-teller, with excellent layouts and panel compositions and a real eye for body language.

Each issue collected here is better than the last, and by the end it's classic Cerebus. People tend to dismiss this one, but I think it's definitely worth your time.

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

This started out as an adequate read but became much better half-way through.

The Cerebus comics have been on my reading wish list for decades and for the simple reason that Dave Sims independently wrote and drew these for 25 years. That is an accomplishment.

The early chapters in this phone book are a bit silly. They are parodies of popular Sword & Sorcery tales. As a S&S fan that is enough to entertain me, but half-way through, the reader experiences Sims hitting his stride.

The stories become less silly, but still humorous, the cast of characters grow and become dynamic, and the artwork really matured.

I’m definitely down for reading more. I am not sure it is a series worth reading all of (I’ve read and heard a mixture of badness about the later series), but it is worth exploring for a few more phone books.

[Chris Andersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's really fun to be able to see Dave Sim's art style evolve through this collection, and I always enjoy work that both parodies and surpasses what it is surpassing. Some of the satire might not have aged very well, but but over all one of the more fun comics I've read in a while.

[Олександр Заїка]

Have you ever tried to do some silly parody on some popular fantasy franchise, and at some point, you’ve been overkilled by LSD so you decided to turn it into some megalomaniac 300 issues meta comic book project? I guess not, because this niche is unique and demands doing sells via mail.


This small part of Dave Sims's bio is supposed to target the right part of the audience and scare the shit out of others. With the ending of the first book, I think this series suits me well. Endless references to pop culture that Dan Harmon probably admires, overpowered greedy Aardvark, who’s always left the story arc unsatisfied, witty dialogs from countless characters that you need to remember, because at some point they gonna pop up again - these are just sneak peek of what to expect from Cerebus. I’ll see where it goes in the next volumes.

[Bob Fish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have finally commenced the epic & daunting journey of reading all of Dave Sim's Cerebus.
And I must say, it already has been a blast !

I show and tell about the first book here :
https://youtu.be/Wpz1Qo_KnZ8
Follow me for further reports !

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints Cerebus #1-25 (December 1977-February 1981). Cerebus…the Earth-Pig…the barbarian…the aardvark. The warrior known as Cerebus is always on the lookout to make it rich. Be it through plunder or war, his quest for riches knows no bounds. As he travels across the land, his legend grows and his list of allies and enemies grows even longer.

Written and illustrated by Dave Sim, Cerebus 1 (commonly called the phonebook edition) is a collection of the rare and popular first issues of one of independent comics most acclaimed series.

Cerebus is a legend among comics and not an easy read. For this edition, part of the difficulty arises from the different style from the rest of the series. People who read later issues of Cerebus might find the series nearly unrecognizable. The series starts out as more of a parody series and is often compared to the original Howard the Duck series by at Marvel Comics. The series tone and style however change to what is more often considered “classic Cerebus” by the end of the volume.

This collection is odd in that there isn’t a central theme…something that became common in following collections. Many cite Cerebus #20 (September 1980) as the changing point in the series in which the first of a series of “Mind Games” issues appeared. This has Cerebus debating with himself and other “Mind Games” issues surfacing throughout the long run. It also introduce important characters like Jaka in Cerebus #6 (September 1978), Lord Julius in Cerebus #14 (March 1980), Elrod the Albino in Cerebus #4 (June 1978), and the Roach in Cerebus #11 (August 1979).

The series does have fun with itself by parodying many popular comics at the time. The most obvious is Conan the Barbarian but other characters like Red Sophia (Red Sonja), Elrod the Albino (Elric of Melnibone), Man-Woman (Man-Thing), Sump Thing (Swamp Thing), Deadalbino (Deadman), Bunky (Bucky), and the constantly changing Roach takes the guise persona of Batman and Captain Cockroach (Captain America). The parodies are a bit more forward here than in some of the issues after this run.

