Rick's Story (Cerebus, Book 12)

Rating:
Summary: Masterful integration of text and images
Review: With "Rick's Story," Dave Sim and Gerhard created a chapter in the story of Cerebus that deserves a place with other respected graphic novels. The story carefully studies the two main characters, Rick and Cerebus, as they suffer a purgatory unique to each but shared by both. The episodes expose the characters' dilemmas with well-crafted storytelling and inventive graphic devices. At certain points, Cerebus struggles to subdue his mania by quietly arguing with the many different and distinct voices in his head. This allows Sim to show off his effective expression of dialect and tone within his drawn script. At other points, Rick slips into a martyr fantasy as expressed in friezes from stained-glass windows. As the typeset narrative continues in the margins, the windows act both as illustration and backdrop for the characters' actions.

Although it is short on feverish drama, "Rick's Story" contains much to be enjoyed and savored. The story is an evocative set piece fleshed-out with creatively integrated text and images. Despite many, sometimes subtle, back-references, anyone could enjoy this novel by itself.