Cerebus Book 16: The Last Day (#289-300)

"Thankyou God" - Cerebus

So, well, what do we have here?  I admit by the end of the travesty that was Latter Days, I actively resented having to stump up anymore cash for the series, but the urge to see the end and finish the set got the better of me.  And lawks a lordy, this actually has a lot to recommend it.  I won't go as far as saying it totally redeems the decision to make Cerebus the leader of a religion based on the real Christian faith but there is a desperation and melancholy about Cerebus's lonely plight here that feels really heartfelt and of course it (lolspoilers) finishes with Cerebus's demise, which despite how horrible he is and the atrocities carried out in his name, you can't help finding a little sad along with the more general sadness that accompanies the end of any long running work.  Of course the final chapter manages to piss away most of the goodwill the rest of the book has so skillfully built with a completely asinine plot twist but well that's the Cerebus project in a nutshell.

It doesn't get off to a promising start, first the intro gets somewhat petulant about the lack of interest in the wider media about the end of the Cerebus series.  Possibly no one was interested after the best part of a year was spent padding out the comic with the bible and drawings of Woody Allen.  Just a thought Dave. We also get Dave telling us that he's found the solution to Einsteins Grand Unification Theory in the Bible and that God gave this to him, but his amazing theory presented here wasn't spread around because of feminists (the whole intro is very odd, he seems obssessed with the fact that feminists want him to kill himself, which seems.. unlikely of them, but whatev's). Then the first chapter starts with some amazing artwork of the sun and OH SON OF A WHORE, The Book of Genesis and lots of teeny, tiny footnotes, which I am afraid I simply skimmed because fuck that shit.  A more detailed writer about Cerebus than I, Tim O'Neil of the excellent blog The Hurting has written about and presented talks on Cerebus and even he has some difficulty with late period Cerebus, this excerpt from his blog presents one interpretation of what's going on in the "Sun" chapter of The Last Day.

Tim O'Neil of The Hurting: "I will say, for anyone who may have read the stretch from around 270-300 more recently than I, I have a little trouble keeping straight whether or not any of Sim's theological ideas are ideas he actually entertains and which are presented within the context of satire - I think I recall, for instance, that he genuinely believes that microscopic demons live in the sun and are responsible for perturbations in the quantum foam, or whatever the hell. He takes shit like demons seriously, after all, and was genuinely disappointed when, following the release of Cerebus #289-290, he wasn't immediately acclaimed as a visionary for having permanently reconciled the differences between science and religion."

I think he means them quite genuinely Tim, quite genuinely indeed. If there were no appendices then it might be possible to pass it off as weird satire, but those appendices make all the difference in cementing Dave Sim's somewhat..interesting take on the Bible and cluelessness about science.  But how could he be proclaimed a visionary?  He's not a feminist, duh!  Ugh.  Anyway, it's actually a dream Cerebus is having, now a very old aardvark indeed having been alive for a couple of centuries.  He wakes and writes his dream down and hides it for future generations and we finally get to the good bit of the book, Cerebus and his mortality.
                            

I suffer from a rather bad back, and in the mornings it can take quite a while for me to be able to get up and straighten up, even with the powerful pain meds I am on.  So I feel a huge amount of empathy as the ancient Cerebus moves slowly round his room, bone cracking and grinding together, tendons and muscle stiff and unresponsive. He can't even fart when he needs to.  Most of the book is Cerebus hobbling about, mumbling to himself, which for me are the best bits, even if it's difficult to quote the ramblings as they are so lengthy and all of apeice. The actual plot bits are somewhat daft, but the depiction of extreme old age is portrayed with sympathy and with truth. Dave Sim isn't afraid to show the indignity that comes with old age either, with Cerebus's trousers constantly falling down to reveal his diapered behind.

Cerebus: "Ow Cerebus's back spasms.  Ow Cerebus's side spasms. Ow Cerebus's front spasms."

                              

The narrative plays out as a monologue by Cerebus, with an off-stage voice providing further converstation and a final character being introduced very close to the end.  Cerebus is completely alone now, the focus of the books since the end of Minds have been tightening and tightening around Cerebus until he is all that is left.  It's hard not to see this as maybe a reflection of Dave Sim's disengagement with the world, as in the appendices, he, after declaring everyone in the world a feminist finds himself completely alone.  He has walked out on his family (who are feminists) and even his co-artist Gerhard was no longer able to work in the same room as Dave Sim (being a feminist and all).  Gerhard even tried to drop out of drawing this final arc, so unpleasant was he finding the experience now.  Anyway,  whether or not that is a reason, Cerebus is alone, with just his thoughts, failing memory and his aching, decrepid old body to deal with.

[You know, because I am a fully paid up member of the aetheist-feminist-homosexualist axis, I've been giving Dave Sim a lot of crap for his writing, but his and Gerhard's artwork is still amazingly good even at this stage when they could have easily half-arsed it and not dropped readers.  The above full page image in its content and composition conveys Cerebus's loneliness and isolation in such an achingly sad way that words almost seem unecessary.  It bought me close to tears when I first looked at it and that's something only great art can do.]

Cerebus finds he has been locked in, because of emergency procedures.  Some kind of battle is taking place outside and it seems that by now Estarcion has reached 20th Century Earth's level of technological and social advances, to judge by the weapons being used and the punky kids lounging around outside Cerebus's sanctuary.  Apparently one section of the church, the Joannists are attacking ( and yes that is after Joanne from Guys and Rick's Story, she got included into the Book Of Rick and now has splinters from the main "Cerebite" Church named after her) and Cerebus has to be locked in for his own safety.

Cerebus starts talking to the guard about his son Shep-Shep who hasn't been seen in over ten years, Cerebus reminices about his (human) son growing up, and sends the guard off to see if their are any messages from him.  While the guard is away, Cerebus begs God to help him remember why Shep-Shep left him (the reason isn't entirely clear, but it seems Cerebus ruined a music festival thrown by his son, with a violent crackdown on pro-abortionists.  After some deaths he was forced to sanction abortion and Shep Shep and Cerebus's wife left).

Later the guard returns with good news. Shep-Shep is actually at the sanctuary and wants to see Cerebus.  One problem, lifting the lockdown to allow this requires a vote by all the churches and when this goes ahead, one branch of the church santuaries permanent members vetoes the visit - the "Le Sanctuarie Upper Felda des Rick et Joanne et Joanne Lesbiennes" (those damn lesbians! *shakes fist*).  The reason given is ridiculous - that Cerebus might want to have sex with his son - but this is a ploy to manuvre Cerebus into making the concessions they want.  As Cerebus rages about the lack of authority he wields in his own church he is given the piece of paper to sign with the recognition that part of the Church wants.

