Customer Reviews

Latter Days (Cerebus No. 15)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Starting with the three stars I give it, add a star if you like the Three Stooges. Then, if you hate Dave Sim text, subtract a star, if you love Dave Sim text, add a star, and if you say "ah, I just skip that stuff," add 0 stars (or subtract 0 stars, as the whim suits you.) Me, I'm sticking with three stars.

After the events of the previous volume, Cerebus just wants to die. Instead of dying, we get two humorous issues where he becomes a shephard and a player of "five-bar gate," the tennis/hockey game Dave invented. Then, with the help (?) of the Three Stooges and Todd McSpahn [McFarlane] he finally overthrows the Cirinists, and there is much bloodshed and mayhem. After ruling for 70 years or so, Woody Allen (why not?) shows up and gives him a copy of the Torah. The rest of the book (pages 288-511) consists primarily of Cerebus analyzing Genesis, interspersed with "diary entries" and biographical information on Woody Allen, some knocks against Freud and Jung, and the final final pages (463-511) spent on notes on everything you just read (or skimmed over, or skipped). Whew! Oh wait, he also meets the woman who will [spoiler deleted].

This is a seriously mixed bag. If you like Cerebus for the humor, there is much humor to be found here. I have a weird sense of humor, so I even find the Woody Allen diary entries funny. If you've been skipping all the text so far in previous volumes, I advise you to keep on skipping. I'll shift my comments on the text pages to the comments section.

If you've made it this far, why stop now? This is, to say the least, more than a little tedious. Sim has created a very unique commentary on the book of Genesis. He postulates that God and YHWH (the LORD in English translations) are two separate beings. YHWH, who Sim refers to as Yoowhoo, is a feminine being which more or less makes decisions that God always goes along with. I was about a third of the way through the book before I could really understand the line of reasoning (at least as much as I think it's understandable) and had to start the book over, now getting the idea. It's almost all text, really small text, that if you can get through it, it's at least as interesting (if not more refined) as the infamous Reads volume. As I say, if you've made it to vol. 15, make your way through it, it's worth it.

Dr Bronner was able to take a good product and make it a great product by surrounding it with crank religious babble; Mr Sim took a great product and turned it into a mediocre one by interleaving it with such.

Traditionally, in Jewish sacred text study at least, the first, essential, step is to find a well-regarded teacher. This is because Torah uses ancient and often obscure language, with some uncertainty as to vowel points and proper punctuation. I don't know if the same obtains for the Quran (and sunna, and hadith), but I shouldn't be surprised if there weren't similar problems, and the same for the Christian books' Aramaic and koine Greek.

In all cases, knowledge of how people lived at the time also helps; in one case Mr Sim made an uncharacteristic turn toward a possible acceptance of lesbian sexuality based on a simple misunderstanding that up until recently, bed-sharing among the poor was nearly universal in all cold climates, orthogonal to sexual intent....

Auto-didacts are to be admired for their desire and their energy, but easily stray into idiosyncratic alleys, making their interpretations much more about the their inner selves than about the text or its application to people in general. Clouds without water, men who plough the roof.

That being said, the art was still good, especially Gerhard's, whose political and religious beliefs remain tom-me-blissfully unknown.

The majopr weakness of this volume is that a significant chunk of the last portion of it is dense text wit ha few illustrations on each page of Cerebus analysizing and interpreting the early books of the Torah. I actually don't mind religous comics in fact find them interesting but this isn't comics it's dense not very well written text- if you are interested in Cerebus and comics this books lacks a lot of the quality comics found in earlier volumes. If yo uare interested in Judeo Christian religous interpretations and analysis- my guess is yo uwould be better off with a realo text discussion of the issue than this non-graphic novel.

What Dave Sim and Gerhard have accomplished within these pages is of monumental value, both to yourself and to the history of art, theology, and human society. Studying this book has changed my life in several important and positive ways. It is a remarkable introduction to perceiving the shackles and underpinnings of our civilization's warped and manifold ideologies. "Latter Days" may possibly lead the reader to the straight and narrow path of redemption and salvation. Plus, it's extremely funny and beautifully rendered. Possibly the most well-invested $30 you'll ever spend. It's demanding material (thought-wise), but the notes are very helpful and Dave Sim is one of the most lucid, seamless, and orderly writers of English ever. Although it's volume 15 of a single story, I would argue that it's self-contained, and can be enjoyed without additional books. (Of course, I had to start studying the Bible to see for myself...) CONTEMPLATE. THIS. COMIC. BOOK. BEFORE. IT'S. TOO. LATE.