Cerebus the Aardvark No. 27 is an issue of Cerebus published by Aardvark-Vanaheim.
Stories[]
"The Kidnapping of an Aardvark"[]
After successfully eluding his security escort, Cerebus runs into the McGrew Brothers, Dirty Fleagle and Dirty Drew. He handily defeats the pair, but when he learns they wanted to kidnap him, he decides to be kidnapped anyway. The three go to an inn where Cerebus knows the owner.
Cerebus discards the McGrews's ransom note (they'd signed it), writes another, and delivers it to the Regency via crossbow. When he returns to the inn, he makes his first mistake: he tells the McGrews where and how the ransom will be delivered. They go into hiding to wait for the ransom. Cerebus passes the time by playing the card game Diamondback with the rather dull brothers, using their shares in the ransom as stakes. To amuse himself, Cerebus manipulates the brothers into feuding with each other: his second mistake.
On the seventh day, word comes that a red flag is flying at the Regency Hotel. That means the ransom is ready. By this time Cerebus has won all the money from the McGrews, which does not sit well with them. Then he makes his third mistake: he turns his back on the McGrews. They knock him unconscious.
Additional[]
Characters[]
- Cerebus (last seen in Cerebus No. 26; next appearance in Cerebus No. 28)
- McGrew Brothers, Fleagle and Drew (first appearance; next appearance in Cerebus No. 29)
- Inn Owner
- Prime Minister Gatson (mentioned only)
Locations[]
Story Notes[]
- (page 1) Fleagle McGrew's introduction is based on Yosemite Sam's: "I'm Yosemite Sam, the meanest, toughest, rip-roarin'-est, Edward Everett Horton-est hombre that ever packed a six-shooter!"
- (page 7) Cerebus signs his ransom note as "The Eye in the Pyramid," a defunct revolutionary group in Palnu.
- (page 9) In a rare footnote, "Dave" says that Cerebus is the sixth-best crossbowman in Estarcion.
- (page 10) This page gives a playable description of the game of diamondback.
- (pages 12-18) At the tops of these pages appears a logo, Cerebus Held Hostage, with "Day One," "Day Two," etc. The sequence is most likely an allusion to the coverage of the hostage situation at the U.S. embassy in Iran, which lasted from November 1979 to January 1981. Network news programs, notably Nightline, ran similar logos during the crisis and tracked the days--which became somewhat awkward as weeks turned into months.
- (pages 13, 14, 15, 17) Beneath the Hostage logo appears a summary of the political machinations going on to find the money for Cerebus's ransom. The first one makes it clear that Cerebus knows the machinery well enough to predict how it will work, which seems at odds with his later failures as prime minister and the primitive understanding he displays in his "memoirs."
- (page 13) Fleagle mentions the king of Mealc in a bit of hyperbole.
- (page 17) The summary mentions "the central bank of Smina"; it's unclear if this location is ever mentioned again. Smina may be a counterpart of Switzerland, since the bank has secret accounts.
Publication Notes[]
- Reprinted in Cerebus: High Society No. 2
- "The Kidnapping of an Aardvark" reprinted in the High Society phonebook