The Roach

Cerebus #93 (December 1986)

Art by Dave Sim & Gerhard

DAVE SIM:
(from an interview in UK fanzine FA #115, 1989)

I was married, I had a job, it happened to be drawing comic books, but I had a job. The people I associated with were not comic book fans, they were mostly friends and/or family of my wife, their only interest in comic books was that I happened to draw a comic book. But every once in a while I'd go to a comic book convention, or a fan would show up somewhere, and that's what the Roach symbolised. You're getting on with your life, then all of a sudden this brilliant four colour individual comes trooping in, like he just belongs here, this is just it, this makes perfect sense for me to be here, and I think everybody should be damn grateful that Captain Cockroach has arrived, with exactly that 'chosen people' quality that comic fans tend to have en masse, and sort of reflecting that in Cerebus' life. A fair amount of time it was, if not a major embarrassment, at least a minor embarrassment. In the comic book world there's this notion that if there really was a Spider-Man people would be reacting like Jack Kirby background characters, with their hands up around their faces going "Gasp! There's someone swinging from that building!" In the real world it'd be "Who's that asshole in his long underwear?" If you were walking down the street and Captain America was on the other side of the street, and you were with this girl you wanted to impress, and he goes "Dave! Hey Dave!" you’d cover your face and go "I have no idea who that guy is."