Savage Beast
A new book from Ansis is always a treat, just to spare you any suspense regarding how this review is going to go. It was just last week that I was wearing my Zombre shirt to the gym and had the pleasure of watching a dude look at my shirt, silently mouth the word “Zombre” like it was a question, and go about his day. Too bad, as I would have had a grand old time explaining it to him if he’d asked. But hey, Zombre isn’t in this one, it’s all about cats! Do I always give comics about cats a positive review? Yeah, probably. And that’ll be true until I find the one comic about somebody being an asshole to a cat, at which point the streak will end. This one is a series of single page stories mostly about two cats (Skelly and Pip), with occasional guest cats thrown in. Ansis is also using occasional stickers and colors, mostly but not completely as part of his scanned images in the book (my cover had an actual sticker on it anyway), which made for an interesting look throughout. Side note: am I typing this while my cat Miles is literally cat yelling at me for closing the door while I’m doing this? Reader, you know it, so I’d better make this quick. Stories in here deal with the inevitable quest for quiet while you’re working (pretty on the nose for me today), the glorious dream of catching the mouse versus the reality of how much trouble it is, getting too worked up after watching a movie (cat edition), the sad origin story of Skelly (adopted as part of a bonded pair when the other half died only a week later, sadly I can relate to this one too), the tuna dance, and an unseen moment of cat peace. There are also stories about Ranger (it just never works to try to help a cat who seems too hot) and Cutlet (the shrieker) and Bob (awwww). I’m not seeing this on his website so it must be hot off the presses, but if you contact him through his website I’m thinking maybe $5 could get you a copy? I’m terrible about guessing prices so don’t quote me on that. He’s also putting out two new books next year, but for now… cats!
