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Melmoth (Cerebus, Volume 6)
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Price: $11.55
Price subject to change!
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 741
EAN: 9780919359109
ISBN: 0919359108
Label: Aardvark-Vanheim
Manufacturer: Aardvark-Vanheim
Publication Date: 1991-10
Publisher: Aardvark-Vanheim
Studio: Aardvark-Vanheim
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Customer review of: Melmoth (Cerebus, Volume 6)
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Customer Rating:  
Summary: A somewhat superfluous diversion.
Comment: Oscar Wilde, one of the leading lights of the late Victorian literary scene, was clearly a huge influence on Dave Sim, the writer/artist/visionary behind the "Cerebus" series. The preceding arc, "Jaka's Story", featured 'Oscar' as a supporting character (this story reveals that it was not, as one might have believed, the actual Wilde, who appears in this volume as an older man; he in fact expresses sympathy for the Oscar of "Jaka's Story"), and now, the sixth edition of Sim's massive creator-owned opus is dedicated largely to recounting Wilde's last days and death, translated into the fictional setting of Cerebus's city of Iest.
Following his conviction for indecency and servce of his time in prison (which, as an aside, I've always felt was largely his own fault; if one is a closeted gay in a repressed society, suing someone for libel when they claim you are gay would seem to be a serious case of pushing your luck, not to mention being perjury), Wilde ended up living abroad under the alias Sebastian Melmoth (a name pieced together from Charles Maturin's "Melmoth the Wanderer"). Sim includes in the narration the letters of Wilde's closest associates, with references to Paris and the like changed to Iest and such. This is all competently done, but, honestly, there isn't any particular point to this story beyond Sim wanting to do it. It has nothing to do with the ongoing story of "Cerebus", and it doesn't really say anything about Wilde either.
Also included is a story with the actual main character, Cerebus. The last volume ended with Cerebus' love interest and their associates being either killed or spirited away; Jaka is not dead, but Cerebus believes her to be, and so he spends most of the story basically paralyzed in a state of shock, before being roused to action by a joking reference to Jaka by a Cirinist guard, and then goes on a rampage, back in play.
This is a very minor piece of work in the "Cerebus" story.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Graphic SF Reader
Comment: Dave Sim retells the story of Oscar Wilde in his own way, while a depressed Cerebus does not much at all except mourn Jaka, who he thinks is dead.
Customer Rating:
Summary: F***ing Brilliant
Comment: Just lovely. Every page.
Some excellent writing about this one, people, except -- all you fools out there who think this is pointless, has no relationship to Cerebus' story, etc etc etc... Come on. Y'all need to think a little harder on this one. I doubt Dave Sim would've spent so much time working on the book if there were no POINT to it, and didn't matter in Cerebus' larger structure. What, this was just a whim that Dave spent MONTHS working on?? Sure.
Seriously, haven't you noticed some of the grander themes in the series, the things that tie it all together? both this volume, and the life and writing of Oscar Wilde, are exemplary of the self-definition, self-expression and alienation which Cerebus struggles with... Why are we who we are? Why do we love who we love? Why do we do what we do? It's a bigger-picture-sort-of-thing this time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Every good story needs a break!
Comment: I've seen a lot of reviews about Melmoth and I think most people are wrong saying that this is not an important story for Cerebus.In the last book, Jaka's Story, Cerebus was living with Jaka and Rick. Then he decided to go out to get some paint, but when he comes back, what he sees? He is shocked by the apparent death of Jaka (don't forget, his only true love!)!!! What would he do now? Dave Sim had to give a break, for the character to recover, since he went catatonic! This is the break that the story needed. In parallel, he showed the last days of the true Oscar Wilde (it is interesting to notice that there was other character called Oscar in Jaka's Story, also based in Oscar Wilde). What is impressive in this story is to see all the details of a natural death, written in letters by his close friends. At the beginning of the story, Oscar Wilde is still lucid (making comments about everything - literature, society and politics, etc.), drinks champagne and seems to be happy together with his friends. Then he gets more and more sick, the physicians notice that he is dying. At last, he cannot speak anymore, and there is no more hope. I think that this story might have some parallel with the death (in the end of the series) of Cerebus. Cerebus also is going to get old and die (we still don't know how, if naturally, or killed, or other thing). At last, it is important to comment that this book finishes (finishes?) with Cerebus finding out that Jaka was imprisoned by the Cirinists and that they tortured her. So, he recovers immediately and begins to kill all the Cirinists in his path (in a way we didn't see not even in the first book of the series). Then, you will be quite compelled to buy the next book in the series, which is Flights.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Must read
Comment: All of the previous reviews have very good points. This is a departure from the main storyline, Cerebus does not do a great deal in it, and the story was written before Dave Sim ever set his pen to his easel. But look at the other side of the comments, not one of them really regrets reading the story. This is one of the shorter chapters of the saga, and as a result it displays an agility and a skill level from both artists that is truly inspiring. This departure into the life of Wilde works very well with the trauma that Cerebus is going through and adds a greater depth to the storyline as a whole.
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Editorial Reviews:
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More than 11 years into a 25-year project of chronicling the life of a single main character, Dave Sim took a small detour (of sorts), put his main character Cerebus on the sidelines, and told this story of the last days of Oscar Wilde. Some Cerebus readers think this book is a needless distraction from Sim's master epic; others think this is one of Sim's finest achievements, and that by combining and slightly altering the very real letters of Robert Ross to More Adey (originally printed in the Collected Letters of Oscar Wilde), Sim was able to add a depth and breadth to his fiction never before possible. Either way, Sim and exquisite background artist Gerhard are in fine form as they weave this tale of Wilde into their fictional landscape of a new matriarchal establishment.
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