Issue 164

From CerebusWiki

November 1992: Mothers & Daughters 14
Issue 164
President	Dave Sim
Vice-President	Gerhard
Typesetting	Linda Berzins
Mothers & Daughters: Women
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Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Characters 3 Locations 4 Artist Notes 5 Back up material 6 Annotations

Synopsis

Punisheroach turns into Swoon. The real Cirin and Cerebus talk, Astoria getting ready for her meeting, Swoon finds Elrod and turns him into Snuff. Cirin's files on Kevillism disappear and the Pigts enter into a new golden era (resembling socialism).

The real Cirin's guard goes to get the other guards. The real Cirin then gives Cerebus some money and sends him to the Tavern where he will be safe because Taverns are for men only.

Characters

• Astoria (last seen in issue 163; next appearance in issue 165)
• Cerebus (last seen in issue 163; next appearance in issue 165)
• Cirin (last seen in issue 163; next appearance in issue 165)
• Cockroach (last seen in issue 163; next appearance in issue 165)
• Elrod (last seen in issue 163; next appearance in issue 165)
• Serna (last seen in issue 163; next appearance in issue 165)
• Vera (last seen in issue 163; next appearance in issue 165)

Locations

• Iest
• Red Marches

Artist Notes

If Dave has something to say on the issue, add it here

Back up material

Save the Aardvarks (Sim/Hill) color by Gerhard

Annotations

• The real Cirin describes a dream she had to Cerebus: "A very old man and a very old woman came to me. . .holding a perfect gold sphere between them . . .which they offered to me." p. 1
• A piece of paper money is shown, with the text Cirin's bank of Iest on it. p. 18
• 1: "A very old man and a very old woman" Tarim and Terim? (Alexx)
• 4: "five years" Presumably how long Vera's prisoner has *been* a prisoner. (Alexx)
• "old What's-Her-Name" Cirin, presumably. (Alexx)
• "The Goddess is a wonderful chess player" Ironic, considering that it was a male's chess game that dropped Cerebus through the skylight. Of course, Suenteus Po is merely a pawn when seen from a sufficiently high chessboard... (Alexx)
• 9: Note the nice lettering effect of question marks inside a large exclamation point. (Alexx)
• "nevermore" Cheesy classical allusion to E.A. Poe's "The Raven". Grammatically incorrect at that :) (Alexx)
• 10: The Roach has completed his latest personality shift. Swoon is a parody of the DC Comics character Sandman, AKA Dream of the Endless, a personification of dreams (created by Neil Gaiman). The black cloak, the white on black word balloons with bumpy edges, the black-pit eyes, are all taken directly from Sandman. The fancy lettering of the word Swoon is similar to that of the logo of the Sandman comic book.
  • Sandman is well known for having bad luck at love affairs with mortal women, and for being generally over-solemn and having no sense of humor. (Alexx)
• This is the first time that the Roach has taken on a personality that was not a "super-hero", which may go some way towards explaining Elrod's uncommon reluctance at going along with it. (Alexx)
• 11: "My beloved sister Snuff" The Roach has decided that since he is Dream, Elrod must be Dream's older sister Death, a frequent supporting character in Sandman. (Alexx)
• 12: "inflatable boobs!" Presumably these are there to help blend in with the Cirinists? (Alexx)
• 14: "mining forecasts, a map of Iest... recipes for nut clusters... seafood bisque... and cherry cobbler" Possibly these items were chosen not just randomly, but as specific political (and sexual) jokes. (Alexx)
• 15: Ironically, the Pigts now seem well on their way to becoming a matriarchy, due directly to their attempts to attack the Cirinists. (Alexx)
• 16: "An abomination I was very helpful in bringing about" We now know that she was at one time an important force among the Cirinists. (Alexx)
• 19: "The Bull & Quayl" Probably one last joke at the expense of George Bush & Dan Quayle, who were president and vice-president of the United States at the time this was written, though they were defeated in the elections before this was published. "Bull" probably refers to George Bush's frequent breaking of campaign promises, notably "no new taxes". "Quayl" is a specific jab at the time (a few months before this was written) that Quayle attended a school spelling bee as publicity, and advised a student to spell "potato" with an "e" on the end. (Alexx)
• "Gayeman Clothing Co." As mentioned previously, Sandman was created by Neil Gaiman. (Alexx)
• 20: This is a fair approximation of the sorts of clothes Death wears in the Sandman comic book. (Alexx)