Cerebus No. 157

***Cerebus No. 157*** is an issue of the comic book *Cerebus*.

## Story

### "Mind Game VI"

Cerebus has reached the Eighth Sphere. There is no more up or down, only eternal blackness. He witnesses several flashbacks to times that brought him joy: his youth, his first be-heading of a Borealan, standing on the Wall of T'si. The Judge's Evil Twin disappears and so does the other Elf.

Cerebus realizes the flashbacks are only meant to distract him again. He starts to go up. He wants to go up so much that a smaller version of him breaks off from the bigger one. It is an exact duplicate of him (without Missy and his sword), splitting his awareness. He goes up and up to a platform, a chess board.

## Additional

* *Note from the President*
* *Aardvark Comment*
* "Cerebus and the Feminist"; cartoon jam by Trina Robbins and Dave Sim

## Characters

* Cerebus *(last seen in issue 156; next appearance in issue 158)*
* Punisheroach *(last seen in issue 155; next appearance in issue 158)*
* Regency Elf *(last seen in issue 156; next appearance in issue 161)*
* Elrod *(last seen in issue 155; next appearance in issue 159)*
* Judge *(last seen in issue 156; next appearance in issue 161)*
* Mrs. Copps*(last seen in issue 155; next appearance in issue 158)*
* Mrs. Thatcher *(last seen in issue 156; next appearance in issue 158)*
* Suenteus Po *(last seen in issue 156; next appearance in issue 158)* As astral body form

## Locations

* Eighth Sphere
* The Moon
* Iest
* Red Marches

## Story Notes

* Cover: The cover of this issue depicts Cerebus rising over a distorted view of the cover from last issue, in keeping with the theme of "up". (Alexx)
* 2: "the time of your 'kidnapping'" Issue 28. (Alexx)
* "a 'suburb' of the Seventh Sphere" Actually, all the areas described as the Eighth Sphere have turned out to technically be parts of the Seventh, including this one, if Po's earlier comment on this page can be believed. (Alexx)
* 3: "there is no 'down' or 'up'" Given the events of page 13, this is almost certainly another lie meant to distract Cerebus. (Alexx)
* 4: From Issue 6, Page 17: "Cerebus hasn't been this happy since he beheaded his first Borealan." (Alexx)
* 7: This page is the first explicit indication that Jaka and Cerebus \*did\*, indeed, sleep together in issue 6. This scene would have taken place between pages 17 and 19 of that issue. (Alexx)
* 8: Note that the "twin" Elf vanishes at just about the same time as the "twin" Judge. (Alexx)
* 10: The first one to congratulate Cerebus is Harmon Blakely, a former member of Cerebus' Iestan Cabinet, last seen in issue 49. (Alexx)
* 11: The top of Cerebus' speech is legible, and worth reading. (Alexx)
* 12: "For you? No." Po undoubtedly means this in an allegorical as well as a literal sense; there is no upper limit to what Cerebus can achieve. (Alexx)
* 14-17: The events here seem (to me) to be drawn from a mystical view of an object's approach to a black hole. (Alexx)
* 18: This duplicate has been seen before (88, p.7; 153, p.13) and seems to represent Cerebus' "astral self". (Alexx)
* "thirty-six million miles" Does anyone know (or posit) a significance to this figure? (Alexx)
* 20: This chess board, though not explicitly called so in the story, was referred to in promotional materials as "the Ninth Sphere". (Alexx)

## Publication Notes

* "Mind Game VI" is reprinted in the *Flight*.