"His First Sword", Plate 1
"His First Sword" is a short story by Dave Sim told across seventeen portfolio plates. It was published as a part of The Animated Cerebus.
Summary[]
A blacksmith hammers the finishing touches on a long, silver sword. Cerebus, having been waiting patiently, gets the blade tossed to him. He proceeds to slash it about, testing the meddle of the metal, pleased by the results. He thrusts forth, then pulls back widely, accidentally stabbing the backsmith in the chest. Cerebus is stunned as the man collapses to the ground, dead. He looks around for a moment, drops the three coin payment in the corpse' hand, then departs with his new weapon.
Characters[]
- Cerebus (last seen in "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"; next appearance in "A Well-Equipped Bar")
- Blacksmith (only appearance; dies)
Dave Sim on "A Well-Equipped Bar"[]
- "I went through a number of ideas before I came up with this one, again. Not much to say about it, really. "I had recently seen a Fleischer "Popeye" cartoon that I recalled quite vividly from my days as a wee tad (sic) when I would watch an hour of "Popeye" every morning. All the action took place in a blacksmith shop as Popeye and Bluto competed in shoe-ing horses. So Bluto was very much on my mind as an archetypal Blacksmith as I contemplated young Cerebus eagerly awaiting the completion of his first sword. It's also something of a comment on the mentality of those enamoured of articles of destruction. but primarily it is just another incident in the young earth-pig's life."[1]
- "This was how he got his first sword, unlike his more famous later sword."[2]