Like many people who read comics during the 1990s and 2000s, I have an awareness of Cerebus, the epic 300-issue saga widely acknowledged as one of the most monumental achievements in comics by a singular creator (which is not to minimize the contributions of his artistic collaborator, Gerhard). 3/
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But about the content of the comic itself, I only really ever knew the following:
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• Cerebus began as a parody of Conan, then came into its own as an original story. It even inspired the term “Cerebus syndrome,” when a lighthearted story turns serious and dramatic.
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• It went totally off the rails midway through, and the last third is basically unreadable.
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Having read it, I feel, if not fully informed, that I’m “caught up” exactly to the degree that I want to be. 7/
Sim spent several years post-Cerebus, during a time in which he suffered a wrist injury and couldn’t draw traditionally, making Wondermark-style comics featuring the Cerebus character. 8/
It’s called “Cerebus in Hell” and when I call it “Wondermark-style,” I’m not being hyperbolic. From an essay of Sim’s about his original idea for the strip:
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