Have I run out of words to talk about King Cat? No! But I must confess, I’m currently spending a lot more time sitting here and thinking about the comic that I am writing about it. And if you were looking at a sped up recording of me typing this review (you creep), then you’d see me getting up and puttering around the house a bit rather than my usual business of madly typing until all of the thoughts are out of my head. Um, a peek behind the curtain there, I guess. Maybe it’s because these books are rare and I’m trying to savor it? Probably, because if you think this is the issue where I’m finally going to stop recommending this book, you are completely mistaken. There’s a lot of death this time around, as John’s mother, cat and one of his best friends have all passed away since the last issue. He’s as open as it’s possible for a person to be while talking about these events, and I doubt very much that you’ll be able to get through this comic without crying a few times. But there’s funny stuff in here too, so don’t go thinking it’s entirely grim. Other stories in here deal with John trying to get woodchucks to stop pecking holes in his gutters (in hilariously cartoonish fashion), tasting the dog, unwelcome visits from the cat while sitting on the toilet, how many geese are in the picture, trying to make the ultimate pattern for a dream machine, things left on the nightstand, remembering a trip to the circus and how Zorro fit into it, learning the Dewey Decimal System from a nun while having class outside, a few Buddhist stories, and several more quiet pieces. Of course there’s also his top 40 (and at this point I’d genuinely have to read all of his old comics again to see if it was ever actually exactly 40), several pages of brief synopses of dreams, how he picked out his dog Gretel, and several pages of letters. Look, his comics are a whole mood, and mine instantly improves any time I see a new issue in the mail or at a comics shop. If you’ve somehow made it this far if life without reading any of his comics, fix that already! $7
