Cerebus #280

Issue #280 of Cerebus arrives in July 2002 as part of the long-running "Latter Days" arc, subtitled "In the Beginning" — a title rendered here in elaborate illuminated calligraphy that sets a distinctly meditative, almost scriptural tone. The cover, penciled and inked by Dave Sim and Tracy Reid, presents Cerebus viewed from behind, the grey aardvark hunched in his blue robe and gazing upward toward a photographic inset of sunlight bursting through a tree canopy. It's a quietly striking composition — contemplative rather than combative — and a fitting visual mood for this late chapter in one of comics' most ambitious long-form narratives, crafted by the ongoing creative team of Dave Sim and Gerhard.