Rating: 
Summary: Slow Start
Review: A slow start for Cerebus, then takes off like a rocket as he becomes the Kitchen Staff Advisor to Lord Julius and begins the 20+ year journey to issue 300. Dave Sim manages to mock as many as he can in a classic satire.
Rating:
Summary: Slow Start
Review: A slow start for Cerebus, then takes off like a rocket as he becomes the Kitchen Staff Advisor to Lord Julius and begins the 20+ year journey to issue 300. Dave Sim manages to mock as many as he can in a classic satire.
Rating: 
Summary: Hmmmm, I'm interested ....
Review: After repeatedly having been told I should really give Cerebus comics a try I decided to go for it and started off with this first book (which collects #1-25). I don't regret it. Although it's a little hard to get into it at first it's quite an interesting and good read once you get to (and pass) the point he finds employment with a certain Lord Julius of Palnu (about halfway through the book), not accidently also the point where continuity and follow-up stories in Cerebus comics kick in. Before that it's mostly a funny book with single-issue arcs, a spoof on "warrior-comics" which is a genre of comics that was very popular in the days these issues first saw print. Those issues are also enjoyfull but stand-alone, and I feel the real storylines shouldn't have kicked in any later or it might have become annoying. The main idea of the stories in this volume is that the main-character Cerebus, a sarcastic wandering mercanary for hire who happens to be an aardvark, swerves around in a fantasy land. He never knows where he's going to be next week and his only things of interest are gold, peace of mind and booze, favorably to be earned in any employment he finds at the time (or just by theft). This gets him in the most awkward positions possible which he has to get out off by cleverly conning his (99% dumb-as-a lamppost) fellow characters. The dialogues in which Cerebus takes part are hilarious if you're a fan of sarcastic humor and sometimes you find yourself amazed seeing how Cerebus finds his way out off things you wouldn't have seen a solution for yourself. Big plus for Simm there because the tales NEVER get predictable. Overall I'm quite enthousiastic about this volume although I do think it might not be the best one to get to know the character Cerebus. I think it's better if you read one of the later volumes first ("High Society" for example) and THEN come back to this book to see how it all evolved in what it came to be. Because evolve it does, just compare the drawings on the first page and the last page, and see how far story-development improves over time. Once you DO start reading this book I'd like to suggest that you especially take good notice of the characters "Elrod", "Jaka" and "Cockroach". Not only do these characters keep re-appearing in later issues, the stories starring them are also some of the best in the trade (more like "phonebook" really). Also take special notice of #20 called "Mindgame" which is hilarious due to the superb dialoguing and Simm showing off he can draw Cerebus in any position imaginable. Something he doesn't lack in at other issues either, though. In conclussion: go for it if you're looking for a cleverly written "talk-comic" where the action is more in the words than in the images, and stay clear of it if you're looking for a superhero comic or a comic that's all about action-filled art.
Rating:
Summary: What about Cheetah and Mongoose?
Review: As fantastic as the series is, it still can't hold a candle to such classics as Greenside and The Restricted Zone, created by the young geniuses at Ri-An Comics in the mid-eighties...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent parody
Review: Cerebus is easily one pf the best satire comics of all time. Cerebus lampoons all the classic fantasy conventions, politics as is applies to the human experience, and other noteable comic supremely well. The first volume, while unlike the rest of the series, sets the stage for what is to come by giving us an appreciation of the irony of the main character's role thoughout the rest of the work. If you love fantasy comics, Cerebus volume 1 is a must. If you love a good comic regarldless, read them all.
