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Wow, I owned #1, but I had to sell it several years back when I grew desparate for money. Never got what I thought it was worth. RickK 00:36, 23 Sep 2003 (UTC)
I pulled some misogyny comments out of the plot summaries since they're commentary, not summaries of the plots. I tried to move the commentary (since it's widely believed) to other appropriate places.
I'd like to keep the summaries are brief and to the point as possible. Commentary (or more accurately, reporting on commentary) belong elsewhere, either in other sections on the page, or in sub-pages (probably on a per-book basis).
Similarlly, I'm not happy with the comments "Enjoyed by a number of fans as a return to the "earlier, funnier" Cerebus." in the summary of Guys. However, it might be a valid statement and might belong somewhere, just not in the summary.
Another option would be to massively expand the Plot Summaries section and have both a "Summary" entry for each book and a "Critical Reception". Or something. If we did that, we could integrate the ISBNs and issue numbers from the "Cerebus Collection" section. I'm not real fond of this, I like the terseness of the summaries, nice and to the point for people who need it, and easy to skip for people who already know.
Alan De Smet 19:48, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I expanded the summaries of the first four book summaries somewhat ... I hope this doesn't violate the guideline on keeping the plot summary short, but I thought these sections are key to everything else so it was necessary to set up an understanding of all of what follows for readers who are looking to this section to understand the whole plotline. I have also cleaned them up a bit for clarity and if anyone else feels the need to cut them down for brevity I hope the key content elements can be kept.
Schnell ( talk) 03:43, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
Cerebus didn't rape Astoria--she removed her panties and pulled up her skirt and OFFERED herself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.81.241.136 ( talk) 15:49, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
Added a summary of Flight while flipping through my own copy to refresh my memory. I now understand why no one else had summarized. By all that is good, it's a boring freaking book... *sigh* Anyway, Women is next. Alan De Smet 02:35, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I took out "and perhaps the longest published work of fiction in the English language." I'm sorry, but the only person who's made that claim is Sim himself, and it's just obviously false. (Sim actually calls it the longest in human history, which is even more obviously false.) Just off the top of my head, Anthony Powell's "A Dance to the Music of Time" is more than 8,000 pages long. Of course, comparing page counts for prose and comics is kind of absurd, but without making that kind of comparison the 'longest ever' claim is meaningless.
Cerebus is a remarkable work in many ways, but that doesn't justify taking the author's braggadoccio at face value. 64.121.199.5
I deleted the recently added "with the intention of an epic tale ending with the death of the title character" from the opening paragraph. Sim did NOT begin with the intention of doing 300 issues. He didn't really have a long-term plan, although he has said that the possibility of doing something long-term was in the back of his mind. He has said that he didn't expect to be successful, but he knew he could do three issues and that would make a good "resume." His original announcement that he would do Cerebus for 26 years was made in 1979 after almost 2 full years of doing the comic bi-monthly, and even then he spoke of 152 issues. It wasn't until he went monthly in 1980 he settled on the 300 number. Steve Bolhafner 21:46, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
I removed this verging-on-libelous sentence:
(He was also, around this time, reportedly diagnosed with borderline schizophrenia.)
I've never heard or read that anywhere. It wasn't added by a registered user. Please do not put back unless you can provide a source (even then, it should probably go under Dave Sim instead). — Chowbok 02:33, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
I did not add the sentence you quote above, but Dave was indeed diagnosed with borderline schizophrenia, he said so himself in his " Getting Riel" discussion with Chester Brown.:
"When I had my breakdown in ’79—when I was diagnosed as a borderline schizophrenic..."
As you state above, it should go under Dave Sim and not the Cerebus entry. — Meowwcat 18:55, September 3, 2005
"*The titles of books 8 through 11 could be read as a sentence (i.e., "women read minds, guys" - the concept of women reading minds is a key plot point)." Is this an inaccurate summary of Sim's intentions with his titles? Proteus71 15:24, November 1, 2005
Without a factual reference that says it was Sim's intention, it's just speculation. Wikipedia isn't a place for people to present their clever insights. Tverbeek 18:15, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
I think that this article contains too much gossipy talk about Sim. There is an entry for Sim and pertinent information can go there. I think that the 'Cerebus' article should be more about the comics rather than the author. There may be a place for some mentions of Sim here, but I don't think it ought to be as much about Sim as it currently is. Gregory Shantz 01:04, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
There was a note to the effect that Beanhead was borrowed by Bob Burden from Cerebus. Beanhead originates with Burden, although "Limbo" did appear in Cerebus magazines as a back-up feature. Added a note about the appearance of the Carrot in #108. 24.33.28.52 12:13, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
While Cerebus is the longest running series by a single creative team, Larson's Savage Dragon is not #2. Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo has been running non-stop since 1987. Though it's switched publishers (and therefore reset numbering) twice, there were no substantial gaps in publication and distribution. By the end of 2007 there have been 166 issues published to date (38 by Fantagraphics, 16 by Mirage and 108 by Dark Horse - along with four separate issue colour specials), and the comic continues to be published 10 times per year.
