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riverwise's review
5.0
Reads is three stories. The one most germane to the overall storyline is the continuation of the confrontation between Cerebus, Cirin, Po and Astoria that closed out the last volume. Po is firmly in control here, keeping the other aardvarks on a firm leash as he expounds on the emptiness of power. He is humble, measured, certain and wise. His piece said, he walks out of the throne room and out of the story. The only one who takes any heed is Astoria. Her decision is beautiful, one I'm envious of. Of course, Astoria being Astoria, she can't resist one last quip. That final pause, smile, and suggestion are one of my favourite things in the whole book. And then she's gone as well, leaving Cerebus and Cirin to duke it out in an epic, gruelling, very physical, fight scene that lasts for dozens of pages. They take chunks out of each other, Cirin cuts off Cerebus' ear, both are drenched in blood. It seems clear that the fight can end in nothing but death for one of them, until - something fell - the walls of the throne room fall away, and the throne itself, with the two rival aardvarks clinging on, starts rising and accelerating away from Iest and out into space. The end. This whole section is amazingly choreographed and drawn, with Gerhard once again excelling at creating a solid three dimensional space for the characters to move around. Paired with the dialogue and four way interaction in the earlier part of the book, this is some of the best Cerebus yet. But it's only a third of the book.
There are also two long text pieces running alongside the comics action. Throughout the first half we have been privy to the misadventures of Victor Reid, a writer of "reads", penny dreadfuls of the kind we previously saw Oscar writing about Jaka. It's a roman a clef based on the early 90s comics scene with plenty of recognisable characters. This of course means that it is hopelessly dated, but it's interesting in as much as it is a robust defence of Sim's attitude to publishing and creativity - do it yourself, maintain control, be beholden to no one. Cerebus was of course a self published work throughout its entire run, and this is basically Dave explaining why. But if that wasn't metafictional enough for you, the second text segment (I say segment, these are more like long essays), opens with a drawing of someone who looks an awful lot like Dave turning from a drawing board on which we can see the pages we've just read being created. It's time to meet Victor Davis. He wants to talk to you.
From here, we are off into something very like the Mind Games from earlier volumes. Victor Davis is talking to someone labelled "the reader", leading them on, tricking them (I vividly remember my reaction to the 200 issue fakeout when I read it for the first time), and controlling them. It's interesting stuff, with cameos from Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore. And Davis then switches to telling the reader how (he believes) the world works, an arrangement of Lights, strong, creative, dynamic leaders, and Voids, empty leeches that feed off them and pull them down. Not so controversial in itself - I've met plenty of Voids and Lights in my own life - but Davis goes on to divide these qualities along gender lines. Women are Voids, depicted as literally eating the brains of their male partners. Unsurprisingly, this is where a large chunk of the audience got off the bus. This is the part of the series that has led to Cerebus being excoriated online and Dave Sim dismissed as a wacko nutjob (mind you, as far as Dave's unusual beliefs go, you ain't seen nothing yet), and that's before you get onto the Death vs Life spiel after the attacks on feminism. Per Bingo's comments on Women, there are points that might be interesting in here, but the presentation of the ideas is let down by hamfisted hyperbole. The writing is incredibly verbose - the Merged Permanence argument Dave spends pages and pages outlining is far better described in Cyril Connolly's famous one sentence quote about the pram in the hall. Once you wade through it, there is however much to chew on throughout this whole piece. To what degree are we supposed to equate Victor Davis with Dave Sim? The repeated refrain of "all stories are true" stacked against the way the Big Bang here is exactly the opposite of what Dave showed us at the end of Church & State? How the idea of Merged Permanence is given dramatic life in the hermaphrodite Cerebus, constantly chasing power, wealth, sex, respect but never finding satisfaction? But the burning question, of course, is is Cerebus misogynist?.
I can't answer that. I've turned it over in my head for years, and I've never definitively come down on one side of the fence or the other. Look at some of the contentious statements in Women. Victor Davis' screeds don't make for pleasant or sensible reading. And yet, and yet...in just this volume, we've seen Milieu's diligence and passion in the Victor Reid story being thwarted by a lazy indolent man too weak to stand up for himself. We've had Astoria, the prototypical modern feminist, as the most sympathetic character in this volume, the only one who can recognise wisdom when it is shared with her, and one of the few characters in the whole work who is given a satisfactory character arc (and she has a great exit). Elsewhere in the series, the relationship between the workshy parasite Rick and the artistically committed Jaka is exactly that of a Void and a Light, yet the genders are opposite to Davis' proclamations.
