Sweet 16, Round 6: Giant Sized X-Men #1 vs Cerebus #1

[AlexH]

Today's battle features Giant Sized X-Men #1 vs Cerebus #1.

 

Giant Sized X-Men #1. Published by Marvel 1975. Written by Chris Claremont, and Len Wein with art by Dave Cockrum.

 

Cerebus #1. Published by Aardvark-Vanaheim 1977. Written and drawn by Dave Sim.

 

Good luck to both...

[rob_react]

What? No one wants to touch this one?

 

Me? I'm selfishly voting for Cerebus since Cerebus did more for the comics I've read over the years than GS X-Men #1 did.

[Norrin_Radd]

My vote is for GSX #1.

 

I consider the new X-Men team of the BA one of the best in comics. Cerebus may have been a break-through that forever changed comics (maybe), but I consider the X-Men more important.

[Zonker]

Apple... I'd like you to meet... Orange

 

I have no idea how to go about making this decision, but it is an interesting match-up.

 

The success of the X-Men locked mainstream commercial comics almost exclusively in the super-heroes genre, after Marvel & DC's experiments with Horror and Sword & Sorcery comics of the previous 5 or 6 years.

 

Cerebus went the other way altogether, increasingly thumbing its nose at mainstream commercial comics work-for-hire values. Very influential in 'alternative' North American comics, but made barely a ripple in the mainstream publishers. Unless you want to give it credit (blame?) for Image?

 

I'll have to get back to you on this one...

[helionaut]

Cerebus, no question. While this is an interesting matchup, I think that when you look at what started with Cerebus #1 it's easy to see which had the greater influence. GSX1 introduced some great new characters and the team that would launch a great dynasty, but Cerebus and Dave Sim opened up the industry in an unimagined way with 5 years.

[Wally's Comics]

My vote is for GSX #1.

 

I consider the new X-Men team of the BA one of the best in comics. Cerebus may have been a break-through that forever changed comics (maybe), but I consider the X-Men more important.

 

Ditto! Go Giant Sized Baby!

[Norrin_Radd]

Cerebus, no question. While this is an interesting matchup, I think that when you look at what started with Cerebus #1 it's easy to see which had the greater influence. GSX1 introduced some great new characters and the team that would launch a great dynasty, but Cerebus and Dave Sim opened up the industry in an unimagined way with 5 years.

 

My question, albeit possibly misguided, is that "wouldn't that have happened anyway"?

 

I think what unfolded would have happened whether Cerebus and Sim had existed or not, it just might have taken a different path and maybe a little longer. Again, .

[rob_react]

Cerebus, no question. While this is an interesting matchup, I think that when you look at what started with Cerebus #1 it's easy to see which had the greater influence. GSX1 introduced some great new characters and the team that would launch a great dynasty, but Cerebus and Dave Sim opened up the industry in an unimagined way with 5 years.

 

My question, albeit possibly misguided, is that "wouldn't that have happened anyway"?

 

I think what unfolded would have happened whether Cerebus and Sim had existed or not, it just might have taken a different path and maybe a little longer. Again, .

 

[Norrin_Radd]

Cerebus, no question. While this is an interesting matchup, I think that when you look at what started with Cerebus #1 it's easy to see which had the greater influence. GSX1 introduced some great new characters and the team that would launch a great dynasty, but Cerebus and Dave Sim opened up the industry in an unimagined way with 5 years.

 

My question, albeit possibly misguided, is that "wouldn't that have happened anyway"?

 

I think what unfolded would have happened whether Cerebus and Sim had existed or not, it just might have taken a different path and maybe a little longer. Again, .

 

 

Thanks for explaining your viewpoint so eloquently, Rob.

 

 

[Hobgoblin]

This one is not even a contest. Great matchup, but GSXM #1 has lived on, while a lot of people don't even know who Cerebus is/was.

[rob_react]

Cerebus, no question. While this is an interesting matchup, I think that when you look at what started with Cerebus #1 it's easy to see which had the greater influence. GSX1 introduced some great new characters and the team that would launch a great dynasty, but Cerebus and Dave Sim opened up the industry in an unimagined way with 5 years.

 

My question, albeit possibly misguided, is that "wouldn't that have happened anyway"?

 

I think what unfolded would have happened whether Cerebus and Sim had existed or not, it just might have taken a different path and maybe a little longer. Again, .

