Swords of Cerebus Volume 2

Rating:
Summary: Cerebus the Aardvark meets Jaka the dancing girl
Review: Volume 2 of "Swords of Cerebus" reprints issues #5-8 of "Cerebus the Aardvark" by Dave Sims. This is still the initial stage of one of the most successful "independent" comic books of all time when the point was still to look like Barry Windsor-Smith as much as possible. However, while it is easy at this point to dismiss "Cerebus" as funny animal version of "Conan the Barbarian" (which is the best explanation for issue #5 "Bran Mak Mufin"), Sims takes the first step toward the glory days of the series in issue #6, "The Secret." This is where Cerebus is drugged and falls in love with a tavern wench named...Jaka. Of course, by now you know the rest of the story between the comely dancing girl and the short grey one, but the point where Sims tries to do more than rip off Barry Windsor-Smith (who did the covers for "Swords of Cerebus" Volume 5) is here. To complete the inventory issue #7 "Black Sun Rising" features the return of Elrod and #8 "Day of the Earth-Pig," the issue that Sims sites as being where he moved from "cosmetic technique to narrative flow." One of the added bonuses of the "Swords of Cerebus" volumes are that Sims provides commentary on each issue contained herein. This volume was originally published in 1981, which was three years after these comics were first published; by that point Cerebus was in Iest and it was clearly time to rethink the aardvark's humble beginnings. The front of the volume contains the short illustrated poem "Demonhorn" while the back includes "The Morning After" by Sims and Joe Rubinstein. The poetry is lousy on the former, which spoils the whole joke while the latter works with sound effects rather than dialogue. As "Cerebus the Aardvark" heads for its 300th and final issue my general opinion is that the last 200 issues have not been as good as the first 100 and that this particular collection of early issues allows us to appreciate the wonderful transformation wrought by Sims.

Rating:
Summary: Cerebus the Aardvark meets Jaka the dancing girl
Review: Volume 2 of "Swords of Cerebus" reprints issues #5-8 of "Cerebus the Aardvark" by Dave Sims. This is still the initial stage of one of the most successful "independent" comic books of all time when the point was still to look like Barry Windsor-Smith as much as possible. However, while it is easy at this point to dismiss "Cerebus" as funny animal version of "Conan the Barbarian" (which is the best explanation for issue #5 "Bran Mak Mufin"), Sims takes the first step toward the glory days of the series in issue #6, "The Secret." This is where Cerebus is drugged and falls in love with a tavern wench named...Jaka. Of course, by now you know the rest of the story between the comely dancing girl and the short grey one, but the point where Sims tries to do more than rip off Barry Windsor-Smith (who did the covers for "Swords of Cerebus" Volume 5) is here. To complete the inventory issue #7 "Black Sun Rising" features the return of Elrod and #8 "Day of the Earth-Pig," the issue that Sims sites as being where he moved from "cosmetic technique to narrative flow." One of the added bonuses of the "Swords of Cerebus" volumes are that Sims provides commentary on each issue contained herein. This volume was originally published in 1981, which was three years after these comics were first published; by that point Cerebus was in Iest and it was clearly time to rethink the aardvark's humble beginnings. The front of the volume contains the short illustrated poem "Demonhorn" while the back includes "The Morning After" by Sims and Joe Rubinstein. The poetry is lousy on the former, which spoils the whole joke while the latter works with sound effects rather than dialogue. As "Cerebus the Aardvark" heads for its 300th and final issue my general opinion is that the last 200 issues have not been as good as the first 100 and that this particular collection of early issues allows us to appreciate the wonderful transformation wrought by Sims.