Cerebus 1 is a rather misleading introduction to the series. It can be difficult to truck through the first issues without much of a plot and since it just feels like a Mad Magazine take on Conan until things start moving. Cerebus 1 is a necessary evil to enjoying this long running series.

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not going to finish this one, but it has nothing to do with the book. The books is pretty decent, bordering on really good when one considers that this is a single person's effort. The scope and scale is pretty crazy.

The reason I'm giving up on it is that I'm turning in a whole load of library shit that I've had too long and I'm just not going to finish.

My partner, Poonmaster Flex, is moving. And it's got the bug in me to divest myself of some objects if I can. Books are low-hanging fruit. What can I say? They're heavy as hell, and unless they hold specific memories, are something I'd like to pass on to someone else, or are something that doesn't translate to ebook format, I'd like to not move them again. So, I'm:

1. Turning all my library shit back in. I have a bunch of bought books I've never read, and reducing the number of those is a great way to get ready to move.

2. Turning some of my print books digital. This involves some destructive scanning, which is too bad, but there are some books on my shelf that I've moved at least 4 times at this point. I don't want to move them again. Also, I wondered if this is acceptable use, under copyright, but I'm pretty sure it is. Even if it's not protected, I'd argue it's no different than buying a CD and ripping it for the sake of putting it on your iPod, which was super common practice and I suspect most bands would be cool with. The problem is when we all go sharing the file with hundreds of people we don't know, right? Anyway, it's not something I'm super hot on because ebooks don't scratch the same itch as print, but a reduction is super necessary at this point. Trust me, move, and move into a place that you'd be surprised to stay in for 5 years, and you'll get reeeeeal tired of moving the same books over and over.

I was more than halfway through Cerebus, but I didn't feel super compelled to continue, especially as I didn't have access to the subsequent volumes, so it wasn't like I'd get to read the entire series any time soon.

[Kaoru · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some people tend to be a bit down on the first volume, and it's not too hard to see why. The artwork isn't as great yet (Although it improves vastly - and quickly - over the course of the pages) and so isn't the storytelling, at least in comparison to pretty much everything that came after. However, one mustn't forget that these 25 issues are the reason that the remaining 275 exist in the first place. They wouldn't have sold if people didn't like them. In fact, a fair share of readers were up in arms when the self-contained issues vanished and the long-winded storylines wouldn't go away, missing the (sort of) innocent early days of the book, in which the gags were more important than the plot.

And yeah, judging on its own terms the first "Cerebus" volume is really quite fun. Hit and miss too, though. But in the end: really quite fun! Apart from all the parody and humor stuff I really like the world that Sim is slowly building here - and how Cerebus himself fits into it. He's the only sane guy in a truly insane universe, constantly eye-rolling or at least muttering a sarcastic line into dead air. An attitude well earned, since he's (nearly always) the smartest guy in the room.

And then there are the introductions of so many popular characters that will become important later on. Like The Cockroach, an extremely funny amalgam of/satire on pretty much every comic book superhero out there. Or Lord Julius, who, at first glance, seems like a mere caricature of Groucho Marx but quickly becomes much more than that. His (pretty well emulated) jokes aren't just there for the sake of cracking jokes, but to systematically confuse and manipulate his enemies in a cunning and clever way.

So yeah, even though it's not that great, at least not in comparison with later volumes of the series, it's not too bad either. And something that made me laugh out loud dozens of times really can't be that shabby.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you asked me, i would probably tell you this is my favorite comic of all time, even though sim ended up breaking my heart by going completely insane towards the end of its run, therefore ultimately sabotaging the longest running independently produced comic book. oh, he finished it, but i was not there with him. i bailed out in the last year, only to pick up the final issue and flip to the last page to see if he made good on his promise. he did, but his turn to religious fanaticism steered this remarkable work off its path (ironic considering how sim seems to rail against such things through the first 2/3 of its 300 issue run).

anyway, i've decided to start from the beginning again to get to the last few issues i didn't have the heart to read in hopes of gaining a better perspective on it all. perhaps i was unfair to dave sim by giving up (well, HE finished it afterall). but i can't help to think what might have been if he had stayed the course.

cerebus the aardvark startes off as a barry windsor-smith era conan parody and becomes something much more. but that's for later. right now...

