Cerebus: Book Five

And now, for something comletely different...

After the massive undertaking of High Society and Church & State, collectively totalling over 1700 pages of comics and 6 years of steady, monthly output; which culminated in the titular character of the series ascending to the Moon (somewhat short of his goal of reaching Vanaheim, or Heaven) and conversing about the history of creation and his own future, only to return to Earth and find his former city-state overrun by a fascist matiarchy; well, we're treated to a somewhat more sullen, withdrawn, and internalized set of stories from Dave Sim.

Jaka's Story takes the focus away from political machinations and conflicts which affect entire nations, and focuses on a small set of characters for it's bulk, in a very limited setting (a total of three or four buildings, two of which are right next to each other), with very little external action. There's also a lot of development in store for Jaka, as the book bounces back-and-forth between "present-tense" comics passages and "past-tense" (or possibly fictitious) text-block-with-accompanying-image passages relating a story of her early life. In fact, Cerebus is mostly peripheral to the action of this book, and is even completely absent for much of it's final third.

There are really only about 5 major characters in the "present tense" portion: Jaka, Cerebus, Jaka's husband Rick, their landlord/employer/grocer Pud Withers, and Oscar, the poet (and also, we learn later, the author of the textual interludes that form "Jaka's Story"). When last we saw Jaka, she pregnant with Rick's child, but she has since miscarried. She lives with Rick in a small apartment along the road between the Upper and Lower Cities, adjacent to a tavern owned by Pud, which seemingly has no visitors. Jaka works as a dancer in the tavern in exchange for accomodations, and Rick is perpetually and fruitlessly searching for work, when he's not distracted by Oscar's visits.

Cerebus, still somewhat shell-shocked from his visit with the judge and his return to the hotel from Church & State, stumbles across Jaka at the tavern, and after a tearful reunion, agrees to stay with her and Rick. Since no-one else knows that Cerebus has returned to Iest, Jaka and Rick decide to refer to him as Fred.

In the introduction to this book, we get some important background info: First, that Jaka and Rick's apartment is based on Dave's apartment with his ex-wife. Second, Dave insists that he "is not Rick," an assertion that will be repeated years later in the introduction to Rick's Story. An interesting assertion for sure, given what we've been told about the setting. Is this a case of the Lady, so to speak, protesting too much? There's also a bit of explanation about Oscar, the character based on Oscar Wilde, and the first "homosexulaist" (to use Dave's term) to appear in Cerebus. Given that he will later write some pretty inflammatory declarations about homosexuality, this character is given, for the most part, a rather sensitive treatment.

Over the course of the comics passages here, inter-character relationships slowly develop and tighten during mundane daily routines. Pud harbors a secret desire for Jaka and is constantly rehearsing an approach to her in his internal monologue. Cerebus is jealous of Rick, and goes on a roller-coaster ride of hope and despair as Jaka and Rick fight and make up constantly (usually over Rick neglecting household duties to hang out with Oscar). Jaka feels increasingly competitive with Oscar for Rick's attentions (and though Oscar is gay, there are no overt signs of attempted seduction on his part).

The text passages relate the story of Jaka's youth, spent in the House of Tavers as Lord Julius' neice, and her relationship with her only early authority figure, the overprotective and disciplinarian nurse. The story follows her subservient early years as a small child, through some time spent infirm after a playground accident, and into her flowering as a young woman of Palnu's high society. It also provides a glimpse of Astoria's entrance into the political conciousness of Palnu, as Lord Julius' wife. Some way towards the end of the book, Oscar is revealed as the "author" of these passages, part of a book he is writing titled "Jaka's Story," based on Rick's accounts of Jaka's life.

But of course, this is a Cerebus book, and it wouldn't go 400+ pages without some sort of action. The first section ends with Jaka, Rick, Pud, Oscar, and Pud's first customer (an older veteran) at the tavern, where Oscar is planning to read from the completed "Jaka's Story," when Cirinist troops arrive. Cerebus has left, unannounced and is nowhere to be found. Employing a dancer in a tavern is punishable by death under Cirinist rule, and Pud is summarily executed, along with the veteran (who tries to fight back). Jaka is only spared execution by claiming diplomatic immunity as Julius' niece. She and Rick are taken away to a prison somewhere in Iest. Oscar is sentenced to 2 years of hard labor for writing without a license (mirroring the real-life Oscar Wilde's sentence for sodomy).

The final chapters are oddly reminiscent of the re-conditioning scenes in 1984, alternating between Jaka coping with imprisonment and sessions with a Cirinist "counselor", Mrs. Thatcher, whose job appears to be to get Jaka to profess belief in Cirinist moral values. For example, that dancing (Jaka's passion) is immoral because it can generate lust in men. Jaka is stubborn, but eventually is deemed fit for release. She is reunited with Rick (who is clean shaven, short-haired, and bow-tied). At this point, Mrs. Thatcher delivers a final, brutal kick int he teeth: she reveals to Rick that Jaka didn't miscarry, but in fact, terminated her pregnancy with the use of certain herbs. Rick is devestated, especially on learning that the child would have been a boy (his greatest desire, a son). He breaks down completely, screams at and strikes Jaka, and is dragged away by the guards, who break his hand for striking a woman. Jaka is sent back to Palnu, emotionally drained, where she returns to the suite in the Tavers palace that she grew up in. Where she hasn't been since she ran away as a young girl.

Cerebus finally returns to Pud's tavern, only to find it vacant, with signs of struggle. As far as he can tell, everyone is dead, including Jaka, and he wanders, again shell-shocked, into Iest.

Jaka's Story marks a pretty important turning point in Cerebus, with an increasing focus on the characters themselves, rather than the characters as part of a larger plot. This sensibility will be continued in the next book, Melmoth, to an even greater degree. It also marks the beginning of a more explicit examination of real-world figures. While the earlier books are obviously rife with references to real-life institutions and figures, the institutions are used metaphorically, and the people as caricatures, separate and distinct from their real-world counterparts. But with the introduction of Oscar Wilde as a character, and attempts to directly address issues that confronted the real Oscar Wilde, here and in Melmoth, Cerebus is beginning to move beyond it's own confines. This will continue throughout the series, at times confusing the separation between Cerebus' world and ours, at times becoming outright auotbiography from Sim. It's almost as if Dave's artistic ambitions and interests were feeling confined by his stated dedication to 300 continuous issues of Cerebus, and so rather than give up one or the other, he sandwiched them together, and just piled his other ambitions into the Cerebus project. Sometimes, this is a good fit. Other times, well...maye not so much so.

See y'all back here for Melmoth...and the halfway point!