Ultimatum: "The representative further welcomes the Great Cerebus's implicit agreement that the androgyne, the tribade, the sexual invert, the transgendered, the dual-gendered and the multi-gendered is of central and paramount importance in and to our faith.  In and to our society. In and to our sanctuaries. In and to the seat of truth. In the name of the Blessed Mother, her Blessed Daughter and The Scary Tampon."

                             

After a long moment, Cerebus signs the agreement and retreats to bed to wait for Shep-Shep.

Cerebus's church institution has fractured into a myriad different ideologies, that he himself has no control over any more.  Perhaps now is time to revisit Suentus Po's words on Power in Flight:

Suentus Po: "My experience taught me, there is no benefit and little wisdom in attempting to influence the minds and wills of massess of people.  In both my lives I described to you I sought that kind of influence and effect. I was a Reformer. I have seen the long range effects that profound change always brings about.  Each great movement is sown with the seeds of its own destruction, it's corruption and decay as inevitable as Death itself."

And so it goes. Cerebus is blackmailed into giving up pretty much all that's left of his power, his influence now negligable, his effect neutered, his reforms working against him, his church at war with itself.

There is a little mild homophobia that is threaded through Cerebus's messages and to-and-fro from the wilder reaches of his religion, the fact that he is being held hostage and refused to be able to see his son by the lesbian and gay off-shoots of his church makes for uncomfortable reading, that you could just about dismiss as some warped sense of humour except for the fact that in the appendices Sim goes off on a tangent about "homosexualists" being paedophiles and also oppressing him by the mere fact they have the temerity to ask to be treated as more than objects of scorn and pity.  And I think "how sad", that a man who gave us such a sympathetic portrayal of Oscar Wilde, dedicating a years worth of comics to his final days and who back in the late 80's was bezzie mates with Alan Moore and contributed to his anti-government homophobia comic, dedicating his part to Moore's wife and their mutual girlfriend (yeah, Alan Moore was in a polyamorous relationship with two women in the 80's, the lucky so-and-so).  And now he's a homophobe.  That probably disappoints me more than all the misogyny in the series combined. Oh well.

Shep-Shep finally enters the room secretly, but there is no joyous reunion.  Shep-shep is drawn in a very sinister manner, cloaked in shadow and holding a mysterious box.  After talking about some matters of doctorine, things get more personal. Shep-shep and Cerebus seem to have differing opinions of the time they spent together as he grew up, with Shep-shep taking a decidely negative view of his father, crushing Cerebus's happy memories.  He also reveals that Cirin is still alive, though in worse shape than Cerebus and that they have been working together. The tension in this scene is very cleverly built up with the box and the strange noises coming from inside as Shep-shep talks about what he and Cirin have been up to somewhat obliquely and Cerebus keeps asking what is in it. Finally Shep-Shep decides to show Cerebus what's in the box and takes out....

Shep-shep:  "...look father, see.  It's a lion's cub, with a baby's head.  Isn't that amazing?"

...
......
............

I think I would have preferred it if Gwyneth Paltrow's head was in the box. Ok, lets run through this quickly.  Cirin has been doing gene splicing experiments using slices from Shep's brain to clone this hybrid from.  Once they get the giganticism gene sorted, they'll make a huge one of these baby/lion hybrids and then they'll all go to Egypt where he'll be worshipped as a God.  Well done Cerebus, your son is fucking nuts.  Of course Cerebus is horrified by this, and seemingly hurt by this response Shep goes to leave, but not before leaving Cerebus with this warning:

Shep-shep: "I hope... the scattered remnants of your followers enjoy the limited time that remains to you. Because there's a surprise on the way father. A very, very big surprise.  Tens of thousands of surprises in point of fact!  A new group of believers father called Muslims!  And from what I understand? They've taken a decidedly dim view of what you've done with their God.  Good bye father."

And with that ominous threat, he departs.  A rage filled Cerebus finds his dagger under his pillow and jumps from the bed, with murder in his heart.

But he misses his footing and slowly topples to the ground, where he breaks his neck (although he gets his fart in before he dies). 

As the life ebbs away from him, his life flashes before his eyes.  Before his spirit finally leaves his body.

There he sees a bright light and every character of significance who appeared in the series is waiting, with the trinity of Ham, Bear and Jaka holding her arms out in welcome.

He turns into his old comic book idol "Rabbi" and starts to run towards them, but there is a sting in this final couple of pages.  He suddenly takes fright and tries to turn away, imploring God to save him.

Cerebus: "Help God! The Light! The Light! Help God! The Light has got Cerebus! GOD! HEEELLPPP!"

And nothing is left but white.  And so ends Cerebus the Aardvark.  Dying as The Judge predicted, "alone, unmourned and unloved".  Oh sure as the nominal head of the Church there might be some official mourning if it survives the war that's going on outside.  But in the end, even his son didn't care about him and his old enemy Cirin outlived him, while his Church fell into schismatic ruin.

A downer huh?  Well we were warned.  Actually I did wonder if Dave Sim would have the balls to go with the "alone, unmourned and unloved" prediction and I am glad he did, because Cerebus didn't really deserve a happy ending. I thought maybe having Cerebus becoming a genuine leader of his faith, rather than one in it solely for the gold and power might have been a set up for a happier ending than what had been foretold for him. Caveats aside, especially the whole Shep sequence with the spinx baby (and I am almost willing to say, "screw what Dave Sim says, I think it was a nightmare Cerebus was having") and some of the homophobic subtext, this is a pretty good capstone to the series.  It evokes sympathy for a protagonist who doesn't really deserve it in a very skillful way and is almost heart rending in places showing that Dave Sims ability to write evocative prose hadn't totally left him. I still think the swerve into making Cerebus the leader of a real Christian religion wasn't really my cup of tea, and I wonder if this ending was planned all along or if another ending to the series had been plotted out before Sim's real life faith impacted onto the text.  I guess we'll never know what could have been.

In Summary Then....

