Saturday 14 June 2014

Chris W's Cerebus Character Index

CHRIS W: 
I published this 'Cerebus Character Index' in my book Double, and included all recurring characters who appeared two or more times. Some of my decisions were subjective, there are good arguments against some of them.

Abbess of Goodabbey (4): #40, #60, #67, #102
Abimelech (2): #283-4
Abraham (3): #282-4
Accountant (2): #141, #147
Alan Moore (3): #182, #185, #239
Alec (5): #205, #210-2, #215
Alfred Douglas (2): #143 (image), #149
Andrena (5): #99 (echo), #102 (echo), #144 (vision), #176 (echo), #220 (echo)
Archer (2): #153-4
Arnold the Isshurian (4): #45-8
Assassin (3): #160-2
Astoria (63): #31-5, #37-50, #54 (flashback), #60, #67, #78 (dream), #82, #87-8, #89 (dream), #93-102, #130, #144 (vision), #155, #159 (goddess), #161-5, #166 (dream), #167-9, #170 (dream), #171-9, #203 (dream), #218 (dream), #300 (spirit)
Baby (3): #66, #73 (dream), #300 (flashback)
Bacchus (4): #152, #201, #204-5
Bartender (9): #160-2, #165, #166-7 (off-panel), #168-9, #171-2
Baskin (10): #15, #38-9, #43, #72, #138, #151, #162, #169, #300 (spirit)
Bear (28): #65-6, #69, #73-4, #79, #102, #150 (flashback), #193 (flashback), #202, #203 (off-panel), #204 (dream), #205-14, #218 (dream), #219 (flashback), #231, #251 (flashback), #292 (flashback), #300 (spirit)
Beth (3): #153-4, #175 [see note 1]
Beulah (2): #212, #218
Big Round Glowing White Strange Thing (13): #66, #69-70, #73, #81-2, #90-1, #111, #155, #184-5, #272 (flashback) [see note 2]
Bilhah (2): #284-5
Bishop Posey (13): #64-8, #87-8, #98, #100-1, #146, #159 (off-panel), #160
Bishop Powers (19): #59, #61, #64-5, #68, #71-2, #76 (off-panel), #87, #90-3, #96-101 [see note 3]
Blakely (17): #37, #39, #41-3, #45-9, #58, #60, #64, #102, #157 (flash-forward), #166, #300 (spirit)
Blossom (2): #162-3
Boobah (18): #65-9, #72-3, #76, #88, #90-1, #93, #142, #169, #193 (flashback), #206, #212, #300 (spirit)
Bran Mac Muffin (20): #5, #34, #37, #40-3, #45, #47, #66-7, #71-2, #75, #80, 89 (dream), #102 (corpse), #112 (corpse), #161 (spirit), #300 (spirit)
Bryan (2): #152-3
Bryan’s wife (2): #152-3
Cerebus (284): #1-113, #115-24, #127, #128-9 (in a dress), #136, #141-2, #143 (off-panel), #144-171, #173-#243, #245-57, #259-300
Cerebus' Dad (3): #190 (off-panel, flashback) #191 (flashback), #300 (flashback)
Cerebus' Mum (4): #77 (dream), #171 (dream), #191 (flashback), #300 (flashback)
Charisse (2): #163 (off-panel), #164
Charo (4): #253-5, #259
Cirin (4): #163-4, #194-5 (flashback)
Clarinda (5): #136, #151, #153 (off-panel), #154, #161
Cockroach (59): #11-2, #21-2 (Captain Cockroach), #30-4 (Moon Roach), #39-42, #44-5 (Sergeant Preston Roach), #47-9, #51 (Purely Platonic Priest Roach), #53-6 (Wolveroach), #78 (dream), #81 (Secretsacredwarsroach), #84, #86-8, #92, #139 (normalroach), #154-5 (Punisheroach), #157-63, #164-7 (Swoon), #168 (dream), #169-74, #176, #179-80 (Kay Sarah Sarah), #182, #196 (flashback), #203 (Fanroach), #218 (dream), #300 (spirit)
