jeffj@sfmin.UUCP (J.S.Jonas) (02/01/86)
[purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!]
I love cats dearly and it warms my heart to see them portrayed
well in comics, with such attributes as dexterity, strength,
nobility and sensuousness. It is this craving that brought
my attention to these titles, which I haven't seen mentioned on the net.
Albedo Anthropomorphics
I have only #5. The story I see is that there is a conflict
between the gov't and many of the people, with radicals and
protests a-la 60's. The main character is a smart cat-woman
who is diplomat by day, but cool and cunning enough to
tactfully use military force when needed. Other than a lion
commander, every character is a different animal. At a dinner party,
an otter officer goes puppy over her, but she admits
"he is sort of cute, in an otter sort of way"
Dreadstar (Marvel) (okay, this one has been briefly mentioned on the net)
In the graphic novel we meet a whole planet
of gentle cat-people who are farmers. They are the result of a
genetic project that tried to mix people and cats to produce
great warriors, but failed. All but one, Oedi, are killed.
Oedi turns out to be a great fighter, although I like him
since he is capable of being kind, quite unlike Larry Niven's
kzinti. At the current point of the story, Oedi is presumed dead.
I hope that Dreadstar's moving to First comics will give
the cat another life (he's entitled to 8 more).
Kazar (Marvel) I know this is no longer published,
but I am including it for completeness.
It is like the Jungle Book (Mowgli => Steven Plunder aka Kazar,
Bagheera the black panther => Zabu the Saber Tooth Tiger).
A warm story of a boy and his large ferocious cat
who adopted him at birth (who needs wolves?).
Omaha (Steeldragon Press)
I was too young to read Fritz The Cat the first time around,
but I saw the movie (and have the soundtrack).
"Fritz the cat is basically a phoney, and the fact
that he is a cat is arbitrary. He is quite human,
in fact more human than many of the people Crumb
was to draw later in his career. He is a con-man,
a sex maniac, and totally incorrigible"
- Joe Brancatelli, The World Encyclopedia of Comics
Omaha is similar, with the cats having a lot of sex and getting into
strange situations. The intro to #1 tells of Omaha, the stage name of
a beautiful exotic dancer. She had a honest job as a club dancer,
but the dishonest owners get everybody in trouble. Porn, prostitution,
hit-men are the key ingredients so far. She seems to be an ok person
who gets along with her lover Chuck (a cat-man). Very little plot,
very many sex scenes.
The Omega Men (DC) #32
In this issue, I see a planet/civilization of cat-men, men, and
ordinary cats (quite a mix). This is the first time I ever saw
a cat strip-tease ("If you want a fur show, go down the street!").
Felicity, a cat-woman, takes jobs as a dancer in clubs and
winds up sharing an apartment with a murderer.
Is this the only issue with cats?
The West Coast Avengers (Marvel). #6
Tigra is a cat-woman superhero-type. During a mystic science chant,
the West Coast Avengers summon Balkatar, brother to the Jungle Cat,
who takes Tigra home to meet the family -- sort of. They pop into
"The Land Within" which is a city of cat-men. We see
fierce guards and warriors, a king and others in the background.
Their race was from a mixing of men and cats (like Dreadstar).
Tigra and the Balkatar get along real fine...but other conflicts
arise leading to lots of fighting scenes (well, it's only a comic
book). I don't see any other issues dealing with Tigra, only a
frame or two in subsequent issues to show she's still in The Land
Within having a grand time.
Star Trek (DC) #25
It's the April edition, where Uhura says "there's no one here to take
your call right now, but if you leave your name and frequency when
you hear the tone...". After surrendering the Excelsior to the
Ajir, it's also surrendered to the Grond, who are just plain cats.
Even toting machine guns doesn't make them fierce. And they
know it. A fun episode featuring the following dialogue:
"Captain Kirk?"
"Admiral, actually"
"and this is the Enterprise?"