So, did I enjoy Reads? Pfffft. The Victor Reid section is superfluous and forgettable. The Cerebus stuff is brilliant. The Victor Davis part is alternatively intriguing and infuriating, thought provoking and ridiculous. Ultimately, Reads is what it is. To a significant proportion of that part of the public which cares about comics, it's come to define Cerebus, although of all the volumes in the series it's the one that has least to do with Cerebus the character or Cerebus the story. Reads is what you get when you turn away from the Victor Reid route. It's not edited, it's not focus grouped, it's not smoothed down or made palatable. I'm not sure if I like it, but I admire the tenacity, the unyielding vision, the individualism that forced it into being.
Shine on, you crazy diamond.
There are also two long text pieces running alongside the comics action. Throughout the first half we have been privy to the misadventures of Victor Reid, a writer of "reads", penny dreadfuls of the kind we previously saw Oscar writing about Jaka. It's a roman a clef based on the early 90s comics scene with plenty of recognisable characters. This of course means that it is hopelessly dated, but it's interesting in as much as it is a robust defence of Sim's attitude to publishing and creativity - do it yourself, maintain control, be beholden to no one. Cerebus was of course a self published work throughout its entire run, and this is basically Dave explaining why. But if that wasn't metafictional enough for you, the second text segment (I say segment, these are more like long essays), opens with a drawing of someone who looks an awful lot like Dave turning from a drawing board on which we can see the pages we've just read being created. It's time to meet Victor Davis. He wants to talk to you.
From here, we are off into something very like the Mind Games from earlier volumes. Victor Davis is talking to someone labelled "the reader", leading them on, tricking them (I vividly remember my reaction to the 200 issue fakeout when I read it for the first time), and controlling them. It's interesting stuff, with cameos from Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore. And Davis then switches to telling the reader how (he believes) the world works, an arrangement of Lights, strong, creative, dynamic leaders, and Voids, empty leeches that feed off them and pull them down. Not so controversial in itself - I've met plenty of Voids and Lights in my own life - but Davis goes on to divide these qualities along gender lines. Women are Voids, depicted as literally eating the brains of their male partners. Unsurprisingly, this is where a large chunk of the audience got off the bus. This is the part of the series that has led to Cerebus being excoriated online and Dave Sim dismissed as a wacko nutjob (mind you, as far as Dave's unusual beliefs go, you ain't seen nothing yet), and that's before you get onto the Death vs Life spiel after the attacks on feminism. Per Bingo's comments on Women, there are points that might be interesting in here, but the presentation of the ideas is let down by hamfisted hyperbole. The writing is incredibly verbose - the Merged Permanence argument Dave spends pages and pages outlining is far better described in Cyril Connolly's famous one sentence quote about the pram in the hall. Once you wade through it, there is however much to chew on throughout this whole piece. To what degree are we supposed to equate Victor Davis with Dave Sim? The repeated refrain of "all stories are true" stacked against the way the Big Bang here is exactly the opposite of what Dave showed us at the end of Church & State? How the idea of Merged Permanence is given dramatic life in the hermaphrodite Cerebus, constantly chasing power, wealth, sex, respect but never finding satisfaction? But the burning question, of course, is is Cerebus misogynist?.
I can't answer that. I've turned it over in my head for years, and I've never definitively come down on one side of the fence or the other. Look at some of the contentious statements in Women. Victor Davis' screeds don't make for pleasant or sensible reading. And yet, and yet...in just this volume, we've seen Milieu's diligence and passion in the Victor Reid story being thwarted by a lazy indolent man too weak to stand up for himself. We've had Astoria, the prototypical modern feminist, as the most sympathetic character in this volume, the only one who can recognise wisdom when it is shared with her, and one of the few characters in the whole work who is given a satisfactory character arc (and she has a great exit). Elsewhere in the series, the relationship between the workshy parasite Rick and the artistically committed Jaka is exactly that of a Void and a Light, yet the genders are opposite to Davis' proclamations.
So, did I enjoy Reads? Pfffft. The Victor Reid section is superfluous and forgettable. The Cerebus stuff is brilliant. The Victor Davis part is alternatively intriguing and infuriating, thought provoking and ridiculous. Ultimately, Reads is what it is. To a significant proportion of that part of the public which cares about comics, it's come to define Cerebus, although of all the volumes in the series it's the one that has least to do with Cerebus the character or Cerebus the story. Reads is what you get when you turn away from the Victor Reid route. It's not edited, it's not focus grouped, it's not smoothed down or made palatable. I'm not sure if I like it, but I admire the tenacity, the unyielding vision, the individualism that forced it into being.
