Three Days Before

Cerebus is suitably horrified and annoyed to see the walking irritation that is Elrod step back into his life. He promptly knocks the albino unconscious mid sentence, and bundles him into a cab, (coincidentally driven by the same cabbie that took Cerebus to the Rams Lords Tavern the night he arrived in Iest) with orders to put him on a ship going somewhere very far away.

Once safely back behind The Regency's doors, Cerebus heads for his room to stay out of trouble. Before he can get there he is accosted by a well dressed and groomed young man who starts spouting some sort of prophecy at him. Initially Cerebus has no idea who this is, until he introduces himself as Bran Mac Mufin (despite the fact that he's spelling the surname differently it is the leader of the Pigts, last encountered in issue #5). Convinced that any association with Mac Mufin (these days due to a derogatory nickname supporters of my Aussie Rules team; the Richmond Tigers, have bestowed upon the less than brilliant Jordan McMahon, I have problems disassociating the two, in fact I think I'd rather prefer that we had the Pigtish leader on our list) will only cause trouble Cerebus waves him away, and continues onto his room. It appears that people from the aardvark's past are popping up all over Iest. The reason for this will become apparent at the end of the chapter.

Thinking that he has now successfully avoided all possibilities of trouble, and can tell Astoria 'Nyah-Nyah!' when she returns, and he is sitting quietly in his room doing nothing, Cerebus enters the room only to find a dripping wet Elrod waiting there for him. About to throw Elrod out the window, Cerebus is startled by the Moon Roach appearing there and vowing to kill everyone who attempts to help the aardvark. Cerebus is about to climb out the window, and give chase when Elrod tells Cerebus that the Roach can't possibly carry out his threat, because Cerebus' actions in bringing the Inquisition to it's knees has garnered him more friends and allies than the Moon Roach could ever wipe out single handedly.

Astoria reenters, and before Cerebus can stop him Elrod introduces himself to her, and then takes his leave. Instead of being angry with him, Astoria asks Cerebus how he managed to cultivate the most charismatic swordsman in Estarcion as a friend. Cerebus cannot believe this. To me this illustrated that ever since he arrived in Iest Cerebus has been so busy concentrating on his own issues that he never even thinks about the greater world outside of himself. Cerebus only cares for one person and that is Cerebus, he often does this to the exclusion of all else. At times the aardvark seems completely cut off from the world around him.

Cerebus demands an apology from Astoria for remaining out of trouble while she was gone, she's about to grant it grudgingly, and mentions telling the desk clerk to cancel all her appointments while she was gone, when suddenly Cerebus remembers that he didn't do that.

Astoria goes downstairs to try and put right what missing all her appointments has messed up, and comes back to tell Cerebus that she's going to need 500 crowns. Cerebus has 1,000 crowns that she gave him on the day the Elf left, so gives Astoria 500. Once he's gone Astoria opens a hidden safe, and puts the 500 with the neat piles of crowns that Cerebus is obviously unaware she has hoarded. While she is closing the safe Elrod reenters to give Astoria an invitation that he forgot for Cerebus.

Astoria looks at the invitation, and sees with wide eyes that it is an invitation to Lord Julius' Petuniacon at The Regency with guest of honour King Elrod of Melvinbone (Lord Julius' nominee to be the next ranking diplomatic representative of Palnu in Iest).

The bit about Petuniacon made clear to me the title of the issue (Three Days Before), and why people like Elrod and Bran from Cerebus' past had suddenly bobbed up. By this stage in the life of the comic I'm betting Dave had been to his fair share of cons (short for convention, they're very popular amongst sci-fi/fantasy fans and comic book collectors), and this was his little joke about them. It was a successful stepping stone of an issue and had some very interesting things: Astoria's hoarding of money, Cerebus' growing popularity, Elrod's fame and relationship with Lord Julius, and the reappearance of Bran Mac Mufin.

There are some characters in long running TV shows, book series and comics that make fans react when they reappear. In Cerebus Elrod was one such character. Most fans like him. I never really did. Once you got past the fact that he bore a similar name to a popular Moorcock hero, and looked like the same character, but was totally incompetent, and spoke like Foghorn Leghorn that was it, joke over. By the time he came back into the book in High Society I felt that the character had outlived his usefulness. He was still wearing the outdated medieval style dress that made him an anachronism in cosmpolitan Iest, which favoured an almost 19th century Victorian mode of dress and lifestyle, yet we were supposed to believe that people saw him as a dashing, charismatic heroic type. Yet the fans and Dave liked the character enough that this would be far from the last time we saw the albino.

