So, Dave Sim has just put up the first two volumes of Cerebus as free download on his site. Looks like a rather large package...Is that series any good?
>>83775621
Yes. You should definitely take advantage of that.
Those volumes are #1 - #50. It's worth your time, if only to get a passing familiarity with one of the more iconic indie series of the 80's/90's. At least read through the first volume. The last batch of issues pre-High Society give a pretty good indication of where the series is headed. If it doesn't seem like your cup of tea, don't bother with #25+.
>inb4 "Sim's a crazy misogynist so you shouldn't like his work"
It's great. Doesn't really pick up until the second volume and yes, there is some weird shit in some of the later volumes when Sim started using the comic to vent his personal beliefs and frustrations, but that's a tiny part of the whole and all in all, Cerebus is one of the best comics you'll read.
>>83775919
At which point, by the way, is it that the infamous "Cerebus Syndrome" begins setting in?
Volume 1 is a clever book poking some fun at popular comics of the day, mostly fantasy stuff like Conan the Barbarian. Volume 2 is more of the same but you can just begin to see it shifting into the wild and crazy ride the series eventually becomes.
>>83775937
Most people in threads about Cerebus say he's insane but the comic is great
>>83775942
Like #250+ish is when he gets crazy and it just becomes essays
>>83775942
It builds slowly. That's sort of the point of the term. Each arc/book just gets more and more idiosyncratic until some of the later ones (Reads, Finding YHWH) are pure opinions pieces. The thing is, all of the material AROUND those pieces is some of the best god damn cartooning the medium has ever seen. The lettering is stellar. Yeah, it's clearly a soapbox post #250, but the execution of the comic that houses the soapbox is peerless.
>>83775937
>Sim's a crazy misogynist
Another reason to read Cerebus
>>83776053
He's not even that crazy any more, he seems pretty reasonable these days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx7RUcwAQ3E
>While Sim gave us liberty to use his characters without the threat of copyright infringement lawsuits, it has yet to be adapted to any other medium. Sim also intends to have all his work enter the public domain after his death.
Is he the god of comic books?
>>83776126
>pirate my shit, I don't care. your time and intellectual involvement is what matters.
he might be close.
Everyone should check out his Correspondence: From Hell with Alan Moore.
ok....these are some issues from when he was doing acid everyday and his wife eventually called the cops and had him committed. According to her it was a "summer of acid" idea that Dave had, and she mentions him working on #20 specifically during that time. Dave also always did things sequentially, so it's fair to assume ~17 to ~23 is fair game for "LSDave Sim"
there are a lot of the Cerebus mainstays in the issues I'm about to run.
>>83776420
also keep in mind that the date on that cover is a reprint date and this issue actually came out in august of 1980
>>83776458
oh...it says that on the cover anyway. whatever.
So how much of the art did Gerhard do? Pretty much all the difficult stuff or just some of it?
Sim's art got really good later on, but he never really learned to draw hands that well.
>>83776557
Literally just the backgrounds.
>>83776557
this is all Dave right here. Gerhard did backgrounds, furniture, buildings etc, when he joined. Dave did characters and lettering. Notice the convenient black backgrounds in a lot of these scenes.
>>83776583
the whole issue
the first issue with Gerhard.
>>83776434
>Zerbutz!
never fails to make me chuckle
>>83775621
Didn't he go on a big fucking rant about people downloading his stuff for free a few years back, or am I thinking of literally everybody else?
>>83777248
someone else. see >>83776234
>>83776420
>working on #20
well now i almost feel bad talking about how insane you'd have to be to try that
>>83777117
>>83777129
jesus what a leap. Gerhard's amazing huh
>>83777404
this is one of the more clumsy issues as well. They were still working out how to copy his backgrounds, how his pencils/inks worked with the photocopier, etc.
>>83776234
That's incredibly cool.
>>83776083
He has to be, otherwise he just ends up giving others more ammo.
>>83777327
This is the value of self-publishing.
You can't give your crap away for free when you're tied down to a publisher.
So...I can't find it. I'm dumb. Spoonfeed please?
Holy Hell this book is shit.
Why do so many old /co/ fags love it so much?
>>83783420
Because it's great.Well if you're not going to give any more thoughtful critique then neither am I.
>>83783420
Because it completely changes direction after issue ~25.
>>83783375
Here, grab the whole thing.
https://www.mediafire.com/?4n4feycdifyj7
>>83783420
It's a meme.
>>83776603
Gerhard was completely subordinate to Sim. He spent a year and a half doing unvarying backgrounds in the bar (rick's story).
During the 80-page throne room fight in Reads he made the mistake of making the floor reflective, so the he had to draw months of the reflections for Sim, because Dave wouldn't do it.
>>83783534
The vast majority of Cerebus is legitimately good, complex and engaging storytelling with a lot of morally grey characters. And even when it's not, it's pretty amusing satire. I enjoy the way Sim works real historical and contemporary people into the story too, though I imagine that's not for everyone.
Even people like Moore and Gaiman, who don't agree at all with Sim's politics, can't deny that it's a fucking brilliant comic. But then some people are just plebs who can't look past Sim the man to appreciate his work.
I really dig the atmosphere of Cerebus, and I see it so highly praised that I read a big ol' chunk of it a while ago.
But personally I found the pacing really frustrating. I kept reading for a while, but the issues where Cerebus is on the moon were the last straw for me. The exposition just dragged on & on and Sim seemed to think it was way more clever than it actually was.
And personally I just didn't go for the drawn-out, oh-so-serious melodrama with Jaka. (And the presence of crappy comic relief characters like Boobah & the mother-in-law hurt the comic a lot.) For such a major effort on Sim's part, the comic just felt really insincere and muddled to me.
I respect all the work Sim put into the comic, and if you manage to get enjoyment out of the whole thing, then more power to ya. It's cool that Sim can inspire some people even if he's not my cup of tea.
But from a storytelling standpoint, I just found it a pretty frustrating and un-rewarding read.
>>83783493
Thanks!
>>83783903
That's a fair stance anon. More fair than "it's shit" anyway.
I can see where you're coming from with the tonal shifts, though personally I quite like the anarchic feel when you have dumb shit happening alongside serious things (usually you see Cerebus' frustration with the absurdity of it all and that in itself is pretty amusing / endearing). I think that's what drew me in in the beginning really, even before it gets good - Sometimes Cerebus is a shit, but often he's just acting the way I wished stuck up moralistic heroes in fantasy fiction would.
It's not perfect by any means, but I found it a hell of a lot more engaging read than most comics I've ever read.
>>83783493
>https://www.mediafire.com/?4n4feycdifyj7
Different anon, but is there anyway to download it all together without ponying up for Mediafire Pro?
>>83784214
JDownloader.
>>83784248
Sorry for the late reply, but I got it working.
Thanks, anon.
Cerebus the comic book made by a guy who clearly just needed to write a Novel....
the whole thing is just his mouthpiece to the world with graphic novel overtones.
>>83783493
I really like the sword and sorcery stuff personally
>>83784897
>the whole thing
confirmed for not reading, especially considering most of his politics and rants before issue 200 are in the newsletter in the back.
Why doesn't Cerebus just shoot Cirin with a cannon?