Shine on, you crazy diamond.
thebobsphere's review
3.0
Two monologues: one about sexuality the other about gender and reading. As always good ideas bogged down by indulgence.
gillysingh's review
2.0
"I'm not here to make you feel good. I'm here to make you think. And to make you think, I have to make you see."
- Dale Sim, Cerebus Volume 9: Reads
The volume which includes the controversial issue. Only... its not actually as bad as I was expecting it to be. Don't get me wrong? There are some of the most misogynistic paragraphs imaginable included in that end piece but, they feel like they're just a continuation and logical conclusion of previous characterisations of the relationships between Sim's character. In that sense I felt "prepared" for them. They also feel a little too on-the-nose, almost as though the author is trying to provoke and offend. All of that being said, I can understand why many people left the series at this stage as I found myself wanting to shout, "F*ck you!" at the author whilst reading the worst parts.
It is sometimes hard to separate the artist from their art and that has not been the more the case, in Cerebus, that whilst reading Reads. The biggest problem here is that, whilst there are autobiographical sections, in which it is easy to put the views described into the mouth of the author, there are also other v different, yet well rounded, characters which muddy the water. This implies Dave Sim's actual views are much complex and self-contradictory than most would give credit.
The self referential, self conscious element to the story telling in Cerebus can subtract from the work somewhat at times. This is only natural in a work in which the writer has poured so much of themselves.
In the prologue to Melmouth, Dave Sim stated that readers of Oscar Wilde read into his life what they want to. In many respects this foreshadowed how the sexist views expressed in this volume would be ascribed to being Sim's voice, as they have aligned with things he has said in interviews, but just as much part of the authorial voice is that of Suentious Po puts forward a markedly different standpoint, one of attempted balance.
As a whole this volume was enjoyable but, much of the text portions are poorly written and disconnected from the wider narrative. They also really slow down the pace of the narrative in such a way as to make it almost jarring. The comic portions whip by at a breakneck speed whereas the written sections can be a slog to get through. I feel a little bad scoring this volume 2 out of 5 stars but I don't feel I had much choice due to the text sections. The comic book portions, artwork and discussions between Cerebus, Suentous Po, Astoria and Cirin are some of the best in quite some time in the series.
I would only suggest reading this if you intend to finish Mothers and Daughters and/or the whole Cerebus saga. If not, your time would be best served, spent elsewhere.
- Dale Sim, Cerebus Volume 9: Reads
The volume which includes the controversial issue. Only... its not actually as bad as I was expecting it to be. Don't get me wrong? There are some of the most misogynistic paragraphs imaginable included in that end piece but, they feel like they're just a continuation and logical conclusion of previous characterisations of the relationships between Sim's character. In that sense I felt "prepared" for them. They also feel a little too on-the-nose, almost as though the author is trying to provoke and offend. All of that being said, I can understand why many people left the series at this stage as I found myself wanting to shout, "F*ck you!" at the author whilst reading the worst parts.
It is sometimes hard to separate the artist from their art and that has not been the more the case, in Cerebus, that whilst reading Reads. The biggest problem here is that, whilst there are autobiographical sections, in which it is easy to put the views described into the mouth of the author, there are also other v different, yet well rounded, characters which muddy the water. This implies Dave Sim's actual views are much complex and self-contradictory than most would give credit.
The self referential, self conscious element to the story telling in Cerebus can subtract from the work somewhat at times. This is only natural in a work in which the writer has poured so much of themselves.
In the prologue to Melmouth, Dave Sim stated that readers of Oscar Wilde read into his life what they want to. In many respects this foreshadowed how the sexist views expressed in this volume would be ascribed to being Sim's voice, as they have aligned with things he has said in interviews, but just as much part of the authorial voice is that of Suentious Po puts forward a markedly different standpoint, one of attempted balance.
As a whole this volume was enjoyable but, much of the text portions are poorly written and disconnected from the wider narrative. They also really slow down the pace of the narrative in such a way as to make it almost jarring. The comic portions whip by at a breakneck speed whereas the written sections can be a slog to get through. I feel a little bad scoring this volume 2 out of 5 stars but I don't feel I had much choice due to the text sections. The comic book portions, artwork and discussions between Cerebus, Suentous Po, Astoria and Cirin are some of the best in quite some time in the series.
