Canadian cartoonist Dave Sim, creator of the long-running satirical fantasy comic Cerebus (featuring Cerebus the Aardvark), has caused controversy and disappointment with the upcoming release of a 24-page Cerebus comic that mocks queer political orthodoxy with tired transphobic tropes.
Here’s the book’s description:
MEET THE INFERNAL REALMS’ MOST INCLUSIVE SUPER GROUP! LESBIANA HOMBRE™! Gay Chicano Female trapped inside the White Masculine body she never made! REDWOOD CITY™! He may look like a tree, but he’s actually a mid-sized metropolitan California tourist destination (and excretes his own pine cones!) BORDERLINE BOBBIEY™! Amazingly, he changes gender identity every time you refer to her by a different pronoun! Just watch him! You go, girl! BELVEDERE™! Tired of being a stallion centaur Belvedere demands her right to give birth as a broodmare! “No WOMB! No PEACE!”
Watch, as the STRANGEST HEROES AND FEMALE HEROES OF ALL go head-to-head with Cerebus! Can the aardvark and his WAVERY HOMOPHOBIA LINES hold up against a SUPREME COURT DECISION!? Features the hit song “Don’t Pine for your cone, Redwood City!”
In the past, Sim has been a vocal advocate for independent comics creators and praised for pushing the genre and exploring theological themes.
However, in the past he has disavowed transgender identity as “an abnormal psychological pathology,” adding “I, and most men I know, remain unconvinced [about trans identity] despite the massive pressure you exert to try and make us see it your way.”
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The geek news site Bleeding Cool says that a wrist condition has made drawing difficult for Sim. Thus, his comics now mostly consist of old images from previous Cerebus comics cut and pasted into illustrations of Dante’s Inferno, drawn by Gustave Dore, a 19th century French artist.
“Dave seems to have brought a few attitudes from the 19th century with him,” Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool writes.
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The comic is set to hit stores in June, Pride Month. Johnston notes that Cerebus has seen steadily declining sales of late, coinciding with Sim’s increasing use of sensationalized and provocative political cover art. Johnston also pointed out a handful of disappointed fans on Twitter decrying Sim’s upcoming issue.
Here is the cover art for the Cerebus LGBTQ issue:
