Much more than most comics, each issue of Cerebus has been one small slice of a long-lived story arc. It's never been easy to pick up one issue and jump into the flow of what's happening. This allowed Sim a lot more freedom in developing his stories and characters than has been available to mainstream writers, who need to hook attention-deficient new readers no matter what issue they start with. This collection, issues #163-174 of the eventual 300, shows just how well and how poorly that approach can work. Cerebus, the earthpig born, has become involved in a standoff between the hard-line and the progressive elements of a matriarchal theocracy. Somehow, he navigates between the factions and factions-within-factions, battle-dazed from issues before this book and bottle-dazed because of issues he seeks to drown in scotch. While he plays tag with consciousness, the clock ticks onward toward a religious meltdown with potentially genocidal outcomes (this was written in 1994). In the mean time, characters around the edges keep up humorous banter and brilliant satire. These issues of Cerebus were written around the time that Gaimain's "Sandman" was popular, even though I wasn't aware of Sandman back then. As a result, Sim posts two of his all-purpose sidekicks to satire duty, as Swoon, a wanking takeoff on the dreamlord, and a Death in drag, with a voice like Foghorn Leghorn. Lots of other characters, including the Regency Elf, fill in around the edges of this hallucinatory political drama. Yes, there are lots of different things to like in this story, even if catching up takes a bit of work. It's an exaggeration to say that Sim defined the Indy comic market single-handedly, but no one can doubt his influence on it. The Cerebus comic went through many changes over it's 25-year (!) run, but always led the pack in many directions. And, if you allow for some insider jokes of the comic biz, it's still as original as ever, and that's saying some. //wiredweird
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