It's been just over ten years now since the main Cerebus series ended.  Despite the way it finished up, it's still a monumental achievement by both Dave Sim and Gerhard.  What I find rather saddening is how forgotten the series has become when it was one of the biggest indie successes of the 80's and early 90's.  When I started up buying the trades again, I wandered into my nearest comic specialist shop, Forbidden Planet in Manchester (UK), and when I couldn't find them on the shelves asked the man on the counter if they had any in stock.  He had never heard of the series, which really took me aback.  Whatever you think about the mess it ended up becoming, there was way, way more that is good about Cerebus than is bad, and it deserves a place on the shop shelves next to Elfquest, Spawn and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, all big indie hits themselves.  Maybe Dave Sim's lack of interest in exploiting the property at the time beyond pioneering the trade paperback collected edition has told against it, but the series lack of presence in comic book stores now make it unlikely that any new readers will come across a copy while idly browsing and take a chance on a densely packed storyline starring a talking aardvark and a host of parodies and pastiches that chart the pop culture and personalities of the time in a generally amusing way.  

I'm concluding the images with my favourite set of panels from my favourite issue "The Deciding Vote" which was part of High Society.  I love these three panels which I couldn't include in the High Society review as I didn't have a scanner then.

What's noticable about the saga as a whole is you don't have to read to the bitter end to get a satisfying story if you don't fancy braving the last couple of books.  The series comes with several jumping off points for those less committed to completionism than me.  Just here for the satire and comedy?  Leave after Church and State II.  Only interested in Cerebus versus Cirin versus Astoria?  Drop out after Minds.  Want Cerebus to get a happy ending (for some reason)?  Go no further than Rick's Story.  Only curious to see what happens to Cerebus and Jaka's relationship? Do not pass the end of Form and Void.  Despite the frustrations I felt writing up the last few books, I'm glad I committed to doing the full run, looking at the books in more detail did increase my enjoyment of most of them and I was pretty out of practice with writing, so starting with something obscure let me relearn and polish up my critical skills again without feeling too pressured by the material.  If this series of blog posts manages to inspire even one person to check out a Cerebus volume (make it High Society if you do, very funny and little baggage from the preceeding arc at that point), I'd be pretty pleased.  But I probably won't be committing to such a long series of books again until I decide to look at Garth Ennis's twelve volume series The Boys, although I'll be writing about some series with up to around seven volumes in them prior to that.  So stick around please as I tackle more traditional comic books and maybe cover something you've actually heard of.

Cerebus Book 15: Latter Days (#266-288)

 "So.  This is the book that's going to tell Cerebus everything" - Cerebus

Oh, very dear.  Having shed the final (apart from Cerebus) ongoing character from the series with the departure of Jaka we get this book,  where real Christianity and Judaism are introduced into the worlds of Estarcion as Dave Sim sacrifices all story integrity so he can lecture and badger the reader with his weird views made up of a strange brew of his interpretation of Christianity and anti-psychiatry ramblings.  Now I want to make one thing clear.  I was raised an atheist.  I still am mostly an atheist, with some of the teachings of Daoism and Buddhism incorporated into my own personal life philisophy.  I however have known and still know some wonderfully kind and tolerant Christians who I am proud to call friends of mine and whose faith in no way impedes my view of or makes me think less of them.  I will getting somewhat terse with Mr. Sim's rantings in this book, and I want to make it clear it's only with his twisted version of Christianity and not Christians in general.  If I overstep the mark and say things that could be construed as offensive to Christians in general I apologise in advance.  Also, although I said ignore the appendices in the previous two books, the odd, disjointed, supposedly allusive quality of the narrative in this book forces me to seek further enlightenment in the pages at the back of the book.  It's not pretty.  So, here we go with Latter Days, the very worst book in the whole series by some considerable margin.

It's supposed to be symbolic but I don't care by this point.

 The first part is uneventful.  Cerebus first spends years as a shepard, then more years as a Five Bar Gate player who always gets to the finals but throws them so he can rake in the cash from a bet, which he spends collecting a comic called "Rabbi" a parody of Garth Ennis's Preacher comic.  We get an idea of just how long lived Cerebus is going to be, when his long time opponent in the Five Bar Gate finals dies of old age.  Then Cerebus having lost all hope for his life, decides to travel to the heart of Cirinist territory and behave in as boorish a way possible, so they will kill him.  But as he carouses away he is discovered by three men  based on The Three Stooges.  I am unsure Dave Sim he did this, as they don't really act the way the Stooges did.  When Dave Sim introduced characters based on Groucho and Chico Marx he used it as a basis for lots of verbal humour and kept the characters loosely tied to their inspirations as well as giving them a character of their own.  Here we have a trio known mainly for slapstick which doesn't translate very well onto the page and they aren't really filled out as characters outside of any baggage the people they are based on had in real life.  Anyway they kidnap Cerebus, tie him up and begin the task of brainwashing him with the Book of Rick, Jaka's ex-husband's newish religion which unlike the broad strokes Christian parody of Tarimism is based very closely on real life Christianity and meant far more sincerely thanks to Dave Sim's own conversion to the faith.

The Three Wise Fellows

After reading the Book Of Rick over and over, to cleanse Cerebus of his sin.  Cerebus finally manages to give them an answer to one of the questions they had for him and they let him go.  He then decides to put into plan his idea for getting rid of the Cirinists.  For some inexplicable reason the Cirnists had allowed men to go shooting at hunting lodges and Cerebus's plan is to have all the local lodges join up and kill the local Cirnists.  Which they do under the command of a character based on Spawn writer and artist Todd MacFarlane, whom I talked more about in my review of the Spawn issue Dave Sim wrote.  Then Cerebus contructs a demon costume and thus disguised and calling himself "Spore" leads the men to victory over all the Cirnists, with Cerebus writing his own religious tract - "The Book Of Cerebus" which is about the war and it's aftermath

"Spore" In Action

And this just makes me tear my hair out.  Dave Sim it seems had a problem, that being he'd introduced the Cirnists as a powerful, conquering army that put down rebellions with ruthless efficiency, even if they'd been stupid enough to allow the men to arm themselves with guns, surely they would have armed themselves in return and be able to easily crush another rebellion.  So we get probably the lamest, weakest excuse for the mens victory as possible:

Cerebus: "Since even the best women shooter is barely going to be as good as a below average man, there is no way the Cirinists can get within range where they can hit us without first getting shot themselves."

Cerebus's Army

And so in a few pages and mostly off stage, a powerful ruling army who have held onto power for decades is wiped out by a bunch of men too stupid to have thought to use their guns before Cerebus told them too.  When pushed onto the back foot the Cirinists take off their robes and hide amongst the other women.  So Cerebus instigates a purge of any woman even slightly suspected of being a Cirinist or having Cirinist sympathies.  Mass murder basically.  Dave Sim says in the appendices that he meant it like "A Modest Proposal", but the difference here is that Swift's book was a coruscating satire aimed at shocking the ruling classes into giving a shit about the plight of the poor, and Dave Sim seems to be writing about how to solve the problem of um.. women, by killing any with even slight feminist leanings and it comes over more as wish fulfillment that satire.  Also one of the women killed is based on a real woman who was somewhat critical of him.  Classy, Sim, real classy.  She's also the last woman to get a speaking role in the rest of the series.  From now on women fade into the background as Dave Sim's engagement with Christianity takes centre stage.

