Posts tagged mrs thatcher

Well, I do have to say that, unlike GUYS, RICK’S STORY has a lot of promise – already in 3 issues, we’ve had more story and character development than in all of GUYS.

We start with Rick working on his book and Cerebus behind the bar, having an internal debate over whether he’s leaving in two days or staying and whether he wants to be around the “girly” Rick, so forth and so on.

His self-berating is interrupted when Mrs. Thatcher (who is now subservient to Cerebus after he asserted his will over her back in GUYS) comes and delivers some potatoes to the tavern. Rick, sitting and writing (and having internal fantasies about the ex-Pope trying to distract him from his book), is frightened of Thatcher, recalling when she had his thumb broke for striking Jaka, all those years ago.

(I’ll confess, I’m at a total loss for how much time has transpired. I know I could look online for a timeline/chronology, but I’m trying to avoid any further spoilers until I complete the series, at least.)

Rick sees Thatcher as a dark demon, one that Cerebus sends packing; in his internal fantasy world, Rick is still young and pretty, Thatcher is demonic/squidly/spiderlike, and Cerebus wavers between dark and sinister, and angelic like Rick.

After Thatcher is gone, Rick and Cerebus return to their previous activities.

(Happy birthday to me…)

Cerebus is the barkeep, but nobody comes. He gets tired of wearing the shirt and tie and pants and shoes and strips of most of them, wearing only the shirt, collar unbuttoned. Thatcher comes in and starts rattling off demerits for lack of following dress code.

He mentally assaults her, puts her in a chair and then sends a message to Cirin – leave Cerebus be, unless she wants to pick up where they left off in the throne room.

Some fop is offended at the lack of quality of Cerebus’ ale.

An ugly woman comes and tells Cerebus she wants to have sex with him; he turns her away and spends the night arguing with himself: a) whether this makes him a faggot and b) should he sleep with an ugly woman just b/c it’s been a couple of years since he got laid.

Again, I’m really surprised I’ve not heard people rant how Sim is a homophobe with the vehement attitude Cerebus (and others) have shown in regards to “faggots”.

See you Monday. Hoping this gets better.

Also - tonight, I have 42 auctions ending on eBay.  I’m selling comic books to catch up on my bills.  There is a misc Cerebus lot, priced cheap.  Please consider bidding on my lots?  Thanks - http://bit.ly/terrysebay is the custom short link.

Cerebus and Bear say their goodbyes; everyone else is already gone. The majority of the issue is Cerebus having a mental argument with inner voices, calling himself a faggot and other such delightful things.

Thatcher shows up to inform him that since the tavern no longer has a barkeep, he’ll have to move to another tavern. He says he’ll stay and be the barkeep.

Wow, it’s almost like there’s a story.

In the past several issues, we’ve seen the weather change from Winter to Spring to Summer and now it’s Winter again. How fucking delightful.

And winter is ending. And Mrs. Thatcher is consulted to deal with one of the more offensive tavern-goers. And I couldn’t give less of a fuck.

Bear and Cerebus finish their game; Bear wins, after telling Cerebus that he won’t be doing any of his “girly” complaints.

Later, while Mrs. Thatcher is instructing the men at the tavern on the expectations of them while some random woman does a strip tease out in the field (that the guys can see, but Thatcher’s back is to.)

Again, I ask, what is the fucking point? This is just boring and stupid.

I’m guessing the entire book “Guys” takes place in the tavern.

Mister Kingsley (a riff on Norman Mailer) arrives at the tavern, after scaring off his Cirinist transcriber, and while he sits and takes notes and Cerebus, Marty and Bear tell jokes, Mrs. Thatcher comes to interrogate Kingsley, who ends up turning the tables on Thatcher. Cerebus (who is apparently still not drinking) gets bored with Marty and Bear’s jokes (since he’s not drunk, he’s not as amused) and tries to listen in on Kingsley and Thatcher, but gets a headache from Kingsley’s double-talk and returns to his drunk friends.