Rating:
Summary: An Earth-Pig is Born
Review: Cerebus was a lot of things in his 300 issues of comic life, but he started out as a parody of Robert E. Howard's Conan right about the time that low-grade sword & sorcery was hitting the big time. Ironically, with the possible exception of some of the Marvel Comics material, Cerebus was leagues better than most of the stuff from that era that was pawned off as Conan (such as the wretched pastiches that Carter and de Camp passed off alongside the REH stories in the paperbacks). Particularly ingenious is the character of Elrod of Melvinbone, a knockoff of Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone who you sense is making fun of Elric's popularity more than the angsty character himself. From his sword Seersucker (which Cerebus smashes in their first fight) to his Foghorn Leghorn voice, Elrod's banter with Cerebus is a great source of comedy, and the alterations in their relationship as the book goes on are ever weirder and more intricate.
Dave Sim developed his very distinctive style of drawing Cerebus across this volume, which means that the art improves by steps - and we get to watch as Sim turns into the most creative artist in comics. (You can't deny that the material where Cerebus was talking with Selentius Po was magnificent, for one thing.) We also see the comic starting to figure out what it is all about, as Cerebus' adventures make him a (failed) king, and then bring him into big-league politics, all while keeping up the oddball satire - like Lord Julius, a dictator who looks exactly like Groucho Marx. This coincides with the beginning of the lengthy storylines that Cerebus would become famous for.
The first volume of Cerebus is parody, but a witty, fun parody. It's fun all around, but you'll get the most out of it if you've read a lot of sword & sorcery. I'm giving the first volume five stars because compared to most comics it's worth it - even though it's hard to say that it's five stars compared to later volumes.
Rating:
Summary: Indispensable
Review: Cerebus, originally to be titled Cerberus but for a printing error, is one of the most important comic books ever published. Begun in the late 1970s as a parody of Marvel Comic's version of Conan the Barbarian by an employee of Now and Then Comics in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, it quickly grew into a unique entity. Filled with sophisticated plots, emotional depth and (not counting the earliest issues) exquisite artwork, Cerebus quickly became the standard against which all other titles were measured (that is, by people who had outgrown immature power fantasies about men in tights). Cerebus is of extreme historic importance. Sure, there were underground comix before, but nothing matching its scope in straightforward storytelling. The undergrounds were pretty much a dying breed and offered few titles representing the unique vision of one artist. Most were just anthologies with short stories whereas Cerebus became a projected 300 issue epic. Cerebus blazed the trail for the modern self-published, independent comics movement, and alternative publishers like Fantagraphics by encouraging increased creator control artistically and financially. Even the mainstream publishers couldn't ignore his influence, creating such imprints as D.C.'s Vertigo. Even Alan Moore's Swamp Thing couldn't have existed pre-Dave Sim. Cerebus was also important for introducing the concept of a comic epic with a beginning, middle and end with a complete creative vision, vs. a title taken over by whatever writer and artist is handy with the characters never aging or developing. Such ideas as Neil Gaiman's 75 issue Sandman story arch are built upon Sim's innovation. Unfortunately, the earliest issues in this collection (which are still important for introducing the characters) were poorly drawn and written before Sim turned the series into the serious-but-humourous epic it now is, but half-way through, his brilliance begins to show with more complex tales of political intrigue. If it weren't for people like Sim, I would have given up modern comic books many years ago. Sure, some fanboys who do not read novels try to pass off some books such as the Crow as real art, but trust me, even if you don't usually read comics, buy this. This is serious art and serious literature.
Rating:
Summary: Haiku Review
Review: Cynical Earth Pig
Mocks comic book conventions.
Early art needs help.
Rating:
Summary: How I learned To Spell Aardvak
Review: I absolutely LOVED this book. True, the later ones are better, but that's true for just about everything. I started my passion for Graphic Novels w/ the Japanese stuff, and scorned everything American. Then came Cerberus. This mead-loving Aardvark changed my whole lattitude!If he were tangible, I'd kiss 'em! (i'm Brauuuuuuuugh@aol.com)
Rating:
Summary: Aardvarks+alcohol=FUN!
Review: I just picked this book up a couple of days ago and I loved it. It's a story about an aardvark who is an adventuer who likes to get drunk at every start. I loved it. Buy it!
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