I would only suggest reading this if you intend to finish Mothers and Daughters and/or the whole Cerebus saga. If not, your time would be best served, spent elsewhere.
ederwin's review
3.0
Parts of this totally failed to work for me, but I enjoyed other parts well enough to redeem the whole.
The illustrated parts are good, but sadly brief.
The text is in two parts, both metafictional, placing a version of the author into his own work. Part one stars Victor Reid and is a predictable story of an artist learning to deal with fame and money and to pander to his audience and satisfy his publisher. I enjoyed that, even though it is predictable and the authorial voice sounded almost the same as the voice in Jaka's Story, which was supposedly written by a different character. The second half stars Victor Davis and is a long rant about the emotional female versus the rational male (among other things). Many of those ideas are odious, but that wasn't the main problem for me. I don't think Victor Davis is exactly Dave Sim, but rather as one aspect of him. (Or as one aspect of Victor Reid who is one aspect of Dave Sim. In the first story it is stated that the personality of Victor Davis came out when Victor Reid was drunk.) The problem for me was that the story told by Victor Davis was simply tediously dull and confusing, or dull because confusing.
So, the text in part two is a clear "1 star: didn't like", even though I admire the attempt. The other parts are interesting and raise the whole to a "like", and I will continue to the next volume.
The illustrated parts are good, but sadly brief.
The text is in two parts, both metafictional, placing a version of the author into his own work. Part one stars Victor Reid and is a predictable story of an artist learning to deal with fame and money and to pander to his audience and satisfy his publisher. I enjoyed that, even though it is predictable and the authorial voice sounded almost the same as the voice in Jaka's Story, which was supposedly written by a different character. The second half stars Victor Davis and is a long rant about the emotional female versus the rational male (among other things). Many of those ideas are odious, but that wasn't the main problem for me. I don't think Victor Davis is exactly Dave Sim, but rather as one aspect of him. (Or as one aspect of Victor Reid who is one aspect of Dave Sim. In the first story it is stated that the personality of Victor Davis came out when Victor Reid was drunk.) The problem for me was that the story told by Victor Davis was simply tediously dull and confusing, or dull because confusing.
So, the text in part two is a clear "1 star: didn't like", even though I admire the attempt. The other parts are interesting and raise the whole to a "like", and I will continue to the next volume.
gengelcox's review
2.0
This collected volume of the Cerebus comic is not for the uninitiated. Collecting as it does issues from the late 100s, it requires a knowledge of a large majority of the previously published issues or volumes. Cerebus itself is not necessarily enjoyable by those without some familiarity with its peer comics, fantasy novels by Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, the Marx brothers' films, and the writings and lives of Oscar Wilde, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards, to enumerate only some of its influences.
Reads is the quite unusual among the collected volumes. Containing almost as many pages of pure text as traditional picture/text combination, it challenges the assumption of what a comic is. The story itself is highly irregular as well. Although it continues the ascension (where the previous volume left off), the text portion is a thinly veiled satire about a "reads" author and his publishers. I say thinly because even I could recognize the references to Kitchen Sink, Dark Horse and Vertigo, their publishers and editors, and I have not been following comicdom since 1990. The satire works itself into a chaotic manifesto on the nature of art, the distinction (as Sim sees it) between male and female, and the moral rights of creation. Heavy stuff for a "funny book," especially one initially a Conan parody with an aardvark as the barbarian. I don't think Reads is quite as effective as Sim thinks it is, but it scores major points for chutzpah.
Reads is the quite unusual among the collected volumes. Containing almost as many pages of pure text as traditional picture/text combination, it challenges the assumption of what a comic is. The story itself is highly irregular as well. Although it continues the ascension (where the previous volume left off), the text portion is a thinly veiled satire about a "reads" author and his publishers. I say thinly because even I could recognize the references to Kitchen Sink, Dark Horse and Vertigo, their publishers and editors, and I have not been following comicdom since 1990. The satire works itself into a chaotic manifesto on the nature of art, the distinction (as Sim sees it) between male and female, and the moral rights of creation. Heavy stuff for a "funny book," especially one initially a Conan parody with an aardvark as the barbarian. I don't think Reads is quite as effective as Sim thinks it is, but it scores major points for chutzpah.
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