I added a link to this massive online essay about Cerebus to the reviews section. I'm not sure what criteria is being used for adding links here, but I happen to know this work took about 18 months for the writer to put together (no it wasn't me) and it is equivalent of about 200 printed pages, covering every one of the major storylines with some interesting points of view. 23skidoo 13:31, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
I've added in a bit about Cerebus's magnifier quality, but it's been too long since I've read the books to say exactly what it does aside from the info I've given. Please correct and expand as necessary. Willbyr ( talk | contribs) 02:33, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
The article says that, as of 2005, Cerebus leads Erik Larsen's "The Savage Dragon" by 170 issues. Well, it's 2007--anybody know what the deal with Savage Dragon is? If it's still running, somebody ought to update the claim. Buck Mulligan 16:16, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
After a request, I have decided to say why I put that tag up. Mainly it's because I think that the format of the article could do with vast improvement, particularly after the introductory sections. -- MacRusgail 19:44, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
The ¶ about Sim's preference for limo rides and his marketing strategy is more apropos of an article about Sim, and needs to be cited. I'm not going to delete it, 'cause I aint bold enough and I don't know how to edit yet. Djcbuffum 23:17, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
I came across this page and realized that the style of this character is the same style of the hidden aardvark character in quest for glory 3 named Arne. I'd like to provide a picture for proof but unfortunately google has come up short with QFG3 pictures.
Anyways I thought it might be a good bit of trivia but unfortunately I've got no pictoral or written proof of this, anyone who does should add it to the trivia section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.53.217 ( talk) 21:03, August 26, 2007 (UTC)
How is Cerebus pronounced. The article claims Sare-uh-buss. An anonymous editor suggested Ser-uh-bus, which is slightly different. I could see either option. (And I can even see "Ker-uh-bus", although it seems unlikely.) As such, we really need a citation. It's a minor point, but it's important to be as certain of possible about even the most minor points. — Alan De Smet | Talk 19:42, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
S'ym is supposed to be a parody of Cerebus? Really? Are we sure this isn't just a big ol' coincidence? Lots42 ( talk) 13:10, 27 December 2007 (UTC)
Have you looked at the character? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.90.116.100 ( talk) 11:14, 10 June 2010 (UTC)
I have removed the YouTube video per violating WP:EXTERNAL and WP:RELIABLE. However, since these are guidelines and not official policies, community consensus must be reached in order to combat these. And can anyone prove to me that the link isn't violating copyright in the first place? Lord Sesshomaru ( talk • edits) 20:08, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
Rsand21266 added this article to Category:Fictional rapists. It was soon removed by Willbyr. Why remove it. I don't like the category; I think it adds nothing. Who really thinks, "Gosh, I really need a list of fictional rapists?" (The same goes for Category:Fictional aardvarks.) But the category should be challenged, not individual entries, assuming they're accurate. As best I can tell, Cerebus applies. I'd just re-add it, but admittedly the category rubs me wrong, so I'm more than happy to consider counter arguments. — Alan De Smet | Talk 01:54, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
Removed the word "finite" as all works of human art are finite by denfinition. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.162.214.240 ( talk) 00:31, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
If you google for "Finite ongoing series" you'll find that every result is a wikipedia comic boook page. This is not a real classification unlike "ongoing series". Wikipedia is not a place where people should be making up information. If you want to invent a phrase do it elsewhere. Check it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ongoing_series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=finite+ongoing+series&go=Go
bitch —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.162.214.240 ( talk) 19:01, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
I'm in favor of Graphic Novel (in serial form), but the lead has had "Comic Book" from day 1. Thoughts? - Richfife ( talk) 05:36, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
There are a number of sources which describe Cerebus as a single graphic novel. What that does to our definitions of te phrase is somewhat irrelevant. In Invaders from the North: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe it is described as a "300-issue graphic novel", Graphic Novels: Stories to Change Your Life describes it as "a massive and massively daring novel mapped out over 6000 pages", indeed according to Kelly Rothenberg in Cerebus: An Aardvark on the Edge (A Brief History of Dave Sim and His Independent Comic Book) in 1979 "Sim proclaimed that Cerebus would be a 300 issue graphic novel with a definite beginning and ending". Dissent is voiced from Charles Hatfield, who notes in Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature that Sim's "books are at best problematic examples of the 'graphic novel'". So, how to proceed, since ignoring these sources because of what they might do to a perceived definition of the graphic novel isn't really within our remit, is it? Hiding T 18:21, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
This article needs the B-Class checklist filled in to remain a B-Class article for the Comics WikiProject. If the checklist is not filled in by 7th August this article will be re-assessed as C-Class. The checklist should be filled out referencing the guidance given at Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment/B-Class criteria. For further details please contact the Comics WikiProject. Comics-awb ( talk) 16:04, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
Some of the points that need addressing from the peer review:
Willbyr ( talk | contribs) 14:38, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
I've re-added the citation requests Kenhullett removed. If the facts are so obvious, it should be easy to find a citation. Kenhullett objected "then every sentence in that paragraph would need a cite, which would be silly". It wouldn't be silly, it would be exceptionally well cited. Take a tour of Wikipedia:Featured_articles. They are what we should ideally be striving for, and most of them are almost glutted with citations. Wikipedia:BURDEN is pretty clear, "The burden of evidence lies with the editor who adds or restores material. All quotations and any material challenged or likely to be challenged must be attributed to a reliable, published source using an inline citation." Someone (I don't actually know who), has challenged these claims. They get the benefit of the doubt. Absent evidence that someone was trolling, we must assume that they genuinely doubt the claim. We now need to back them up. — Alan De Smet | Talk 19:16, 25 March 2009 (UTC)
Regarding the section regarding Sim's LSD use that was deleted...it says on his own Facebook page that he was hospitalized for his LSD use. Also, there's this Q&A session with Sim and this one too in which he confirms it. Good enough to put the info back in? -- Willbyr ( talk | contribs) 03:48, 25 October 2009 (UTC)
Turns out that Dave Sim had a cite for the claim. I've copied the citation over and re-added the claim. For future reference, none of the above are reliable sources. His Facebook page might be, if there was evidence that it was his own page. Odd that his Facebook page would consist of a copy of Dave Sim. I suspect someone else put up the page. The other two sources aren't really ideal Wikipedia quality. They might get by for a lesser claim, but for drug use we need better. — Alan De Smet | Talk 00:17, 26 October 2009 (UTC)
So as not to get into an edit war: Is there some Wikipedia policy against having a large external links section, especially when most of the links are directly related to the content of the comic in one fashion or another? Willbyr ( talk | contribs) 22:42, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
The "Storylines" section is somewhat misleading as it breaks the book up into the published collections rather than by actual storyline. For example, we are given Church & State I and Church & State II, but Church & State was one storyline with no logical break in the middle. It was only published as two books because otherwise the book would have been 1200 pages long. I think they should probably be merged into one subsection. CüRlyTüRkey Talk ConTribs 03:11, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
Let's start the discussion on the names of the articles here. Dave referred to the storylines as "novels", but he also referred to the whole of Cerebus as a "novel", which muddies the waters a bit. I thought "(Cerebus storyline)" was nice and neutral and didn't expect someone to take issue with it. What would be better? CüRlyTüRkey Talk ConTribs 00:20, 2 May 2011 (UTC)
There's a discussion on which comic-related articles should be listed as "Top Importance" on the importance scale, and I feel this article should not be included. If any user disagrees or wishes to contribute, please do so there. Argento Surfer ( talk) 14:44, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
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The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Cerebus the Aardvark/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.
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Sim has gotten a bit further than just the first two phonebooks by now, see [1]. -- 79.242.222.61 ( talk) 20:13, 3 April 2017 (UTC)
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I am moving the following material here until it can be properly supported with reliable, secondary citations, per WP:V, WP:NOR, WP:IRS, WP:PSTS, et al. This diff shows where it was in the article. Much of this material has been uncited or tagged for over a decade. Others were supported by self-published sources, including fan sites and crowdsourcing sites like Kickstarter, which are not reliable sources, per WP:SPS. Nightscream ( talk) 00:56, 25 April 2018 (UTC)
Inspired in some ways by the Steve Gerber character Howard the Duck, the earliest issues of Cerebus took the form of a parody of the sword and sorcery genre, particularly Conan the Barbarian. The series developed artistic sophistication and originality very quickly. Citing as his self-originated commandment, "Thou shall break every law in the book", citation needed Sim's experiments included flipping the page from horizontal to vertical, alternating comics with prose narrative, and including real dead or living people (himself included) in the storyline, all in an effort to explode the conventions of the North American comic book in every conceivable way.
The episodic adventures strayed further and further from heroic fantasy, and the twenty five-issue graphic novel High Society segued the narrative into a complex political satire and drama. With issue #65 Sim was joined by Gerhard; Gerhard's intricately rendered backgrounds became a visual hallmark of the comic.
By the end of the 1980s, Sim became an outspoken advocate of creators' rights in comics, and used the editorial pages of Cerebus to promote self-publishing and greater artist activism. Sim was also the biggest individual supporter of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund;
During this same period he started publishing his and others' experiments with 24-hour comics in the back of his issues, which created greater awareness of this challenge, citation needed now the subject of an annual event for creating them.
A writer entering his own fictional universe is not an original idea either in comics or conventional writing (see Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four, Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, Paul Auster's New York Trilogy, and Grant Morrison's comic Animal Man for other examples of this type of metafiction), although he claims to have planned the encounter as early as 1979, more than a decade before it actually took place. citation needed
Sim reportedly cut all ties with his family and virtually all of his industry colleagues apart from Gerhard in order to finish the work. He has had very public fallings-out with both Terry Moore and Jeff Smith, the latter of whom Sim challenged to a boxing match in an editorial published in the comic. Sim claimed Smith lied about an argument the two had had over the notorious essay in issue #186, during which he allegedly threatened to give Sim a "fat lip". Sim also developed an adversarial relationship with Gary Groth, the publisher of The Comics Journal, a comics magazine published by Fantagraphics Books. citation needed
In March 2004 the publication of Cerebus #300 was met with a muted, rather than celebratory, response from the comics industry. citation needed Though Sim reports the print run for #300 was doubled from that of recent issues, that would still only total approximately 16,000 copies, citation needed
In March 2004 the publication of Cerebus #300 was met with a muted, rather than celebratory, response from the comics industry. citation needed Though Sim reports the print run for #300 was doubled from that of recent issues, that would still only total approximately 16,000 copies, citation needed a far cry from the series' high of 37,000 copies. However it should be noted that the aforementioned 37K circulation figure was that of issue #100, recorded at the absolute peak of the 1986–87 speculation boom. In the comics market of 2004, a circulation of 16,000 was quite impressive for a black-and-white independent comic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://spiltink.dreamhost.com/blogs/sequentialimages/sim/siminsatnightpg4.gif |title=Web.archive.org |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722133331/http://spiltink.dreamhost.com/blogs/sequentialimages/sim/siminsatnightpg4.gif |archivedate=July 22, 2011|date=2003|page=4}}</ref>
...having just broken the 200 issue barrier, Sim mentioned his wishes regarding Cerebus, should he be prevented somehow from finishing his goal: "If something like that happens and I'm at mid-issue, the instructions are that the comic book gets printed with the rest of the pages blank. Look at the last page I drew because that's probably where the gods went 'No, I think we've just about had enough of this guy'."
Despite the title, Cerebus Archive is primarily a retrospective on Sim's non-Cerebus work prior to and concurrent with the Cerebus series. According to a note in the first issue, however, the inclusion of "Cerebus" in the title requires him to include the character in some way, so the front covers of the first two issues published as of July 2009 feature Cerebus.
After refusing for years to allow it to be translated (because he could not be sure of the accuracy of translations into languages he could not read), citation needed with Sim's permission several European publishers are now translating Cerebus. In 2010, High Society was published in Spanish, French...
Cerebus
A running gag in the early storylines was that when Cerebus' fur got wet it gave off a horrible stench, which even he could barely tolerate.
So far six successful Kickstarter campaigns have been run to help restore and preserve Cerebus volumes with a seventh one for Flight just begun as of November 2017. The first one was for Cerebus Volume 1 and the second one for High Society.
In the section Publication History, there is this sentence: "When Sim guest-wrote the 10th issue of Todd McFarlane's comics series Spawn, he donated his entire fee—over $100,000—to the fund.[12]" But which fund is meant? I have a hunch that it might be the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund because of its link with Peter Davis, who is mentioned in the reference, but how to find out for sure?-- Geke ( talk) 10:59, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
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Wow, I owned #1, but I had to sell it several years back when I grew desparate for money. Never got what I thought it was worth. RickK 00:36, 23 Sep 2003 (UTC)
I pulled some misogyny comments out of the plot summaries since they're commentary, not summaries of the plots. I tried to move the commentary (since it's widely believed) to other appropriate places.
