ALAN MOORE (WATCHMEN, V FOR VENDETTA):
Comics in Dave's hands comes
closest to music in some respects, in that he's got such a perfect sense
of comic timing... What Dave has managed to do with an aardvark
barbarian character that started off as a Barry Smith Conan
parody, what he's managed to say in the context of that strip is
staggering. I could never do that... There's not a lot
of people who you can learn from in terms of storytelling, but Dave's
always one of them.
BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH (CONAN):
Dave Sim has created a totally believable scenario and peopled it perfectly; The mark of a very fine story-teller. In my opinion, the best in the field today.
NEIL GAIMAN (SANDMAN, STARDUST, CORALINE):
I think he's a brilliant cartoonist, a spot-on caricaturist, an excellent letterer and a very fine writer-of-comics... easily the best parody of Sandman anyone's ever done, as various members of the Cerebus cast of characters become Snuff, Swoon and the rest of the Clueless. It was wickedly funny, and had the author of Sandman curling his toes when he read it.
BILL SIENKIEWICZ:
I think Cerebus is one of the greatest accomplishments in comics, not only as a work of art, but as a commitment to a vision.
CHESTER BROWN:
Cerebus is a masterpiece. I don’t have to agree with an author (or be that author's friend) to enjoy his-or-her work. I’ve read all sixteen volumes at least twice through, and some of them I’ve read more than twice. There seems to be a popular view out there that the early volumes are good and the later ones are unreadable, but, to me, Cerebus becomes more and more interesting as it progresses.
JERRY SIEGEL (SUPERMAN):
NEIL GAIMAN (SANDMAN, STARDUST, CORALINE):
I think he's a brilliant cartoonist, a spot-on caricaturist, an excellent letterer and a very fine writer-of-comics... easily the best parody of Sandman anyone's ever done, as various members of the Cerebus cast of characters become Snuff, Swoon and the rest of the Clueless. It was wickedly funny, and had the author of Sandman curling his toes when he read it.
BILL SIENKIEWICZ:
I think Cerebus is one of the greatest accomplishments in comics, not only as a work of art, but as a commitment to a vision.
CHESTER BROWN:
Cerebus is a masterpiece. I don’t have to agree with an author (or be that author's friend) to enjoy his-or-her work. I’ve read all sixteen volumes at least twice through, and some of them I’ve read more than twice. There seems to be a popular view out there that the early volumes are good and the later ones are unreadable, but, to me, Cerebus becomes more and more interesting as it progresses.
JERRY SIEGEL (SUPERMAN):
It's A.R.T., that's what it is!
So keep doing your thing in your own unique way. Never mind the off-stage
murmurings. Slave away at your drawing desk, you and Gerhard. Tell it all...
love, hate, joy, sorrows, comedy. And don't make so many public appearances...
your drawing board misses you.
MARK MILLAR (WANTED, KICK-ASS):
I think of Dave Sim existing in a
pantheon of God-like creators with Moore, Miller, etc, and too busy with
his own ideas to register that mere mortals like myself even EXIST.
J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI (BABYLON 5):
He won over the publishing schedules, detractors, critics, people who said it couldn't be done, people who said it shouldn't be done, people who saw misogyny where there was only commentary, who
saw indulgence where there was determination, who saw creative control
as egocentrism, who saw an individual voice at work and declared it
conceit... Year after year, month after (more or less) month, Cerebus
made me laugh and think and kept me sane. And it showed me something
very important: that you could tell one long story over a period of
years, across hundreds of issues, and not only could readers
follow it, the subtleties and nuances layered on over the course of
those years would add a breathtaking degree of subtext and context to
everything that happened.
KEVIN EASTMAN (TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES):
KEVIN EASTMAN (TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES):
Cerebus is a book that I believe every comics fan should read at least once.
EDDIE CAMPBELL (FROM HELL, ALEC, BACCHUS):
...I think he's done books which are among the best books of the graphic novel years. I think Jaka's Story is a wonderful book. It was the actually the first Cerebus book that I read from beginning to end, and I didn't feel that I needed to know anything that went before it, I was happy...
