Dave SimReseñas

Did not enjoy it. Couldn't really follow it and skimmed till it ended. Maybe it gets better. A lot of reviewers liked it.May try later editions but not too sure.

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Title: Crossing Over
Series: Spawn #10
Author: Todd McFarlane
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comic
Pages: 25
Words: 1K

Synopsis:

From Imagecomics.fandom.com

When Spawn tries to examine Angela's abandoned lance, it transports him into a realm beyond his wildest imaginings. While in this strange world, Spawn encounters imprisoned heroes, faces a mockery of Blind Justice in the form of the Violator, and glimpses a dreamlike scenario of happiness for him, Wanda and Cyan.

He witness captured heroes who plead to take their power. They reach out from a prison with men tied and bound with rope and burlap sacks covering their faces. Cerebus explains these are comic creators who have sold the rights to their creations and they are now held powerless.

My Thoughts:

Wow, this was as subtle as a concrete baseball bat made of dynamite smacking you upside the head. This must have been done during the Death and Return of Superman because Supes plays a big part in talking on behalf of the trapped heroes.

While on one level it felt like a real waste of an issue, at the same time it was pretty much the only way McFarlane could tell the world how he felt about the corporate policies of both DC and Marvel and why he had rejected them. Authors gave up control of their creations to the Company and got money in return but at the cost of their hearts and souls. McFarlane makes it clear he can do whatever he wants with Spawn because Spawn is HIS and nobody else's. As much as I tend to despise McFarlane, I do applaud his stance on this issue and am glad he apparently made it work.

So the four stars is more for the Moxie attitude than for any actual content, because there wasn't any :-/

IMAGINE A CAN OF MOXIE HERE SINCE LT WON'T ALLOW PIX.

Not bad. Not really my speed.

Un’edizione davvero imponente per il primo volume di Chiesa e Stato, l’opera magistrale di Sim. Che sia un lavoro complesso e sicuramente ambizioso si capisce subito, è immediata la percezione della volontà di fare un’opera summa, a fumetti, si, ma una sintesi analitica di un rapporto complesso come quello tra Chiesa e Stato, insomma, non si pettinano le bambole, direbbe qualcuno. Il protagonista è Cerebus, uno strano animaletto che vive nelle contraddizioni tra sete di potere e paure il dissidio nel sistema di governo delle principali istituzioni umane, la Chiesa e lo Stato. Le premesse sono clamorose, come il titolo e, perché no, le dimensioni del volume. Il risultato, invece, estremamente più modesto. Infatti, ne esce un lavoro pesante, inutilmente ripetitivo, le trovate lasciano il passo alla noia, la sintesi è una chimera, la lettura diventa ostica, le pagine mattoni. Eppure la complessità dell’argomento non richiedeva per forza un lavoro pesante, gli spunti per rendere più fruibile il lavoro l’autore canadese ce li aveva. Ma si è perso alla ricerca del libro perfetto, con un risultato, a mio avviso, discutibile.

I can say with confidence that Cerebus isn’t for me. Got to page 200 or so and just wasn’t feeling it.

I bought Cerebus #1 as soon as it was put on sale. I wrote a letter and it was printed in issue #3. I continued collecting all 300, plus the collections, plus the side bars and then the latest. This is a treasure for a collector of Cerebus.

Melmoth is unlike anything else in Cerebus. It is an intimate look at Oscar Wilde. It has haunting and beautiful moments. It is still funny at times like the rest of Cerebus. Sim really has a grasp for voices in characters- and his voice for Wilde in particular, especially when he banters, is terrifically written. This isn't my favorite Cerebus by a long shot...it is missing something...but I am having a hard time putting my finger on what that something is. It might just be that I wanted more Cerebus.

What a wild and weird and moving ride this book is.

This is where Cerebus began to be hard to read for me. I loved Cerebus up until this book. There is nothing like Cerebus, the books are funnier and more thought provoking than I ever expected. I'll probably forget how weird this book made me feel at times and read the next one in a year or so, based off of my nostalgia for the earlier books. But hopefully I read this review first, and then go and read something else, and remember Cerebus for the good times we had, and not descend into the isolated, misogynistic, mystical, masochistic dungeon where Sim trapped his mind in these later years.

