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The slide towards drama and away from comedy over the course of a comic's run, named for the process undergone by the print comic Cerebus the Aardvark.
It describes a comic in which the creator bases all the characters on thinly veiled versions of his friends, runs the first few months of the comic on in-jokes, and then runs out of material. The comic has no choice but to develop some original characterisations and drama, or fold.
More generally, it's any story/series which starts out light, episodic, and comedic, and becomes dramatic and arc-based.
If the comic has previously been fueled by high weirdness, then the transition can be rocky. Some comics tie themselves in painful knots trying to Ret Con an accumulated pile of weirdness with invented physics. Others sweep the stranger things under the rug and try to present a more respectable face. More often, the weird is left in place, but retrofitted into a more dramatic role. In a good case, the combination of drama and high weird can be invigorating. In a less successful case, it can be excruciating.
Expect an exodus of disgruntled fans bemoaning the slide into "angst". When Cerebus Syndrome radically changes a comic for the worse, it gets called First and Ten syndrome, after a television series which notably skydived after the injection of drama.
Note that the difference between Cerebus Syndrome and First And Ten is very subjective, as are the examples below.
Both terms were coined by Eric Burns of Websnark.
May be a case of Growing The Beard if it actually works. Either way, fans may not wait to declare it Ruined FOREVER. See also Cerebus Retcon and Knight Of Cerebus.
Examples:
Webcomics
- Sluggy Freelance was probably the first webcomic to grapple with the tendency towards drama. Different readers locate the turning point at different places, but the early "Vampire Arc" was probably the first arc with ongoing continuity, characterisation and character death. The final strip of the arc
 hung a little bit of a lampshade on the shift.
- Megatokyo started out as a light humor strip. This led to Creative Differences between writer Rodney Caston, who liked it that way, and artist Fred Gallagher, who preferred a more serious, ongoing plot. Rodney eventually quit, at which point Megatokyo became more of a seinen romance manga about the characters Piro and Kimiko, combined with a zombie-horror action story about Largo, and with comedic elements from the early strips.
- College Roomies From Hell engaged Cerebus Syndrome with "The Adversary", a six-month arc that played the Devil (previously a minor comic relief character) as a terrifying threat, and the Butt Monkey's (previously humorous) romantic woes as heartbreaking. Some readers, however, see this shift as an example of First and Ten Syndrome.
- Parodied in Shortpacked!: after Ethan explains to a toy store customer how "Try Me" products come to the store with a tag on the battery which, once pulled, means the battery's unstoppable decay, Robin accidentally pulls the comic's "drama" tag.
- It's also a Call Back to the author's previous webcomic, It's Walky!, which attempted the transition with varying success; the Big Bad from that comic shows up when Robin pulls the tag, although in this incarnation he's more of a Meta Guy than a straight villain. (An Alternate Universe version showed up in Joyce and Walky, which follows up on It's Walky's characters; this may or may not be the same one.)
- Arguably, Bob And George. When it started, it was simply a stand-in for another comic the author, Dave, was planning on doing and, as such, was mostly just one-off jokes from comic to comic. After the comic that Dave was working on never managed to lift off the ground, Bob and George began to get storylines and continuity, although it stayed humorous; the story is mostly told one punch line per comic, with an ending that borders on making a Shaggy Dog Story of a two-year storyline.
- Parodied in this Checkerboard Nightmare strip.
- The webcomic Exploitation Now started as comedic, but changed into a drama (with the comic's focus shifting from two characters to two other characters), ending up with a main character Killed Off For Real.
- Done fairly successfully with Order Of The Stick (with Lampshade Hanging in this strip). The fact that the comic stayed funny, and the quality of the plot itself, mean that the comic has only grown more popular as the increasingly complex plot unfolds. The strip's creator has even stated that he believes it would never have garnered such a large following without the story.
- El Goonish Shive. After the dramatic, action-packed "Painted Black" arc, the author admitted that he didn't really feel comfortable with that sort of thing, after that, he did a dramatic arc about the interpersonal relations of the cast; however, the humor lately appears to
have been almost entirely abandoned in favor of drama have returned shift between itself, more drama, and classic EGS weirdness as the cast (especially Ellen and Grace) goes to school.
- Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire did this, while not ultimately forgetting its roots; the author still at least uses puns for comic relief during its more serious arcs, though needed to be reminded to do so by his readers in the wake of his first. The resulting Mood Whiplash is relieving to some and jarring to others.
- Sam And Fuzzy started out as a episodic comedy webcomic about a taxi driver and his psychotic bear friend, but once the Ninja Mafia is introduced it ends up as a long but still hilarious tale of deception, murder, demons and ninjas.
- RPG World went from gaily romping through RPG tropes to blank-eyed villains killing people and fetishistically licking the blood off their swords. It's slid back into the middle since then though.
