Cerebus #15: More fun with Lord Julius

Cerebus, still employed as Lord Julius’ “Kitchen Staff Supervisor”, has discovered evidence of a continuing conspiracy against Julius. As Cerebus and Julius review the records of their prisoners’ interrogations — “Aaagh.”; “No. No. No.”; and “Aieeeee.” feature heavily in the transcripts — they find one reference to “the Pits.” Though most Palnuans (Palnuites? Palnubians?) consider the Pits to be a myth, Cerebus’ is able to track down their origin and with “a cursory glance through the material” is able to confirm their existence.

“The Pits” is the original city of Palnu, swallowed up by an earthquake, that lies beneath the current city. The original masters of Palnu “untapped mysteries of the ancient world! There were rumours of strange unholy experiments...alchemy and other forbidden disciplines.” It was apparently so bad that the Church of Tarim forbade its priests from even approaching the city. Doesn’t exactly sound like the kind of place where you’d want to spend your week off. And even though they consider it myth, most residents of Palnu are quite afraid of it. Lord Julius, though, seems completely oblivious to the threat of the place. He’s much more interested in whether it would be a good location for his Festival of Petunias.

Cerebus, Lord Julius, and Baskin, one of Julius’ scribes, descend into the Pits and are quickly trapped by the leader of the “Eye of the Pyramid”. Cerebus is forced to fight the Shadow Crawler, a giant, enchanted snake. Unable to defeat it by sword, Cerebus realizes that the snake can be directed by holding torches right next to its eyes — the snake had always followed a corridor lit with torches on both walls to find its prey. Cerebus crashes the snake into the wall, dislodging the leader and freeing them from the trap. Unfortunately, this damage causes part of the ceiling to collapse, cutting them off from the Pyramid leader, and leaving them apparently trapped in the Pits.

One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve read these last two issues is that I’m appreciating Julius as a character much more than I did when I first read Cerebus. Back then I pretty much just considered him as a vehicle for comedy or as someone who was there just to create comedic roadblocks that Cerebus (and other characters) had to overcome.

Oh, I did enjoy him and the absurd persona he projected when I originally read the comic book. But this time I not only enjoy the madness of Lord Julius, but I appreciate the method behind the madness, as it were. As another of Julius’ retainers notes to Cerebus: “Lord Julius does not permit his employees to speak together except through him....” If I’d thought about this before, I probably would’ve just seen it as more silliness from Julius, but now I can see it as an effort to further his control over the bureaucracy and the city.

It’s much more rewarding, reading through this time, to try to figure him out as a person, to watch his machinations and try to figure out just what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. Is this ridiculous persona simply a means to an end? Or is it simply who he is? Is power his ultimate goal or is there more? I’m looking forward to finding out.