From: pathall@delphinus.as.arizona.edu (Patrick B. Hall)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: cerebus 162
Summary: one oscar two oscar three oscar four
Keywords: cerebus
Date: 14 Oct 92 23:41:08 GMT
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

In article <Bw4M78.6qI@world.std.com> Alexx@world.std.com (Alexx S Kay) writes:
>dvandom@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (David VanDomelen) writes:
>
>><whaps forehead> Duh.  Oh yeah.  Jaka went to work for Pud *after* the 
>>Cirinists took over, and Pud thinks something to the effect of "all the money 
>>my mother saved gone in one year" during Jaka's Story.  But does Cerebus really
>>sit at Dinos for 2 years?  Or did Oscar get released quickly because of failing
>>health?  I'll have to borrow Melmoth again, it seems....
>
>You people *still* don't get it?!  The Oscar in Jaka's Story and the Oscar
>in Melmoth are TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE.  The Melmoth one is dead, and the Jaka's
>Story one has been SEEN, RECENTLY, IN PRISON!
>
>Sorry to rant, but it's so rare that I'm proved *right* on a controversial
>issue :-)
>
>Alexx
>Alexx@world.std.com

From the Usenet Interview:

tyg (tyg@hq.ileaf.com) -- Was Oscar in Melmoth the same character 
who was in Jaka's Story? People have said you've answered this 
question differently at different tour stops.

Dave -- That was left intentionally ambiguous. If you go by the 
length of Jaka's hair between issues 75 and 114, Cerebus was on 
the moon for a longer time than it appeared, or was wandering 
around dazed for two years. The Oscar character in Melmoth refers 
to the author of Jaka's Story as a separate person. This was one of 
the instances where I was ambiguous with a capital "A"; 
manufacturing two separate, irresolvable interpretations. Nothing 
frustrates me more than the twentieth century adherence to the 
notion that you can find out what "actually happened" and that it is 
necessary for fiction to set out a linear, quantitative and absolute 
reality for the readers consumption and assurance. I think 
EVERYTHING is like the Kennedy assassination(s); riddled with 
inconsistencies, false trails overlapping stories and considerations; 
distortions wrapped inside fabrications and coated with lies. The 
sooner we get over the idea that reality isn't like this, the sooner 
we'll be able to put together a world that fits our circumstances as 
they are; not as they never were and will never be. I'm not holding 
my breath.
(end of excerpt)

 	Actually, rereading Dave's answer leaves me a bit more puzzled
than before.  I don't quite see what the time lapse between #75 and #114
has to do with anything here; both Jaka's Story and Melmoth occurred
later (assuming that the "wandering around dazed" he speaks of occurs
in 112/113, not between Jaka's Story & Melmoth).  
	It certainly seems most reasonable that the two Oscars were 
different; I'm not quite sure why Dave thinks it's ambigious.  Unless
you make the assumption that there _is_ only one Oscar, which leaves you
with a continuity problem of how could Oscar be out of jail in Melmoth
but back in jail in M&D.  Maybe that's what he meant.

Pat "Two Periods" Hall
pathall@as.arizona.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc