Cerebus No. 161

***Cerebus No. 161*** is an issue of *Cerebus*.

## Stories

### "Mothers & Daughters 11"

The first of the two coins turns to tar, the other one gets a blemish. Cerebus sees the dead Bran Mac Mufin and Suenteus Po tells Bran's story, referring to him as Cerebus' "Dark Bishop."

Meanwhile, something is wrong with Cirin's Ascension. Po achieves checkmate with queen takes pawn at f7. Cerebus failed to prevent checkmate: he mistakenly chose to move his "Dark Bishop" to d7.

### "Bone: A Cerebus Preview"

by Jeff Smith
In this excerpt from *Bone No. 3*, Phoney Bone locates Fone Bone at the home of Thorn and Gran'Ma Ben.

## Additional

* "Note from the President"
* "Aardvark Comment"
* "Cerebus and Erika" pinup by Dave Sim, Martin Wagner and Gerhard

## Characters

* Astoria *(last seen in issue 159; next appearance in issue 162)*
* Bran Mac Mufin *(last seen in issue 112; next appearance in issue 300)* As animated corpse
* Cerebus *(last seen in issue 160; next appearance in issue 162)*
* Cirin *(last seen in issue 160; next appearance in issue 162)*
* Punisheroach*(last seen in issue 160; next appearance in issue 162)*
* Regency Elf *(last seen in issue 157; next appearance in issue 162)*
* Elrod *(last seen in issue 160; next appearance in issue 162)*
* Judge *(last seen in issue 157; next appearance in issue 165)*
* K'Cor *(last seen in issue 159; next appearance in issue 300)*
* Lord Julius Tavers *(last seen in issue 160; next appearance in issue 162)*
* McGrew Brothers *(last seen in issue 160; next appearance in issue 165)*
* Mr. Hammond *(last seen in issue 156; next appearance in issue 165)*
* Mrs. Thatcher *(last seen in issue 158; next appearance in issue 162)*
* Suenteus Po *(last seen in issue 160; next appearance in issue 165)*

## Locations

* Eighth Sphere
* Iest
* Imesh
* Palnu
* Red Marches
* The Moon

## Story Notes

* 2-3: Cerebus has moved KB-K2. Pushing the bishop further would have prevented the upcoming Scholar's Mate, but Cerebus was presumably distracted by the appearance of Bran. (Alexx)
* 4: This is an insightful, if biased, synopsis of Bran's life (and death). (Alexx)
* 7: It is unclear whether these demons were real, or just imagined shapes in the clouds; if indeed there is any practical difference. (Alexx). Note that the text box describes "...then the sky...is filled, instantly, with enormous insect creatures, whose maniacal shrieking drowns out even the howl of the rising winds...". The insect creatures are back-lit, and appear to be large grasshopper in appearance insects.
* Pigts: The Pigts experience several of the bibical plagues of Egypt: page 7 shows locus and hail, and page 17 shows darkness.
* 9: "You're going to \*marry\* me?!" Lord Julius, having been divorced (at least) three times, naturally sees it as a dire fate (Alexx)
* 10, 15: The speeches of the Elf and the Judge would seem to indicate that almost no time has passed since they were last seen in issue 157. (Alexx)
* 11: Astoria also dreams of Ascending with a Gold Sphere. (Alexx)
* 12: The Cirinist at the door is making what can only be a recognition sign for the Eye in the Pyramid. This is the first time that Astoria has been overtly connected with that group, but it now seems as if she may be its leader. It is unclear whether the assassin attacking Lord Julius is one of the "out of control" members, or is acting on orders. Probably the former. (Alexx)
* 13: The Roach used to patronize Maggie's back in High Society (issue 41, p.5). (Alexx)
* 14: The bartender has picked up a French/Lower Feldan accent since last issue. (Alexx)
* 16: "cigarette" Smoking technology continues to move quickly. Clay pipes were given up in favor of cigars in between issues 22 and 23, and now, about two years later, we have cigarettes. (Alexx)
* 18: The lamps outside Maggie's are guttering out in the same fashion as the Pigt torches did on the previous page (Alexx)
* 19: The pose that the Roach is doing while sitting on the chair: knees together with both of his hands in-between his thighs is one Cerebus also does when experiencing the same "I've been a bad boy" feeling. (See issue 205)
* 20: "Checkmate." This is a slight variation on the Scholar's Mate, a classic way to beat inexperienced chess players. It is called the Scholar's Mate because it is one step up from the Fool's Mate, which is an even quicker game. (Alexx)