Cerebus No. 1

***Cerebus the Aardvark No. 1*** is the first issue of *Cerebus*. It is the first published appearance of the title character, Cerebus.

## Stories

### "Cerebus the Aardvark" aka "The Flame Jewel"

Upon arriving in a city, Cerebus finds the local tavern, hacks off the hand of a man who tugs on his tail, and threatens the bartender into serving him. A pair of thieves hire him to burgle the tower of a wizard to get the precious Flame Jewel. At the tower, Cerebus impetuously goes toward the structure and has to battle a shadow-beast. After dispatching the creature, he and the thieves enter the tower. The wizard fires an energy bolt at them but misses due to his age. Next, Cerebus protects the two thieves from a reanimated skeleton; he knocks it into a pit and destroys it by landing on it. The wizard then releases the petals of the Nama Lotus Blossoms upon the thieves. As hallucinations twist the world around him, Cerebus focuses on his goal, overcomes their effect, and guides his companions out.

Cerebus now realizes they've been going in circles; they must let the wizard come to them. A light appears. The next door takes them into a large chamber, which contains the Monster from Time's Dawning, a tentacled dragon that lashes out and captures the two thieves. Cerebus closes his eyes, targets the sound of the wizard's robes and voice, and sinks his sword into the sorcerer. Revealed as an illusion, the Monster from Time's Dawning vanishes. The ancient wizard has turned to dust. The thieves claim the Flame Jewel. Cerebus insists on his payment--one pouch of gold--before they go. Around them the tower, and everything in it, slowly fade into nothingness.

The thieves ask Cerebus how he beat the wizard. He tells them he knows something of sorcery, which is how he defeated all the illusory monsters. He adds that the Flame Jewel was another illusion, and with the wizard dead, it has reverted to a simple walnut. Laughing, the Earth-Pig departs on his horse.

## Additional

* "Note from the Publisher" by Deni Loubert
* "Coming Next Issue - Captive in Boreala"
* "Aardvark Comment"

## Characters

* Cerebus *(last appearance, "The Challenge"; next appearance, Cerebus No. 2)*
* Cerebus' horse *(first appearance)*
* Techot Thal *(only appearance)*
* Pair of unnamed thieves *(only appearance)*
* Unnamed Bartender *(only appearance)*
* Unnamed Wizard *(only appearance; dies)*
* Unnamed Narrator *(only appearance)*
* Pink Floyd *(only appearance, cover only)*

## Objects

* Cerebus' sword
* Cerebus' medallions
* Cerebus' helmet
* Flame Jewel
* Nama Lotus Blossoms

## Locations

* An unnamed city in the South.
* The tower and lands of the unnamed wizard.

## Story Notes

* Cerebus has an unusually long snout. In later issues, his nose is only about half as long as it is here. The discrepancy is never explained, though his snout gets re-elongated for a period of time.
* The general structure of this story is very similar to "Tower of the Elephant," a Conan story that was adapted in issue 4 of that comic. Of course, this sort of story has long been a staple of sword and sorcery fiction. Cerebus is wearing a helmet like that worn by Conan in the early issues of his own comic, as well as a similar set of medallions. Conan's medallions have symbols on them but, except for one instance, Cerebus's do not. (Alexx)
* (p. 1) Cerebus being remembered as "the finest warrior" introduces a minor continuity error -- it would seem odd that he'd be remembered as a warrior instead of prime minister, pope, or any of his other high-profile jobs. (Alexx)
* (p. 5) "By Clovis' Beard" is uttered for the first time. (Alexx)
* (p. 7) The wizard's spell includes the first mentioning of Terim, and two panels later the wizard uses Tarim as an epithet. (Alexx)
* (p. 13) "hallucinogens" is misspelled. (Alexx)
* (p. 16) The beast on this page is reminiscent of the serpent demon in Conan No. 24. (Alexx)
* (p. 18) Though the wizard is only ever called "wizard", he refers to himself as "the Dark Majesty" here.
* (p. 19) The thief utters "Tauran's Blood!" as an oath.
* (p. 21) Cerebus' claim that the "ways of sorcery are not unknown to me" hints about his training in necromancy sometime in the past.
* The main story did not originally carry a title, other than "Cerebus the Aardvark". "The Flame Jewel" was given to it when it was repprinteded in *Swords of Cerebus Volume One*.

## Publication Notes

* The unusual size of the comic and off-center placement of the image was the result of a printer error that required either reprinting the entire run (which the printer refused to do without charging again) or using the correctly printed covers, including the part that would otherwise have been trimmed.
* Reprinted in *Cerebus Bi-weekly - December 2, 1988* and *Cerebus No. 1 - Remastered & Expanded* with variant covers and additional material.
* A facsimile edition was published in 2020 as part of the *Cerebus No. 1 - Remastered & Expanded* Kickstarter campaign. Another facsimile edition is planned for 2024, both standard and signed.
* "The Flame Jewel" is reprinted in *Swords of Cerebus Volume One* and *Cerebus*.
* Bootlegged in the counterfeit *Cerebus No. 1*.

## Adaptations

* "The Flame Jewel" was adapted into the first episode of *Cerebus the Radio Show*.

## Dave Sim on Cerebus No. 1

"I admit to an intentional gross-out on page two, that you would not be likely to see again in the pages of Cerebus. The severed hand bit served to establish that tho this might be a cute and furry aardvark, this was also a mean and lethal aardvark."

## Cover Gallery

2020 reprint2024 Facsimile Edition2024 signed Facsimile Edition
## References

 1. ↑ *Swords of Cerebus Volume One*, from the Introduction to *Cerebus No. 1*