Early in the run of the self-published comic book Cerebus, creator Dave Sim announced that the series would have a run of exactly 300 issues. Few believed him at the time; only a fairly small set of comic books ever reach 300 issues at all, and they are mostly the famous, iconic ones like Superman and Spider-Man. Furthermore, those comics are corporate-owned ones which go through many different artists and writers; a run of even 100 issues by the same creative personnel is a notable rarity (the first 102 issues of Fantastic Four, done by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, is one famous run of this sort). A self-published comic book going that many issues is completely implausible; most don't even get to ten issues before the creator/publisher burns out.
But Cerebus did it; in 2004, it completed the 300-issue series which had begun in 1977, with creator Dave Sim in complete charge of it from start to finish. In the early days, Sim produced it singlehandedly. Later on, he took on a collaborator, Gerhard (single-named like a pop star), who did background art which made the world of Cerebus richer in realistic detail. At one point, his then-wife Deni was the publisher, but they ultimately broke up both personally and professionally. But through it all, the 300-issue maxi-series continued and finally concluded.
Over the course of his creation of this series, Sim's personal philosophies, ideologies, and political and religious views changed and evolved, in ways that some felt were not necessarily for the better. When he started Cerebus, he was a secular humanist, but when he finished, he was... well, it's rather hard to understand, even after reading the longwinded essays he included in issues of his comic, but it seemed to be some kind of amalgam of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Even more controversially, he became rabidly anti-feminist, and seems now to regard women as intrinsically evil, though this hasn't stopped him from introducing some sympathetic female characters in his comic book nevertheless. He also announced a few years ago that he had gotten rid of his TV, VCR, record player, computer, and pretty much all other devices capable of presenting information or entertainment, because they're all under the pernicious influence of the feminist / homosexualist establishment and he wanted to remove himself from such corruption. (The satirical newspaper The Onion once did a piece lampooning the sort of people who have no TV and are proud of it, though without the "feminist / homosexualist" angle. I've actually known people like that; it seems to be a whole subculture.)
Some of Sim's essays imply that he now thinks that the rest of the world hates him and thinks he's a lunatic, and nobody appreciates his work any more. This fits a martyr complex; I think he's got the whole rest of his life, and its aftermath, planned out, where he dies in poverty and obscurity only to have his creative genius realized at some posthumous point. Unfortunately for his worldview, this isn't really true. At the time of the publication of Cerebus #300, comic book fan publications gave him plenty of praise for his achievement, even if some of the writers weren't so hot for his philosophical and political ideas. The complete run of Cerebus remains in print in a series of large-size books which Sim refers to as "phone books", and while its sales probably aren't as high as they were when it was briefly a "hot title" among comic fans, Sim probably isn't facing starvation either.
As for whether he's a creative and artistic genius or a deranged lunatic... who said the two were mutually exclusive? Actually, being brilliant and being stark raving mad seem to go together quite often.
At any rate, this book, simply titled Cerebus, collects the first 25 issues of the comic book; it is the first of a series of books that collect the entire series -- the comic stories only, not the longwinded political essays that Sim frequently included as editorials in the issues as originally published. Some people advocate that, if you're just getting into Cerebus, you should start reading with the second volume, High Society, instead. That's what a friend who introduced me to the series years ago told me, and he lent me that volume instead of this one. However, if you're the obsessive-compulsive, completist type who likes to start everything neatly at the very beginning, you'll want to start with this one even if its quality is uneven at first.
In the beginning, Cerebus was a rather odd barbarian parody comic, featuring (inexplicably) an aardvark as the lead character in a medieval, sword-and-sorcery world. The artwork was kind of crude at first, though it rapidly improved. The stories started off fairly simplistic, though there were some clever twists even in the early ones. While there was some sign of creative talent from the start, nobody could have predicted what a major work Cerebus would ultimately become. I once talked to a comic book store owner who said that he had multiple copies of Cerebus #1 when it came out, but threw them in the trash because he thought they'd never amount to anything.
By the time you're midway through this first volume, however, the stories and art have evolved to the point where they've turned Cerebus into much more than a simple barbarian parody. You start to see hints of the complex politics and religion of the world in which Cerebus wanders, which will play a major role in the later stories. Continuity, which is kind of glitchy early on, starts being developed tightly as the author realized that he was creating one long 300-issue story arc rather than just a bunch of disconnected plots. By the end of the book, Cerebus is ready to go marching into the sociopolitical intrigue that makes the second volume a classic work.
