Cerebus: Book Six
If Jaka's Story was a lull compared to the pace of earlier Cerebus books, the next book, Melmoth, grinds the story to a halt completely. Most of the material in here is completely tangential to anything that has happened in any previous book, and serves as a very large bridge between the last events of Jaka's Story and the first scenes of Flight. It gets a bad rap from fans of the political intrigue and fast-paced humour of the series, but it has it's merits, and it's certainly another leap forward in Dave and Gerhard's skills with the medium.
The title Melmoth comes from "Sebastien Melmoth," the alias Oscar Wilde used during his last days, after his release from Reading Gaol, until his death from cerebral meningitis. These last days are re-created here, based on actual letters and historical re-countings, but transplanted from our world to the fictional world of Estarcion. However, confusingly enough, the Oscar Wilde character here is not the same as the Oscar Wilde we met in Jaka's Story. This is the "real" Oscar Wilde, and the other Wilde, who has just been sentenced to prison for writing without a license, is another fellow who happens to share his name (as is noted early on here). There was already some hint of this in Jaka's Story, when the younger Oscar mentions that he met the writer of that "poisonous volume about the painting that grows old and hideous...." I'm not sure exactly why this was done, but it does make it easy to move directly into Oscar's twilight years, without skipping two years of Cerebus' story while waiting for his release from jail.
Ironically enough, Cerebus' story for this book consists of him sitting, in a near-catatonic state, overcome with grief at the apparent death of Jaka, on the patio of a bar in Iest, for days on end, clutching her childhood doll, Missy. He does regain some small amount of his awareness and motivation as the book progresses, but not enough to actually get up and go anywhere, or interact with anyone who's not already there. Which pretty much means the bar-owner, Dino; the waitresses, Janice and Doris; and a handful of passersby. Many characters from early books have cameos as they pass by the bar, but only a few even recognize Cerebus, let alone try to engage him in conversation.
But Oscar's story dominates this volume, combining Sim's talent for caricature and pacing, Gerhard's incredible backgrounds, and slightly adapted letters from those who were present for the real Wilde's death. It's a strong piece of work, capturing the see-saw of hope and despair that happens in those final hours, and culminating in the numb, laborious work that accompanies the end of a life. On a purely evocative level, it's amazingly done. For those interested in the nominal plot of Cerebus, however, it's basically a speed bump. Some theorize that at this point, Sim was a little burnt out on his central character, and was basically taking a break without breaking his monthly rhythm. His interests outside of Cerebus were too tempting to put off until the end of the series in 2004, so he shoehorned them in. Had his cake, and ate it too. And in fact, future storylines will have even more examples of this sort of divergence, melding real-world biography and examination with his fictional world.
Cerebus can't stay catatonic forever though. The epilogue to this volume picks up the plot from the end of Jaka's Story, and segues directly into the next massive undertaking, the 50-issue behemoth that is Mothers & Daughters. Overhearing two Cirinists soldiers outside the bar discussing Jaka's imprisonment, his anger overcomes him and he quickly and brutally murders both of them. Flashback to his mercenary days with Bear, where he remembers Bear telling him that the Cirinists are all "linked," like wasps...you hurt one, and every Cirinist soldier for miles will be on top of you in minutes. Remembering this, and the Judge's prediction of his fate, he contemplates suicide for a moment...but only a moment, before running from the gathering army, deeper into the Lower City.
This concludes the first half. Next up is the first part of Mother & Daughters: Flight. A return to the action and themes of earlier volumes, and also the first step into the true craziness to come.
1 Comments:
I agree Melmoth was a "side trip" for "Cerebus," yet I've always had a soft spot for it. It seems more cohesive and compact than the later digressions post-#200 when the series began to derail for me (the interminable Hemingway adventure, for instance, didn't have nearly the emotional punch that "Melmoth" does). And man, you're right, Sim and Gerhard were at the top of their game art-wise in this volume. Utterly amazing stuff.
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