Commander (2): #42, #49
Commander Krull (2): #17, #18 (mentioned) [see note 4]
Conniptin commander (2): #49-50 [see note 5]
Cookie (Candy?) (2): #268, #270 (mentioned)
Dark-haired Cirinist (4): #241, #245, #248, #250
Dave Sim (20): #181, #192 (psst), #193-200, #209 (flashback), #216 (narrator), #229, #280, #283-7, #291 (thought balloon) [see note 6]
Death (3): #4, #151, #196 (flashback)
Denis (2): #256-7 (flashback)
Dino (5): #141, #143, #145, #147, #300 (spirit)
Dirty Drew McGrew (22): #27, #29, #39-43, #49, #51, #81, #84, #138, #160, #161 (off-panel), #166-7 (off-panel), #168-72, #300 (spirit)
Dirty Fleagle McGrew (21): #27, #29, #39-41, #43, #49, #51, #81, #84, #138, #160-1, #165, #166 (off-panel), #167-9, #171-2, #300 (spirit)
Doctor Cameron (2): #168-9
Don Simpson (2): #184, #208
Doris (5): #144-5, #147-8, #300 (spirit) [see note 7]
Dr. Tucker (5): #141, #145-8
Duke Leonardi (12): #46, #51, #54 (flashback), #62, #79, #90, #92-3, #138, #153, #251 (bottle), #300 (spirit) [see note 8]
Dupoirier (2): #140, #149
E'lass (2): #6, #16
Elrod (38): #4, #7, #8 (hallucination), #12, #21-2, #24 (flashback), #33-4, #38-9, #43, #51, #56 (thought balloon), #78 (dream), #85-8, #93, #138, #155, #157, #159-65, #167, #170, #179-80, #183 (in Viktor’s head), #196 (flashback), #203 (dream), #300 (spirit) [see note 9]
Esau (2): #284, #286
Ethel (6): #24-5, #78 (dream), #82, #105-6
F. Stop Kennedy (12): #240-50, #300 (spirit)
Fanboy1 (2): #37-8
Fanboy2 (2): #37-8
Ferry Tits Jerrold (2): #275-6
Filgate (11): #37, #41-3, #46-9, #59, #166, #300 (spirit)
Fishmonger like-a-look (2): #137-8
Fraud (2): #281-2 (painting)
Fred (5): #25, #82, #105-6, #300 (flashback)
Fret Mac Murray (3): #5, #67 (mentioned), #156 [see note 10]
General Dworkin (3): #165, #168-9
General Greer (6): #156, #165-6, #168-70
General Normina Swartskof (3): #152-4
General Steinem (4): #168-71
Genevra (5): #240-3, #247
Genital Ben (4): #210-3
Gerhard (2): #185, #200
Gertrude (3): #262-3, #265
Girl (2): #296, #298
God (11): #226, #280-7, #289-90
Grauss (2): #18-9
Gudre (2): #17-8
Hagar (2): #282-3
Ham Ernestway (11): #251-9, #292 (flashback), #300 (spirit)
Harker (2): #18-9
Harrison Starkey (10): #201, #203, #206 (?), #207, #208 (?), #209, #211-3, #300 (spirit)
Hedges (2): #57, #62
Henrot (6): #3, #19, #45-6, #82, #300 (spirit)
Hilly Rose (2): #208, #210
Holland M. Hadden (2): #26, #30
Infinity Serpent (2): #226, #228 [see note 11]
Isaac (3): #282-4
Jacob (3): #284-6
Jaka (85): #6, #16 (letter), #35 (mentioned), #36, #38 (dream), #48, #59 (letter), #73 (mentioned), #74-5, #77 (dream), #102, #114-36, #138, #147 (flashback), #157 (flashback), #166 (dream), #169-70, #193, #196-8 (what if?), #199-200, #218 (dream), #230-#243, #245-251, #252 (off-panel), #253-257, #259-65, #299 (flashback), #300 (spirit)
Janette (2): #23-4
Janice (4): #139, #141 (off-panel), #142-3
Jay Anthony Diver (8): #240-5, #247, #250