EDDIE CAMPBELL (FROM HELL, ALEC, BACCHUS):
...I think he's done books which are among the best books of the graphic novel years. I think Jaka's Story is a wonderful book. It was the actually the first Cerebus book that I read from beginning to end, and I didn't feel that I needed to know anything that went before it, I was happy...
ED BRUBAKER (GOTHAM CENTRAL, CRIMINAL):
I agree that if it’s about money, I would
happily subscribe through Kickstarter or paypal or amazon payments or whatever,
to just about any comics Sim wants to write and draw for the rest of his life.
BILL WILLINGHAM (FABLES):
Cerebus is one of the top five most important works in funnybook history, and by setting the number at five, I suspect I'm being quite charitable to at least three
entries in any given list. Try to imagine what our comic industry today might be like had Cerebus never existed and you'd have to envision an uncrossable wasteland, lacking hundreds of key oasis's inspired and nurtured by this one monumental work.
PAUL POPE (THB, BATMAN: YEAR 100):
I
still think next to Eisner, Dave has some of the strongest use of
graphics - as in sound effects and word balloon placements - on a page.
PAUL GRIST (KANE, JACK STAFF, MUDMAN):
Cerebus was the comic that made me want to do my own comic and made me thinking that self publishing was a Very Good Thing... Without Cerebus there probably wouldn't be Bone. Or Strangers in Paradise. It's probably not stretching the point to say there wouldn't even be an Image.
GARY SPENCER-MILLIDGE (STRANGEHAVEN):
...to Dave, for reaching the impossible 300, an astounding achievement which will never be equalled, and for changing the landscape of comics forever, many congratulations... please take your place alongside Kirby, Eisner, Tesuka, Herriman and Moore, the greatest comic creators that ever walked the Earth.
PAUL GRIST (KANE, JACK STAFF, MUDMAN):
Cerebus was the comic that made me want to do my own comic and made me thinking that self publishing was a Very Good Thing... Without Cerebus there probably wouldn't be Bone. Or Strangers in Paradise. It's probably not stretching the point to say there wouldn't even be an Image.
GARY SPENCER-MILLIDGE (STRANGEHAVEN):
...to Dave, for reaching the impossible 300, an astounding achievement which will never be equalled, and for changing the landscape of comics forever, many congratulations... please take your place alongside Kirby, Eisner, Tesuka, Herriman and Moore, the greatest comic creators that ever walked the Earth.
ALEX ROBINSON (BOX OFFICE POISON):
He was definitely the biggest influence on me cartooning-wise... I just think at his peak he's a fantastic storyteller... So yeah, I stole everything from Dave Sim.
GAIL SIMONE (BIRDS OF PREY):
GAIL SIMONE (BIRDS OF PREY):
...The issues Dave is making available digitally, to my mind, constitute a
masterwork of comics. They are so good, there are only a handful of
North American comics that can compete with them. When I was a kid, for a
long time, I could only afford one comic a month, and that comic was
Cerebus. The story being reprinted, High Society, is possibly my favorite
single comics story ever... if someone were to ask me what comics to study to learn meaningful
sequential storytelling, Cerebus would likely be in the top two or three
choices I would recommend.
COLLEEN DORAN (A DISTANT SOIL):
Cerebus was the most important book of the self publishing movement, and Dave Sim is the single most important person in the history of the creator rights movement.
Everybody else who contributed is much appreciated, but no one was a more outspoken - or original - advocate.
DYLAN HORROCKS (HICKSVILLE):
It's the great under-rated masterpiece of comics, imho...for most of it, the strongest, smartest, most interesting characters are the women... Even if nothing else, Sim is one of the greatest formal experimenters in comics. Once he gets
warmed up, it's breathtaking...
LARRY MARDER (TALES OF BEANWORLD):
...his premiere place in comic book history is beyond dispute... as businessman, visual artist and lettering visionary.
CHARLES BROWNSTEIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND):
Cerebus has affected the way I look at comics, the way I approach interviews, the way I write, even the way I think about the world. I can't think of anything in any medium that so consistently achieves the same effect.
GARY GROTH (FANTAGRAPHICS CO-PUBLISHER):
...I consider "Mind Games" one of the finest examples of a talking-heads comic I've ever seen. The problem of static was overcome by a keen sense of design and continuity, clever dialogue, and an involving storyline...
