Issue 165

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December 1992: Mothers & Daughters 15
Issue 165
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

Cerebus goes to the Tavern and kicks the bejeezus out of some guy for making fun of Missy. Swoon swoons and the Judge on the moon is now in Swoon-like robes and gets a Snuff like hair cut.

Po is seen in his room recalling the chess match against Cerebus. Po realizes that he made a critical mistake -- he said "Queen's bishop to King's bishop four," when he actually meant "King's bishop to Queen's bishop four." A lone Pigt male who wishes to return the military rule is killed by a group of women.

Astoria heads to the meeting. Cirin and Generals Dworkin and Greer discuss Cerebus in the Tavern. Hammond and Mrs Thatcher talk about the mold which has modified itself. Snuff tries out the auto crossbow. The strange occurances are being blamed on the Illusionists.

Characters

• Astoria (last seen in issue 164; next appearance in issue 167)
• Cerebus (last seen in issue 164; next appearance in issue 166)
• Cirin (last seen in issue 164; next appearance in issue 166)
• Cockroach (last seen in issue 164; next appearance in issue 166)
• Elrod (last seen in issue 164; next appearance in issue 166)
• Gerhard (first appearance; next appearance in issue 185) (cover only)
• Judge (last seen in issue 161; next appearance in issue 171)
• McGrew Brothers (last seen in issue 161; next appearance in issue 167)
• Mr. Hammond (last seen in issue 161; final appearance)
• Mrs Thatcher (last seen in issue 162; next appearance in issue 201)
• Suenteus Po (last seen in issue 161; next appearance in issue 169)
• Serna (last seen in issue 164; next appearance in issue 194)
• Vera (last seen in issue 164; final appearance)

Locations

• Iest
• The Moon
• Red Marches

Artist Notes

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

Back up material

Astronaut Cerebus (Sim) for Houston Chronicle (1)

Annotations

• The room that Po is seen in appears to be a prison cell as the shadows from the cross bars are seen in the room. However, we know that Po later walks to the Throne Room.
• The Generals tell Cirin that they are not able to mentally scan Elrod (they think he is a girl dressed all in black with the sacred symbol). When they scan the Cockroach (a large man in black robes), all they scan is the word Blossom.
• Cover: The cover is a collage of artwork and photographs, in a parody of the style of covers frequently done by Dave McKean for the Sandman comic book. Among the elements included are a small photograph of Gerhard and a DC Comics logo with a letter "S" written over the "C". (Alexx)
• 3: Swoon's pose is strongly reminiscent of some of the moody poses Sandman has been seen in. (Alexx)
• 4: Dirty Fleagle should have *known* better than to make fun of Cerebus (Alexx)
• 5: And now the Judge has acquired Sandman's robe, hairdo, and dark brooding eyes as well. (Alexx)
• 6: Indeed, Po stated the wrong move in issue 160. In the letter column of this issue, Dave explains this as "An instance of matriarchal gravitational pull." This may have originated as just a typo on Dave's parts, but maybe that was an intentional move on someone else's chess board... (Alexx)
  • Also, it would appear that Po was telling the truth about his current living accommodations. (Alexx)
• 8: "Just thinking out loud" A *masterful* bit of lettering/dialogue. (Alexx)
• 9, 11, 20: The illustrations on these three pages form a pan in to Cirin's window. (Alexx)
• 10: Any metallurgists out there want to make informed commentary on this? (Alexx)
• 11: Here, we are given a numerological equivalent to the Diamondback symbolism. 2 = priestess; 3 = queen; 4 = king. These are the number of each card which appear in a single Diamondback deck. The others, by analogy, would be 1 = magician and 5 = priest. (Alexx)
• 12-13: Note that Elrod is shooting large holes in the roof. See also page 20 of this issue, and notes.(Alexx)
• "You have done well" Does the Roach realize what Elrod has done? Did he enable Elrod to do it somehow? (Alexx)
• 14: Now we know why a bar is a safe haven for Cerebus. It is possible that the McGrew brothers are "residents". (Alexx)
• 16-19: This is a virtuoso 4-page design. Laid out top to bottom, we see the upper city, then the whispered agreement of the upper-city citizens with the fascism of the Cirinists, gradually fading out to nothing; then, after a large white space, the gradually increasing rumors and complaints of the lower city citizens, terminated with a picture of the squalid (and damaged) lower city habitat. (Alexx)
• 20: "young woman" Well, one presumes that they couldn't get too close a look at Elrod, and presumed that the wig and lack of breasts meant "young woman". (Alexx)
• "sacred symbol" In Sandman, Death wears an ankh (ironic, as it is an ancient Egyptian symbol of life). The ankh has long been established as a feminine symbol in Cerebus. (Alexx)
• "She's screening, then?" Or, more likely, completely brainless. (Alexx)
• "Twenty dead" If you go back to pages 12-13 and count, Elrod fired 21 shots, at random. Dumb luck, or some controlling power? (Alexx)