Tower of Iron Will

Cerebus is an anthropomorphic aardvark who lives in a world that mixes elements of various time periods from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. It is not a world of anthropomorphic animals, all other characters are human, Cerebus is the only one of his kind and no one comments on it. In this collection Cerebus rises through the devious world of politics. High Society is a broad satire of bureaucracy, lobbying, national debt, back room political deals, factions, squabbling political advisers, and massive egos. The overall tone is anti-government libertarian. The satire is rarely funny, but Sim lightens the tone with parody. There is a parody of Elric from the Michael Moorcock fantasy novels, who talks like the Loony Tunes character Foghorn Leghorn for some reason. There is also a parody of the Marvel Comics character Moon Knight who is amazingly out of place in the setting but who is actually a major character in the story. The best scenes feature Lord Julius of Palnu who is written and drawn as Groucho Marx.

I put off reading Cerebus for a long time, mainly due to the massive size of the work, consisting of 300 individual issues collected in phone book sized collections. Sim has also become a controversial figure over the years. He was once a hero to many comic creators for his success in self-publishing. Now he is kind of a pariah due to his controversial public statements, particularly regarding his thoughts on women. I think it is important to separate the artist from the work. High Society is a beautifully cartoony collection that can switch from comical to serious and back with ease. It is definitely worth giving a try.