I'd like to keep the summaries are brief and to the point as possible. Commentary (or more accurately, reporting on commentary) belong elsewhere, either in other sections on the page, or in sub-pages (probably on a per-book basis).
Similarlly, I'm not happy with the comments "Enjoyed by a number of fans as a return to the "earlier, funnier" Cerebus." in the summary of Guys. However, it might be a valid statement and might belong somewhere, just not in the summary.
Another option would be to massively expand the Plot Summaries section and have both a "Summary" entry for each book and a "Critical Reception". Or something. If we did that, we could integrate the ISBNs and issue numbers from the "Cerebus Collection" section. I'm not real fond of this, I like the terseness of the summaries, nice and to the point for people who need it, and easy to skip for people who already know.
Alan De Smet 19:48, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I expanded the summaries of the first four book summaries somewhat ... I hope this doesn't violate the guideline on keeping the plot summary short, but I thought these sections are key to everything else so it was necessary to set up an understanding of all of what follows for readers who are looking to this section to understand the whole plotline. I have also cleaned them up a bit for clarity and if anyone else feels the need to cut them down for brevity I hope the key content elements can be kept.
Schnell ( talk) 03:43, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
Cerebus didn't rape Astoria--she removed her panties and pulled up her skirt and OFFERED herself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.81.241.136 ( talk) 15:49, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
Added a summary of Flight while flipping through my own copy to refresh my memory. I now understand why no one else had summarized. By all that is good, it's a boring freaking book... *sigh* Anyway, Women is next. Alan De Smet 02:35, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I took out "and perhaps the longest published work of fiction in the English language." I'm sorry, but the only person who's made that claim is Sim himself, and it's just obviously false. (Sim actually calls it the longest in human history, which is even more obviously false.) Just off the top of my head, Anthony Powell's "A Dance to the Music of Time" is more than 8,000 pages long. Of course, comparing page counts for prose and comics is kind of absurd, but without making that kind of comparison the 'longest ever' claim is meaningless.
Cerebus is a remarkable work in many ways, but that doesn't justify taking the author's braggadoccio at face value. 64.121.199.5
I deleted the recently added "with the intention of an epic tale ending with the death of the title character" from the opening paragraph. Sim did NOT begin with the intention of doing 300 issues. He didn't really have a long-term plan, although he has said that the possibility of doing something long-term was in the back of his mind. He has said that he didn't expect to be successful, but he knew he could do three issues and that would make a good "resume." His original announcement that he would do Cerebus for 26 years was made in 1979 after almost 2 full years of doing the comic bi-monthly, and even then he spoke of 152 issues. It wasn't until he went monthly in 1980 he settled on the 300 number. Steve Bolhafner 21:46, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
I removed this verging-on-libelous sentence:
(He was also, around this time, reportedly diagnosed with borderline schizophrenia.)
I've never heard or read that anywhere. It wasn't added by a registered user. Please do not put back unless you can provide a source (even then, it should probably go under Dave Sim instead). — Chowbok 02:33, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
I did not add the sentence you quote above, but Dave was indeed diagnosed with borderline schizophrenia, he said so himself in his " Getting Riel" discussion with Chester Brown.:
"When I had my breakdown in ’79—when I was diagnosed as a borderline schizophrenic..."
As you state above, it should go under Dave Sim and not the Cerebus entry. — Meowwcat 18:55, September 3, 2005
"*The titles of books 8 through 11 could be read as a sentence (i.e., "women read minds, guys" - the concept of women reading minds is a key plot point)." Is this an inaccurate summary of Sim's intentions with his titles? Proteus71 15:24, November 1, 2005
Without a factual reference that says it was Sim's intention, it's just speculation. Wikipedia isn't a place for people to present their clever insights. Tverbeek 18:15, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
I think that this article contains too much gossipy talk about Sim. There is an entry for Sim and pertinent information can go there. I think that the 'Cerebus' article should be more about the comics rather than the author. There may be a place for some mentions of Sim here, but I don't think it ought to be as much about Sim as it currently is. Gregory Shantz 01:04, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
There was a note to the effect that Beanhead was borrowed by Bob Burden from Cerebus. Beanhead originates with Burden, although "Limbo" did appear in Cerebus magazines as a back-up feature. Added a note about the appearance of the Carrot in #108. 24.33.28.52 12:13, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
While Cerebus is the longest running series by a single creative team, Larson's Savage Dragon is not #2. Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo has been running non-stop since 1987. Though it's switched publishers (and therefore reset numbering) twice, there were no substantial gaps in publication and distribution. By the end of 2007 there have been 166 issues published to date (38 by Fantagraphics, 16 by Mirage and 108 by Dark Horse - along with four separate issue colour specials), and the comic continues to be published 10 times per year.
