Cerebus #38

This May 1982 issue of Cerebus finds the aardvark himself looking characteristically put-upon at the center of a striking cover by Dave Sim, rendered small and stoic beneath a looming assemblage of larger, oddly menacing figures — a cigar-chomping mustachioed man, a wide-eyed ghoulish figure, a leering pale-faced character, and an enormous brooding presence towering above them all. The "Petuniacon … Day Two" story title hints at convention-floor chaos, and the cover's caricatured crowd perfectly captures that sense of being surrounded by larger-than-life personalities. Sim's linework is sharp and confidently expressive, making this a memorable entry in Cerebus's long-running independent run from Aardvark-Vanaheim.