For Better or For Cerebus

If you think about it, there are a lot of similarities between Lynn Johnson’s For Better or For Worse and Dave Sim’s Cerebus. Both comics were created by Canadians, both were overly ambitious, both went on a devoted schedule without a break, both based their characters on members of their friends & family, both were embarrassed by their better earlier works, and both creators had a creator breakdown which resulted in flawed masterpieces.

These are just some of the more obvious parallels between the two, but there are more subtler similarities that can be found within the pages of their comics.

Both had innovative use of their fonts/background noise.



















































Lynn’s influences include the aforementioned Doug Wright, 50's sitcoms, her life, and Charles Schultz’s Peanuts.











Dave's influences include the aforementioned Doug Wright, the Marx Bros., Rodney Dangerfield, Little Murders, Oscar Wilde and the Three Stooges.

















Cerebus had the ambiguous phrase, “Bang bang, something fell.” This was even covered in an essay in Following Cerebus #1, where people tried to decipher the meaning behind those words.
























FBOFW made no successful attempts to cover it up.











FBOFW went from a normal-nosed housewife talking about male chauvinist pigs to a woman with a potato nose.










Cerebus went from a normal-nosed misogynist aardvark to looking like a male pig with a fondness for potatoes.



















Lynn attempted a hybrid creation of the series that never quite panned out.









Cerebus had a male/female hybrid creature.

















Michael had killer socks that could be considered a lethal weapon capable of clearing out the room to anyone present.










Cerebus could smell so bad when wet that not even he could stand the smell, which explains why he didn't use this tactic often.
















Anthony pines for Elizabeth, his one true love, even going so far as to long for her after marrying Therese.










Cerebus pines for Jaka, his one true love, even going so far as to long for her after being tricked into marrying someone else for political reasons. And those are his good points.













Therese, Anthony’s first wife was an overly ambitious woman who used Anthony for her own means, going so far as to dictate how he should look and dress.









Astoria was a political woman who had high ambitions, and used Cerebus for her own means, going so far as to dictate how he should look, dress and act.





































Anthony intimidated his baby daughter into accepting Elizabeth as a potential mother.









Cerebus threw a baby out with the bathwater in order to make a point.





































Elly manipulated politicians by throwing a costume party in order to save a theater.










Cerebus manipulated politicians at a costume party in throwing onion dip in order to save a theatrical man.





































FBOFW had archaic devices such as typewriters and women’s lib that would only make sense to someone living in the 50s/60s.










Cerebus had archaic themes that would only make sense to someone living in the comics world in the 80s/90s, such as obscure titles like Flaming Carrot, Bacchus and Rarebit Fiends.





































John and Phil went on a camping trip that went disastrous when their canoe tipped over, forcing them to huddle up in a shack for warmth, and were only saved by an aircraft noticing their campfire.










Cerebus and Jaka’s camping trip was menaced by Mary Ernestway’s tale of Africa, Ham’s implied assisted suicide, were forced to huddle together in a snowstorm and was only saved by a volcanic eruption. (No, really!)


















Michael’s best toy was a childhood teddy bear that he kept with him well into his adult life.










Jaka’s best friend was a doll, the only remaining memoriam of her childhood, and Cerebus best friend was a mercenary named Bear.


















Gordon gave the lame excuse for his bruises that he fell down to hide his Father’s beatings.










Jaka actually got hit by a door in her eye. (At least she didn’t fall down the stairs into a crate full of doorknobs)


































FBOFW indulged in some gay denial between Lawrence and his family.










In Cerebus, he does it to himself.





































(On the next page, Cerebus indulged some gay-bashing)




















In later years, FBOFW would become more verbose, the text crowding out the artwork.

















Cerebus did the same, only more so.





































Grandpa Jim kept surviving, despite suffering through numerous heart attacks, dementia, aphasia and was somehow still coherent enough to stay alive after his granddaughter’s wedding. In the last strip, it’s revealed he died surrounded by his loved ones.









Cerebus was told a prophecy that he’d only live a few more years before he dies “Alone, Unmourned and Unloved” and survives the gamut of multiple emotional turmoil for the rest of the series’ run. Despite the prediction (it was made by an immortal, so “a few years” could be slightly ambiguous), he didn’t die until maybe 300 years later.

















EDIT - and on another note, thanks to forworse's attention to the later FBOFW strips, she pointed out another similarity that I missed.

EDIT2 - found yet Another similarity that was easily glossed over.