- Questionable Content provides an unusual example, as a general plot has been running since the first strip along with the usual gag-a-day format of jokes; however, a deeper storyline was hinted about main character Faye's life prior to the start of the comic. Comic #500 started an arc entitled "The Talk" which, in Faye's own words, was "like interrupting an intricate waltz with a sledgehammer to the knee." Despite handling the arc and its fallout with realistic seriousness, the comedic element was retained in nearly every strip in the arc and since then.
- Parodied a few times in the Stick Figure Comic Stickman And Cube. The first comic has Stickman assure the audience that there will be no Cerebus or First And Ten Syndrome, because "adding drama would probably involve more drawing". Then, this comic has Stickman guarantee that there will be no Cerebus or First and Ten, only to have Cube then announce he's pregnant. Stickman is not amused. (Oh, and don't worry: Cube was joking, though the episode starts a Running Gag nonetheless. However, S&C may have gone down the Cerebus path since then anyway.)
- The now-defunct Life Of Riley suffered from this, starting out with the requisite author-and-his-friends characters in offbeat gaming-related hijinks and ending with an imminent final battle between the arch-demon Lilith and the reincarnation of Christ (in the person of the main character) over an artifact which could literally kill God. Sadly, a series of personal issues and server crashes left the comic drifting in the ether before the insanity could come to a head.
- Dresden Codak appears to be heading in this direction, having just finished its first actual arc after having done nothing but dada-esque strips up until then. The dada is still abounds (The Tokamak siblings have some kind of Wonder Twins powers, except with quantum physics. They're also nuclear powered, maybe), just now there's apparently a story of some kind.
- 1/0 originally started out as a nonsensical gag-based comic without a fourth wall, and eventually developed into an entirely serious affair full of symbolism and metaphor.
- So far, DMFA has managed to keep the syndrome out of the main comic, limiting it to side-stories.
- It seems to be creeping into the latest few comics, particularly when Hannah is vaporized by Dark Pegasus.
- Newshounds began as a comedy strip comic, but as years progressed it started to contain a growing number of more serious plotlines. However, the comedy was still kept as the main point of the comic while the same author explored more serious content in the spin-off comic Manifestations. Newshounds ended temporarily in 2006 and was revived in 2007 as "Newshounds II". This time, the format changed from a 3-panel strip to a larger comic while also turning the series more serious (though not devoid of comedy, now just lacking the obvious punchlines). Fittingly, another new comic by the same author, Something Happens, was launched during the same year; it's the author's main comedy output now.
- Nip and Tuck started out as a gag-a-strip comic about two young brothers, but became more serious as the two brothers grew up.
- Venus Envy, probably due to a very clear, utterly unashamed case of Writer On Board.
- Yet Another Fantasy Gaming Comic recently made the jump, complete with a previously humorous villain gaining sudden competence.
- Adventurers! started out as a Gag Strip that eventually gained a plot. It still remained comedic, though, never getting more serious than an Affectionate Parody.
- General Protection Fault started as a light-hearted comic with weirdness and humour, but eventually transformed into a complex story arc with angst, character death, and betrayal. Sometime after the first story arc, the comic designer declared an upcoming arc "even better than the last one".
- A Modest Destiny had continuity and all that goes along with it from the start, but as time went on the story got progressively Darker And Edgier. The first turning point would probably be the dinner party, where the silliness was interrupted by the murdering of a bunch of innocents, a whole lotta backstabbing and the near-death of the main character. It just kept going from there.
- Equinox, Defender of the Horde started out as a light hearted romp, but progressivley became darker and more drama-prone; at the same time, the female lead turned into a Mary Sue while the (deliberately silly) titular chracter faded into the background.
- Josh Lesnick's Wendy took a straight nosedive into unexpected drama territory after its first "part" was finished, and according to the post-series epilogue was going to get even worse had it finished the way the author originally intended. Thankfully, this change was not without a bit of lampshade hanging.
- Dub This! Seriously, check it out. Quirky anime in-jokes and satire quickly falls to melodrama by the buckets.
- Ctrl Alt Del supposedly. Of course, since this is Ctrl Alt Del, no one's allowed to like it.
- God Mode did this twice. Plot slowly took over the comic, and after a while the creator just said "Screw it". The comic then continued on as if the plotline never happened. It got serious again, and another reboot was needed. The comic got a new artist/writer after each reboot.
- This troper's (yet) unpublished webcomic has gone through this on the planning stage. Starting as a series of short strips about characters that were thinly veiled versions of the author and his friends, it got paranormal stuff added to it to make it more interesting, resulting in it getting very much derailed from the original plot (for exaple the characters who are supposed to be students were never shown studying). Eventually the troper re-imagined it, keeping the paranormal elements but toning them down, changing the characters to better justify the plot and swithed the style to slightly longer strips. Now if only he could learn to draw better...
