It's hard to give a proper introduction to this comic, if nothing else because it's scale is incomporable to anything else ever done in the medium. The series is, in fact, a three hundred issue limited series, centering around the life of an anthropomorphized, sword-swinging aardvark mercenary. The entire thing is broken down into large, but managably-sized chunks. The major story arcs that have run so far are: Cerebus, High Society, Church and State (parts I and II), Jaka's Story, Melmoth and Mothers and Daughters. The story is currently about two-thirds done, so this would be a pretty good time to jump in, as you can get yourself up to speed without having to wait too many years for the ultimate denouement.

Cerebus is delightful because it achieves a number of profound statements without coming across as heavy-handed, dull or simplistic. For instance, Church and State is, in the words of Cerebus creator Dave Sim, about the interplay between faith and political power. In it, Cerebus is apponted pope to one of the major churches of the world he lives in, ad immeditaely begins fleecing the population by stating that his god will destroy the world in fifteen days if people do not hand over all their gold. A prime example of his style occurs when a persistent woman in the crowd continuously begs him to bless her baby. He finally agrees to do so, promising to deliver an object lesson. He grabs the baby, says "Bless you," and hurls the baby off into the distance. The lesson, he says, is that sometimes you can get what you want and still not be happy.

If this sort of deliciously dark humor is not your cup of tea, don't worry: things are frequently lighter. For instance, the character of Artemis |(aka, The Roach) is highly enjoyable as he morphs through parodies of various popular comic characters, such as Captain Roach, Moon Roach, Wolveroach, Swoon (a hilarious take on Neil Gaiman's Sandman), Mega Hooters Roach, and so on. Equally amusing is Elrod the Albino (to quote Cerebus, "How does somebody let their sword get so rusty, it turns black?"), last prince of the dying race of Melvinbone, whose speech patterns, oddly enough, are exactly like those of Foghorn Leghorn ("See, I say, see this hee-yu tall pointy hat, boy? It means I got status. Now, you can argue with me, boy, but you can't, I say, you can't argue with status.")

Amazingly, it also manages to touch some fairly deep emotional chords as well. Cerebus' ongoing, and generally unsuccessful, relationship with the on woman who truly loves him and doesn't seek to use him for any political gain, is tragic, as he repeatedly rejects her in favor of his quest for power and glory.

There is a colorful cast of supporting characters, in addition to the ones mentioned above. Red Sofia, the barbarian bimbo, Astoria, the conniving femme fatale, Lord Julius, the master politician who's a dead ringer for Groucho Marx, the flighty Regency Elf and the enigmatic Suenteus Po are all parts of the story as integral as Cerebus himself.

All in all, Dave Sim weaves an engrossing and decidedly believable political landscape for his charcaters to move through. It is a testament to his skill as a writer that he is able to pull together a story that works on so many levels of social criticism and parody, yet still manages to be, first and foremost, a story about people.