"sorry, the Excelsior"
"We're a little behind in the news. All right,
surrender your ship"
-------
Jeff 'aye captain' Skot
{ihnp4 | allegra | decvax ...} attunix ! jeffj
oh yes, did I mention that I *hate*
Smurfs
Rainbow Brite
Care Bears
Strawberry Shortcake
He-Man
She-Ra
Get Along Gang (well, I like Zipper the cat)
Transformers and all other Japanese robot spinoffs.boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (02/11/86)
> From: sfmin!jeffj (Jeff Skot) > I love cats dearly and it warms my heart to see them portrayed > well in comics, with such attributes as dexterity, strength, > nobility and sensuousness. It is this craving that brought > my attention to these titles, which I haven't seen mentioned on the net. > Albedo Anthropomorphics > I have only #5. The story I see is that there is a conflict > between the gov't and many of the people, with radicals and > protests a-la 60's. The main character is a smart cat-woman > who is diplomat by day, but cool and cunning enough to > tactfully use military force when needed. Other than a lion > commander, every character is a different animal. At a dinner party, > an otter officer goes puppy over her, but she admits > "he is sort of cute, in an otter sort of way" Are you perhaps talking about Steve Gallacci's "Erma Felna" series (I have the first four issues of the comic, but not the fifth)? I never had the impression that she was a cat, but a vixen. By the way, I did review the first couple of issues of this title here back when they came out. > Omaha (Steeldragon Press) > Omaha is similar, with the cats having a lot of sex and getting into > strange situations. The intro to #1 tells of Omaha, the stage name of > a beautiful exotic dancer. She had a honest job as a club dancer, > but the dishonest owners get everybody in trouble. Porn, prostitution, > hit-men are the key ingredients so far. She seems to be an ok person > who gets along with her lover Chuck (a cat-man). Very little plot, > very many sex scenes. I reviewed this one, too, though guardedly, as creator Reed Waller is a friend of mine, and I didn't want to be biased. I disagree that there is "little plot" to this book. If you want to be a completist, there were three previous Omaha stories: the whole of BIZARRE SEX #9, a short in BIZARRE SEX #10, and a short in DOPE COMIX #5. As for other comics with cats, there's AMERICAN FLAGG! --- How can you forget this one? How many cats get to be mayor of Chicago? DYNAMO JOE --- One character is Pomru, a cat-like being who talks in a very corrupted form of English. The series has so far run in the last three issues of MARS, all of FIRST ADVENTURES, and a 3-issue mini- series, the first issue of which is out right now. SWORDS OF THE SWASHBUCKLERS --- The character Domino Drake has a pet cat named Cap'n Kidd, who in a couple of issues gained human-level intelligence and could walk erect. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...} !decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.DEC.COM
colonel@ellie.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) (02/14/86)
["We ought to be able to get a fur hat and 3 or 4 tacos out of it."] > I love cats dearly and it warms my heart to see them portrayed > well in comics, with such attributes as dexterity, strength, > nobility and sensuousness. It is this craving that brought > my attention to these titles, which I haven't seen mentioned on the net. You omitted Eclipse's "Kitz 'n' Katz," a fresh version of Herriman's work. And what about Fat Freddy's Cat? "The Surgeon General of Australia reminds you that canned wombat is every bit as nutritious as fresh." -- Col. G. L. Sicherman UU: ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel CS: colonel@buffalo-cs BI: csdsicher@sunyabva
chavey@crystal.UUCP (Darrah Chavey) (02/15/86)
The recent discussion of cats in comics seems to have forgotten Dreadstar. Here we have an entire race of cat people (well, at least we had them once). How about Kitz 'n Katz Komics? Then again there's always the old 4 issue run of "Cat". (I'll try to avoid mentioning "Thundercats" or "Pussycat").
peter@baylor.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (02/27/86)
> The recent discussion of cats in comics seems to have forgotten Dreadstar.
I got into this one late... has anybody mentioned Steve Gallaci's "Albedo" yet?
--
-- Peter da Silva
-- UUCP: ...!shell!{baylor,graffiti}!peter; MCI: PDASILVA; CIS: 70216,1076