NP Aardvark Cerebrus

David Morris fqmorris at hotmail.com
Tue Dec 19 10:43:30 CST 2000


>From: "Richard Romeo" P.S.  Anyone ever read the Cerebrus comic strip out 
>of Canada, about an aardvark--going on 21 volumes or something. I'm 
>intrigued.

http://www.jitterbug.com/pages/sim.html

Well-known creator Dave Sim surprised readers when issue #186 of his popular 
Cerebus comic book contained not the illustrated adventures of the title 
character they had been led to expect, but a misogynist nonfiction essay. 
While some voices in the industry questioned the logic of the essay, or a 
possible misuse of venue, the almost total silence on the part of male 
artists and publishers suggests that the comic book industry may be as 
repressive and sexist as its detractors have long bemoaned.

Sim tends to murkily imply rather than clearly state his supportive 
arguments, which rely heavily on anecdotal evidence, unsupported 
conclusions, and similar specious logic. His primary implied assertion that 
women = bad is largely underpinned by the circulus in demonstrando fallacy, 
more commonly known as the circular argument. In essence:

"The light" is male because it is embodied by men, and "the void" is female 
because it is embodied by women.
But there are woman who embody "the light" and men (even entire "male 
civilizations") who embody "the void."
Therefore they must be exceptions to the rule.
Therefore males are essentially "light" and women are essentially "void."

The largely escapist-based comic book industry has long been pejoratively 
stereotyped as a haven for adolescent and arrested-adolescent males who have 
difficulty relating to flesh-and-blood human beings, particularly women. 
This may best be exemplified by Robert Crumb, who to his credit takes 
responsibility for his own issues in acknowledging that his life-long hatred 
of women is founded on his resentment of woman's power to reject him 
sexually. Sim seems to have similar inadequacies relating to women to his 
satisfaction, but he shifts the burden of agency in suggesting that because 
he is unhappy with his relationship with women, fault must lie with the 
women he is unhappy with (and, by extension, with all women).

If Sim has a serious argument to forward, especially one which doesn't 
involve his Cerebus character in any way, is his "Cerebus" comic book really 
the best place to do it?

[...]

Several people have emailed to report that Sim has been diagnosed as 
clinically schizophrenic. One source said that this was confirmed by Sim 
himself in the Cerebus letters column.



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