Issue 31

From CerebusWiki

Oct 1981: Chasing Cootie
Issue 31
Writer & Artist	Dave Sim
Publisher	Deni Loubert
Circulation	Unknown
High Society
Previous	Next

Contents 1 Issue Summary 2 Characters 3 Locations 4 Artist Notes 5 Annotations

Issue Summary

Cerebus chases down the cootie to find him hiding out with his lover, Astoria. We get to see how Moon Roach came to be (supposedly.) It's at the end of this tale that we get the classic line, "It felt...like he was having an origin." After some slick maneuvering, by Astoria, Cerebus heads for home only to run into the inquisition. It seems he's just going to get a severe warning when another stone moon strikes home.

A large part of this issue is The Roach's conversations between his main two personalities; Moon Roach and his biggest fan, and occasional dialog assistant, Kevitch.

Characters

• Astoria (first appearance; next appearance in issue 32)
• Cerebus (last seen in issue 30; next appearance in issue 32)
• The Moon Roach (last seen in issue 30; next appearance in issue 32)
• Elf (last seen in issue 30; next appearance in issue 32)

Locations

• Iest

Artist Notes

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

Annotations

• Holland M. Hadden's last appearance was last issue, but clearly he is a rather important figure in this issue.
• Cockroach's "Moon Roach" persona is a parody of Marvel Comics' Moon Knight, an ex-mercenary superhero whose own series had probably just debuted as this issue was being drawn. Interestingly enough, a few years after this issue, the actual Moon Knight was revealed to have a second personality living inside his body.
• Astoria's description of Moon Roach, "darknight caped crusader", is a reference to two of Batman's nicknames - Dark Knight and Caped Crusader.
• Astoria knows more than she lets on in this issue, but it is unclear if she is aware of the connection between Cockroach and Cirin.
• It's a nice effect how the first panel on page 9 and the first panel on page 9 share the same continuous background.
• Cerebus is lying to the Inquisitors, by the way.
• Cerebus seems to have lost the costume when the inquisitors were crushed.
• Apparently one of the inquisitors is actually the Grand Inquisitor, although this is not hinted at until Issue 37.
• "This is going to complicate matters somewhat" is a bit of an understatement; the Grand Inquisitor's power rivals that of the Pope, and his death will cause a chain of events that will lead to the Exodus Inward, which will in turn lead to a collapse of all of Iest's economy.
• Moon Roach's self-narrated origin is similar to that of Robin from DC Comics.
• The Elf is trying on Cerebus' medallions (which were last seen when he entered the hotel in Issue 26).
• Either the Elf can't smell, or she's immune to the smell of wet aardvark.
• In case it isn't clear, the Elf is laughing at Cerebus' tuft of hair.