I added a link to this massive online essay about Cerebus to the reviews section. I'm not sure what criteria is being used for adding links here, but I happen to know this work took about 18 months for the writer to put together (no it wasn't me) and it is equivalent of about 200 printed pages, covering every one of the major storylines with some interesting points of view. 23skidoo 13:31, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
I've added in a bit about Cerebus's magnifier quality, but it's been too long since I've read the books to say exactly what it does aside from the info I've given. Please correct and expand as necessary. Willbyr ( talk | contribs) 02:33, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
The article says that, as of 2005, Cerebus leads Erik Larsen's "The Savage Dragon" by 170 issues. Well, it's 2007--anybody know what the deal with Savage Dragon is? If it's still running, somebody ought to update the claim. Buck Mulligan 16:16, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
After a request, I have decided to say why I put that tag up. Mainly it's because I think that the format of the article could do with vast improvement, particularly after the introductory sections. -- MacRusgail 19:44, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
The ¶ about Sim's preference for limo rides and his marketing strategy is more apropos of an article about Sim, and needs to be cited. I'm not going to delete it, 'cause I aint bold enough and I don't know how to edit yet. Djcbuffum 23:17, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
I came across this page and realized that the style of this character is the same style of the hidden aardvark character in quest for glory 3 named Arne. I'd like to provide a picture for proof but unfortunately google has come up short with QFG3 pictures.
Anyways I thought it might be a good bit of trivia but unfortunately I've got no pictoral or written proof of this, anyone who does should add it to the trivia section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.53.217 ( talk) 21:03, August 26, 2007 (UTC)
How is Cerebus pronounced. The article claims Sare-uh-buss. An anonymous editor suggested Ser-uh-bus, which is slightly different. I could see either option. (And I can even see "Ker-uh-bus", although it seems unlikely.) As such, we really need a citation. It's a minor point, but it's important to be as certain of possible about even the most minor points. — Alan De Smet | Talk 19:42, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
S'ym is supposed to be a parody of Cerebus? Really? Are we sure this isn't just a big ol' coincidence? Lots42 ( talk) 13:10, 27 December 2007 (UTC)
Have you looked at the character? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.90.116.100 ( talk) 11:14, 10 June 2010 (UTC)
I have removed the YouTube video per violating WP:EXTERNAL and WP:RELIABLE. However, since these are guidelines and not official policies, community consensus must be reached in order to combat these. And can anyone prove to me that the link isn't violating copyright in the first place? Lord Sesshomaru ( talk • edits) 20:08, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
Rsand21266 added this article to Category:Fictional rapists. It was soon removed by Willbyr. Why remove it. I don't like the category; I think it adds nothing. Who really thinks, "Gosh, I really need a list of fictional rapists?" (The same goes for Category:Fictional aardvarks.) But the category should be challenged, not individual entries, assuming they're accurate. As best I can tell, Cerebus applies. I'd just re-add it, but admittedly the category rubs me wrong, so I'm more than happy to consider counter arguments. — Alan De Smet | Talk 01:54, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
Removed the word "finite" as all works of human art are finite by denfinition. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.162.214.240 ( talk) 00:31, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
If you google for "Finite ongoing series" you'll find that every result is a wikipedia comic boook page. This is not a real classification unlike "ongoing series". Wikipedia is not a place where people should be making up information. If you want to invent a phrase do it elsewhere. Check it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ongoing_series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=finite+ongoing+series&go=Go
bitch —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.162.214.240 ( talk) 19:01, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
I'm in favor of Graphic Novel (in serial form), but the lead has had "Comic Book" from day 1. Thoughts? - Richfife ( talk) 05:36, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
There are a number of sources which describe Cerebus as a single graphic novel. What that does to our definitions of te phrase is somewhat irrelevant. In Invaders from the North: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe it is described as a "300-issue graphic novel", Graphic Novels: Stories to Change Your Life describes it as "a massive and massively daring novel mapped out over 6000 pages", indeed according to Kelly Rothenberg in Cerebus: An Aardvark on the Edge (A Brief History of Dave Sim and His Independent Comic Book) in 1979 "Sim proclaimed that Cerebus would be a 300 issue graphic novel with a definite beginning and ending". Dissent is voiced from Charles Hatfield, who notes in Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature that Sim's "books are at best problematic examples of the 'graphic novel'". So, how to proceed, since ignoring these sources because of what they might do to a perceived definition of the graphic novel isn't really within our remit, is it? Hiding T 18:21, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
