Cerebus No. 21

Cerebus the Aardvark No. 21
Writer	Dave Sim
Artist	Dave Sim
Published	Sept 1980
Publisher	Aardvark-Vanaheim
Publication order
Previous	Cerebus No. 20
Next	Cerebus No. 22

Cerebus the Aardvark No. 21 is an issue of Cerebus published by Aardvark-Vanaheim.

Stories

"Captain Cockroach"

Cerebus wakes up on a bench in Beduin, with no idea how he got there. He only knows that he has to get back to Fluroc by Concordance Eve, so that he and the T'Gitan army can invade Palnu. Looking for a horse, Cerebus comes across Elrod and the Cockroach, who are wearing strange costumes and selling war bonds to the citizens. The Cockroach is now Captain Cockroach, and Elrod is his sidekick, Bunky. They tell him they're working for President Weisshaupt, who has risen to prominence by vowing to wipe out the Hsifans (now rebranded as Hsiffies).

Once in Weisshaupt's office, Cerebus learns that Weisshaupt came across the Cockroach almost immediately after their last encounter (in issue 12), put him through an intensive course of strength training, and convinced him that he had superhuman strength due to a secret formula. As part of his scheme to rule Lower Felda, Weisshaupt has Cockroach selling war bonds for six silver coins and telling everyone they're worth twelve at any store in Beduin. He also publishes a weekly "Message from the President" to promote his agenda, which seems to resonate with the people. His next step is to call for war against the Hsifans.

Cerebus announces his intention to leave town. Weisshaupt gives him forged papers so that he can pass muster at the gate, as well as some fine Donte wine. Cockroach and Elrod take Cerebus to the gate. The wine reacts with the sleeping potion still in his system (from last issue), making Cerebus fade in and out of lucidity. Suddenly a brass disc hits the wall next to them. Cerebus identifies it as a yan-su, a weapon used by Hsifan Sopai assassins. The three take refuge in an alley.

After some discussion, the aardvark borrows the Cockroach's belt to use as a sling. While winding up, he gets woozy again and hits himself with the missile, knocking himself out. From his vantage point, the assassin readies another yan-su.

Characters

• Bunky the Albino (last seen in Cerebus No. 12; next appearance in Cerebus No. 22)
• Captain Cockroach (last seen in Cerebus No. 12; next appearance in Cerebus No. 22)
• Cerebus (last seen in What Happened Between Issues Twenty & Twenty-One; next appearance in Cerebus No. 22)
• Adam Weisshaupt (first appearance; next appearance in Cerebus No. 22)

Locations

• Beduin

Story Notes

• Captain Cockroach and Bunky are parodies of Marvel Comics' Captain America and Bucky, respectively. Bucky died at the end of World War II and, at the time this issue was published, had stayed dead for decades (unlike many other superhero characters).
• (page 1) By starting in mid paragraph, the author neatly makes us identify with Cerebus's mental state of just awakening. (Alexx)
• (page 2) Cerebus thinks that Concordance Eve is in 10 days; he'll find out in Issue 22 that he is incorrect.
• (page 3) In the Captain Cockroach logo, the borders around the first three letters (CAP) and part of the next letter (T) are thicker. It's unclear if this is symbolic of anything.

Maybe Sim just got tired of inking the letters.

• (page 4) In Captain Cockroach's origin story, Dr. Reisenshein is an allusion to a similar figure in Captain America's origin, Professor Reinstein. Reisenshein sounds like "Rise and Shine," but unlike Reinstein, he is fictional.
• (page 6) The Oval Hideout references the Oval Office in the White House in Washington, D.C.
• (page 7) The Roach tells Cerebus, "Don't mention his family" and "Don't stare at his ankle." These might be thin references to the fact that Suenteus Po is Weisshaupt's uncle (revealed in Issue 76).
• (page 10) It's unclear what alucase refers to, if anything. Captain America's Super-Soldier Serum was administered by injection, not in a bath.
• (page 11) In our world, movable type using the Roman alphabet was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century.
• (page 12) This issue includes the first mention of Kevillism.
• (page 13) The tiny glasses hint at how powerful (or how expensive) Chateau Donte '21 must be.
• (pages 13-19) The effects of mixing the drug with alchohol are confirmed in "What Happened Between Issues Twenty & Twenty-One."

Publication Notes

• Reprinted in Cerebus Bi-weekly - September 8, 1989
• "Captain Cockroach" is reprinted in Swords of Cerebus Volume Six and the Cerebus phonebook.

Dave Sim on Cerebus No. 21

"That was my first attempt at breaking from traditional story-telling methods; the notion that you don't develop a plot-line unless you intend it to figure prominently in subsequent events. A giant step sideways and dragging everyone along with me. The effect I hoped for was a greater identification with Cerebus as a central figure swept along by events. From the time I introduced Lord Julius, the reader was given the impression of having the traditional over-view of the story-line; dropping the storyline was part of several efforts to make them feel as out of place and out of touch as Cerebus.

"Having finished the Palnu storyline a few issues before and having moved towards the development of a major war in issues 17, 18, 19, and 20, I was feeling the urge to do something -- well -- structural with the story. I had been developing the idea, albeit gradually, since issue 5 that Cerebus existed as an unwitting, but key, figure in a number of wide-ranging conspiracies and as a nexus point for a number of disparate belief systems. I mean he was also the self-centered, hot-tempered, loathsome little drunkard he appeared to be on the surface, but he was also something different. A lot of people want to know what he's doing and have invested great sums of money and uncountable manhours trying to find out as much as they can. Why? Well, that would be telling, wouldn't it.

"Anyway, I was interested in pointing this out, and having him drugged by Perce (19) wasn't quite as drastic as I wanted to go... [story of Dave going to a party deleted for space.]

"This guy I had never met before must have known I had a headache, because he offered me an aspirin. It was a tiny purple aspirin. It was a very, very good aspirin though. I could tell, because the guy wanted four dollars for it (Canadian funds but still). I had used up a few of my beer tickets by this point, and I ventured the opinion that in about an hour I would probably know how good the aspirin was. The guy who sold it to me said it wouldn't take that long.

"The next thing I saw was the ceiling of my bedroom. I felt pretty good, considering. My next insight was that I didn't remember coming home. Deni told me that the police brought me home. She also looked at me as if she didn't quite believe I could have forgotten something so . . . out-of-the-ordinary. To this day, I have pieced together very little of what happened that night. Just as well, I suppose.

"But it gave me a wonderful idea for the massive structural change in the storyline. I dropped Cerebus several hundred miles northeast of where he had been drugged. Just like real life, I had decided to leave him in the dark about what had happened while he was unconscious. It was one of those decisions that unleashes the hounds of fannish retribution (a not altogether infrequent occurrence when you plot a three hundred issue storyline, I've found). I was accused of abandoning a storyline because I was bored, because I was burnt out, because I had hit a writer's block.

"Tut, tut.

"(Most fans hate it when you say tut, tut, actually, but that's just the kind of guy I am, I guess). "The whole presidential aspect of this story-line, as well as the 'Death of Elrod' finish developed when I noticed that the cover of #22 would have a very familiar looking date on it; 22 NOV [President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22nd].

"The point I wanted to get across was that the Captain America-style character steeped in patriotism, thinking with his muscles and xenophobic as a son-of-a-bitch [...] plays right into the hands of a ruthless schemer and opportunist like Weisshaupt. The presidential use of xenophobia as a means of unifying widely-differing factions behind a single leader was central to the story line."