Cerebus

Cerebus is an anthropomorphic aardvark barbarian-for-hire who wanders a sword-and-sorcery world loosely inspired by Conan. Created by Dave Sim, he debuted in 1977 as a self-contained parody hero whose unexpected popularity launched one of comics' longest-running self-published series.

Few characters in comics history carry the weight that Cerebus does — a Bronze Age original who debuted in 1977 courtesy of creator Dave Sim and the fiercely independent Aardvark-Vanaheim, and who never stopped surprising readers across an extraordinary near-five-decade run. Born from the self-publishing underground, this character anchored not just one landmark series but a whole constellation of titles — Cerebus, Cerebus: High Society, and Cerebus Bi-Weekly among them — racking up 178 catalog appearances and four key issues that any serious collector will recognize on sight. Along the way, Cerebus shared pages with a wonderfully eclectic cast including Astoria, Lord Julius Tavers, Elrod, and even Leonardo, hinting at the wild, genre-bending ambition that made this run one of comics' most talked-about achievements. If you care about what the medium can do when a single creative vision is given room to breathe across decades, Cerebus is essential reading.