This article needs the B-Class checklist filled in to remain a B-Class article for the Comics WikiProject. If the checklist is not filled in by 7th August this article will be re-assessed as C-Class. The checklist should be filled out referencing the guidance given at Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment/B-Class criteria. For further details please contact the Comics WikiProject. Comics-awb ( talk) 16:04, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
Some of the points that need addressing from the peer review:
Willbyr ( talk | contribs) 14:38, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
I've re-added the citation requests Kenhullett removed. If the facts are so obvious, it should be easy to find a citation. Kenhullett objected "then every sentence in that paragraph would need a cite, which would be silly". It wouldn't be silly, it would be exceptionally well cited. Take a tour of Wikipedia:Featured_articles. They are what we should ideally be striving for, and most of them are almost glutted with citations. Wikipedia:BURDEN is pretty clear, "The burden of evidence lies with the editor who adds or restores material. All quotations and any material challenged or likely to be challenged must be attributed to a reliable, published source using an inline citation." Someone (I don't actually know who), has challenged these claims. They get the benefit of the doubt. Absent evidence that someone was trolling, we must assume that they genuinely doubt the claim. We now need to back them up. — Alan De Smet | Talk 19:16, 25 March 2009 (UTC)
Regarding the section regarding Sim's LSD use that was deleted...it says on his own Facebook page that he was hospitalized for his LSD use. Also, there's this Q&A session with Sim and this one too in which he confirms it. Good enough to put the info back in? -- Willbyr ( talk | contribs) 03:48, 25 October 2009 (UTC)
Turns out that Dave Sim had a cite for the claim. I've copied the citation over and re-added the claim. For future reference, none of the above are reliable sources. His Facebook page might be, if there was evidence that it was his own page. Odd that his Facebook page would consist of a copy of Dave Sim. I suspect someone else put up the page. The other two sources aren't really ideal Wikipedia quality. They might get by for a lesser claim, but for drug use we need better. — Alan De Smet | Talk 00:17, 26 October 2009 (UTC)
So as not to get into an edit war: Is there some Wikipedia policy against having a large external links section, especially when most of the links are directly related to the content of the comic in one fashion or another? Willbyr ( talk | contribs) 22:42, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
The "Storylines" section is somewhat misleading as it breaks the book up into the published collections rather than by actual storyline. For example, we are given Church & State I and Church & State II, but Church & State was one storyline with no logical break in the middle. It was only published as two books because otherwise the book would have been 1200 pages long. I think they should probably be merged into one subsection. CüRlyTüRkey Talk ConTribs 03:11, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
Let's start the discussion on the names of the articles here. Dave referred to the storylines as "novels", but he also referred to the whole of Cerebus as a "novel", which muddies the waters a bit. I thought "(Cerebus storyline)" was nice and neutral and didn't expect someone to take issue with it. What would be better? CüRlyTüRkey Talk ConTribs 00:20, 2 May 2011 (UTC)
There's a discussion on which comic-related articles should be listed as "Top Importance" on the importance scale, and I feel this article should not be included. If any user disagrees or wishes to contribute, please do so there. Argento Surfer ( talk) 14:44, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
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The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Cerebus the Aardvark/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.
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Sim has gotten a bit further than just the first two phonebooks by now, see [1]. -- 79.242.222.61 ( talk) 20:13, 3 April 2017 (UTC)
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I am moving the following material here until it can be properly supported with reliable, secondary citations, per WP:V, WP:NOR, WP:IRS, WP:PSTS, et al. This diff shows where it was in the article. Much of this material has been uncited or tagged for over a decade. Others were supported by self-published sources, including fan sites and crowdsourcing sites like Kickstarter, which are not reliable sources, per WP:SPS. Nightscream ( talk) 00:56, 25 April 2018 (UTC)
Inspired in some ways by the Steve Gerber character Howard the Duck, the earliest issues of Cerebus took the form of a parody of the sword and sorcery genre, particularly Conan the Barbarian. The series developed artistic sophistication and originality very quickly. Citing as his self-originated commandment, "Thou shall break every law in the book", citation needed Sim's experiments included flipping the page from horizontal to vertical, alternating comics with prose narrative, and including real dead or living people (himself included) in the storyline, all in an effort to explode the conventions of the North American comic book in every conceivable way.