So don't give up early, even if you think the first few stories aren't so hot; keep going, and you'll see how creative greatness takes shape, and you'll be anxious to pick up the later books and see how it develops from there. Eventually, you'll get to the books still later in the series and see how the creative greatness degenerates into madness, but that's way in the future at this point.
Update: Some people have commented that I didn't say enough about what was actually in this book, so here's a little more about the contents:
1) The Flame Jewel
Cerebus comes into town and gets into some fights, then joins a quest to steal a mystical flame jewel from a wizard.
2) Captive in Boreala
Cerebus wanders to a northern province, becomes a mercenary in a war, is captured, and fights a magical creature.
3) Song of Red Sophia
Introduces the recurring character Red Sophia, whose father hires Cerebus to gain revenge against a man who has "besmirched her honour".
4) Death's Dark Tread
Cerebus stumbles on a valuable and powerful gem sought out by others, and also runs into Elrod, a warrior who speaks like Foghorn Leghorn, who will be recurring in other stories.
5) The Idol
Cerebus becomes a mercenary again, and stumbles on Bran Mak Mufin, rebel leader, who sees Cerebus as a reincarnated god fulfilling a prophecy.
6) The Secret
Cerebus stumbles on a plot to steal gold, and is introduced to Jaka, a character who will be very important in later stories.
7) Black Sun Rising
Cerebus finds, but loses, the treasure mentioned in the last story, which turns out to be diamonds rather than gold (one of the continuity glitches), fights a giant spider, deals with somebody in a costume vaguely resembling Cerebus who's imitating that ancient god who looks like him, and also runs into Elrod again.
8) Day of the Earth-Pig
While injured and hallucinating, Cerebus is captured by an army about to invade the southern kingdoms, and after some complex scheming, he is somehow made their absolute monarch, one of many positions of political or religious power Cerebus will attain over the course of his saga.
9) Swords Against Imesh
Cerebus leads his army to conquer a city, but why is it so easy? And what happened to the army after that?
10) Merchant of Unshib
On his own again, Cerebus meets Red Sophia again, and joins a scheme to steal the fabled Black Blossom Lotus.
11) The Merchant and the Cockroach
When he goes into town to sell the Lotus, Cerebus encounters the Roach, who makes several appearances parodying various superheroes.
12) Beduin by Night
Cerebus meets the Roach, and Elrod, and gains and loses a fortune in gold. It's one hell of a lousy 27th birthday.
13) Black Magiking
Cerebus winds up in the middle of a ritual in the Church of the Living Tarim.
14) The Walls of Palnu
A lot of stuff happens in between the last story and this one, as given in the opening caption: "After leaving Lower Felda, Cerebus boards a trading vessel bound for Palnu! When the ship is waylaid by Onliu pirates, Cerebus and the son of the Director of Trade (and elected ruler) of Palnu are shipwrecked on a desert island! Rescued by the boy's father and his troops, Cerebus is promised a reward for saving the young heir's life! Three weeks later, they arrive in Palnu to a tumultuous hero's welcome..." That sounds like a whole issue's worth of storyline just in one caption. And it sets up some stuff that will be very important to later storylines, as this ruler, Lord Julius, will set Cerebus up in an important position in the politics of his city-state. Cerebus is made head of Julius's security forces, but his official title is "Kitchen Staff Supervisor", because one of Julius's principles is to make all his staff titles intentionally confusing to safeguard his position by ensuring that nobody else understands how anything works.
15) A Day in the Pits
Cerebus continues in his new position, and has to fight the schemes of a would-be revolutionary.
16) A Night at the Masque
His new job continues, as Julius hosts a costume party. It doesn't go so well, and soon Cerebus is leaving again; however, he'll be back in this city-state and involved heavily in its politics in the second volume of the series.
17) Champion
Cerebus runs into another group of rebels, and once again manages to get himself in charge of them.
18) Fluroc
Cerebus cons some people out of a bunch of treasure, including an owl statue that will prove important.
19) She-Devil in the Shadows
Red Sophia's father, a wizard, is back, and he's conjured up a clone of her.
20) Mind Game
In a drugged stupor, Cerebus has some hallucinations.
21) Captain Cockroach
The Roach is back again.
22) The Death of Elrod
Elrod is back, but he dies. This doesn't necessarily stop him from making further appearances.
23) The Beguiling
24) Swamp Sounds
25) This Woman, This Thing
In these final stories of the volume, Cerebus faces a man who has created some swamp monsters, parodying Swamp Thing and Man-Thing.
Departing the mansion of the monsters, Cerebus is ready to return to the city-state of Iest to get involved in the politics of the second book, High Society.
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