 

 

Thanks for explaining your viewpoint so eloquently, Rob.

 

 

 

It's just a "what if" game and doesn't really have anything to do with the discussion at hand. Cerebus DID do what it did to the industry. The fact that some other unnamed book possibly maybe sorta coulda come along later and done the same thing if Cerebus never existed?

 

Sure, maybe some other book would have come along and done it if Cerebus didn't. And maybe if GS X-Men #1 never existed, Marvel still would have gotten around to rebooting the team (even then they did it often enough) and made it into a big success a few years later. I mean, maybe they could have just handed the book directly to Byrne and Claremont a little later on- especially useful since it was the Byrne/Claremont team that made the franchise what it is today.

[rob_react]

This one is not even a contest. Great matchup, but GSXM #1 has lived on, while a lot of people don't even know who Cerebus is/was.

 

Funnies on Parade.

[Hobgoblin]

This one is not even a contest. Great matchup, but GSXM #1 has lived on, while a lot of people don't even know who Cerebus is/was.

 

Funnies on Parade.

 

I know who Cerebus is ... he made a guest appearance in Spawn #10

[Norrin_Radd]

It's just a "what if" game and doesn't really have anything to do with the discussion at hand. Cerebus DID do what it did to the industry. The fact that some other unnamed book possibly maybe sorta coulda come along later and done the same thing if Cerebus never existed?

 

Sure, maybe some other book would have come along and done it if Cerebus didn't.

 

I wasn't saying another book could have changed the industry.

 

I was saying that the industry trend towards independence from the Big 2 would have likely happened eventually even without Sim pointing the way, except it might have taken longer.

[toro]

Cerebus was important for the creator/independent market world of comics. It helped spawn(not Spawn) so many new faces and names into the field. You could almost say that Cerebus and Dave Sim were the Grandparents of Image Comics and other independent companies.

 

Even with that said, I would go with GS X-Men #1, it helped to bring back and bring in new readers, who later became today's collectors. It was/is an 800 lb Gorilla, that reawakened interest in Marvel again, it also almost killed off at one point almost any imagination in the house of ideas, because for a long time all Marvel thought they needed to do was put a "X" in the title and they could sell a few thousand copies.

 

Also I've never heard any little kid say "grrr, I'm Cerebus", but I've heard them say that about Wolverine!

[DKB]

I realize Byrne wasn't involved with this book, but this got me to thinking, I'd really love to see a "Who's the biggest hole" contest between Sim and Byrne.

[rob_react]

I realize Byrne wasn't involved with this book, but this got me to thinking, I'd really love to see a "Who's the biggest hole" contest between Sim and Byrne.

 

 

Hey Kevin! Can this be a Schuster Category for next year?

[Kevin Boyd]

Hey Kevin! Can this be a Schuster Category for next year?

 

Maybe... but we did ask Byrne about whether or not he still considers himself to be a Canadian (since he grew up in Canada) and got the following response:

 

No, since I have lived in the US longer than I did in Canada, and since I am an American citizen, I do not consider myself a "Canadian creator".

 

JB

 

So Byrne has excused himself already.

[rob_react]

Hey Kevin! Can this be a Schuster Category for next year?

 

Maybe... but we did ask Byrne about whether or not he still considers himself to be a Canadian (since he grew up in Canada) and got the following response:

 

No, since I have lived in the US longer than I did in Canada, and since I am an American citizen, I do not consider myself a "Canadian creator".

 

JB

 

So Byrne has excused himself already.

 

Damn, Christopher Reeve, Spanish girls, Canada... is nothing sacred?

[DKB]

Hey Kevin! Can this be a Schuster Category for next year?

 

Maybe... but we did ask Byrne about whether or not he still considers himself to be a Canadian (since he grew up in Canada) and got the following response:

 

No, since I have lived in the US longer than I did in Canada, and since I am an American citizen, I do not consider myself a "Canadian creator".

 

JB

 

So Byrne has excused himself already.

 

Damn, Christopher Reeve, Spanish girls, Canada... is nothing sacred?

 

Don't forget that he hates everyone that buys comics that aren't his. Especially if you wait for the trade. He has a special brand of hate for trade-waiters.

 

But thats still nothing. Sim hates all females. He wins!