- Goblins transitioned from a deconstruction of fantasy RP Gs in general and Dungeons And Dragons in particular to a more serious story when the original antagonists were discarded in favor of a truly villainous Big Bad. The comic arguably got better, as killing off or discarding most of the cast allowed the main characters to become more well-rounded and the strip retained enough humor to keep it from getting too dry.
- Elf Only Inn started out as an online chat room and, after a year-long hiatus, came back a complex RPG story.
Comic Books
- This trope takes its name from Cerebus the Aardvark, an (in)famous indie print comic that began as a parody of Heroic Fantasy, but drifted into the genre itself. (And subsequently into far stranger waters.)
- The Sonic The Hedgehog comic started out as a gag series, but slowly slid into relationship triangles and general angst over the years, culminating in a recent issue where Dr. Eggman attempts genocide against the entire cast. Arguably, the comic has been through both Cerebus and First and Ten Syndrome, going from good and funny to good and serious to bad and serious. Fan opinion on which parts of the comic's history fall into Cerebus Syndrome and which parts fall into First and Ten Syndrome (and which of the two the newest stories fall into) varies wildly.
- Over its ten-year run, Jeff Smith's Bone went from gags about sudden snowfalls, greedy relatives and stupid, stupid rat creatures to epic fantasy about a rather horrific Sealed Evil In A Can with graphic violence and death, the threat of genocide, an evil (or at least harmful) religion, and the aforementioned rat creatures going from harmless comic relief to a deadly threat. It briefly returned to comedy for the epilogue.
- Scud The Disposable Assassin's first story arcs included a cult that worshipped "manliness and unnecessary explosions", a cyborg-giraffe crime lord, and a werewolf astronaut. The last few issues pretty much kicked humor to the curb, placing Scud literally in the middle of Armageddon, fighting against both Heaven and Hell. The recent 4-issue re-launch Time Skips ahead 10 years and manages to make things even darker.
- It could be argued that the entire Super Hero genre has gone through Cerebus Syndrome. The days of jet-powered apes from Mars have more or less vanished in favour of dramatic, Darker And Edgier storylines.
- Luckily, some authors realize that and leap into stories of jet-powered apes with gusto unseen since the Silver Age.
Newspaper Comics
- Wash Tubbs went from "bigfoot" humor to high adventure with the addition of soldier-of-fortune Captain Easy to the cast. Since this happened in 1929, this technically qualifies as (you guessed it) one of The Oldest Ones In The Book.
- The strip which eventually became Steve Roper & Mike Nomad began life in 1936 as a wacky comedy starring a stereotyped American Indian named Big Chief Wahoo. Roper was introduced in 1940 and took over the strip, until by 1947 Big Chief Wahoo had been written out and the wacky humour entirely dropped in favour of action adventure. Mike Nomad appeared in 1956, by which time the original nature of the strip had totally vanished.
- Ironically, Big Chief Wahoo had not been planned to be the strip leader; he was supposed to be a supporting character to the Great Gusto, a traveling salesman/conman. Wahoo was instantly much more popular and Gusto, reduced to second bannana status from the beginning, was gone by 1939.
- Funky Winkerbean literally jumped (in the form of a 10-year timeskip) from a high-school based gag strip (with occasional dramatic Very Special Episodes) to a frequently depressing drama strip where Anyone Can Die. A second ten-year timeskip seems to have abandoned all pretense of zany (or should that be funky?) comedy, preferring a more down-to-earth kind.
Literature
- Arguably, the Harry Potter series. The first book is all about Harry exploring the wacky world of wizards, and happening to encounter the evil wizard who killed his parents. Six books later, the same wacky world is engaged in all-out war against said evil wizard.
- The novel Nuklear Age by 8-bit Theater author Brian Clevinger plays with this trope, mirroring the development of comics as a medium. It starts out over-the-top and cheesy, quickly becomes over-the-top and genuinely entertaining, but, near the ending, it becomes over-the-top yet heart-wrenching.
- The Discworld comedy series starts with The Colour Of Magic: a raft of tropes, puns and SFX. Serious themes appear in later books, perhaps starting with death in Reaper Man. A milestone in characterisation is Vimes, the fallen idealist of Guards! Guards!. That said, it has remained comedic, albeit slightly more "realistically"; the author has said that the series has simply "grown up", and that, for instance, nowadays he'd never be able to just burn down the city for a cheap laugh like in the first book--though he still sees the humor in referencing such times:
"The rumor spread through Ankh-Morpork like wildfire--which had spread through Ankh Morpork quite often since its inhabitants had learned the phrase 'fire insurance'."
- Online example: The Ed Stories start out in blog format, then continue as a more formal type of prose fiction with a fairly whimsical tone (cf. "An Admin Password for the Universe"), then suddenly takes a turn for "the dreaded continuity", turns a hinted-at running gag into a major plot point for a longer story arc, and culminates in a Downer Ending.
