The series stands out for its experimentation in form and
content, and for the dexterity of its artwork, especially after background
artist Gerhard joined in with the 65th issue. However as the series
progressed, it increasingly became a platform for Sim's controversial beliefs. Sim was a frequent marijuana user,
began using LSD, taking the drug with such frequency that he was
eventually hospitalized. He eventually cut all ties with his family and
virtually all of his industry colleagues apart from Gerhard in order to finish
the work. He has had very public fallings-out with some of his peers. Sim
became a believer in God while gathering research material for
"Rick's Story". However, rather than following any established
religion, Sim follows his own personal belief system cobbled together from
elements of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; all of which impacted
Cerebus in his final story arcs, segments of which are extremely misogynistic
towards women.
Starting with the acclaimed “High Society” storyline,
the series became divided into self-contained "novels", which form
parts of the overall story. The ten "novels" of the series have been
collected in 16 books, known as "Cerebus phonebooks" for their
resemblance to telephone directories. He had originally angered many retailers who
felt that their support had been instrumental in his series' success in an
industry generally indifferent to small publishers — by offering the first
printings of the phonebooks via mail order only (a highly lucrative decision
that paid off well for Sim).