Cerebus #14: You bet your aardvark?

Ah, Lord Julius. Another fantastic character from Dave Sim. He’s not really a parody of Groucho Marx. It’s more of a...personification. What if Groucho were the head of the most bureaucratic nightmare you can imagine?

Issue #14 begins with Cerebus riding into Palnu in the company of Lord Julius, having saved Lord Julius’ son from pirates. As a reward, Cerebus is put in charge of Julius’ security forces — the title of this job being “Kitchen Staff Supervisor.” When he asks why the job title isn’t “Director of Security Forces,” Cerebus finds out that that title has been given to the Secretary of the Navy. Though thoroughly confused and obviously annoyed, the offer of free board and “all the food, wine and ale you can consume” is too much for Cerebus to refuse.

We’ll get little glimpses throughout the issue of the morass of bureaucracy that Julius has created. As he explains to Cerebus: “When you’re running a bureaucracy, the best way to safeguard your job is to make sure you’re the only one who knows how the whole thing works.” We also see just how ruthless Julius can be. When representatives of “satellite cities” refuse Julius’ demands for troops to fight off an invasion, Julius simply tells them that he’ll have to send them to the front instead. He gets his troops.

After Lord Julius survives an assassination attempt through his long-windedness, Cerebus sets out to find the perpetrator. (You know, quite a few of Dave Sim’s characters seem to have dumb luck as their prime survival characteristic, though I think that Julius cultivates this more than he appears to.) Cerebus is eventually able to track the poison to the merchant that supplied it and then is able to penetrate a meeting of conspirators against Julius. Cerebus chases one of the assassins and ends up fighting him on a high ledge just outside Lord Julius’ bedroom. The two struggle while Julius utters many Groucho-like comments. Cerebus does, of course, defeat the assassin, sending him hurtling to his doom.

Dave has done a wonderful job with Lord Julius, both and as a representation of Groucho and as a character in his own right. I’m pretty sure that as the series progresses, Julius will develop more as a character than Elrod, Sophia, or the Roach. But my memories of the comic are at least ten years old so I’ll have to pay attention as I keep reading.

I watched a couple of Marx Brothers movies recently and Dave’s gotten Groucho’s mannerisms and tone just right. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy the movies as much as I thought I would. I think their comedy grew a little old as the movies went on. But I didn’t find myself growing tired of Lord Julius. Perhaps it’s a comedy styling that I just need to take in smaller doses.

And, yes, Cerebus does realize just how mad things are in Palnu. He just doesn’t care. As Cerebus explains when the assassin asks why he’s working for Lord Julius: “Because you’re both idiots! The only difference is that he’s filthy rich and you’re dirt poor!”