Issue 131
From CerebusWiki
| February 1990: Jaka's Story 18 | |
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| Issue 131 | |
| President | Dave Sim |
| Vice-President | Gerhard |
| Administrative Assistant | Monique Kaptein |
| Jaka's Story: Mystery Achievement | |
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Contents |
Synopsis
Jaka is placed in a dungeon cell. The rats, cockroaches, and two buckets (one for food, one for a toilet - her choice) as her cell-mates. In the cell next door is her childhood Nurse.
Young Jaka is upset over the reforms put in place by Astoria. She holds a mock trial of Astoria, with Nurse being the jury.
Characters
- Jaka (last seen in issue 130; next appearance in issue 132)
- Nurse (last seen in issue 135's flashback; next appearance in issue 132)
- Unknown Cirinist guard
Locations
Artist Notes
Dave Answers 6 Questons: October / November 2004
Q3: Nurse/Ada Talbot's presence in the cell next to Jaka appears to be more than a mere coincidence. Was she (1) really Nurse and a Cirinist; (2) a Cirinist imposter using information gleaned from Oscar's book; or (3) Nurse and not a Cirinist (her 8 month incarceration time would appear to match up with Cerebus' reappearance after his Ascension)? Was her placement in the cell an attempt by the Cirinists to elicit information and/or break down Jaka psychologically before being handed over to Thatcher? (i131)
Dave: 1) That’s very possible. 2) You’ve been reading too many conspiracy theory books. 3) That’s very possible as well. Actually, all of those things were going through my head while I was working on that sequence and because Nurse never comes back into the story, I was able to leave it open to interpretation, both for others and for myself. You know, one of the possibilities that you didn’t suggest was the fact that it might have had nothing to do with getting information or breaking Jaka down psychologically and might instead have just been as nasty as the Cirinists were able to be, given Jaka’s diplomatic immunity. They couldn’t execute her or torture her and they couldn’t execute Rick because of the problems that would cause with Palnu, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t terrify Jaka to within an inch of her sanity and destroy her marriage as a way of indicating what a dim view they took of her career and (what is the Marxist-feminist discrete euphemism?) family planning choices. From a Cirinist standpoint, they wouldn’t be doing anything to her that she hadn’t done to Pud. Was it Jaka’s fault that Pud’s lust for her destroyed him as a person? Was it the Cirinists’ fault that Jaka’s choices—when presented to Rick—destroyed her marriage?
Annotations
- This is the first issue done in Dave's new studio, The Off White House.
- This is the eighth issue of the series in which Cerebus does not appear. It last happened in last issue, and happens again next issue.
- There is only two pages, the center spread, of Oscar's "Jaka's Story" novel.
- p. 5: The prison that Jaka is held in is so big that it has a wing just for Palnans.
Quotes
- p. 7:
- Jaka: "oh. I can't stand things like that. I'll. . .I'll go mad!!"
- Nurse: "Oh. Heehee. That you will. . .eventually. . .eventually."