CHARLES BROWNSTEIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND):
Cerebus has affected the way I look at comics, the way I approach interviews, the way I write, even the way I think about the world. I can't think of anything in any medium that so consistently achieves the same effect.
GARY GROTH (FANTAGRAPHICS CO-PUBLISHER):
...I consider "Mind Games" one of the finest examples of a talking-heads comic I've ever seen. The problem of static was overcome by a keen sense of design and continuity, clever dialogue, and an involving storyline...
KIM THOMPSON (FANTAGRAPHICS CO-PUBLISHER):
It's, on the whole, great work by a brilliant cartoonist, and
great work like this should be made accessible to as many readers as
possible.
TIM KRIEDER (THE COMICS JOURNAL #301):
Even though Cerebus isn't as good a book as Maus or Fun Home or Persepolis, it's much more interesting than any of them... Frankly, Spiegelman and Bechdel and Satrapi all seem to me to be minor talents who put their limited abilities to the best possible use because they each had one great story to tell. Their draftsmanship gets the job done, but it looks undistinguished and dull compared to Sim's fluid command of expression and gesture, his pyrotechnical talent and inexhaustible visual invention.
TIM KRIEDER (THE COMICS JOURNAL #301):
Even though Cerebus isn't as good a book as Maus or Fun Home or Persepolis, it's much more interesting than any of them... Frankly, Spiegelman and Bechdel and Satrapi all seem to me to be minor talents who put their limited abilities to the best possible use because they each had one great story to tell. Their draftsmanship gets the job done, but it looks undistinguished and dull compared to Sim's fluid command of expression and gesture, his pyrotechnical talent and inexhaustible visual invention.
TOM SPURGEON (THE COMICS REPORTER):
...monumental in terms of scope and personal ambition, and is also noteworthy for the craft chops and unique storytelling solutions frequently on display...
HEIDI MacDONALD (THE BEAT):
...I've been reminded just how amazing a cartoonist Dave Sim at his height was. Perhaps no one but Chris Ware has had such a far reaching grasp of how the physical act of reading a comic can be manipulated through time and imagery to create powerful storytelling effects...
DOUGLAS WOLK (THE BELIEVER)
...At the very least, Cerebus is worth reading for the same reason a grand, half-ruined cathedral of a religion not your own is worth spending time in: it's a cathedral. Take what you can from it...
A.V. CLUB:
...Warts and all, Cerebus is a must for fans of the medium, and High Society is pretty much flawless from start to finish...
BART BEATY (1001 COMICS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE):
...What stands out as one of the oddest experiments of the 1980s wound up as one of the most transformative comics of all time... Throughout, Sim experiments with new visual styles and storytelling formats, shedding his history as a simple parodist and emerging as a significant creative voice in his own right...
JEET HEER (TCJ.com):
...the elaborate world-building... really comes to the fore with High Society and Church & State...
TIMOTHY CALLAHAN (COMIC BOOK RESOURSES):
...after rereading the whole enormous, hugely personal work, I can't stop thinking about it. It's a monument that can't be ignored, even if you don't believe in what it stands for.
ADAM WHITE (INDY MAGAZINE):
In time, Cerebus will be recognized as one of the grandest achievements of comics: a unity of form and void, motion and emotion, depicting the galaxy of ways in which the human race can make itself unhappy.
HEIDI MacDONALD (THE BEAT):
...I've been reminded just how amazing a cartoonist Dave Sim at his height was. Perhaps no one but Chris Ware has had such a far reaching grasp of how the physical act of reading a comic can be manipulated through time and imagery to create powerful storytelling effects...
DOUGLAS WOLK (THE BELIEVER)
...At the very least, Cerebus is worth reading for the same reason a grand, half-ruined cathedral of a religion not your own is worth spending time in: it's a cathedral. Take what you can from it...
A.V. CLUB:
...Warts and all, Cerebus is a must for fans of the medium, and High Society is pretty much flawless from start to finish...
BART BEATY (1001 COMICS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE):
...What stands out as one of the oddest experiments of the 1980s wound up as one of the most transformative comics of all time... Throughout, Sim experiments with new visual styles and storytelling formats, shedding his history as a simple parodist and emerging as a significant creative voice in his own right...
