Cerebus No. 3

***Cerebus the Aardvark No. 3*** is the third issue of *Cerebus*. It is notable as the first full appearance of Red Sophia.

## Stories

### "Song of Red Sophia"

In Temza, Cerebus learns that the Borealans are running out of gold and impressing mercenaries. He goes back to Tansubal to raise money for his passage east. There, he meets the wizard Henrot, who hires him to torture and kill a man named Tanes Feras, who has insulted Henrot's daughter. Cerebus must take the daughter, Red Sophia, with him.

During the journey to Branpur, Sophia's talkative and self-absorbed nature gets on Cerebus's nerves. When he snaps and yells at her, she takes offense, and a fight ensues. She is good, but no match for an earth-pig born. She tells him that she has sworn an oath: any man who defeats her in battle becomes her master, and she will do his bidding. Cerebus bids her carry the large sack of supplies.

They reach a tavern. Cerebus sits down with an ale and tunes out Sophia's constant fawning over him. A fellow patron, Thugg the Unseemly, wonders at Sophia's interest in the aardvark and tries to claim her attentions. She takes umbrage and demands Cerebus redeem her honor. Thugg preemptively attacks Cerebus, who has not followed the conversation, but Cerebus soon knocks out Thugg and leaves. Sophia, still not satisfied, violently dispatches Thugg. That night, Red Sophia serves Cerebus some granola, which he declares "horse feed." He hunts down some game and dines on it, disgusting Sophia, especially when he confirms he would eat a human being ... but "only if game is scarce."

Back on the road, Red Sophia makes increasingly frank suggestions while absent-mindedly leaving Cerebus to struggle in her wake. Once at the home of Tanes Feras, Sophia immediately tries to kill him. Cerebus knocks her out and learns that Feras is madly in love with Sophia. He has a job to do, so he ties Tanes to a post, lights a fire, and finds an iron rail to heat. Tanes faints. Finally having some quiet, Cerebus comes up with a solution to both his problems.

Cerebus returns alone to Tansubal. He tells Henrot, "Cerebus would not want to be in Feras' place." He receives his payment, a sack of gold, and makes to depart. Henrot asks where Sophia is. Cerebus says that she and Feras are getting married, which will guarantee vile torture for them both.

## Additional

* "A Note from the Publisher" by Deni Loubert
* "Next Issue - Death's Dark Tread"
* *The Aardvarkian Age* map by Michael Loubert
* "Aardvark Comment"

## Characters

* Henrot *(first appearance; next appearance in issue 19)*
* Cerebus *(last seen in issue 2, next appearance in "Passage")*
* Red Sophia *(first appearance; next appearance in issue 10)*
* Tanes Feras *(only appearance)*
* Thugg *(only appearance)*

## Objects

* Cerebus' helmet
* Cerebus' medallions
* Cerebus' sword

## Locations

* Branpur -- Tanes Feras' homeland
* Tansubal -- Henrot & Red Sophia's homeland
* Temza -- mentioned as the port Cerebus reached between issues

## Story Notes

* There are a whopping 11 uses of Tarim's name as an oath in this issue. Others include 5 for Clovis, 1 for Ashtoth, and 1 for Set.
* (p. 1) The splash page showing Cerebus with Red Sophia in the middle of the story, then flashing back to what led him there, is a commonly used effect, especially by Marvel Comics. However, *Cerebus* never uses it again.
* (p. 1) Henrot draws power from two of the five Spheres of the Gods, which were mentioned last issue. The Eye of Terim is another one of the Spheres.
* (p. 5) Cerebus identifies Red Sophia's tactic as a "standard Panrovian duel assault," giving us the first mention of Panrovy. Later (p. 10) he alludes (mentally) to "Panrovian dueling instructors."
* (p. 10) Cerebus apparently leaves his helmet behind in the tavern, but it is thrown out during Sophia's fight with Thugg. Since it lacks Zip-a-tone in this panel, however, it may belong to someone else.
* (p. 14) The word *Gurannian* has two Rs and two Ns in the previous issue (*Gurranian*).
* (p. 19) This issue suggests that Cerebus is not familiar with human customs and is also unaffected by human standards of attraction ("the ways of men are strange, indeed to one who is an earth-pig born"). This contradicts later information, which establishes that Cerebus was born to humans and grew up among humans.
* (p. 22) Cerebus predicts that the marriage will last many years, but according to Issue 10, it lasts only a few weeks.

## Publication Notes

* Reprinted in *Cerebus Bi-weekly - December 30, 1988* with a variant cover and additional material.
* "Song of Red Sophia" is reprinted in *Swords of Cerebus Volume One* and *Cerebus*.

## Dave Sim on *Cerebus No. 3*

* "We'll put out three issues and if it doesn't go so good, we can always back out and I'll have three sample issues of a comic book when I look for work.

By the time the third issue came out, we had pretty much committed ourselves to the task of putting out a bi-monthly comic. I had decided when I finished issue #2 that I would do a Red Sonja parody in issue 3. This was large because of Frank Thorne.
I was trying to do Frank Thorne's Sonja, inked like Barry Smith does, only more hair and aw nuts it doesn't look like anything.
The granola page was the first time I cracked myself up over one of my own jokes, page two's backgrounds were copied out of a very slim volume of Art Nouveau objay dar, and yes, it is true, the wizard was drawn so he looked like Frank."