Joanne (11): #197-8 (what if?), #216-9, #221, #223-5, #227
John Cleese (2): #42-3
Jozan (3): #241-2, #247
Judah (2): #286-7
Judge (16): #107-11, #150 (flashback), #151, #155-7, #161, #165, #171, #185 (thought balloon), #187 (thought balloon), #203 (dream)
K'cor (8): #9, #38, #155-6, #158-9, #161, #300 (spirit)
Karen Potts' receptionist (2): #177-8
Katrina (2): #23-4
Khem (2): #2, #151
Konigsberg (8): #280-7
Koshie (13): #268-72, #274-9, #288 (painting) , #300 (spirit)
Laban (2): #284-5
Large Cirinist (5): #243, #245-6, #248, #250 [see note 12]
Leah (3): #284-6 [see note 13]
Levi (2): #285-6
Light-haired Cirinist (4): #240, #242, #245, #250
Like-a-look in chiffon (3): #126, #137-8
Little fellow with the hair (5): #25, #37, #82, #105-6
Lord Draser (2): #65-6
Lord Gorce (3): #18-9, #22 (mentioned)
Lord Julius (52): #14-9, #24 (flashback), #35, #38-9, #43, #46, #49, #51, #54 (flashback), #62, #72-3, #78 (dream), #79-80, #82, #90-4, #130, #135, #138, #151, #160-2, #166 (dream), #169, #193 (painting), #203 (bottle), #206 (bottle), #211-3 (bottle), #217-8 (bottle), #227 (bottle), #230 (bottle), #233 (like-a-look), #240 (flashback), #241 (bottle), #245 (bottle), #250 (bottle), #300 (spirit) [see note 14]
Lord Julius’ second social secretary (2): #17-8
Lord Julius’ social secretary (4): #15-7, #24 (flashback)
Lord Rodney (4): #42-3, #46, #51
Lord Silverspoon (3): #43, #52, #300 (spirit) [see note 15]
Lord Storms'end (5): #42, #44, #78-80
Loshie (11): #268-72, #274-7, #279, #288 (picture)
Lot (2): #282-3
M. Zulli (2): #175, #193
Magus Doran (2): #190 (flashback, off-panel), #266 (flashback, off-panel)
Marty (11): #201-2, #206-7, #209-12, #218, #231, #300 (spirit)
Mary Ernestway (9): #251, #252 (off-panel), #253-9
Messenger bird (3): #98-100
Michelle (8): #53-6, #78 (dream), #83-4, #300 (spirit)
Milieu (3): #176-7, #179
Minister for External Affairs (3): #45-6, #49 [see note 16]
Missy (52): #114, #118, #124, #136, #141-2, #144-57, #162-70, #173, #191 (flashback), #218 (dream), #230-4, #237-8, #242, #246, #254, #261, #265, #300 (flashback) [see note 17]
Moshie (12): #268-72, #274-7, #279, #287 (bust), #288 (picture)
Mr. Hammond (4): #155-6, #161, #165
Mrs. Copps (3): #155, #157-8
Mrs. Reno (2): #232, #238 (off-panel)
Mrs. Tynsdale-Clyde (2): #59, #61
Mrs. Henrot-Gutch (17): #57-61, #64-66, #68, #69 (off-panel), #73, #77 (dream), #141, #163, #169, #193 (flashback), #300 (spirit)
Mrs. Thatcher (21): #133-6, #153-4, #156-8, #161-2, #165-6, #201, #207, #210, #212, #214-5, #222, #249 (flashback)
Necross/Thrunk (7): #13, #80, #82, #87-8, #89 (dream), #196 (flashback)
Neil Gaiman (2): #182, #288 (reads cover)
New Joanne (5): #270 (off-panel), #286-7 (off-panel), #288, #298 (flashback)
Ngui (5): #253-6 (flashback), #259
Noah (2): #281-2
Norman Kingsley (2): #207, #208 (cover)
Nurse (11): #114-5, #116 (off-panel), #117, #119, #123 (off-panel), #125, #131-4
Old man (5): #113, #126-7, #129-30
