Issue 33

From CerebusWiki

Dec 1981: Friction

Issue 33
Writer & Artist	Dave Sim
Publisher	Deni Loubert
Circulation	Unknown
High Society
Previous	Next

1 Issue Summary
2 Characters
3 Locations
4 Artist Notes
5 Annotations
6 Backup material

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Issue Summary

Astoria manages to control the Moon Roach and suddenly seems to be much more sober than when she was seducing Cerebus. After the Roach leaves, Cerebus and Astoria have some choice words with each other.

After offending the Elf, Cerebus finds messages about his bathroom practices (or lack thereof) showing up in public places signed you know who. Even through several layers of wallpaper, the messages are still visible, and now one has appeared over the city gate.

A jealous Roach waits in vain for Astoria at the Roach Lair. He decides to go it alone and drops a moon on the governor of the Legislature. For Astoria it means a long day dealing with legislators. Before she leaves, she tells Cerebus to cancel her appointments and to stay out of trouble. While congratulating himself on his ability to stay out of trouble, he hears a familiar voice outside--Elrod the Albino. "With any luck at all," he thinks, "Cerebus will have a heart attack and die in the next five seconds."

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Characters

Cerebus (last seen in issue 32; next appearance in issue 34)
Astoria (last seen in issue 31; next appearance in issue 34)
Elrod (last seen in issue 22; next appearance in issue 34)
The Moon Roach (last seen in issue 32; next appearance in issue 34)
governor of the Iestan legislature and colleague
Regency Hotel staff

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Locations

Iest

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Artist Notes

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

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Annotations

p5: According to Cerebus, Astoria "seems to have come un-drugged pretty quickly," implying that her earlier attempt to seduce Cerebus was an act.
p7: Moonroach calls Cerebus an "over-sized rabbit" a call back to Elrod calling Cerebus a "kid in a bunny suit".
p10: you know who is the Elf, whom Cerebus angered last issue.
- The magical nature of her graffiti should make this obvious.
p11: While waiting for Astoria outside the Roach Lair, Moon Roach hears the sound of high heels in the street below. It's possible that this woman is actually not "a mere look-alike" but the real Astoria, who has more important things to do than salve the ego of an oversized bug.
p12: The talk between the legislators implies that the PM is opposing the tariffs. Presumably this is the same tariff increase that Cerebus authorized in Issue 32 to satisfy the PM, so why would the PM oppose it? In Issue 35, we are told that the Legislature is hesitant to oppose the tariff increase because they're worried that that Palnu will cancel Iest's credit -- yet then we're told that Palnu can't cancel the credit because of danger of foreclosure from the Sepran Empire. But why wouldn't the legislature know that?
- Another reading is that the first speaker is referring to a third legislator, who is against the tariffs, while the PM is only trying to delay, not stop, them. The second speaker notes that the PM is only trying to "postpone the election," i.e. stay in office regardless of the effect on Iest.
p13: It's unclear if "pixee" is a deliberate misspelling of "pixie".
p13: Apparently there was some confusion about Cerebus's bribe of the messenger, since he bet that the messenger would deliver the message to the wrong person, and the messenger actually did. Cerebus didn't give the 100 crowns to the messenger.
- By the terms of the wager, Cerebus wins. There is no bribery involved, although he may have counted on the messenger seeing the money as a bribe.
p14: The note is written by a "Blake" -- this is probably short for (or a misspelling of) Blakely the government minister, not Blake Jockley the cab driver (one of the Cockroach's identities).
- The text of the note: "Astoria: The Governor of the Legislature died today beneath a giant stone moon. Please Advise. Yrs truly, Blake". The first time we actually see Astoria and Blakely together, Blakely states "Now be a good girl and run along." He doesn't seem the type to ask Astoria to "please advise".
p15: Astoria jokes about Cerebus trying out for the Pope's job, but in about 30 more issues....
p19: The inferring vs. implying rejoinder will appear again in Issue 36, where Cerebus will discover that just because a woman can use it on him effectively doesn't mean he can use it on a woman effectively.
p20: The guest on the last page is Elrod, whom we'll see more of next issue.