The episodic adventures strayed further and further from heroic fantasy, and the twenty five-issue graphic novel High Society segued the narrative into a complex political satire and drama. With issue #65 Sim was joined by Gerhard; Gerhard's intricately rendered backgrounds became a visual hallmark of the comic.
By the end of the 1980s, Sim became an outspoken advocate of creators' rights in comics, and used the editorial pages of Cerebus to promote self-publishing and greater artist activism. Sim was also the biggest individual supporter of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund;
During this same period he started publishing his and others' experiments with 24-hour comics in the back of his issues, which created greater awareness of this challenge, citation needed now the subject of an annual event for creating them.
A writer entering his own fictional universe is not an original idea either in comics or conventional writing (see Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four, Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, Paul Auster's New York Trilogy, and Grant Morrison's comic Animal Man for other examples of this type of metafiction), although he claims to have planned the encounter as early as 1979, more than a decade before it actually took place. citation needed
Sim reportedly cut all ties with his family and virtually all of his industry colleagues apart from Gerhard in order to finish the work. He has had very public fallings-out with both Terry Moore and Jeff Smith, the latter of whom Sim challenged to a boxing match in an editorial published in the comic. Sim claimed Smith lied about an argument the two had had over the notorious essay in issue #186, during which he allegedly threatened to give Sim a "fat lip". Sim also developed an adversarial relationship with Gary Groth, the publisher of The Comics Journal, a comics magazine published by Fantagraphics Books. citation needed
In March 2004 the publication of Cerebus #300 was met with a muted, rather than celebratory, response from the comics industry. citation needed Though Sim reports the print run for #300 was doubled from that of recent issues, that would still only total approximately 16,000 copies, citation needed
In March 2004 the publication of Cerebus #300 was met with a muted, rather than celebratory, response from the comics industry. citation needed Though Sim reports the print run for #300 was doubled from that of recent issues, that would still only total approximately 16,000 copies, citation needed a far cry from the series' high of 37,000 copies. However it should be noted that the aforementioned 37K circulation figure was that of issue #100, recorded at the absolute peak of the 1986–87 speculation boom. In the comics market of 2004, a circulation of 16,000 was quite impressive for a black-and-white independent comic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://spiltink.dreamhost.com/blogs/sequentialimages/sim/siminsatnightpg4.gif |title=Web.archive.org |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722133331/http://spiltink.dreamhost.com/blogs/sequentialimages/sim/siminsatnightpg4.gif |archivedate=July 22, 2011|date=2003|page=4}}</ref>
...having just broken the 200 issue barrier, Sim mentioned his wishes regarding Cerebus, should he be prevented somehow from finishing his goal: "If something like that happens and I'm at mid-issue, the instructions are that the comic book gets printed with the rest of the pages blank. Look at the last page I drew because that's probably where the gods went 'No, I think we've just about had enough of this guy'."
Despite the title, Cerebus Archive is primarily a retrospective on Sim's non-Cerebus work prior to and concurrent with the Cerebus series. According to a note in the first issue, however, the inclusion of "Cerebus" in the title requires him to include the character in some way, so the front covers of the first two issues published as of July 2009 feature Cerebus.
After refusing for years to allow it to be translated (because he could not be sure of the accuracy of translations into languages he could not read), citation needed with Sim's permission several European publishers are now translating Cerebus. In 2010, High Society was published in Spanish, French...
Cerebus
A running gag in the early storylines was that when Cerebus' fur got wet it gave off a horrible stench, which even he could barely tolerate.
So far six successful Kickstarter campaigns have been run to help restore and preserve Cerebus volumes with a seventh one for Flight just begun as of November 2017. The first one was for Cerebus Volume 1 and the second one for High Society.
In the section Publication History, there is this sentence: "When Sim guest-wrote the 10th issue of Todd McFarlane's comics series Spawn, he donated his entire fee—over $100,000—to the fund.[12]" But which fund is meant? I have a hunch that it might be the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund because of its link with Peter Davis, who is mentioned in the reference, but how to find out for sure?-- Geke ( talk) 10:59, 8 May 2019 (UTC)