Swords of Cerebus #2: Bran Mak Mufin, The Secret, Black Sun Rising, Day of the Earth-Pig

After 4 issues Cerebus had managed to exceed his creator’s initial aim and built up a small following, as well as create a world in which the character moved, however to me at this stage it was still a ‘funny animal’ comic. Two things differentiated it from Conan and the other Conanesque titles that were around: the central character was an aardvark and at times it was very funny. I find it interesting that neither Dave Sim or the fans of the time were particularly impressed with issue #5. Dave said that the story was largely lifted from issue #2 and that it contained one joke: Cerebus' fur smells when he gets it wet (this was a running gag for some time, it does beg the question: does he ever bathe?). I actually contend that it contained two jokes, one was the aforementioned smelly fur gag and the other was the play on words that formed the only title I’ve ever been able to find: Bran Mak Mufin, it’s hard to even say that without a chuckle, even funnier when Bran became a more important player in the political game later on. Why did I think the issue was important in the evolution of the character?

This is the basic storyline: Cerebus has signed on with a mercenary army and is stuck scouting in the Red Marches getting rained on (hence the wet fur), he takes shelter in a hollow tree and is discovered by a group of primitive warriors, members of the ancient and once very powerful Pigt tribe. They take him to their leader; Bran Mak Mufin. Bran seems to know more about Cerebus than he should and this piques the aardvark's interest. He goes exploring, and finds the Pigts at their worship. The object of their adoration is a statue, a statue of an aardvark! This is the first indication that Cerebus is more than just an itinerant warrior who happens to be an aardvark. He is a figure of destiny. I believe that Cerebus life and the way the readers viewed the character changed from this point onward. Cerebus destroys the statue, makes his way out of the tunnel network where then Pigts live and heads for the nearest city.

If issue #5 was a bit of a disappointment to readers and creator then issue #6 was an unqualified triumph. I think it is not only one of the best Cerebus stories written, but it is one of the best single comic issues I have ever read, it was also immensely important in the continuing story of the graphic novel as a whole. Dave said that this one was in some ways partially autobiographical, and it shows, things are handled with great affection and sensitivity as well as gentle humour.

Cerebus encounters a dying man, who with his final breath gives the aardvark the clue to finding great treasure. The unfortunate man’s pursuers; wily conman E’Lass and his large, strong, but stupid companion Turg, are also trying to gain that information. Once they realise Cerebus has it they first attempt to force it out of him, but discover to Turg’s eternal regret that even the thuggish barbarian is no match for the earth pig born. E’Lass then decides that where strength will not prevail, guile will. He drugs Cerebus' drink so that he will fall desperately in love with the first woman he sees; tavern dancer Jaka. E’Lass and Turg then heavy Jaka to get the information out of Cerebus. Cerebus is so smitten that he will do anything Jaka asks, and the scene between the two in Jaka’s room as she tries to wheedle the information out of him contains this priceless and hysterically funny exchange: a doe eyed Cerebus sits next to Jaka on her bed and murmurs lovingly to her: ‘I'd love to lick apricot brandy out of your navel.' Jaka desperately tries to steer Cerebus back on topic, but he refuses to be dissuaded from his wooing, and continues on: ‘If Cerebus had a navel would you lick apricot brandy out of it?’ at this point Jaka, convinced that her cause is hopeless, collapses with a moan onto the bed. A confused Cerebus stands over her and asks helplessly ‘You don’t like apricot brandy?’ I usually have to put the book aside to laugh.

Jaka tells Cerebus that E’Lass and Turg have threatened her. Cerebus finds them and hands out the mother of all beatings. He and Jaka plan to find the treasure themselves and start a new life together. Whilst preparing for the journey the potion wears off Cerebus, he forgets who Jaka is, and that he carried a torch for her. She meets him, but realises that he has no memory of her or what she meant to him, she promises to wait for him to remember even if it takes the rest of her life. So beautifully done and with such a tragic end, it almost makes you want to cry. I don’t think I’m the only fan who remembered The Secret for a long time after reading it. People were convinced that Jaka would one day return, but when?

Dave decided to return to safer ground with Black Sun Rising and brought Elrod back. Cerebus was on his way to see if he could get the treasure he had first heard about from the dying stranger, and had now recalled (although readers were left none the wiser as to whether or not he had also remembered Jaka), when to his horror he encountered Elrod, the big mouthed, incompetent albino. In his efforts to recover the treasure hidden somewhere in the Temple of the Black Sun and avoid Elrod Cerebus found himself battling a giant spider, and only just managed to get out of the temple with his life, let alone the treasure. Foiled once again, and once again penniless Cerebus continues his lonely wandering.

Day of the Earth-Pig was an odd issue, a good half of it saw Cerebus in a delirious fever dream trying to recover from the injuries presumably incurred during the fight with the spider in the Temple of the Black Sun. Seeing Cerebus willingness to inflict violence to get his ends an unscrupulous religious military officer nurses the aardvark back to full health, and then installs him as the leader of the Conniptin's. Of course Cerebus is supposed to be a figure head, leader in name only. By the end of the issue Cerebus is already scheming how to get rid of the man who made him the leader and take all the power for himself. The issue was left very open ended, and it looked like Dave had just started his first genuine multi issue story arc.