With the rule of law placed in the hands of the mob, after they kill all the lawyers, a bucolic, facist "utopia" is established, which mostly seems to involve men building "little houses", while unruly women are confined to special camps.  There doesn't seem to be much in the way of art or culture produced and free speech is ruthlessly dealt with.  Making life under the "Cerebites" seem much less enticing than under the Cirinists even for men.  And with nothing to kick against, and no women left in his life, Cerebus becomes aimless in his existence.  Back when I covered Minds, he ended up trapped on the lonely planet Juno, and esteemed commenter Lucy McGough pointed out that Juno was the Goddess of wives and mothers.  So it was a warning in my opinion that a life without women, without love in fact would be a lonely one.  And for several books the prospect of being alone would have Cerebus see the rocky landscape of Juno in his minds eye.  So it's ironic that with women removed from his life entirely he's given up and idly embraced being stuck on the metaphorical Juno and crucially he doesn't seem happy about this or the society he has built but can't be bothered anymore to change his situation, taking solace in the beliefs that were brainwashed into him.

The main problem I have with what happens here is Dave Sim falling into the trap of telling and not showing.  I'm not interested in Cerebus raising sheep or playing Five Bar Gate for years, I want to see how Rick's religion spread, how Tarim worship became so easily deposed, I want to see the Cirinists catching, trying and crucifying Rick in the name of his religion not hear about it second hand.  Once again there is a tonne of talk and very little action and when it comes to something as important as explaining just how Cerebus was able to implant and nuture Rick's "Christian" religion so easily in the minds of the men he sends off to war, well I want to know see how come.  It's frustrating that's what it is.  There is a better, more interesting story going on here that we are only hearing about.  Something with the same scope as the "Mothers and Daughters" arc, but the extreme focus on Cerebus alone hurts the narrative and the wider plot has to be conveyed in a tonne of speech bubbles and captions rather than flowing via the use of  sequential art, you know, like a comic would.

After the last of The Three Wise Fellow's dies, Cerebus comes to a sad realisation about the lack of friendship in his life and how the last time he really remembered anyone's name was when he was back in the tavern shown in Guys.

Narration: "It's not that people didn't like Cerebus most of the time.  When Cerebus went to watch a house being built someone would come over and strike up a conversation.  And when they left they'd say "it was nice talking with you" in a way that Cerebus could tell they really meant it.  But the thing was:  Cerebus was never the one to strike up the conversation.. and for the life of him, Cerebus heh heh could never figure out exactly what had been so darned "nice" about talking with him.

Pictured: A Comics Fan, Apparently

So Cerebus tries to fill the void, first with going back to sheparding and when that fails he decides to go back to collecting the comic "Rabbi" and get a full mint set.  Thus follows some rather unpleasant implications about comic book collectors, not helped by the fact that Cerebus is rather fat by this time.  Indeed in the appendices Dave Sim calls the completionist urge a kind of psychosis, which is a rather nasty thing to say about people reading your comic especially ones who have followed you this far.  Then Cerebus finds a old comic book journal with an interview with the writer of Rabbi called "Garth Innocent" (Garth Ennis was the writer of the comic Preacher, which takes a somewhat jaundiced look at organised religion and it's not hard to see newly religious Dave Sim taking swipes at him even if he claims that he himself is meant to be Garth, tormenting Cerebus his own creation).  Anyway the jist of the interview is that "Garth" wanted to turn people off religion, his book was a gorefest designed for thirteen year old boys and that Cerebus was stupid and needy for becoming so attached to it and he hoped this interview would send Cerebus into a nervous breakdown.  Which it does.

The Young Konigsberg

Luckily Woody Allen comes to the rescue as the character Konigsberg who is from the obscure sect called the Jews (which back in Melmoth Dave Sim said they didn't exist in Estarcion but whatever) and he brings The Torah which he wants Cerebus to help him understand.  And so we get to the most infamous part of the whole Cerebus series, a third of the fucking book spent on Cerebus's annotations to the first five books of the Bible.  Interspersed with the memoirs of Konigsberg done in sixties psychoanalytic speak of which Woody Allen was famous for putting in his films and early stand-up.  The main jist of the annotations are that YHWH is a different deity from God whom Cerebus calls "Yoohwooh" and is also female because well, lets hear from Dave why:

Dave Sim: "Read Deuteronomy yourself.  It's just one YHWH blabfest pretty much from start to finish. Hysterical, grudging, paranoid, defeatist, threatening, dictatorial, beseeching, self-aggrandising, illogical, convoluted, cajoling and wheedling."

*sigh*

To be honest, I didn't read much of this portion of the book, because if I pluck a section at random you'll see just how deathly it is.

Torah:  "This twentie yeeres I with thee, thy ewes and thy she goates haue not cast their younge and the rammes of thy flocke haue I not eaten."

Cerebus: "A little reminder of Yoohwhoo's she-goat and he-ram covenant with Abraham [laughs] probably convinced Yoohwhoo that no, she didn't feel well enough to get and go look for her asprin".

Torah:  "That which was torne, I brought not vnto thee: I bare the losse of it"

Cerebus: "'That isn't really what I sound like?' Yoohwhoo wonders."

Torah: "of my hand didst thou require it, whether stollen by day, or stollen by night."

Cerebus: "[laughs] Cerebus pictures a tiny little "angel" of God appearing in front of Yoohwhoo with a copy of verse five, chapter nine."

And so on.  Bleedin' hilarious I don't think.  If you want Biblical comedy that is actually funny, try the LoLCat's Bible instead, always makes me laugh. Praise be to Ceiling Cat!  Ah, "But Varalys" you say.  "Dave Sim is being comedic about the Bible, how does that fit with his Christian conversion, eh?"  And I say "Good question, come with me to the appendices".  Now Dave Sim says a lot about reading and rereading the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) over and over, and reading a lot of Biblical scholarship and how so little of it agrees with each other, so why not do his own interpretation?

