Monday Night Murals: Aardvark never hurt anyone

And you think you take a long time to get ready for bed!:

Cerebus the Aardvark #291-297 (June 2003-December 2003), art by Dave Sim and Gerhard

(Click picture to Secret Sacred Wars Roach-size)


Let's get this out of the way first: Dave Sim: Threat or Menace? Apparently, he doesn't like girls much. Which is silly, because they're soft and round and cuddly. Mmmmm. Anyway, I'm not gonna get into that. Whether you're a Sim fan or Sim fowl, I think (philosophy aside), you gotta appreciate his artwork with Gerhard, especially many of the innovative and sharply-designed covers. This mural comes from the last arc of the series, covering Cerebus's final day on Earth. He ain't a young aardvark whippersnapper no more, so we see as he moves through a series of connected covers, and landscape of his rooms. Nice interior design, huh? Well, it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to die there. Whoops, sorry, Mister Cerebus.

It's a fitting wind-up to the last of Sim's record-smashing 300 issues in a row, especially considering the snail-like pace Cerebus takes across the rooms: many of the issues take place over a period of only part of a day or sometimes even minutes, and entire arcs collected in the famous and hefty Cerebus "phone books" can often only consist of the actions of a few days. What would be excruciating to watch in animation works perfectly when we only see one animation cell a month on the cover of a comic book.

But: didn't I say 300 issues? (looking up) Yes! Why yes, I did. So if this immediate mural ends on issue #297, what's on #298-300? Those of you who answered "Cerebus battling Batman" please step to the back of the room, please.



Ish #298 looks familiar, doesn't it? In fact, it's basically identical to #297. Except...and I'm not certain whether I'm reading into this because I have a slightly faded scan of #298's cover...#298 looks darker, dimmer, more shadowy. In the story itself, as Cerebus lies in bed before his estranged son arrives to shatter his final dreams of happiness, dusk is falling; the day (The Last Day) is ending. In other words: I wouldn't oreder any magazine subscriptions right now, Cerebus. In fact, the way it's looking, you better not even order any Domino's Pizza, dude.

The final issue:



You know how the cover of superhero comics often proclaim "In this issue: Somebody Dies!!!," and you spend the whole time reading the issue on the edge of your seat until you find out that it's Jimmy Olsen's grandmother's best friend's dog who didn't appear in the comic book until page 15. Well, you get what you paid for in Cerebus #300: just like Dave Sim promised all those years ago, Cerebus dies, alone and unloved, and steps into the light, which might be heaven, but hey, surprise! Might be the other place, too. Notice how the light beams emanate from above Cerebus's bed: that;'s some heavy-duty deity-illuminatin' there, whichever side it works for.

That's the end of Cerebus #300, but Cerebus will be back in Cerebus II: The Wolveroach Strikes Again! Oh, no, wait, no, he won't.

Bye, Cerebus!