Really? Just fucking boring.

201: We find Cerebus sitting in a tavern, on the Wall of T’si. Mrs. Thatcher shows up, and through conversation, we discover Cerebus was gone for four years, though Cirin returned much earlier, proclaiming her victory (and Terim’s) over Cerebus (and Tarim.) The Cirinist culture has continued, despite the destruction of Iest.

Prince Mick is in the tavern, and is given a cold shoulder by Thatcher. In the corner sits another independent comic icon, Bacchus, who merely smokes. The bartender, a riff on George Harrison, and Prince Mick are obvious good friends.

202: Cerebus is so drunk that Harrison keeps pretending to fill his bucket of Scotch and Cerebus keeps thinking he’s drinking it. Bear is there and Cerebus challenges him to a game of Five Bar Gate, and Bear basically violates Cerebus’ anus with the ball.

Yeah, I got nothing. Not the most auspicious of starts.

Cerebus begins to fall.

There’s a strange glowing formation near the Pigt war party. The earth rises and grows and cracks and glows.

Punisheroach meets a whore.

Mrs. Thatcher readies herself to consult Cirin. A giant hand bursts out of the earth, followed by another

Punisheroach, having sex with the whore, turns into Loboroach, then Venomroach. Yup, he went there.

Cirin criticises Mrs. Thatcher for smoking. Mrs. Thatcher reports Hammond’s information.

Venomroach becomes Ghost Roach, completely with flaming skull.

Mrs. Thatcher reports that the sphere has grown to the larger dimensions that Cirin had dreamt about earlier.

Cerebus continues to fall. Lord Julius is cornered by the assassin. Ghost Roach fizzles out and looks like Punisheroach again. The Regency Elf is very afraid. Baskin saves Lord Julius from the assassin. The giant Earth-Pig is sucked back into the earth. Punisheroach is in love, Elrod is stymied.

Cerebus keeps falling. Faces in shadows continue their debate about rising up against the Cirinists or not.

The Pigts turn on each other and by sunrise, only a handful are still alive.

A vision of a tiny Cerebus appears before Astoria (still in shackles) and Cirin alike, before disappearing.

A whole lot going on, very interesting, no idea where we’re going with all of this.

Cerebus finds Po, who apparently is the aardvark from the flashbacks to where the female Pope had an aardvark in chains.

Po begins to inform Cerebus on how chess is life, is the story made physical, and then corrects the story The Judge told Cerebus about Po’s revolution. They begin to play chess.

Mrs. Thatcher reports Mrs. Copps’ alterations to the sphere to Cirin, who instructs Thatcher that Copps should be humiliated and punished for her actions.

Punisheroach is in tune with events near and far – he knows of Cerebus’ present events, as well as the thoughts of those in Roachland plotting against him.

Others discuss whether they should support Punisheroach and prepare for the return of Cerebus, or whether Cerebus was an illusion, or a trick by the Cirinists or a test by Tarim.

Cerebus goes to move a piece on the chessboard, and finds himself suddenly with K’cor, in Imesh.

The majority of the issue involves Cerebus and the disembodied voice of Po. Cerebus has broken into the Eighth Sphere and Po shows fragments from Cerebus’ life, memories, and one (supposed) future fragment, showing Cerebus as Prime Minister of Iest once, more, having helped cast out the Cirinists after some three years of occupation. Cerebus realises that he’s being distracted and moves “upward”.

We do see a few snippets of other scenes – both The Judge and Regency Elf have been abandoned by their dopplegangers. Mrs. Copps confronts Mrs. Thatcher, accusing her of trying to hijack the One True Ascension. The Pigts, martialed by the destruction of the isolationist, move as one to their armory. Elrod is seen scaling the tower remnants. Punisheroach makes plans for his city-within-a-city.

Cerebus arrives… somewhere, to find a chessboard.