Cerebus Dreams

**"Cerebus Dreams"** is a six-page story written and drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith with tones by Dave Sim. It shows Cerebus entering a dream state.
The story was first printed in *Swords of Cerebus Volume Five*.

## Summary

Cerebus lies sleeping on a pile of hay. A beam of light shines down near his face, and a drip of water splashes down. The water becomes a jewel, which awakens him when it drops against his forehead. He sits up and discovers it's raining gems and jewels all around him; a spotlight is upon him and an empty black void has replaced the location. He stands up, inspects one of the raining gems, and proceeds to scoop up as many of the valuable baubles as he can hold. Suddenly, a chicken appears behind him, bawking as it eats one of fallen crystals. Cerebus tries to stop it, but is left puzzled by the chicken's continued consumption of the jewels. A loud musical note bursts onto the scene, causing Cerebus to drop the gems. He looks to the direction it comes from, and turns when a second note shrieks out. A strange, thin, fiddler races at him from the darkness, and once in the spotlight with him, begins playing multiple notes, overwhelming Cerebus, who struggles as the fiddler presses his face against his snout, finally the fiddler rises up, finishes playing, and applause slowly fills the area. Cerebus is about to punch the fiddler, when he takes a bow and knocks him back. The applause grows, disembodied hands the source. The fiddler acknowledges the audience, and departs, the spotlight going with him. Cerebus stands back up, confused in the darkness.

Cerebus slowly opens an eye, discovering his slumbering location near a window now has the harsh light of the sun beaming through, right onto his face. He scratches his rear, rolls out of the way of the light, and resumes sleeping. Nearby, a chicken pecks at the ground, and shrieks out a familiar musical note...

## Publication Notes

* Orignally published in *Swords of Cerebus Volume Five*
* Reprinted in *Cerebus World Tour Book 1995* and *Following Cerebus No. 10*

## Dave Sim on "Cerebus Dreams"

* "Barry Windsor-Smith still has the distinction of being the only writer/artist to produce a Cerebus story I had nothing to do with: 'Cerebus Dreams'. I swiped a lot of his approach to inking Cerebus and I *still* get fan drawings copied from his *Swords* 5 cover. The second most popular Cerebus style is Kevin Eastman's from the cover of the First Comics *Turtles* reprint volume. I run a distant third. I've also done a number of 'Cerebus Dreams' stories since Barry came up with the idea. I'll send him a cheque, but you can be sure -- whatever it's made out for -- it won't be enough."

* "I think there would also need to be a third category which would be "high iconic" appearances. These would be situations where the Cerebus depicted not only isn't part of the regular continuity of issues 1-300, he isn't even his traditional "iconic" self. . . I would put BWS's "Cerebus Dreams" in the same category. The significance of the story is hidden if it's just considered on the basis of its own content. When did the dream take place in continuity? Well, obviously a big reason that it even IS a dream was so that Barry didn't have to worry about affecting Cerebus continuity-Cerebus could've had the dream at any time or he could never have had the dream-or pretending that he was Dave Sim. The significance of the story is that it is Cerebus being done by the person who was a primary creative influence behind Cerebus which raises its significance above the level of the actual content and thus makes it a "high iconic" story."

* "Iconic", "Cerebus Dreams", "(1983/Summer) Swords of Cerebus 3, World Tour Book", "circa issue 6 (?)", "Fall of 1411 <per Alexx>", "By Barry Windsor-Smith", "1411.4"

Dave: "DISAGREE – My choice to incorporate “Cerebus Dreams” into the storyline means that it began as Iconic but became Canonical. Miscellany Volume with footnote on whatever page the first significant post-BWS dream occurs—probably the extended sequence at the beginning of Church & State volume 2."

## References

 1. ↑ *Cerebus World Tour Book 1995*
2. ↑ CerebusFangirl web site, "Cerebus Archive Report #3.5 (S.P.A.C.E. Edition)"
3. ↑ CerebusFangirl web site, "Cerebus Archive Report 4"