Cerebus No. 151

***Cerebus No. 151*** is an issue of *Cerebus*, the first issue of the "Mothers & Daughters" storyline.

## Stories

### "Mothers & Daughters"

Cirin is in the Papal Library of the Eastern Church looking for books on the One True Ascension. She throws the books that don't meet her criteria in the furnaces. So far, no books have met her requirements.

The demon Khem realizes it has no reason to exist any longer, so it turns into itself and disappears.

Cerebus is creating bloody hell in the streets of Iest. Cirin refuses to believe reports from her troops that it is, indeed, Cerebus.

The Judge appears to Death and tells it that it is not Death but a lesser Demon. Death ceases to exist.

Lord Julius Tavers is seen briefly talking with Baskin.

In the Red Marches, a lone Pigt male is worshiping at the fallen remains of the statue that looked like Cerebus. He looks up from worshiping to see the statue has been remade.

### "My Encounters with Dave Sim & Cerebus"

By Rantz Hoseley
Autobiographical one-page story about Hoseley and his relationship to *Cerebus*, including multiple failed attempts to get a one-page story published. Features an appearance by Deni Loubert.

### "Biff!"

By TW
Jack and his dog Biff are the "latest in funny animal strips thought up by the cartoonist." Jack wants Biff to interject funny thoughot balloons, but Biff consistently thinks like a dog, wanting food and to urinate on telephone poles.

### "Fox Tales"

By TW
A fox, fascinated by the nature of a man-made road, learns an important lesson.

## Additional

* "Note from the President" by Dave Sim
* "Aardvark Comment"

## Characters

* Baskin *(last seen in issue 138; next appearance in issue 162)*
* Cerebus *(last seen in issue 150; next appearance in issue 152)*
* Clarinda *(last seen in issue 136; next appearance in issue 153)*
* Cirin *(last seen in issue 100; next appearance in issue 152)*
* Death *(last seen in issue 4; final appearance)*
* Judge's Evil Twin *(first appearance; next appearance in issue 155)*
* Khem *(last seen in issue 2; final appearance)*
* Lord Julius Tavers *(last seen in issue 138; next appearance in issue 160)*

## Locations

* Iest
* Tansubal
* Palnu
* Red Marches

## Story Notes

* One of the books Cirin throws out of the Papal Library has Suenteus Po's name spelled *Suentes Poe*
* The "two years" figure for Jaka's marriage (138, p.8) is almost certainly an exaggeration. She was almost certainly \*not\* married in late winter of 1414 (issue 48), and maximal estimaghter" Cerebus heard some sardonic laughter when he was last here (2, p.18). At the time, it was clearly implied to be coming from the succubus, but that now seems not to have been the case.
* The curved-diamond shape indicates telepathic contact. It was originated in comic books by Elfquest, which was an important early influence on Dave Sim. We have seen it appear (briefly) once before, in issue 32, p.13.
* 11: "Death" was last seen in issue 8.
* 12: Talking about this scene in Comics Interview #107, Dave Sim refers to "the judge-like" character. Given that The Judge's "evil twin" makes an appearance not long after this, it's quite possible that this is not the real Judge.
* "You began as a \*demon\* of a mouse-fraternity in pre-Sepran totemistic Estarcion." This passage is thinly adapted from Robert Graves' Foreword to The White Goddess: "The Greek god Apollo, for instance, seems to have begun as the Demon of a Mouse-fraternity in pre-Aryan totemistic Europe: he gradually rose in divine rank by force of arms, blackmail and fraud until he became the patron of Music, Poetry and the Arts and finally, in some regions at least, ousted his father Zeus from the Sovereignty of the Universe by identifying himself with Belinus the intellectual God of Light." It is also notable that this passage is a fairly good allegory for Cerebus' rise to prominence.
* 15: It is not clear whether Lord Julius is in Iest at this time or not.
* 19-20: This is the clay idol of the Pigt god, which Cerebus broke in issue 5.

## Publication Notes

* "Mothers & Daughters" is reprinted in the *Flight*.

## References

 1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 *Alexx's Cerebus Page*