Cerebus No. 9

***Cerebus the Aardvark No. 9*** is an issue of *Cerebus* published by Aardvark-Vanaheim.

## Stories

### "Swords Against Imesh"

Cerebus has become leader of a Conniptin army. They have come to conquer the city of Imesh, but find it has no gates. Cerebus climbs the outer wall only to find the entire city he remembers is gone and the city's inhabitants building a huge stone structure.

When he climbs down the inner wall, a woman named Sedra promises to answer his questions. She leads him into a trap, but King K'Cor does give him some information. K'Cor has developed a substance he calls Buz, which serves as a daily food ration and as a hypnotic for his slaves. Only he and Sedra know the recipe. He assumes that Cerebus has come to free the slaves, who are building the sacred symbol of the Venusians in preparation for their imminent invasion from space.

Once Cerebus finally gets the chance to speak, he tells K'Cor that he has come to conquer Imesh. K'Cor proposes a wager of kings, a contest for ownership of the city, the slaves, and the Buz recipe. Cerebus, having little choice, must face the Energy Globes of Imesh and K'Cor's champion.

The Energy Globes are floating balls of light that fire beams. Cerebus learned their attack patterns in his youth, so they are dangerous but not automatically fatal. They do, however, reopen the wound in his back.

Once past the globes, Cerebus faces Lord Koghem, a Panrovian. In his condition, Cerebus needs an edge, so he hurls insults before the combat begins and easily bests Koghem. Thinking he has won, Cerebus finds K'Cor ready to fight him. Tired and wounded, Cerebus can barely hold his own, but he rallies and begins to beat K'Cor back. The king, however, throws away his sword and tells Cerebus that he has lost. K'Cor poisoned the wells around the city, he says, and Cerebus's army is dead, as are his dreams of conquest.

## Additional

* "A Note from the Publisher" by Deni Loubert
* "The Aardvarkian Age" map
* "Aardvark Comment" feauturing a letter and illustration by Fred Hembeck

## Characters

* Cerebus *(last seen in* Cerebus No. 8*; next appearance in* Cerebus No. 10*)*
* Sedra *(only appearance)*
* K'Cor *(first appearance; next appearance in* Cerebus No. 38*)*
* Lord Koghem *(only appearance)*

## Story Notes

* The alert reader will infer that Cerebus spent some time in Imesh before K'Cor's reign. According to the letters page of issue 37, Cerebus was brought here by his father "around the age of 9," about 17 years before this story (since Issue 5 establishes that he is now 26). He was apprenticed to Magus Doran and studied magic.
* Cerebus's wound is from the giant spider in issue 7.
* Lord Koghem's Panrovian dueling style doesn't seem to be the same as Red Sophia's in Issue 3. It's possible that K'Cor has given Buz to Koghem, which would explain his presence in Imesh, his obedience to K'Cor, and his poor technique.
* Apparently not all the Conniptins died of poison; see issue 49.
* According to "A Note from the Publisher," Deni helped in the production of the issue by filling in some blacks and doing some of the tone. She complains about the lack of letters.
* Aardvark Comment in this issue only shows Cerebus holding his sword and saying "If Cerebus doesn't get some letters about this issue ... he's going to get mighty cranky!"

## Publication Notes

* Reprinted in *Cerebus Bi-weekly - March 24, 1989*
* "Swords Against Imesh" is reprinted in *Swords of Cerebus Volume Three* and the *Cerebus* phonebook.

## Dave Sim on *Cerebus No. 8*

* **Q5.** Is there any further explanation for what K'Cor's abandoned, unfinished monument was supposed to be, or represent? In Cerebus #9, we see the plans for the completed monument. It looks like an abstract, armless, humanoid form. A little green man? An Aardvark? K'Cor's ramblings about the Venusians seem like the ranting of a madman, and one could dismiss the whole thing as an early plot idea left in the dust--but you brought it back in *Flight.* Po refers to K'Cor's monument as being "of great and vital importance on many of the inter-connecting chessboards: alignments of power and influence ebbed and flowed in its proximity. Its completion would have wrought profound and lasting change." K'Cor is fascinated with Venus, and the moon--both astrological aspects of Woman. So, who was guiding his hand? Terim/Yoowhoo? Cirin? And if this monument was so important to the interdimensional aspect of Woman, why was it derailed by a woman in the departure of Sedra, all the while K'Cor still being in contact with "The Living Goddess?"

**DAVE:** Well, actually that was just my peculiar sense of humour. What K'Cor was attempting to build was a giant DNA molecule, a double helix, but he didn't have much in the way of a three-dimensional sense so that's what it came out looking like. Po was responding to the intent behind it, on the spiritual level and, there's my sense of humour again. If you are a human being (or an aardvark-let's say "physically incarnated") the danger with attempting to live a spiritual life is that you can only know it imperfectly "through a glass darkly" so your assessments become imperfect and vaguely (or sometimes specifically I'm sure) ludicrous. "There is a great deal of laughter but it's very high up and very far away." K'Cor was guided by his insights, whether he was inhabited by a higher consciousness or spoken to in his dreams or, more likely, a drug victim. You make your own choices. I suspect I was unconsciously showing myself what it was that I was about to choose--to spend twenty-six years building this giant monument which might prove to be something or might not--that might be useful as a "stairway to heaven" or prove to be as valuable as a giant two-dimensional model of part of a DNA molecule. Time will tell.