Look Out, It’s An Aardvark With A Sword!

I discovered independent comics around 1981.

In particular, I discovered Cerebus.

I was thirteen years old and the idea of a barbarian aardvark appealed to me. (Still does, actually). The book was heavy on satire, of comics, of movies and of life itself. It reminded me, in many ways, of Gerber’s Howard The Duck.

Cerebus, however, was in glorious black and white, which made it different from every other comic I had read. It was also, more importantly, the work of one man, Dave Sim. Both writer and artist, Sim was the voice of Cerebus and vice versa. There was no editorial interference (the book was self published by Sim and his then wife) and the book was always just what Sim wanted it to be. Often brilliant, frequently hilarious and occasionally poignant, Cerebus ran a full 300 issues, telling the complete life story of its flawed protagonist.

The entire series is available in a series of 16 trade paperbacks, all of which are still in print and can be ordered either through Amazon.com or your local comic retailer.