Check out the awesome comic books in the Goldin Pop Culture Elite Auction March 2024!

Goldin Comic Book Hall of Fame 2023 Inductee:
Cerebus the Aardvark 1

Goldin Comic Book Hall of Fame 2023 Inductee: Cerebus the Aardvark 1

Click to see the next Goldin Comic Book Hall of Famer!

Why Cerebus the Aardvark 1 is in the 2023 Goldin Comic Book Hall of Fame

If you think the Smurfs are weird, then you’ve got another think coming.

When Dave Sim began self-publishing Cerebus the Aardvark, independent comic books simply didn't exist.

Started as a parody of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian series, featuring an aardvark with a helmet, sword and shield — yes, really — Sim gradually began to express his own beliefs through the character.

Over the course of its 27-year run, Cerebus touched on huge topics like gender, politics and religion. And showed that even an aardvark can become President. (Which should surprise nobody.)

Proving that a dedicated indie creator could survive despite the monopoly of the big two publishers, Sim eventually rejected an offer to sell to DC Comics in the 1980s.

He supported the rights of other independent comic book creators, becoming in his own way a hero to those who followed his example.

With less than 300 Universal copies in the CGC census, Cerebus #1 is a genuinely tough book to find, so if you aspire to own a copy then you may need a helmet, sword and shield of your own.

Cerebus the Aardvark #1 is the fifth inductee into the Goldin Comic Book Hall of Fame.