His First Fifth

From CerebusWiki

A nine page story in colour by Dave Sim and Gerhard.

The story is told without dialogue, merely using word balloons featuring pictures.

1 Summary
2 Characters
3 Artist's Notes
4 Printings
5 External Links

Summary

A six-year-old Cerebus mops up a closed tavern late at night. He notices a full bottle of alcohol has been left on one of the tables, and after making sure no one is watching, he swipes the bottle and quickly rushes downstairs to the basement. He takes a swig, and is overwhelmed by the distortion of his view of the moon and stars in the window. A fellow youth discovers Cerebus with the bottle, and prepares to tattle on him to their patchy-eyed puritan boss. Cerebus stops him, offering some of the booze to the boy to quiet him. The boy claims to be an angel, but the Aardvark points out it'll be just a drop. The boy's burly devil side crushes the angelic side, and he agrees to just a drop. He takes a swig and finds it like poison, which leads Cerebus to convince him that a small drop may be like that, but a larger drop would make him happy. Many drops of various sizes later, the boy is drunk. Cerebus asks about the patch-eyed puritan boss, and the boy calls the man a clown and a big baby. The boss appears, having heard the boy. He picks him up and tosses him into the scorching furnace. The boss asks Cerebus if he's been drinking, and the young Aardvark denies it, calling the stuff poison, claiming to more mopping to do, and races back upstairs.

[edit]

Characters

Cerebus (last seen in The Girl Next Door; next appearance in Selling Insurance)
Youth (only appearance; dies)
Boss (only appearance)

[edit]

Artist's Notes

[edit]

1992 USEnet Interview

AS: What work did Gerhard do in comic books before Cerebus?

Dave: Gerhard did no work in the comic book field prior to working on Cerebus. The Young Cerebus short story RHis First FifthS in Epic #26 was his first comic book work.

[edit]

"Notes From the President" for Cerebus Jam

This story takes place in 1391, when Cerebus is six years old.

[edit]

Cerebus the Newsletter #10

Dave: "The story concerns Cerebus' first job -- cleaning a pub in Ress. It takes place in 1391, when he was only six years old. He was born in 1385, you know."

[edit]