Dave Sim: "...My biggest concern was: what would God think of this?  Just how seriously was I putting my soul in jeopardy by deciding to go public with the fact that I thought I was right about what the Bible said and that everyone else was wrong?....what if I was right in what I was reading?  What if this had been planned by God all along? What of he had known exactly what I was going to write before I was born?  Omniscience is a much easier word to say than it is to even imagine."

O...Ok, back away slowly folks and when you are clear, run like the wind. Anyway, there we go.  A third of the book devoted to single page drawings and masses of tiny, tightly spaced unfunny text. Konigsberg grows old and dies as Cerebus secludes himself working on his notes to the Torah (quite what the random TRACED images from European cinema have to do with either the Bible or Psychoanalysis, even the appendices aren't very helpful in this case, but they sure do look purdy - if you like TRACED artwork that is).  Finally Cerebus comes out of seclusion and gets married.  The woman is considered so unimportant that we don't even see her real face, just Jaka's imposed over it.  Le sigh and end book.

Jaka's Actually Been Dead About 150 Years By This Point

In every conceivable way this book fails.  It fails at being funny.  It fails at being satirical.  It fails at being thought-provoking.  It fails at being profound.  It fails at being entertaining.  It fails at providing interesting characterisation. Dave. Sim. You. FAIL.

The bible commentary and psychoanalytical bibble went on for nearly a year if you were following the comics monthly.  And I imagine this was where the series shed it's most readers if they hadn't already pissed off after the mean spirited attack on them earlier in the arc.  I've probably made the book sound more eventful than it is, but it's an incredibly ennervating read, hence why it took me so long to write it up.  There are no characters to root for, Cerebus's character has been irrevocably changed, the whole book doesn't feel like it has any links to the previous fourteen and comes across more like a sequel series than something that stands as part of the run as a whole.  The whole book, including the appendices feels like being cornered at a party by a slightly peculiar evangelical Christian who wants to tell you all about how his interpretation of the bible is the correct and only one.  Latter Days is an actively bad book.  Monumental events happen which are barely covered or alluded too, the bible commentary is a shocking piece of padding that no amount of pretty artwork can render acceptable.  Everything that made the Cerebus story good and worthwile is flushed down the toilet or twisted to fit Dave Sim's "spiritual awakening". It's flat and worst of all it's boring. It sucks basically.  Only one book left then.  Dave Sim tells us not to expect a happy ending in it, but he misunderstands what's left of his readership if he thinks any of them think Cerebus deserves a happy ending, especially after this book.  Will the final book manage to make up for the mess that is Latter Days and end the series on a high note?  Find out soon folks (I promise it won't take as long this time).

[You know what was doubly insulting about this book?  There are far fewer copies in circulation than any other and it appears to be out of print too.  So I had to spend the best part for fifty quid for my secondhand copy.  Fifty quid!  That's as many as five tens.  And that's terrible].

Cerebus Book 14: Form And Void (#251-265)

"Please... tell Cerebus where his Mum and Dad are buried" - Cerebus

When I saw the title of this volume, my heart did sink a little as I thought it would be a rehashing of all the male light/female void stuff from Reads.  Actually though, despite the dribblingly insane appendices, this turned out to be quite an exciting page turner of a book with some stunning artwork and page layouts that ends on something of a series high note.  It's also another book which contains Sim's take on a famous author, this time it's Ernest Hemmingway and his wife.  Now Mr. Sim is no fan of Hemmingway and I'll cover why in a small section on the appendices at the end of the review of the actual comic pages.  Luckily there is no pastiche of Hemmingway's writing in the book, so my lack of knowledge of yet another classic author's work won't cramp my style.  The non-Dave Sim writings included in this book are from Mary Hemmigway's How It Was, an account of her and Ernest's time in Afria. The layout of this book takes us back to the masses of panels found in the early books, with pages regularly divided into twenty-five panel or more grids.  This slows the pace of the book down, but unlike the sparse Melmoth, there is a lot of text  being slowly doled out that you are gradually being walked through as events gather pace and momentum, building to a real heart breaker of a conclusion and where for me, the whole Cerebus saga reaches a natural end.  Shame there are two books after then really.

Right from the start we are introduced to writer Ham Earnestway and his wife Mary.  Cerebus and Jaka end up staying at the same hunting lodge as they do, and Cerebus is starstruck upon meeting Ham who is one of his heroes being as he is a paragon of masculinity to Cerebus.  Ham in return is tactiturn and depressed.  His wife does most of the talking and she and Jaka bond, while Mary tells Jaka about the best and the worst times during a marriage now Jaka has resigned herself to that as her future.  They are accompanied by two black African guides one of whom is Muslim, a worrying incursion of real world religion into the book and  also I was left uncomfortable that these are effectively the first black characters we have seen in the saga, and they are tribespeople.  Although they are portrayed as sympathetic, kind and intelligent it still made me realise just how whitebread Dave Sim's portrayal of Estarcion actually is.

Mary and "Ham"

Staying together in a winter home, Ham writes while Mary gives Jaka some advice about married life.

Mary: "None of my business, but you can't just give in all the time.  You've got to give as good as you get.  Comes time when you have to put you foot down.  No law says a woman can't build a house as good as a man."

Jaka: "I.....? I never thought of that".

Mary: "None of my business of course, but a good marriage is like a good partnership"

Once again Dave Sim puts reasonable arguments in favour of gender equality in a character he considers doomineering and pathetic in his appendices, yet in the text she comes over a strong woman, dealing with a profoundly depressed and useless man.  Cognitive dissonace ahoy!

Cerebus gets drunk and thinks of all the manly adventures he has had in the past and wants to tell Ham all about them, although he is badly starstruck by being in close proximity to Ham who is a big hero of his.

Cerebus: "Cerebus has a nervous breakdown because he is having dinner with THE Ham Ernestway"

Pissed again

Later Ham talks to another visitor and confides that he "can't finish the book.  This wonderful book and I can't finish it".  He then decides they will leave the winter home and go on a camping trip even though it is snowy and cold.  While Mary tells Jaka that Ham has been treated for depression in a Cirinist clinic, Cerebus comes outside and blurts out a tale of one of his adventures to a blank faced, unresponsive Ham.

They then all set off, with Jaka and Cerebus still heading for Sand Hill Creek to see his parents.  They are accompanied with Ham and Mary's black tribesmen guides.  Jaka becomes scared that they'll get stuck in the mountain pass over winter, but Cerebus is confident Ham won't steer them wrong.

