Women - Cerebus Book 8
Story by Dave
Sim
Art by Dave Sim&
Gerhard.
Aardvark-Vanaheim There is little doubt in my mind that Cerebus is one of
the finest works of fantastic fiction ever created, at least the equal
of Frank Herbert's Dune or Mervyn Peake's
Gormenghast trilogy. What began as an occasionally
funny Conan parody has progressively abandoned these roots (while
continually tying up portentous loose ends from those early issues) to
become an elaborate tale of political manoeverings and commentary on
politics, religion, philosophy and gender. This latter aspect of the
comic might, however, be a lot more interesting if Dave Sim were not an
obnoxious dickhead with his head firmly planted up his arse. It is rare
for a writer to come out in print and admit that the reason he has
devoted his life to a 300 issue comic book is that he is a wretched
social reject he can¹t deal with women. Dave Sim does this right in the
introduction to Women and continues his general ŒAll
feminists are ball-breaking men-hating witches¹ pitch throughout the
book. Ignoring these frequently misogynist overtones, this book mainly
concerns the breakdown in Cirinist control of the city, and ends with a
Cirinist, Kevillist and Illusionist showdown with everyone¹s favourite
political pawn Cerebus caught in the middle. This brief plot precis
illustrates the main problem for the consumer in the street - not only
is this the second book in a four part novel, it is also basically
incomprehensible unless you¹ve read most of the seven preceding books.
For those who have been following the story, it is an impressively rich
read, beautiful b&w art matched with unparalleled depth of
characterisation and labyrinthine plotting. There is perhaps some
suggestion at this stage that Sim may be tiring of Cerebus as a
character, given that he has done little except to wander round with a
doll in his hand for the last forty issues or so. But you do still have
the Cockroach doing Sandman parodies for comic effect.
Eoghan Barry