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

i'm re-reading this for the first time since i read it ten years ago...
what amazes me is the growth sim shows throughout this book...he starts out as an full on amateur; the first 50 pages look like the work of a precocious junior high school student...
but within the space of 150 pages he becomes a true master of the form...his panel design, the textures, his brush work, the movement of the figures, all go through an incredible transformation in a very short time...

i often hear people recommend that a new reader skip this volume and head straight to volume 2 'high society'...i think this is a grievous mistake...
while the first pages might be a little difficult to get through the story finds its footing very quickly and rapidly becomes highly enjoyable...
plus you get introduced here to many major characters that will crop up again and again in varying ways in future volumes...

i initially only gave this three stars when i first read it, now i'm upgrading it to 5 for sim's undeniable growth and for the last 250 pages...they're nothing short of brilliant...

[Phillip Berrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the day, I collected Cerebus comics, but I didn't start collecting until later in the series. Therefore it was great to go back down memory lane and yet read something new with this collection of the first two years of the start of the series.

For those of you who don't know who Cerebus the Aardvark is, imagine your most quick-thinking, sardonic sword and sorcery hero, then give him the body of a humanoid aardvark and place him in an all-human world full of characters who give him plenty of material for him to pass comment on.

That's the character of Cerebus the Aardvark, but the whole experience is magnified greatly by Dave Sim's simplistic, yet very expressive grey-tone drawings of Cerebus set against some incredibly rich and beautiful black and white backgrounds.

Throw in some pop culture references of the time (which might be lost on younger readers) and you have what I consider a classic of the comics genre.

Definitely 4.5 stars and I'm very tempted to give it 5 stars.

[Oriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is neat and strange, and I intend to continue dabbling until I slowly work my way all the way to the end. But I've been trying to read it straight through, and it's too same-y and repetitive for that. The concept is fun and funny, but it deserves to be read in bite-size chunks, the way it was originally published, IMO. So that's what I'll do.

[Robert Pierson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have heard really good things about Cerebus so when I found out one of the free exchange libraries by my Place I was really excited to read it and after reading it I thought it was OK I know it’s supposed to get better later on in the volumes but I just really wasn’t into it this just really wasn’t my cup of tea.

[Ken-ichi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've always wanted to like the Cerebus series, and I've definitely read a couple of these phone books, but they never really seem to go anywhere. Sim's art is wonderfully meticulous, and some scenes are hilarious, but overall.... meh.

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic fantasy/comedy comic. Basically a parody on Conan and many other fantasy characters. Excellent humor and story. Highly Recommended

[Micahlibris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun. Especially if you like the old Conan comic series.

[Paul Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book introduces most of the main characters who would appear throughout the first half of the Cerebus story line, and in some cases into the second half. They're almost all parodies of famous characters from other comic books, science fiction stories, films and even history. There's Red Sophia, a female warrior based on the comic book character Red Sonja. Captain Cockroach parodies a whole range of comic book superheroes. Elrod the albino looks like the Elric character from Michael Moorcock's fantasy books, but he talks like Foghorn Leghorn from the Bugs Bunny cartoons. President Weisshaupt is a version of George Washington (apparently the last name comes from a story that the real Washington was never actually president of the U.S., instead an imposter named Weisshaupt took his place). But the character who wins the parody sweepstakes is Lord Julius, the ruler of a city-state called Palnu. He's not so much a parody as he is a dead ringer for Groucho Marx, which usually makes him the funniest character of any issue in which he appears.