This is the first volume collecting the long-running comic book Cerebus by Canadian cartoonist Dave Sim. I learned about this from friends online, and thought a comic about an anthropomorphic aardvark mercenary in a medieval fantasy setting sounded delightfully absurd. After reading it, I found it kind of a slog. This first volume of Cerebus is several unconnected stories satirizing both medieval fantasy tropes and politics with many of the stories concluding anti-climatically. Cerebus is serious, amoral, and competent and often plays the straight man to ridiculous characters around him (including an albino who speaks like Foghorn Leghorn). I've heard that later volumes in the series are much better, but I'm on the bubble about reading further, (especially since I've read that Sim is a creepy misogynist and his views are expressed in the comics).

This collects issues 26 - 50 of the Cerebus comic book, in which our aardvarkian barbarian is lured by the trappings of wealth and power and high office when he rises through the ranks of Iestian society and government. This is where the Cerebus graphic novel starts becoming a little ponderous, but there are still some delicious satirical elements here, conveyed by drop-dead perfect takeoffs on Groucho Marx (and Chico), Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, the Moon Knight, Batman, Henny Youngman, and several others who escape me now. At the end of the book Cerebus realizes his dream of ultimate power, only to see it slip from his grasp as powerful economic and military forces prove his undoing. At the end he is simply Cerebus the Aardvark again. We do see a long-suspected gentler side as Cerebus shares a couple of tender moments with Jaka, and the Regency Elf. There are times when the Cerebus books are marked by high comic genius, and times when Dave Sim must have been feeling like he was creating High Art. I prefer the former.

A fast change comes over the work of Dave Sim when he got his comic book about the adventures of an apparent stuffed Aardvark into print. He had to do it all himself, but he thus maintained a unique personal vision. In this first volume we cover the birth of the earth-pig and his growth from a competent satire of a Conan-like action hero into the centre-piece of a wonderful comic kaleidoscope. A must read, especially for all fans of sword-wearing fantasy.

the Aardvark comes to town, and meets an entirely higher level of insanity than he's found out there in the bush. It is sharper than Terry Pratchett, but a wonderful comic whirlwind. The most intelligent independent comic book ever!

This is the last in the very best Satire ever created in a comic book format. Sadly from here it is downhill for the Earth-pig but this is one you should not miss. There have been real popes who were far more disappointing than this one.

The first of the Cerebus phonebooks: enjoyed it.

For any kind of story, it's always an accomplishment when they manage to tap into and to some extent mirror the reader's actual lives. This one did, pleasantly so even if it wasn't a happy story. And unlike the four previous Cerebus books, the story was quite coherent and self contained, which made it easier to read. The best one so far.

Before it became waterlogged and top-heavy due to its erudite complexity and self-importance, Dave Sim's serial comic book/graphic novel "Cerebus" was one of the best things going in terms of story, humor and artwork. The story is a sort of surreal takeoff on "Conan the Barbarian", and Cerebus is a close match for Conan in bravery, fighting skill, surliness and lust for gold. He differs by virtue of his being a short aardvark, and some semblance of a sense of humor, albeit a sharp and pointed one. These first 25 stories introduce many of Sim's best long-standing characters, including Red Sophia, Elrod (a great takeoff on Foghorn Leghorn), the Cockroach (a great takeoff on Batman) and Lord Julius (a great takeoff on Groucho Marx). Sim originally planned a 300-book storyline for his Earth Pig. I stopped reading it long before it reached an end, which it presumably did. But the earlier Cerebus is some of the best Sword & Sorcery satire I've ever seen.½

For any kind of story, it's always an accomplishment when they manage to tap into and to some extent mirror the reader's actual lives. This one did, pleasantly so even if it wasn't a happy story. And unlike the four previous Cerebus books, the story was quite coherent and self contained, which made it easier to read. The best one so far.

The first collection of a 300-issue series of independently written, drawn and published comic book by Canadian author Dave Sim, it tells the story of the life of an odd little warrior, Cerebus. This comic book series breaks all the traditional rules of storytelling and sequential art, giving the reader a refreshing storyline - with some VERY irreverent characters and situations, with the most unusual hero - a small, grey, 3 foot tall bipedal aardvark who is hell-bent on his quest for power and fortune. He may look cute at first, but you do not want to mess around with Cerebus - he is a barbarian, after all. He doesn't put up with much nonsense. However, he does make some unusual friends, for some strange reason, he lets them live and accompany him on his adventures - or tries to trick them into leaving him alone. This is the first of many collections of comic book issues. Not your usual sword-and-sorcery tale, this satirical look at barbarian adventures will take the reader on a surprising and amusing unexpected life-long journey.