During a fireside chat Ham asks Jaka if her can call her "daughter", but she demurs.  Mary tries to reassure her, explaning that's just his way and Ham yells at her to shut up and throws a drink in her face which she takes in her smiling stride.  Mary continues to advise Jaka about married life, while Cerebus tries to tell Ham some stories of his life, eliciting only a terse "shut up" in response.  Undeterred, later that night Jaka cuts Cerebus's hair to look like Ham's

Hair cu-ut, Hair cut-ut...

Next day Cerebus is introduced to a rifle, having never used firearms before he is completely delighted by it.

Mary:  "Must have led a sheltered life up there in Sand Hills Creek".

Cerebus: "Actually ma'am Cerebus hasn't been to Sand Hills Creek for a long time.  Cerebus spent the last few years running a tavern and before that Cerebus was...travelling.. alot."

Pew Pew Pew

When they return to camp, Mary shows the padlocks on the box where they keep the firearms to prevent Ham getting at them unsupervised as he is a suicide risk.  Cerebus then finds out Jaka slapped Ham because he grabbed at her.  This lead Cerebus to ask frostily:

Cerebus: "Would you ever slap Cerebus?"

Jaka: "If you gave me a good reason to certainly".

Dinner is held in silence after Ham tells them to "stop chewing so fucking loud".  Cerebus and Jaka make up in their tent afterwards.  Soon they arrive at a hunting lodge, but unmarried couples can't stay there.  Jaka says that if they both say they are lesbians, they can stay.  She is just about to reveal Cerebus's hermaphrodite status when Cerebus bellows at her to "Shut UP!" and throws a drink over her.

Don't Over Share Jaka!

Later they talk about it.

Jaka: "I don't see a vagina as something to be ashamed of, or being a lesbian for that matter...I thought you'd laugh.  I thought you'd treat it as a silly joke 'Cerebus and Jaka. The hunting lodge lesbians'.  Instead I feel as if I don't know you anymore."

Preach it sister, go us lesbians!  Funny how Dave Sim can put tolerant and reasonable dialogue in the mouths of his most sympathetic characters, yet can't seem to find it in his heart to think that way for real.  Hey ho.  Mary interjects at this point to tell them about her and Ham's trip to a continent in the shape of Africa.  It's here that Dave Sim bases his her reminisences on Mary Hemmingways own book.

I Hear The Rains Down In Africa

She talks about the animal hunts they went on in Africa (the first named actual real world place I can think of in a Cerebus book).  There are some gorgeous drawings of animals and the black Africans are rendered respectfully and without charicature.  Mary has dreams about the lion they are tracking.  Next day they find it and kill it, at first Mary thinks she did it, but later realises this wasn't so and gets upset, though not so upset that she doesn't eat her lion steak.

Beautiful Artwork.

She talks of an interview with Ham (who she creepily refers to as Papa) that a reporter did on them while they were on safari, and Ham says some eye opening things.

Mary: "Reporter 'What are your favourite sports sir?'
            Papa: 'Shooting, fishing, reading and sodomy.'
            'Does Mrs. Earnestway particpate in all these sports?'
            'She particpates in all of them.'"

This, along with Ham's confession that he likes to be the girl to Mary's boy freaks Cerebus out completely.  Mary continues her tale, about how happy they were on safari.  They hunt more animals.  Board an airship that crashes, get rescued by boat, get caught in another airship crash which leaves them both injured.  A doctor advises Ham to stop drinking and rest up but he continues partying.  He starts behaving strangely and violently.  He becomes abusive towards Mary which she smiles through.

Mary: "I refreshed myself by remembering the loving, friendly phrases Ham had been making throughout Africa, before the crashes and the fire."

They returned to an active social life in Iest.  A writer called Scott is digusted when he hears they ate lion, and after and argument with Mary, challenegs Ham to a duel.  Which Ham turns down as Scott is not a worthy opponent.  Mary's story concludes and she and Ham retire to their tent, leaving a rather shocked and bewildered Cerebus.  Again, in the appendices Dave Sim makes out that Mary is kinda lame and pathetic, but she comes over in the text as a woman with the patience of a saint, dealing with a big baby of a man-child.

Anyway, later that night Cerebus hears a gunshot and comes out to find Ham dead from a bullet to the brain and Mary standing sadly over him.  Cerebus looks at the key in the padlock and shivers out the words:

Mary: "I think no wife.. has the right.. to deprive her husband.. of his possessions".
                                          

Boom! Headshot!

A shocked Cerebus starts walking back to his tent as the clouds roll in and it starts to snow heavily.  The final section of the book finds Cerebus and Jaka alone and lost with only a box of biscuits between them to eat.  They are in dire straits and Cerebus is convinced they will die.  That night Cerebus has a dream in which Rick appears and shows them the way they should go.  He also shows Cerebus his stigmata and and tells him the following:

Dream Rick: "Someone will come to you with a book.  He will identify himself to you by the phrase you tried to remember earlier.  The book will tell you everything. Mungu. Mungu Mkona. God in the hand of..."

The Rick Mystery Continues....

Then a loud noise wakes both him and Jaka up.  Inspired by the dream, Cerebus hurries Jaka out of the tent with the bribe of allowing her to eat all the biscuits.  They make it over the nearby ridge and find a pathway.  Jaka eats all the biscuits.  They find an inn to stay in and Cerebus ponders Jaka's selfishness over the biscuits and his worries about how Jaka - a city person - will adapt to life in a village like Sand Hill's Creek.

Jaka: "If I can master twenty-five ways to say 'hello' based on rank and seniority, I should be able to get the hang of gender distictions in a northern logging and fishing community."

Cerebus and Jaka slip past the local Cirinists and find some underground tunnels to continue travelling through.  Next day they bicker constantly as they make the final leg of the journey.  Cerebus tells Jaka they must pretend they are married as the village is Orthodox Tarimite.  They crest the hill with the village in sight and happily Cerebus runs down to it, his joy turning to fear as he realises how empty the place is, with even the tavern all shut up.  They find one old man who speaks angrily to Cerebus, who with mounting horror asks where his parents are buried.  Jaka tries to talk to him and he turns on her.

Cerebus: "Go on.  Beat it. SCRAM!"
                       

And he turns his back on her and walks sadly away.  A Cirnist shows up in a coach and hands her Missy which they had left behind in the tent.  Our last image of Jaka is her weeping in the back of the coach, clutching Missy to her chest.
                          

Incoherent with rage and grief, Cerebus rends his clothes and rubs dirt into his face before howling in frustration and sadness across the very last panels of the book.  It's a fantastic, emotive ending and for me overall it's where Cerebus ends properly for me.  What's that you say?  Two more books, with none of the cast of characters we've come to know and love?  And full of Dave Sim's insane take on the bible and Christianity? And you want me to review them too?  You heartless demons.
                    