Western Animation
- Moral Orel started as a goofy and over-the-top parody of shows like Davey And Goliath. They've slowly become much darker, focusing less on more lighthearted and humorous plots and delving into the character drama that comes from living in a community where everyone hates each other and are only loosely held together by a religion many of them secretly resent.
- MTV's Daria was originally mostly about the title character and her friend facing the stupidity of High School with a half-smile and a snarky comment, always beating the system. But by the fourth season, the two were insecure, fighting over the same boy, and not always coming out on top. While some liked the development of the characters, and were impressed by the writer's ability to keep the show funny, others in the fandom were appalled. Much fanwank ensued.
Anime & Manga
- Dragonball was originally a comedic version of Journey To The West. The villains were largely silly, like Emperor Pilaf, and Commander Red, but then Krillin got killed by a monster (he got better). The monster was the child of Demon King Piccolo, who wanted eternal life, and after this arc, the comedic elements slowly decreased. This quickly became evident when Raditz, Goku's older brother, came and told Goku that he was an alien from another planet who was supposed to kill everyone on Earth. Toei, the company in charge of the Dragonball anime, decided then and there to end Dragonball and rename it Dragonball Z, starting with the arrival of Raditz. Given that the artist wanted to end the manga repeatedly, but was forced to continue by Toei (who continued even after the artist finally said enough -- giving us the much derided "official fanfic" Dragonball GT) because the merchandise was still selling too well, his taking the comic in a new direction might be justified.
- A more recent example of this can be seen in the series Katekyo Hitman Reborn, which is mostly a pure comedy in the beginning, but after several chapters (though fewer episodes) it becomes an action series.
- The tone shift in Katekyo Hitman Reborn is so drastic that this troper finds that whenever she introduces the series to her friends she has to explain that the first part is a sort of prologue to the second. The moof of Daily Life arc pops up more in the anime, during fillers... But the manga took a full turn from light-hearted comedy to serious business.
- Kinnikuman started off as a comedy series parodying Ultraman, but then became a wrestling series with loads of drama, although with very silly characters.
- The anime adaptation of Trigun has a variation; all the filler is in the beginning, so it begins as a silly series with occasional bouts of action as the "insurance ladies" track down the identity of Vash the Stampede, then slowly come to accept that the goofball they found is a legendary gunman and walking disaster. About halfway through the series, actual plot from the manga starts appearing in consecutive episodes, with Knives sending the Gung-ho Guns, a team of ruthless super-powered fighters after him. Ostensibly they're hired to kill him, but really they're meant to make Vash suffer, which they all succeed in, each in their own way. This changeover is also evident in whether or not Vash manages to successfully keep people from getting killed; he manages it easily for the first half the series, but in the episode where the change hits you get streets littered with the corpses of men, women, and children.
- CLAMP's Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle took a dramatic turn to the Angst side in the Acid Tokyo arc: after visiting worlds filled with neato flying cars and such, worlds which were substantially better off when the heroes left it, suddenly the heroes found themselves in an apparent post-apocalyptic wasteland where acid pours from the sky. Apparently, a side effect of the acid is that it causes peoples' long-repressed evilness to crop up, not to mention prompts revelation of unimaginably horrific backstories. And, of course, by the time they leave, there are hints that one of the two surviving bastions of humanity is doomed thanks to the actions of "our heroes". Even Mokona is feeling the emo.
- Of course, it's hard to say how closely Tsubasa adheres to the Cerebus mold without knowing how much CLAMP had planned from the beginning and how much was made up as they went along. The little suggestions that messed-up stuff is going on are present right from the first chapter. Tsubasa could be interpreted as a kind of Deconstruction of the light-hearted Gotta Catch Em All quest story that it started out as, showing the darkness that lurks behind the innocence. Or maybe this editor needs to stop thinking so hard and go outside more often.
- Da Capo literally tells the viewer in a next episode preview halfway through the series that it's about to get serious. And it does.
- The School Rumble manga jumps from a completely random love comedy to a surprisingly heart-wrenching drama, set off by the revelation that Karasuma is suffering from a terminal illness.
- Mahou Sensei Negima began as a light comedy about an inept ten-year old mage teaching a class of 31 Japanese middle school girls with lots of Fanservice. As the arcs progressed, the story became much more action-oriented and fairly serious at times, considerably toning down the fanservice, though not eliminating it entirely.
- Three words: Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Revolutionary Girl Utena starts out as a relatively light-hearted Magical Girl series and ends as a dark, surreal Mind Screw with plenty of Brother Sister Incest and Mind Rape along the way.
- This troper is surprised that Witch Hunter Robin hasn't been brought up yet. It started with the "monster of the week" style then shifted gears into plot and drama halfway through.
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