Readers of Cerebus know the effervescent mind of Dave Sim is capable of doing anything. A 3' 5" aardvark Conan the Barbarian parody? Sure.

A satirical exploration of politics and religion? Sure.

A thoughtful, researched, and controversial treatise against feminism and feminists? Um…sure.

But even Cerebus readers had to be even slightly bewildered by the announcement of Glamourpuss. A “peculiar amalgam of comics, photo-realism and history alloyed to with a haut couture fashion magazine parody.”

Really?

Although Glamourpuss may seem a strange project, issue #1 serves as a self-aware explanation of itself. Sim begins by answering the question everyone asked after issue #300 of Cerebus: What’s next? His answer was “cute teenage girls in my best Al Williamson Photo-realism style.” There was no story, no narrative, just an exploration of his own artistic ability and the work of legendary cartoonists Al Williamson, Neal Adams, John Prentice, and Alex Raymond. And for much of this issue, Sim does just that, explaining the intricacies of their art, reproducing panels and images from their syndicated comic Rip Kirby for the first time with finer lines and inking. In a moment of humility, he admits: “I’m happy with the results. But I’m always aware that Alex Raymond or Al Williamson would know how to make it look like suede – or leather, or satin – just with a few brush strokes.” Sim’s experiment and study of the work is incredibly revealing, not just of his mentors’ work, but his own.

That being said, they aren’t the most compelling read for readers expecting a narrative, despite Sim’s humorous and explanative comments. That’s where the haut couture magazine parody comes in. Enter: My girlfriend (Don’t You Even Think About It!). She’s a stylist for Henri Bendel, a 5th Avenue, high-end retail department store that caters to the lavish whim and expensive fancy of New York’s wealthy teenagers and twenty-something women. Every month she works her way through magazine after magazine that directs the market toward current styles and their future. These four-pound wastes-of-space (the magazines, not the my girlfriend’s clients) are filled with ridiculous articles like “Escaping your DNA and Staying Thin” or how global warming will make winter coats out of fashion, and literally pounds of ads.

So, I asked my girlfriend, who is a comics fan herself, to give Glamourpuss a look and give me some feedback. Like I said, the study of photo-realism was educational and funny, but boring. The parody, however, was a hilarious and accurate comment on the pervasive culture of these magazines. Mock articles like “The Self-Education of N’atashae” and “Glamourpuss Recipes” capture the shallowness and stupid feigned-brilliance of Vogue, Inside, Self, and more. In “The Self-Education of N’atashae,” Sims mimics the self-centered incredulousness of fashion articles, stating at one point, “Yes. There was more. To. Life. There was this! This plain and simple fact before her: Dolce & Gabana big poofy blouse with crystals, with beads and with major (MAJOR!) sleeves!” Anyone who has read Cerebus knows that Sim is a master at mimicking and reconstructing the voice of authors and people’s patterns of speech (i.e. Groucho Marx, Oscar Wilde, Margaret Thatcher, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards to name a few). So, he effectively impersonates the voices of these magazines with skill and tremendous subversive fun.

But is Glamourpuss for everyone? Pick it up. See how its fits. Does it match with your Vera Wang L.B.D. (which is couture code for “little black dress”)? If not, at least you hold in your hands the first issue of what will be exciting new experiment in subsequent art. That has to be worth something.

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