You got Money? Not for long:
And as always, check for bonecrusher86 on the eBays if I missed something. (I didn't.)
Anyway:
"Say kids, what time is it?"
"It's time to get a REAL job Dillweed!"
"Um, No? It's "Reading Cerebus" Time!"
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| It's "READING CEREBUS" time.
It's "READING CEREBUS" time.
Kevin reads Cerebus for you,
It’s such a nifty thing to do.
Let’s give a rousing cheer,
Cause "Reading Cerebus" is here,
"Get a real job"? You guys suck...
Seriously.
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Kevin Kimmes:
Welcome back to “Reading Cerebus”, a new (some-what) weekly column here at A Moment of Cerebus. The goal of this column is to bring a fresh perspective to the 300-issue saga of Cerebus as I read through the series for the first time and give my insights into the longest running independent comic book series of all time. Think of this as part book club, part lit-crit, and part pop culture musing. Oh, and they told me Dave Sim himself may be reading this, so I hope I don’t screw this up. Let’s continue.
Between The Buttons: A Cerebus Miscellany (Part The First)
This week, I decided to get caught up on some of the miscellaneous short stories that slot in between the first 12 issues of Cerebus. For each story, I am including where it was originally published and where it fits in the overall arc of the story thus far. Credit goes to Cerebus Companion #1 for helping to place these stories in chronological order as they do not appear in the first phone book.
One thing I want to add before we get too far into this weeks column is that I glossed over one big detail in last week's column: Cerebus has celebrated another birthday and is now 27 years old. Now, on to the countdown!
"Demonhorn" (Nucleus #1, Reprinted in Swords of Cerebus Volume 2)
Between The Buttons: A Cerebus Miscellany (Part The First)
This week, I decided to get caught up on some of the miscellaneous short stories that slot in between the first 12 issues of Cerebus. For each story, I am including where it was originally published and where it fits in the overall arc of the story thus far. Credit goes to Cerebus Companion #1 for helping to place these stories in chronological order as they do not appear in the first phone book.
One thing I want to add before we get too far into this weeks column is that I glossed over one big detail in last week's column: Cerebus has celebrated another birthday and is now 27 years old. Now, on to the countdown!
"Demonhorn" (Nucleus #1, Reprinted in Swords of Cerebus Volume 2)
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| Images courtesy of CerebusFanGirl: Margaret Liss (Thanks for nothing CerebusDownloads.com!) |
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| (I mean 300 issues, over 6000 pages, and NO miscellany?!?) |
A lyric poem more fun than a sharp stick (err, sword) in the eye. While I find it kind of fun and charming, the notes I read say that Dave thinks the poetry is lousy.
This 5 page story fits in between issues 5 and 6, and scans of it can be found at http://www.cerebusfangirl.com/
"Cerebus Versus The Spirit" (Cerebus Jam) [Fully story at the link -Matt. And Here's Margaret with Dave's notebook on it.]
Years before Animal Man would meet writer Grant Morrison in the pages of DC Comics' Animal Man, the hand of comics' legend Will Eisner would intervene to break up a scuffle between his creation, The Spirit, and Cerebus. This one should have come with a spoiler alert as it mentions Cerebus becoming Pope, so I have that to look forward to.
This 4 page story fits in between issues 6 and 7.
"The Name Of The Game Is Diamondback" (Swords of Cerebus Volume 1, Reprinted in Cerebus World Tour Book 1995) [This is NOT that story... -Matt (Be warned, it's long and horrible and you see WAY too much of my fat face... I'd say "sorry", but I'm not sorry. -Matt)]
In which the rules of Cerebus' favorite card game, Diamondback, are explained and we are introduced to Leopold, The Gambling Priest.
This 8 page story fits in between issues 11 and 12.
Final Thoughts
While these short stories are fun to look at in the context of the series, they really don't add much to the overall experience. The coolest moment of these three stories is probably seeing Cerebus drawn by Will Eisner. That said, the biggest bummer was having the Cerebus as Pope storyline revealed early.
Join me back here next week as we look at three more stories that fit in between issues 11 and 12: "Elfguest", "Cerebus Dreams", and "A Night On The Town"
Currently Listening To: Grateful Dead - "Dick's Picks Volume 26 - Disc 2 Labor Temple Minneapolis, MN 4/27/1969"
Kevin Kimmes is a lifelong comic book reader, sometime comic book artist, and recent Cerebus convert. He can be found slinging comics at the center of the Multiverse, aka House of Heroes in Oshkosh, WI.
3 comments:
The coolest moment of these three stories is probably seeing Cerebus drawn by Will Eisner.
Sorry, Kevin, but this is not something that happens in that story.
Really, it was Dave? Well, color me impressed.
I imagine reading it achronologically might have thrown you, still being in the thick brush, long snout era - but it definitely looks like Sim, not Eisner!
(Dave wrote, laid out and pencilled the entire story, with Eisner just inking The Spirit and Dolan, plus a few details here and there; not unlike his level of involvement in many original Spirit strips.)
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