Cerebus

Early in 2024, Tom Ewing started publishing his notes on a re-read of the full Cerebus the Aardvark comic—all 300 issues. I had read Cerebus month-by-month when it was originally published, following it all the way to the Women storyline, at which point Sim’s hostile misogyny became too much to bear. Reading Ewing’s excellent notes I became intrigued to read the early books again, which I owned in the original ‘phonebook’ format.

This volume captures the first twenty-five issues, and it is fascinating to read if for no reason than to watch an artist develop with remarkable speed. Sim starts as a very basic draftsperson and very quickly becomes someone who can capture nuance and light with unique skill. The story is nonsensical for the most part—why an aardvark?—but there is something there to keep you reading despite it being, as Ewing puts it, mostly a chore. And there’s no sign here of what Sim devolves into, thankfully.

I haven’t continued with book two (High Society), where Sim really hits his stride and, importantly, the inimitable Gerhard joins the creative team, but plan to.