In the first volume of Cerebus, our aardvark had adventure seemingly thrust upon him at every turn while he just wanted to find a place to get his drink on and spend his days waiting to get his drink on. High Society still gives us the getting-his-drink on aardvark, but we have a Cerebus that now fully participates in what destiny seems to want to thrust upon him. This does not mean that he has any more control over the outcome than he had before. And this, my friends, is the excellent fun that is Cerebus.

In arriving at The Regency, it is quickly discovered that Cerebus is Lord Julius' Kitchen Staff Supervisor. This makes Cerebus a political mover and shaker and open to all manner of attempted political influence. Free meals, wonderful service, drink and all manner of bribe are pushed onto Cerebus even when he limits meetings to mere seconds in hopes of a minor amount of influence with Lord Julius via his Kitchen Staff Supervisor. In no time at all, Cerebus finds himself under the influence of Astoria, ex-wife of Lord Julius, running for Prime Minister in an effort to control the fortunes of Iest. Makes perfect sense, right?

Sims takes on nearly every establishment that you can think of in High Society. Politics, religion, the politicization of working-class values, all manner of -isms, superheroes and media. As our aardvark attempts this time to fully participate in his destiny, finding an inner circle to trust is dubious at best when it consists of an ex-wife of the opponent bent on revenge, a superhero with a split personality and a habit of dropping rocks on opponents and an Elf seemingly visible only to him. As always, Lord Julius's ongoing appearance as Groucho Marx is welcome with a special appearance by Duke Leonardi clearly playing Chico Marx. Their routines during negotiations are not to be missed (if all interest rate negotiations were like this, everyone would watch).

In terms of journeys starting with single steps, Cerebus is the first 25 issues of the epic run of comics that would eventually take 300 issues to tell. By a single author. Over nearly 30 years. Epic.

Of course, this is merely the beginning, where an aardvark simply wants the opportunity to earn enough gold to live his life, get his drink on and generally be left alone. And yet, adventure insists. And insists. Politics, gender relations, religion, conspiracy, sorcery and the impending apocalypse - they're all covered and insist on involving Cerebus. And hilarity often ensues.

There are some rougher spots, but some of it comes from age and others come from being new. This is all easily forgiven by the much stronger parts that make the whole a great story of a hero that openly refuses to believe in heroics of any kind.

Dave Sim might go crazy and start spewing hate later in the series, but before that, he was just writing a Conan parody. It's not bad. If I liked Conan more, I'd probably enjoy this more. Anyway, to be read as a prequel to the later volumes.

After a more metaphysical "Flight", "Women" brings Cerebus sort of back on track. It concentrates on the power struggle between the matriarcal Cirinists (and their leader Cirin) and the more traditionally feminist Kevillists (and their leader Astoria). Lots of intrigue ensues, and Cerebus seems more a side-character, although one that everybody seems to be afraid of (and for a reason).

In the foreword Sim says that this collection edges closer and closer to the core of the Cerebus storyline. I have not read the later issues yet, so I do not know exactly what that means. Although I have read about Sim's purported misogyny and how his view of the world comes to the fore in the later half of the saga. It sure seems that the men in "Women" are down-trodden and bland, save for Cerebus, who proudly stands as a hallmark of everything that it means to be a man.

I think that the reader is better off the longer he (or she) can read the story without thinking about its parallels in our world, without thinking about Sim's deeper meanings. "Women" is a funny read with delicious characters. Cerebus himself is almost back to his "High Society" self, rising from the angst of the previous couple of books.

Oh, and Swoon (that's Roach's version of The Sandman) is particularly delightful at times. :)

The storyline gets interrupted by the author's musings on the reader, men and women. While Sim isn't a bad writer, this stylistic break harms the book.

When it was first released, this series was seen as challenging and original. Unfortunately, it didn't age very well. Most references to comic fandom are now lost on the reader, and the social satire is almost predictable. Great respect should go to Dave Sim for "flying the flag" on his own for so many years, but I personally don't think this volume will be one to keep in the XXI century.