The first 1,100-page graphic novel in the history of the medium, and the reaction could be summed up as the sound of one cricket leg chirping. Just as there was no “storm of misinterpretation” following Cerebus' “marriage” to Astoria. I'm not sure the quotes belong on there. That was part of my point. If Cerebus is the Pope and he declares himself married to Astoria and has sex with her, is that rape? There were a number of levels to that one, but that was the joke as far as I was concerned. To give it a greater immediacy: Why does having a priest say a few words to a couple make what they do marital relations, and if he doesn't say the few words, it's fornication? And if a priest can make fornication into marital relations, why can't he make rape into marital relations?
Via Michael Duff [1], “Onion A.V. Club: Writer-artist Dave Sim [2]”
I was introduced to Cerebus [3] back in 1990 by my friend Sean Williams. At that point Dave Sim was nearly done with Church and State [4] and I had a great time in catching up and getting current with the storyline. I had read the first 25 issues [5], but sadly, Sean did not have a copy of High Society [6] (the next 25 issues, forming a single story arc). I became familiar with the whole 300 issue story arc Dave Sim was planning, and became a great fan of not only the writing but of the artwork as well.
But that was the early 90s. Over the next ten years I lost track somewhat of Cerebus, managing to get a copy of High Society and a few volumes past Church and State and hearing about the infamous screed against feminism [7] but that's about it. And it surprised me that March of 2004, the last month of Cerebus has already come and gone.
And thus ends, as Dave Sim says, “comic-book equivalent of one Russian novel” at 6,000 pages of beautifully drawn art (well, nearly—the first few issues were rather rough around the edges).
Dave Sim may be a right-wing conservative anti-feminist facist, but he still has the best take on intellectual property [8] I've read in a long time.
[1] http://www.livejournal.com/users/michaelduff/144131.html
[2] http://www.theonionavclub.com/feature/
[3] http://cerebusfangirl.0catch.com/abridged.html
[4] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0919359094/conmanlaborat-
[5] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0919359086/conmanlaborat-
[6] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0919359078/conmanlaborat-
[7] http://www.theabsolute.net/misogyny/tangents.html