“Genius” and “nutter” are two words often used to describe Cerebus creator Dave Sim. Most “geniuses” throughout history have had a touch of eccentricity about them which is often viewed as “being a bit mad”, and these days it’s no different.
Sim created Cerebus in the 70’s as a tongue-in-cheek parody of the adventure comics of the day, mainly Marvel’s Conan The Barbarian. Rather than try to do work for hire for one of the many comic companies around, Sim decided to self-publish his work, which was almost unheard of at the time outside of the underground “comix” movement. A lot of comics were published with the intention of running as long as sales would last and with a view to becoming pop-culture icons and thus merchandise goldmines. Sim, however, decided that his comic would last exactly 300 issues and chronicle the life of Cerebus, an anthropomorphic Aardvark living n a world of sword and sorcery. 300 issues, one a month, created, written, drawn and produced by one man is a lot of work and nothing to be sniffed at (down the road he hired background artist Gerhard who would draw all the background’s around Sim’s characters). Early on the comic morphed from the fantasy spoof comic it started as and became something much deeper, with Cerebus turning into the voice of Dave Sim himself, be it about politics, religion, relationships or pretty much anything else int he word around us. By the time Cerebus died in #300 his voice was a bitter one.
Along the way Sim gathered a lot of fans but also ended up making a lot of enemies. At some point a lot of views purported as anti-feminist made their way into Cerebus, which angered a lot of fans, yet Sim still denies being a misogynist. This, along with some non-conventional religious views have branded Sim a “nutter” with a loose grip on reality by some people.
Personal views aside, it cannot be denied that the man is a great writer and artist. My experience of Cerebus is limited to a few comics, the above is knowledge I have gained from reading about the man over years mainly because I was fascinated by him rather than his work. One day, however, I do plan to read the full run of Cerebus and see what the real fuss was about.
When it was announced that Sim was releasing a comic about the Holocaust, called Judenhass, a lot of chatter started online with people on message boards imagining a book of questionable politics that would further embarrass Sim in the public eye. Glowing praise from, amongst others, Neil Gaiman helped cement people’s views that people might have jumped to the wrong conclusions.
Intrigued by the man and also this piece of work, I decided to pick up a copy when it came out (Along with Glamourpuss #1 which I may end up writing about if I ever pick up the other issues). Many months later I finally decided to read it this weekend.
Wow.
I read it in around 20-25 minutes, it’s a thicker than usual comic and I spent a lot of time just studying the images, especially one of the entrance to Auschwitz with remarkable detail. Sim’s “photo-realistic” style in this book is achieved by tracing photographs, transferring the image to thicker art board and then referring to the actual photograph to then draw in all the details. The bulk of the comic is simply images of prisoners in the concentration camps with boxes of text overlaid, containing quotes from around the world and from throughout history that refer to Jews. After that 20 minutes or so the book stayed with me all day.
The title of the book, Judenhass, is German and literally translated it means “Jew Hate”. Sim felt this title helped capture something that he was trying to portray with the book, in his own words:
I decided some time ago that the term anti-Semitism (a ‘coined’ term of late nineteenth century origin) is completely inadequate to the abhorrent cultural phenomenon which it attempts to describe. For one thing, Arabs are Semites as well and the prejudice as it is generally understood certainly doesn’t apply equally to Arabs and Jews.
Sim’s own interest in creating a book that helps delve into the Holocaust, and what actually lead to it, comes from the fact that most of his heroes, the “founding fathers” of modern comics, are all Jewish or of Jewish descent. Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Bob Kane, amongst others, all being Jewish.
The basic facts we were given about the Holocaust during history lessons at school was that far various reasons Hitler had the Jews rounded up in ghetto’s and eventually moved to concentration camps where they were systematically exterminated. Judenhass takes us back before that, juxtaposing the images of concentration camp prisoners with quotes from Henry Ford, Martin Luther, Voltaire, Mark Twain plus numerous sayings, proverbs and teachings from throughout history, alongside politicians from many countries worldwide, going right up until the second world war, all condemning “the Jew” as being a problem.
After reading it I actually felt a bit shocked as to just how much “Jew hatred” had been fostered in the world prior to the atrocities of the second world war. Knowing this it seems almost inevitable that something like this would happen. It’s not often I will read or watch something that will then weigh heavy on my mind for the rest of the day, but this certainly did.
The conclusion of Sim’s research is, in simple terms, Hitler only did what many people had talked about and wished to happen for hundreds of years previously. People that are seen as respected artists, authors and politicians. Hitler himself even claims to have been inspired by the writings of Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company. It’s almost as if history has forgiven everyone in the past for their views and laid the whole thing on Hitler. This is in no way to say that Hitler should take less blame, only that others should be mentioned as being an influence upon his actions. And how come Stalin gets off so lightly for his crimes?
This brings up the age old argument of separating the artist from the art. Is it ok to enjoy the works of Twain and Voltaire knowing they held less than complimentary views for an entire race of people?
Ironically this also brings up the question of if it’s ok to enjoy (if that’ the correct word) this book itself knowing some of the less than complimentary views Sim has expressed himself about certain parts of society.
I think, ultimately, with a book like this one has to ignore any other views the creator may or may not have, because this book simply presents facts backed up by in-depth research and presents it in a way that is both easy to read yet hard to digest. I genuinely think that every school should use this book as a way to start teaching about the Holocaust in history lessons.
I can imagine one day someone doing a biographical comic of Sim himself and finding many contradictory points of view. I hope they do cos I can’t wait to read it!
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