Cerebus #1
Cerebus #1 marks the debut of one of the most ambitious creator-owned projects in comics history: a self-published, black-and-white fantasy series that ran an unbroken 300 issues from 1977 to 2004, totaling some 6,000 pages of continuous narrative from a single author-artist. As the first title released under the Aardvark-Vanaheim banner, it demonstrated that a creator working entirely outside the mainstream publisher system could sustain a long-form comic book, directly inspiring later self-publishing pioneers — Kevin Eastman himself cited Sim's model as the proof-of-concept that convinced him and Peter Laird to self-publish the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The issue also introduced Cerebus the Aardvark, a sword-and-sorcery parody protagonist who evolved far beyond his parodic origins into a vehicle for political satire, religious philosophy, and formal narrative experimentation that Alan Moore would later describe as foundational to the comics medium.
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Dave Sim, a 21-year-old Canadian cartoonist from Kitchener, Ontario, produced the first issue in late 1977 as a parody of Barry Windsor-Smith's run on Conan the Barbarian, blending it with the comedic anthropomorphic sensibility of Howard the Duck; he co-founded Aardvark-Vanaheim with his then-partner Deni Loubert to publish it, with Loubert serving as publisher for the first 70 issues. The print run was approximately 2,000 copies, printed by Fairway Press in Kitchener — and the issue carries a distinctive physical quirk: a printer error left the cover art off-center and the comic slightly oversized, because reprinting the entire run would have required paying the printer again, a cost Sim and Loubert could not absorb. The main story, initially untitled and later given the name 'The Flame Jewel' when reprinted in the Swords of Cerebus collection, was written, penciled, inked, and lettered entirely by Sim.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Cerebus the Aardvark, an anthropomorphic barbarian warrior who would headline a continuous 300-issue series running from December 1977 through March 2004.
- First comic published under the Aardvark-Vanaheim imprint, co-founded by Dave Sim and Deni Loubert in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
- Written, drawn, and lettered entirely by Dave Sim, making it one of the earliest examples of a sole-creator, self-published ongoing comic in the direct market era.
- The character's name is the result of Deni Loubert misspelling 'Cerberus,' the three-headed dog of Greek mythology.
- The issue's cover is physically oversized and the image placement is off-center due to a printer error at Fairway Press; Sim accepted the misprint rather than pay to reprint the entire run.
- A well-documented counterfeit edition exists; authentic copies have a glossy outer cover with a matte inner cover, while counterfeits have glossy finishes on both sides.
- The debut story, later titled 'The Flame Jewel,' was reprinted in Swords of Cerebus Vol. 1, Cerebus Bi-Weekly #1 (December 1988), Cerebus #100 (July 1987), and a 2024 facsimile edition published by Aardvark-Vanaheim.
- Kevin Eastman directly credited Cerebus as a primary inspiration for self-publishing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1984, calling Sim's black-and-white, creator-owned model their 'way in' to the industry.
Cast · 1 character
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Cerebus falls in with a couple of thieves, who hire him to help break into a wizard's home and steal the Flame Jewel. The aardvark's previous experiences with sorcery serve him well, and he is able to fight past numerous illusions before killing the wizard. After receiving payment, Cerebus explains to his dismayed comrades that the Flame Jewel was magically linked to the wizard. When he died, the gem reverted to its natural state: a plain walnut.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).