JEET HEER (TCJ.com):
...the elaborate world-building... really comes to the fore with High Society and Church & State...
TIMOTHY CALLAHAN (COMIC BOOK RESOURSES):
...after rereading the whole enormous, hugely personal work, I can't stop thinking about it. It's a monument that can't be ignored, even if you don't believe in what it stands for.
ADAM WHITE (INDY MAGAZINE):
In time, Cerebus will be recognized as one of the grandest achievements of comics: a unity of form and void, motion and emotion, depicting the galaxy of ways in which the human race can make itself unhappy.
ERIC HOFFMAN (CEREBUS THE BARBARIAN MESSIAH):
Cerebus is such a multi-layered, complex work... certainly among the most intelligent and challenging comics ever produced, whether or not you agree with the intelligence on display there. It certainly warrants far more attention than the vast majority of comics past and present...
PRAISE FOR 'GLAMOURPUSS'
STEVE BISSETTE (SWAMP THING, TYRANT):
My excitement at Glamourpuss when I saw the first issue... was the gobsmacking fact that you were (a) doing an essay on inking in comics form, and (b) you were teaching. Of course, you’d been actually doing that for a long time - I was among your most bone-headed students, remember? - but you didn’t see it as such. Clearly, The Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing (in all its incarnations and editions) was and is that, too. And a mighty fine, insightful teacher you’ve been in Glamourpuss, too.
STEVE BISSETTE (SWAMP THING, TYRANT):
My excitement at Glamourpuss when I saw the first issue... was the gobsmacking fact that you were (a) doing an essay on inking in comics form, and (b) you were teaching. Of course, you’d been actually doing that for a long time - I was among your most bone-headed students, remember? - but you didn’t see it as such. Clearly, The Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing (in all its incarnations and editions) was and is that, too. And a mighty fine, insightful teacher you’ve been in Glamourpuss, too.
RICK VEITCH (BRAT PACK, THE ONE):
Parts of it really spoke to me. I mean that not in the old log-rolling manner of buddy-buddy authors promoting each other's books, but that your meditations on exploring craft REALLY SPOKE TO ME. Glamourpuss is the first comic to unpack process from the inside out. It stands apart from Scott McCloud who is on the outside looking in (if that makes sense).
ROY THOMAS (CONAN, X-MEN, AVENGERS):
Dave has taken his fascination with the modern style of fashion art and photography and utilises it in issue #1 to examine the Alex Raymond/Rip Kirby school of comic art, with a few side trips along the way involving too-tight shoes, sweat glands, and Mahatma Gandhi. Hopefully, he's found a way to seduce a new generation of post-super-hero graphic novel freaks into reading and perhaps synthesising his knowledge and opinions while they think they're just looking at a bunch of fashion models in exquisite clothes. And all because of his self-stated intention to make his new major post-Cerebus project "cute teenaged girls in [his] best Al Williamson photo-realism style.
ERIC REYNOLDS (FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS):
RICHARD BRUTON (FPI BLOG):
...I wouldn’t think anyone would be able
to doubt it’s an absolute work of artistic beauty. Because through all
of his years as Dave Sim; evil genius comics mastermind, people did
tend to forget that he was also Dave Sim; bloody good artist. His
illustrations here are just perfection, with a mix of styles as the
page demands. But everything in the book just looks sublime...
RICH JOHNSON (BLEEDING COOL):
Dave Sim’s Glamourpuss is one of my favourite regular comics. A grand departure from Cerebus,
it’s a strange brew of the history of inking and photorealism styles
in comics through the twentieth century, with Dave Sim first
reproducing the pages in question, then taking those relearned skills
to reproduce fashion magazine images, upon which he places a
self-knowing satire on the magazines and those who write and read them.
It’s an immersive experience, educational and amusing in equal measure.
And no one’s reading it. Fix that, people, fix that.
RICH KREINER: (THE COMICS JOURNAL):
...a scrupulously cultivated, astute and thrilling analysis by an artist of a visual style and its masters... what Glamourpuss
offers, what Sim is able to present, is compelling. Here are comic
strips and panels in slow motion, enriched by informative commentary
and authoritative explication woven together with industry scuttlebutt
and the medium’s history. The results are so cumulatively engrossing
and persuasively intriguing ...