Oscar (12): #120-5, #127-30, #160, #300 (spirit) [see note 18]
Other like-a-look (2): #137-8
Perce (2): #19-20
Pervert (2): #296, #298
Pigt shaman-king (2): #195-6 (flashback)
Pinshaw (2): #45, #47
Pluto (2): #201 (off-panel), #203 (off-panel)
President Weishaupt (19): #21-2, #54, #57, #59, #61-2, #64, #66-9, #76, #83 (flashback), #89 (dream), #98 (flashback), #103 (stone head), #280 (painting), #300 (spirit) [see note 19]
Prime Minister Gatson (2): #30, #35
Prince Keef (6): #85-6, #93, #142, #211, #300 (spirit)
Prince Mick (11): #85-6, #93, #142, #201, #203 (off-panel), #208-9, #212-3, #300 (spirit)
Prison guard (4): #131-3, #150
Professor Charles X. Claremont (7): #23-5, #56, #81, #86-7
Pud Withers (14): #115, #117-9, #121-7, #129-30, #135 (diary)
Rabbi (8): #267, #270-1, #272 (vision), #279, #281, #288, #300 (mentioned) [see note 20]
Rachel (3): #284-6
Real Regency Elf (4): #69 (off-panel), #70, #155-6
Red Sophia (23): #3, #8 (mentioned), #10, #19 (Geeta), #57-8, #60-1, #64-5, #67-8, #72-3, #77 (dream), #80, #90, #91 (boobs), #112 (flashback), #163, #169, #193 (flashback), #300 (spirit) [see note 21]
Regency desk clerk (4): #26, #29, #33, #43
Regency Elf (25): #29-32, #39, #41-3, #45-6, #50, #58-60, #78 (dream), #89 (dream), #155-7, #161, #167 (dream), #171 (dream), #218 (dream), #272 (flashback), #300 (spirit)
Regency room clerk (3): #29, #35, #38
Reggie (8): #142-9
Reuben (2): #285-6
Richard George (9): #202-3, #205 (?), #207, #210 (?), #211, #213, #231, #300 (spirit) [see note 22]
Rick (41): #73-5 (mentioned), #114, #116-24, #126 (off-panel), #127-30, #136, #218 (dream), #219-28, #231 (flashback), #234 (flashback), #243, #260 (dream), #261 (flashback), #269 (painting), #272 (vision), #273 (painting), #274, #287 (statue), #294 (statue), #300 (thought balloon) [see note 23]
Rick Veitch (3): #184, #204 (dream), #239
Robbie (8): #140-3, #147 (hallucination), #148-9, #300 (spirit)
Sarah (2): #282-3
Scorz (2): #26, #62
Sebastien Melmoth (10): #140-8, #149 (corpse)
Sedra (3): #9, #159 (goddess), 161 (goddess) [see note 24]
Serna (45): #100, #151-2, #154-6, #158, #160-6, #168-89, #194-5, #225 (vision), #227 (vision), #249 (pamphlet), #299 (mentioned) [see note 25]
Seth (3): #92, #153-4
Seunteus Po (31): #20, #28, #40 (other Po?), #42 (other Po?), #45 (Hargraves), #47-8, (Hargraves), #50 (Hargraves), #99 (echo), #101 (echo), #108 (origin of), #144 (vision), #155-61, #165-6, #169 (dream), #171-8, #300 (spirit) Shelah (2): #286-7 [see note 26]
Shep-Shep (4): #291-2 (flashback), #298-9
Simeon (2): #285-6
Sir Gerrick (4): #54 (mentioned), #62 (mentioned), #163 (mentioned), #300 (spirit) [see note 27]
Sopai assassin (2): #21-2
Squinteye (2): #201 (off-panel), #203 (off-panel) [see note 28]
Stromm (2): #17-8
Supreme Commander of the Western Legions (5): #98-102 [see note 29]
Tamor (2): #286-7
Tarim (2): #109-10
Terim (2): #109-10
The Wanker (2): #208-9 [see note 30]