The first book also introduces Jaka, who is probably the longest running character besides Cerebus himself. She first appears in issue #6 as a tavern dancer (sort of a PG-rated version of a stripper) who Cerebus falls in love with while under the influence of a drug. The drug is given to him by criminals who hope to use his love for Jaka to get information out of him. The drug wears off, and Cerebus ends up leaving Jaka in tears, his memories of their romantic relationship gone. I get the impression that Jaka was intended as a one-time character when she first appeared, but later in the series when Sim needed a love interest for Cerebus, he brought Jaka back. Again and again.

We also start to learn the geography of Estarcion in this book. There are cities like Palnu and Iest, regions like the Red Marches, etc. We meet an underground civilization called the Pigts who worship a statue that looks a lot like Cerebus. We learn of beings like Clovis (who Cerebus frequently swears oaths by in the early issues, but who eventually disappears from the story) and Tarim (who is the story's original equivalent of a god).

All of these characters (and more) end up making reappearances in the following three books, so even though the real "meat" of the Cerebus story line doesn't begin until the second book, the first book is a must-read in order to set everything up. Plus, towards the end of the first book, the stories started getting longer and more advanced, running across multiple issues. We're not yet up to the stage where a book is one continuous story yet, but by the end of book one plot lines that take at least three issues to resolve are the norm, not the exception.

Another story element that is hinted at in the first book but never explicitly stated is that of Cerebus' "magnifier" nature. It is mentioned that in his youth (before the events of book one), Cerebus spent time as a Wizard's apprentice. Dave Sim has stated that some sort of magical "magnifier", possibly obtained accidentally during his apprenticeship, inhabits Cerebus. This causes many odd and amazing things to happen to Cerebus and to those around him during the course of his life. To me, this sounds like it may have started out as an excuse to explain away any illogical and supernatural plot points, but eventually Sim started using it as a plot device in later books. Or maybe he really did have it planned that way all along. Who knows?

In addition to introducing the characters and the world, the first book also has a bunch of good stories in it. It may be the most humour-oriented book of the entire series. It's a little tentative and even amateurish in places, obviously the work of a comic book artist who's just getting started. But it's a very entertaining read, and sets Cerebus apart from other comic books right from the start.

[John Elbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been a long time since I picked up a Cerebus 'Phone book' but decided to give the first six volumes a reread after seeing the title appear on multiple 2021 read lists. Damn, this holds up quiet well. Sims art cleans up rather early on, and enough can't be said about how he can frame the panels to create sweeping visuals!
The initial chapters have an episodic feel to them as our hero wanders the world. This really feels like a dark comedy. The twists and turns along with some memorable characters make this an enjoyable intro. Some of the pardody seems dated, over the top, or maybe I've never been a fan of that element of Sims work to begin with. I groan every scene Elrod or the Coachroach are in. I put up with all of them only because of Lord Julius, who makes his intro in the final third of this volume.
Good stuff here with hints of the greatness to come in next couple of volumes.

[Михаил · Rating 5 out of 5]

Начало пути легендарного трубкозуба Цереба, где сюжеты были связаны очень условно и вполне могли существовать независимо друг от друга. В книжке 26 историй (25 первых номеров и одна дополнительная история), порой до неприличного жирно (но тем не менее задорно) выстёбывающих штампы фентези-романов и комиксов.

Книга стоит особняком среди остальных, потому что последующие похождения Цереба будут более утончёнными и связанными. Но дать шанс первому тому всё равно нужно, учитывая что будущие арки проистекают из некоторых событий, которые происходит в этой книге.

[Mauricio Garcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean it's a great title for Sunday funny pages, for kids and/or people who love high fantasy, but I was expecting something else and mainly felt like time wasted. Sort of reminds me of Bone, another well-loved series which also wasn't for me and left after the first two tomes.
I guess I'll read Cerebus #2 as I've heard that's when the series begins to shift into something else, and hopefully that's correct.