Form And Void, is the Cerebus saga's final gasp of glory.  Full of beautiful art and perfect pacing and characterisation.  Why did Cerebus get rid of Jaka?  I can think of a couple of reasons.  He's just lost his idol and his parents, we know how emotional fragile he is and I think he just snapped.  Plus having spent so much time with her, she was no longer on the pedstal he had placed her on, and getting to know her properly meant finding fault with her, her perfection was tarnished by reality.  She isn't a bad person by any manner of means, she puts up with a lot of shit from him, but she is flawed and in the end, I think those flaws added up and with the  bombshell of finding his parents had died he just wants to be left alone.  He no longer fears Juno it seems.  Anyway, excellent book, but what about those appendices.

Well, let me sum up.  Dave Sim doesn't like Hemmingway's writing (he keeps calling it "typing" a "hilarious" joke).  He doesn't like it that a flawed and suicidal man like Hemmingway was held up as a paragon of masculinity.  The people to blame for this are feminists, who deliberately praised and held him up as an ideal of manhood to be aspired to, so when he fell from grace all men would feel bad about themselves like the feminists planned all along.  I think there is a step involving underpants in there as well.  Completely ludicrous as you can see.  So if you ever decide to buy the books that have appendices in them, don't read them, they rarely shed any non biased light on what he's been writing about, just more murping on about bloody women. Rubbish. And it gets so much worse in the final two books....

Cerebus Book 13: Going Home (#232-250)

"I love you so much" - Jaka

"Cerebus loves you too" - Cerebus

When it came time for me to start looking ahead to this book in anticipation of writing about it, I did as I usually did and tried to bring up my memories of my last time reading it.  And I found I could barely remember anything about it except that it has an F.Scott Fitzgerald expy in it and a scene that was incredibly nausea inducing (and even then I wasn't sure if that scene wasn't actually in Form and Void).  Not an auspicious start then.  Flipping through looking for pictures also made me realise this was the first Cerebus book to contain a large amount of appendices, inspired it seems by Alan Moore's scrupulously well researched and interesting ones for From Hell.  Although the major difference is of course Dave Sim using them not to shed much in the way of light on his process, but to continue to bang his drum about being the one special snowflake who is resisting the worldwide feminist conspiracy that rules the world.  Sigh.  Anyway, this books takes us along the journey made by Cerebus and Jaka as they head westward to visit Cerebus's parents.  Interestingly after leaving the pub in the previous book, it seems Cerebus has become so committed to a new life with Jaka that he left behind his last few possessions - his medallions and vest - his final link to past events severed.  The book is not particularly eventful, but has a lot of dialogue as Jaka and Cerebus fall out and make up with each other and generally start to wonder if they really are as suited to each other as they both thought.  The book is split into two parts - "Sudden Moves" and "Fall And The River", with the next book "Form And Void" also being part of the overall "Going Home" arc.

Doesn't Last.

"Sudden Moves" begins with them walking on their way to Cerebus's hometown, as he insists carriages are for old people.  They stop regularly at inns along the way, the first one we see being a place where people can use action figures to communicate with each other.  We also get to see how the Cirinists are keeping a close eye on Jaka and Cerebus as they travel.  While Cerebus pretend to be asleep in the action figure pub, Jaka converses with the owner about their relationship.

Bar Owner: He's the luckiest guy in the whole world.

Jaka: You're very sweet to say that.  Of course this is the 'beginning' part.  The 'beginning' part is easy.  We'll have to see how 'lucky' either of us feels after we've had a chance to really get on each other's nerves.

After tangling with one of Lord Julius's look-a-likes in another pub they carry on with their journey.  Jaka keeps wanting to stop and admire the scenery or shop for clothes and soon Cerebus's inner voice starts to panic that they are falling behind schedule and might at this rate end up stuck in the Conniptin mountains during winter. On this first leg of the journey Jaka drops a small bombshell about what she had been thinking during Cerebus's stay with her and Rick:

Jaka: "Remember when you came to stay with us? And I gave you my little 'I love my husband' speech?
Cerebus: Aye?

Jaka: "After I finished I sat there hoping you would say 'Fine Jaka. You love Rick.  But you belong to Cerebus.  Pack a bag, we're leaving tonight.'  I would have packed my bag, kissed Rick goodbye and left without a backward glance."

Cerebus: "..............Seriously?"

Jaka: "Unh huh."

It feels like something of a retcon of Jaka's Story, because I find it hard to believe Jaka would have left the decision to leave Rick in the hands of Cerebus alone. But it can work as a non-retcon, if it is more like something she has come to believe in retrospect because of a combination of being angry at Rick over the end of their marriage and idealising Cerebus the same way he idealises her.

"But I Must Have New Clothes Every Day!"

Their journey on foot continues. Taking a certain route later on sends Jaka into a fit of despair as there aren't enough clothing huts along it for her to be able to change her outfits daily.  While she huddles on the bed in misery, Cerebus mentally thinks the worst will happen and that she will leave him.  She doesn't of course, but they do end up travelling by coach.  When she reminds him of what he said about coach travel he makes light of it with a joke and we are reminded of the advice about Jaka passed on in Rick's Story.

"She's basically and unhappy person...With the unhappy ones you've got to be happy enough for two.  You're a naturally happy person and as long as you stay that way you should do fine. Just be happy every damn minute of your waking life and you've got her for as long as you want her."

As they travel, Jaka keeps getting invited to receptions by local Cirinists, as she is still Palnu royalty.  Curious, Cerebus wants to see what they are like and so Jaka accepts an invitation to a local gathering.  Lots of women, young and old turn out to see her and having seen enough, Cerebus leaves to go for a drink at the local pub while Jaka goes to speak to at the local community centre.  Both have a strange experience, for Cerebus it's an old man mentioning "prophet Ricke" and asking if Jaka is "a scorpion, or a lunatic, or an angel or just a woman?".  While Jaka after leaving the community centre is accosted by a Cirinist who tells her "Cirin is too old.  Too much has changed" and tells her that her local Mothers will swear allegiance to Jaka right now.  Both Jaka and Cerebus run away and bump back into each other.  Both somewhat discombobulated by their respective encounters.