Theresa (7): #23-4, #41, #49, #60, #62, #66
Todd "Far Lane" Mcspahn (3): #274-6
Tony the musician (2): #217 (mentioned), #227 (mentioned) [see note 31]
Turg (3): #6, #16, #196 (flashback)
Vera (2): #163-4
Vice-President of the Bank of Iest (2): #66-7
Vichy (3): #53, #54 (off-panel), #55
Victor Reid (6): #175-80
Viktor Davis (7): #181-6, #220 (flashback) [see note 32]
Walter O’Reilly (7): #291-297 (off-panel)
William Moulton Marston Tusshi (2): #232, #238
Xena (2): #240, #24 [see note 33]
Yoohwhoo (8): #280 (mentioned), #281-7 [see note 34]
Zeke Morton (2): #264 (dream), #265
Zilpah (2): #284-5


NOTES:
[1] Beth: We can safely assume the Beth who poses for Seth and Duke Leonardi is the same one Victor Reid lusted after.
[2] Big Round Glowing White Strange Thing: All BRGWSTs are Yoohwhoo at all times. Dave confirmed this in a Q&A with Yahoo: Cerebus. So why am I counting them separately? Because I can! Feel my power!
[3] Bishop Powers: His appearances take place within a 42 issue span, yet he’s one of the most-recurring characters in the entire series.
[4] Commander Krull: Yes, I included the mere mention of a character as an appearance. There will be weirder examples.
[5] Conniptin commander: I'm assuming he didn’t appear in #8 or 9 because then he would have been dead after drinking from K’cor’s poisoned wells.
[6] Dave Sim: You know that Dave is “Me”, right. I don’t mean that in an “I am Spartacus” way, he’s the one ‘transcribing’ Cerebus’ scripture commentaries.
[7] Doris: She appears between Mick and Keef in the big two-page spread at the end. Methinks someone (naming no names) just wanted to draw luscious melons. Where was Old Joanne anyway?
[8] Duke Leonardi: Yes, I counted appearances on booze bottles. This will get depressing when it comes to Lord Julius.
[9] Elrod: Elrod was an illusion generated by Cerebus’ proximity to the chaos gem, so why was his spirit there at the end? Maybe I shoulda counted the sheep named after him in #266.
[10] Fret Mac Murray: It’s not much of a mention, but considering what Fret is condemned to for the rest of eternity, he could use the break.
[11] Infinity Serpent: You could argue that the Infinity Serpent appeared during the flashbacks of Cerebus’ flight past Jupiter, but I wouldn’t. In fact, I didn’t. So there.
[12] Large Cirinist: Dave didn't give the three Cirinists in Fall & The River names and they can look different from page to page, so do your best to figure it out.
[13] Leah: The characters in the Cerebexegis were tough. If Cerebus mentions them, but it's not a scriptural citation, is that an appearance? How long will I pour over page after page of tiny tiny type to justify this?
[14] Lord Julius: Lord Julius hardly ever appeared. I was so desperate, I included the like-a-looks. There is someone resembling an older Groucho Marx dancing with a young woman during Mary Ernestway’s encounter with the Iestan ambassador at the end of Form and Void. Who knows?