JOHN PARKER (COMICS ALLIANCE):
ALEXA TOMASZEWSKI (COMIC BOOK DAILY):
Glamourpuss is a statement. Maybe it's specifically a statement
about women, or fashion or women in fashion, and how ridiculous that
culture is, but it's something. And it's funny. Sometimes it's shocking,
but like I said, that's what sells.
NEIL GAIMAN (SANDMAN, STARDUST, CORALINE):
Judenhass is an astonishing
piece of work. Painful and real and unflinching. I don't remember the
last comic I read that made me cry, but this did.
JOE KUBERT (YOSSEL: APRIL 19, 1943):
To apply the term 'beautiful' to this book may be a misnomer considering the subject matter, but its impact cannot be denied.
MARV WOLFMAN (DRACULA, NEW TEEN TITANS):
Judenhass is endlessly
disturbing, often unpleasant and incessantly horrifying in its stark
coldness. The quotes should never be forgotten or made light of. It is
why all people of good will say, 'Never again.'
ROBIN SNYDER (THE COMICS!):
As usual, trailblazing Dave Sim is way out in front. Look what he has accomplished in Judenhass. He begins at the beginning, defining his terms, as he looks at an ancient and world-wide problem from a fresh perspective.
RICHARD BRUTON (FPI BLOG):
Artistically it is, for want of a more appropriate word, beautiful... it’s undeniably powerful and certainly warrants reading...
STEPHEN HOLLAND (PAGE 45):
Fifty-six of the most important and affecting pages you will ever read...
J. CALEB MOZZOCCO (NEWSARAMA):
Simply put, these are hard images to look at, and dragging your eyes across the images for a split-second on the way to the words is nothing compared to the amount of time and energy Sim spent in the meticulous creation of those images. I don’t know how Sim could stand to create this book, although I’m glad he did.
DAVID E. FORD (ARE YOU A SERIOUS COMIC BOOK READER?):
Dave Sim... has performed an important service with the publication of Judenhass. Events in the world today show that the currents of Jew Hatred, far from being vanquished, bubble very near to the surface of world culture. As the generation which survived the Second World War ages and slowly passes on, the world will need works like Sim's as a reminder of the dangers of complacency in the face of racism.
PRAISE FOR 'CEREBUS GUIDE TO SELF PUBLISHING'
GARY SPENCER MILLIDGE (STRANGEHAVEN):
...the Bible for self-publishers, collecting all the pertinent essays and speech transcriptions from Dave's long-running self-published title Cerebus... this is highly recommended reading - absolutely essential for any prospective creator, self-publisher or not... densely packed pages of invaluable advice and guidance covering virtually every aspect of starting your own comic.
STEPHEN HOLLAND (PAGE 45):
Without a doubt I would not want to enter this industry as a creator without having read this first, regardless of whether I intended to self-publish or sell my creativity to/through other publishers... Dave addresses almost every aspect of successful comicbook publication and a great many aspects of comicbook creation including the nuts and bolts of what it takes to stay on schedule and impress a potential readership into buying your wares. But as much as it's an encouragement to create professionally and hold onto your creative rights, it's in equal measure a wake-up call for those deluding themselves into imagining they have enough drive and self-discipline to do any of the above.
THE SEQUENTIAL ARTISTS WORKSHOP:
...one of the most practical of recently published how-to handbooks. Mostly its a joy to read because its written with a force, a love of comics, and decades of experience behind it. Each of his observations about inking and composition ring with a truth that makes me eager to run to the drawing board and put them to the test... a rare chance to listen to the voice of a true independent voice committed to his own ethics and aesthetics and its own vision after over 30 years.
DAN NOLAN (BUSINESS CASUAL STAG DEVIL DEATH BOY):
...my advice to any aspiring comic/graphic-novel artist considering self-publishing would be to read Dave Sim's The Cerebus Guide To Self-Publishing and think hard about how committed you are.
