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| Cerebus the Aardvark | |
|---|---|
 Cover to Cerebus Issues #112 and #113, from 1988 by Dave Sim and Gerhard | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Aardvark-Vanaheim |
| Schedule | Initially bimonthly, then monthly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | Parody of sword and sorcery (early issues), fantasy, comedy, political satire, drama (mid-period issues), theological fiction (later issues) |
| Publication date | December 1977 – March 2004 |
| No. of issues | 300 |
| Main character(s) | Cerebus |
| ISSN | 0712-7774 |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Dave Sim |
| Written by | Dave Sim |
| Artist(s) | Dave Sim Gerhard |
Cerebus (/ˈsɛrəbəs/;[1] also Cerebus the Aardvark) is a comic book series, created by Canadian cartoonist Dave Sim, which ran from December 1977 until March 2004. The title character of the 300-issue series is an anthropomorphic aardvark who takes on a number of roles throughout the series—barbarian, prime minister, and pope among them. The series stands out for its experimentation in form and content, and for the dexterity of its artwork, especially after background artist Gerhard joined with the 65th issue. As the series progressed, it increasingly became a platform for Sim's controversial beliefs.
The comic began as a parody of sword and sorcery comics, primarily Marvel's version of Conan the Barbarian.[2] However, it evolved to explore a variety of other topics, including politics, religion, and gender issues. At a total of 6,000 pages, it progressively became more serious and ambitious than its parodic roots. Sim announced early on that the series would end with the death of the title character. The story has a large cast of characters, many of which began as parodies of characters from comic books and popular culture.
Starting with the "High Society" storyline, the series became divided into self-contained "novels", which form parts of the overall story. The ten "novels" of the series have been collected in 16 books, known as "Cerebus phonebooks" for their resemblance, by way of their thickness, to telephone directories. At a time when the series was about 70% completed, celebrated comic book writer Alan Moore wrote: "Cerebus, as if I need to say so, is still to comic books what Hydrogen is to the Periodic Table".[3]
- ^ Interview with Dave Sim Sim says the name Cerebus at 3:58 into the interview
- ^ Uzumeri, David (May 5, 2020). "The Cerebus Celibate: Issues 1 – 50". Comics Alliance. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
- ^ Moore, Alan (April 1997). "From Hell: Part 3". Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2018.