Melmoth (comics)

Melmoth is the fifth novel in Canadian cartoonist Dave Sim's Cerebus comic book series. It follows Oscar (a caricature of Oscar Wilde) in his last days leading up until his death, while Cerebus sits catatonic, clutching the doll of Jaka, the woman he loves but believes has been killed.

The novel was collected as the sixth paperback "phonebook" collection in the series in October 1991.

Synopsis

After Jaka, Rick and Oscar's arrest (and Pud's death), Cerebus returns to the Lower City, where he uses a gold coin to buy room and board at Dino's for the rest of his life. There he sits near-comatose for most of the rest of the story, gripping Jaka's doll Missy.

Oscar has become ill...

Characters

There were also brief appearances by numerous characters from the series, including the Roach, Mick & Keef, Posey and others.

Artwork

At this point, according to Gerhard, Sim and Gerhard had "an unspoken understanding" when it came the backgrounds—Sim would occasionally make suggestions (such as the white fog that surrounded Cerebus at times to reflect his emotional state), but for the most part Gerhard was left to decide on how to handle the backgrounds himself. The building designs were based on what Gerhard could find in library architecture books. He couldn't find anything specific about the doctor's office or Oscar's final resting place, aside from Oscar's "famous last line" indicating that the "wallpaper had to be really ugly." He drew inspiration from Barry Windsor Smith for the series covers.