The next day, Cerebus and one of the local Cirinists are examining the hacked up remains of what appears to be the one who tried to speak to Jaka.  The Cirinist makes a veiled threat regarding Jaka, that her Royal status won't protect her from a charge of insurrection.  Cerebus says he "gets the message".  When the remains are tidied away, Jaka is brought to Cerebus in the carriage, she is almost hysterically thankful to see him, thinking that something awful must have happened to him and it was her fault.  Cerebus grips her tightly and tells her she MUST be more careful who she talks to. She gets the message as well.  While Cerebus's inner voice keeps tormenting him, he keeps up his happy facade.  They engage in a bout of vigourous lovemaking in the back of the carriage and we get a wonderful image of Jaka mopping half a pint of aardvark spunk out of her ladygarden.  Bleaurgh, thanks for that Dave, where's my brain bleach?

*retch*

Their journey continues.  Cerebus tries to talk to Jaka about religion, but for reasons never expanded upon she shuts him down. They carry on, sometimes they are grumpy with each other, other times they laugh and joke and are happy.  At the last inn before the boat the intend to board for the next leg of their journey, Cerebus has a dream that him and Jaka are having a conversation with Alan Moore, who I am sure needs no introduction.  And Rick Veitch who appeared briefly in a Guys dream sequence.  Rick Veitch is a comic book artist and writer who worked closely with Alan Moore on both Swamp Thing and Supreme.  I know Moore was friends with Dave Sim for a good while (though I can't imagine he was after Sim's later bouts of extreme homophobia).  So the parody here has a good natured element of light hearted joshing about it.  When Jaka wakes Cerebus up, they go and board the boat and the first half of the book is finished.

That's One Long Spliff Man

"Falls And The River" turns the intimacy of the Jaka/Cerebus relationship and turns it into a love triangle with the addition of fellow traveller F.Stop Kennedy.  Now I have to admit here that apart from The Great Gatsby which I read back in school, I don't know much about F.Scott Fitzgerald (who Kennedy is based on), so I can't say how accurate a pastiche of his writings the excerpts from his book are in this half of the story.

F.Stop Kennedy

When Jaka spots him she refers to him as a "perfectly dreadful man".  Apparently Kennedy and his wife behaved badly at a party thrown by Lord Julius many years ago.  Jaka insists that they don't ignore him, just treat him very standoffishly, instructing Cerebus to nod and grunt so he'll go take his meals indoors.  Kennedy seems impervious to their rudeness and dines with them anyway.  He keeps taking meals with them and Jaka starts to enjoy his company, he has also started writing Jaka into his book.

Turns out Kennedy's wife is in a sanitorium, or the nuthouse as Cerebus rather insensitively refers to it.  Showing her changing attitude towards Kennedy, Jaka tells Cerebus:

Jaka: "You said to me 'Jaka, be careful who you talk to'.  I never once asked you why I should be more careful about who I talk to...Now why do you suppose that is? It's because I trust you, that's why.  And I trust you because I love you.  So if you trust me and if you love me, you'll go right over there and apologise to Mr. Kennedy for what you said to him."

So Cerebus goes and apologises and returns much later roaring drunk.  Lovingly, Jaka tucks him in as he passes out on the sofa, showing the real tenderness their relationship has at the moment.

D'awwwwww, How Nice.

Later the next day Jaka asks Kennedy if he can read what he has written about her.  He refuses.

Jaka: "Don't you ever tire of invading peoples private lives? Just to feed your noteriety/"

Kennedy responds that what he tires of is wondering which of his writings will result in his wife getting better or worse care from the Cirinists.  And which of his writings will see him either applauded or despised by them. And that he tires of being "judged. Sneered at..snubbed and slighted" especially by people he met once, long ago at a party.  While Jaka tries to prise more information about his book out of Kennedy, Cerebus is fishing and falls asleep.  He dreams of Rick, now looking very Jesus like, baptising people in the river.  He awakens with a start.

Dreaming Of Rick

Later Jaka is withdrawn and distant, pondering the nature of art while Kennedy sits on top of the boat getting drunk and thinking about his wife.  The next day Jaka and Cerebus chat about the future.  Cerebus talks about how when they get to his parents he'll build them a dream home. Jaka is somewhat unethused and goes to speak to Kennedy, who tells her about an artists retreat called Mealc.  Jaka gives him a kiss on the cheek telling him that talking about Mealc makes him seem younger.  The next day, one of the senior Cirinists comes to her room to fix something and heavily implies that when they dock they can kill off Cerebus for her and set her free.  Upset Jaka goes to bed, hugging Missy and a tear rolls down her cheek.

At their next meal together, Cerebus seems to finally cotton on that there is something growing between Jaka and Kennedy.  Jaka ends up running from the table in tears, saying she wants to be left alone.  This causes Cerebus to see the rocky landscape of Juno again.  He goes and gets miserably drunk pondering the advice about staying happy to keep her happy.  Kennedy invites Jaka to come to Mealc as a patroness and drunkenly imagines himself kissing her.  Jaka drags a sulking Cerebus back to their room.

The Artist At Work

Jaka finally tells Cerebus that she doesn't want to see his parents.  She wants to go to the art commune, Mealc to fill the gap for art in her soul that stopping dancing has left her with.

Cerebus: "In that case Jaka, Cerebus guesses this is goodbye.  Cerebus will go to Sandhill Creek and make sure his parents are Okay, and Cerebus will catch first boat south in the spring and meet you at Mealc, before the festival of the summer bonfire.  Cerebus can't live without you Jaka."

Oh Shit

The boat soon arrives at the dock.  The Cirinists aboard start acting strangely, seperating Jaka from Cerebus.  Suddenly Jaka realises what the Cirinists have planed.  They are going to kill Cerebus.  She bellows a farewell to Kennedy and panicking, manages to catch up with the oblivious Cerebus, leading him by the hand through the massed ranks of armed Cirinists, thus saving his life at the cost of her happiness. 

Saving Cerebus

I probably haven't done Going Home proper justice here.  So much of the book is just very long conversations between characters or excerpts from a F.Scott Fitzgerald pastiche that it's proved hard to summarise.  What is interesting is the ups and downs of Jaka and Cerebus's relationship.  We get to see Cerebus as happy as he'll ever be here but also what a fragile basis their relationship has.  As we go into the next book, the relationship will be tested even further, while it was Jaka turn to pull away in this book, the next will see Cerebus having second thoughts as well.  To be frank though, this book is a little dull although a student of F.Scott Fitzgerald might find more to enjoy about it.  There are some interesting plot points that aggravatingly never pay off, like the prospect of a civil war between the Cirinists and why Jaka was so reluctant to discuss religion.  And more information is dropped in regarding Rick's new religion which will pay off later on.  Otherwise this book passes the time easily enough, but apart from some fine artwork never really shines.