MAX WEST (SUNNYVILLE STORIES):
Anyone familiar with Dave Sim knows that this is a guy who knows what he’s talking about when it comes to doing your own series and self-publishing it. While the book was VERY informative, it made me feel guilty too. Why? Dave Sim stresses how much discipline and persistence it takes to go anywhere in this field. He emphasizes how much you need to make yourself work to get your comics out there on time and into stores.
JANE IRWIN (VOGELEIN):
Dave lays out the hard, true realities of self-publishing far better than I ever could. Required reading.
AMPTOONS.COM:
Even if you have no interest in self-publishing, this is good reading on art materials and ESSENTIAL reading on 'what it takes' to become a professional cartoonist.
REFRESHING CONTENT.COM:
[This] was my holy grail as a kid. I squeezed each and every ounce of my four dollars out of it until I could recite it backwards. And today I can still recite most from memory.
RICHARD BRUTON (FPI BLOG):
Artistically it is, for want of a more appropriate word, beautiful... it’s undeniably powerful and certainly warrants reading...
STEPHEN HOLLAND (PAGE 45):
Fifty-six of the most important and affecting pages you will ever read...
J. CALEB MOZZOCCO (NEWSARAMA):
Simply put, these are hard images to look at, and dragging your eyes across the images for a split-second on the way to the words is nothing compared to the amount of time and energy Sim spent in the meticulous creation of those images. I don’t know how Sim could stand to create this book, although I’m glad he did.
DAVID E. FORD (ARE YOU A SERIOUS COMIC BOOK READER?):
Dave Sim... has performed an important service with the publication of Judenhass. Events in the world today show that the currents of Jew Hatred, far from being vanquished, bubble very near to the surface of world culture. As the generation which survived the Second World War ages and slowly passes on, the world will need works like Sim's as a reminder of the dangers of complacency in the face of racism.
PRAISE FOR 'CEREBUS GUIDE TO SELF PUBLISHING'
...the Bible for self-publishers, collecting all the pertinent essays and speech transcriptions from Dave's long-running self-published title Cerebus... this is highly recommended reading - absolutely essential for any prospective creator, self-publisher or not... densely packed pages of invaluable advice and guidance covering virtually every aspect of starting your own comic.
STEPHEN HOLLAND (PAGE 45):
Without a doubt I would not want to enter this industry as a creator without having read this first, regardless of whether I intended to self-publish or sell my creativity to/through other publishers... Dave addresses almost every aspect of successful comicbook publication and a great many aspects of comicbook creation including the nuts and bolts of what it takes to stay on schedule and impress a potential readership into buying your wares. But as much as it's an encouragement to create professionally and hold onto your creative rights, it's in equal measure a wake-up call for those deluding themselves into imagining they have enough drive and self-discipline to do any of the above.
THE SEQUENTIAL ARTISTS WORKSHOP:
...one of the most practical of recently published how-to handbooks. Mostly its a joy to read because its written with a force, a love of comics, and decades of experience behind it. Each of his observations about inking and composition ring with a truth that makes me eager to run to the drawing board and put them to the test... a rare chance to listen to the voice of a true independent voice committed to his own ethics and aesthetics and its own vision after over 30 years.
DAN NOLAN (BUSINESS CASUAL STAG DEVIL DEATH BOY):
...my advice to any aspiring comic/graphic-novel artist considering self-publishing would be to read Dave Sim's The Cerebus Guide To Self-Publishing and think hard about how committed you are.
MAX WEST (SUNNYVILLE STORIES):
Anyone familiar with Dave Sim knows that this is a guy who knows what he’s talking about when it comes to doing your own series and self-publishing it. While the book was VERY informative, it made me feel guilty too. Why? Dave Sim stresses how much discipline and persistence it takes to go anywhere in this field. He emphasizes how much you need to make yourself work to get your comics out there on time and into stores.
JANE IRWIN (VOGELEIN):
Dave lays out the hard, true realities of self-publishing far better than I ever could. Required reading.
AMPTOONS.COM:
Even if you have no interest in self-publishing, this is good reading on art materials and ESSENTIAL reading on 'what it takes' to become a professional cartoonist.
REFRESHING CONTENT.COM:
[This] was my holy grail as a kid. I squeezed each and every ounce of my four dollars out of it until I could recite it backwards. And today I can still recite most from memory.