[15] Lord Silverspoon: I said I won't count appearances outside the main 300-issue storyline, dammit! Even if the Silverspoon strips are now included in the first phone book.
[16] Minister for External Affairs: This guy and how he came to be associated with Cerebus will probably remain a mystery forever. He was the character where I realized I would need to scour every page to ensure somebody didn’t show up in the background somewhere. I wonder what his name is.
[17] Missy: Yes, the doll appears more often than almost anybody else. Even funnier, as you can see I included off-panel dialogue and all sorts of things. Missy’s a doll. She just sits there. She does I sent Dave this checklist and have unfortunately lost his response, but he commented that Missy and Cerebus had similar legs and speculated this made the misshapen grey bastard more nothing. If she’s not on-panel, she’s not in an issue. And she ties for fifth place. And I use the female pronoun for a doll.
[18] Oscar: We can also assume that is Oscar in the last issue, not Sebastien Melmoth. They are two people, you know. Even if we’ve never seen them together at the same time.
[19] President Weishaupt: Why is a painting of Weishaupt sitting in Cerebus' sanctuary? I don’t know, but it’s a recreation of Church & State I page 203 panel 1.
[20] Rabbi: The Rabbi appearances are kinda iffy once Cerebus believes he himself is secretly Rabbi.
[21] Red Sophia: Geeta and "boobs". Do you think I’m trying too hard to increase the count?
[22] Richard George: Richard George and Harrison Starkey were tough. There are issues where I have no idea which one appears and others where one or both speak from off-panel. I wound up splitting those issues between them.
[23] Rick: Introduction to Jaka’s Story: “I have little else to say about Rick except that…” Can you imagine Rick’s importance to the series if Dave had had more to say?
[24] Sedra: A problem counting appearances was Dave’s improving drawing ability. In #9, Sedra was a generic fantasy villain’s wench. Over 3000 art pages later, Dave draws a naked woman during some mystical vision-or-other of Cerebus’. I don’t care, I counted her as Sedra.
[25] Serna: You might disagree with what I count as an appearance, but I think we can agree everybody was riveted when Shep-Shep told us "Cirin" was still alive.
[26] Seunteus Po: Po was ridiculous. Multiple people in Estarcion shared his name. Clearly the aardvark didn’t write the book about the election or “Six Crises” on the prison wall, but we don’t know if Hargraves the Anarcho-Romantic is the one who did. The aardvark also had previous incarnations which appeared variously. I opted to lump them all together. Also, the Judge’s recounting of his origin was an appearance in my book. Maybe not in yours though. Isn’t illusionism fun?
[27] Sir Gerrick: Fun fact: Sir Gerrick showed up in #300’s crowd scene because a member of the Yahoo: Cerebus group called Dave shortly before he drew those pages to ask if he would ever get around to explaining the Sir Gerrick stuff. We’re still waiting.
[28] Squinteye: Pluto, Squinteye, Bear, Sir Gerrick, Lord Silverspoon and other characters made in-continuity appearances outside of the 300-issue storyline. That’s fine, but I’m not counting them.
[29] Supreme Commander of the Western Legions: Five issues isn't bad for a guy who just stands there holding a sword.
[30] The Wanker: Does everyone have the Wanker’s first appearance safely bagged and stored in mint condition?
[31] Tony the musician: This is probably where I started including characters just because I thought it was funny.
[32] Viktor Davis: Dave has confirmed that Viktor Davis gave Rick advice on women.
[33] Xena: By counting appearances by fictional characters within another fictional character’s fictional narrative. I, sir, put the “pulse” in obsessive-compulsive.
[34] Yoohwhoo: The problem counting characters from scripture didn’t go away. I was going to skip him/her/it, but should I exclude God? To be fair, in Dave’s own line of thought, couldn’t they both be said to be present in every single panel of the three hundred issues? Once I decided Tarim and Terim qualified, I couldn’t in good conscience exclude God and Yoohwhoo.

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