Optical Sloth

Website

King Cat #70

20 years of King Cat!  Holy crap.  I’ll have to try and not think about the fact that a chunk of people reading this weren’t even alive 20 years ago.  As an anniversary issue is the perfect time for nostalgia, if memory serves (and it often doesn’t) my first exposure to John was in King Cat #38, the issue where he talks about the life and death of his dog and the role it played in his life.  I was hooked instantly and went back and got as many of the older issues as I could find which, sadly, wasn’t all that many.  There still hasn’t been anything approaching a definitive collection of his work, probably because he’s ashamed of some of his older stuff, but I’m always all for putting a body of work out there, warts and all.  Everybody reading this already knows all about King Cat, of course, and all of you have sent John money for his comics at least once by now.  Hey, he’s even started Spit and a Half back up, and if you never heard of it and get nothing else out of this review, click on that link to see a wide selection of incredible minis that John somehow has the time to distribute himself.  So how about what’s in the book, am I ever going to get to that?  I kind of figured that a positive review was a given at this point, but since you insist, stories in here include how he’s given up drinking (but would like very much (at times) to give up the giving up), how maybe the pace of the suburbs is best for him after all, some adorable neighborhood animals, getting his wisdom teeth out because his insurance was about to run out, a dream and a bag of chips, Do the Pete Duncan, and a follow-up on Square Head John from issue #67.  As usual, that’s not all, as there’s also his top 40 list (expanded this time around), some one panel strips dealing with cats and a few other stories that I didn’t mention to leave you some surprises for when you inevitably order this comic.  You do like to be surprised, right?  And you do like great comics?  The man’s been doing this often thankless, poverty-inducing job for 20 years, send him some money out of love and gratitude, why don’t you?  I can’t think of anybody who deserves it more.  $3

Website

King Cat #69 Now Available!  $3

This has to be the cheeriest King Cat I’ve seen in ages.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that as an insult, but it’s hard not to feel like you know John a little bit from reading his comics (probably stupid to think that, but it’s still hard not to) and it seemed like a lot of things were going poorly for him.  A return to cheeriness means, to my addled brain, that maybe he’s doing better in his real life, and that’s always good news.  Stories in this issue deal with John telling an origin story of sorts of his taste in music, John and his wife getting two new cats (and many shorter pieces detailing their adventures, John’s trademark (is it trademarked yet?  The man should look into it) ability to see the beauty in the quiet moments, and the piece that made me laugh out loud, Comb-Over.  As always with this man, checking out his latest work shouldn’t take prodding, it should be a requirement for any thinking person who likes these funny books.

Website

King Cat #68 Now Available! $3

First off, my condolences to John after the death of his cat (which anybody who has read this book at all has seen countless times over the years), Maisie Kukoc. Speaking as somebody who has a cat on his lap at the moment, it’s hard to overstate just how awful it is to have a loved pet die, especially one as obviously thoroughly loved as Maisie was. The comic itself is all about being in a time of transition, as John moves back to Denver with his wife and cat. There are random observances from the road, stories of Diogenes, bits about the importance of an anthill and a quiet moment with his cat, along with the usual “top 40” and other text pieces. The possible highlight of the book (in a series where it’s almost impossible to pick out highlights) was the showdown between two squirrels on a power wire, something I won’t spoil for everybody who is obviously going to go out and pick this up and the first available opportunity anyway. And again, sorry about your loss, John. I’d like to tell you that things will get better, and they will, gradually, but with this coming on the heels of a general sense of giving up on this insane world, well… $3

Website

King Cat #67 Now Available! $3

How on earth did I miss a King Cat?  For those of you who read these reviews sequentially (i.e. every person who clicks on John’s name, I imagine), I somehow didn’t read this one, even though it was actually sitting in a box, in my room with all the other comics available for sale, for a couple of years.   Seeing as how I almost certainly wouldn’t have this website and/or still be reading comics if it wasn’t for John, that’s baffling.  But enough about me, how about the comic?  Go ahead and scroll around the page if you want, there will probably be no shock here: I loved it.  It’s odd reading these things out of order, as by #69 John seems to be in a much happier place, but things were much different in the dark days of #67.  A few of the stories are just John lying in bed, obviously unable to sleep, worrying about various aspects of his life or life in general.  He’s also clearly in some pain from what appears to be stomach surgery of some kind, but is unwilling to really complain about it.  Ah, that good old “heartland” stoicism.  Stories in here include sleeping in the car in L.A. with his cat (after the hotel wouldn’t allow pets), getting advice from teaboxes, Maisie’s eyes, a tale of courting his wife from back in the old days, and, as he couldn’t leave it on such a depressing note, the story of a walk that left him with a strong sense of hope.  There’s also a fantastic text piece about Square-Head John, and you can guess what stories would come from such a name but I’m not going to spoil a thing.  Highly recommended, as always, and only crazy people aren’t already reading this book religiously.  Are you a crazy person?  $3

Website

King Cat #66 Now Available! $3

The machine that is King Cat just keeps rolling along, as this one deals mostly with John’s time in Elgin a few years back. John spends a quiet afternoon raking the yard (or a quiet few minutes raking the yard, after that all the neighborhood kids come over to help out), then follows that up with a game of touch football, minus the Hollywood ending. The other big story in here is a mostly silent piece with John taking a long drive out to a mound of gravel, with the trademark King Cat appreciation of all the silent moments in life. Other than that, this seemed like an unusually quick read, and I figured out why that is: no top 40 list. It just feels wrong. There’s a heartbreaking letter about a neighborhood friend getting sick, but other than that it’s a remarkably quick read. It’s still King Cat so you’ll still love it though, so don’t fret too much… $3

Website

King Cat #65 Now Available! $3

Having a crappy day/week/life? Pick up an issue of this and just try and stay depressed. Not that it’s ever a collection of “rah rah” type life affirmation, but it’s impossible to stay sad with John’s quiet stories about wandering and searching for something in this world. This issue is a collection of places. Elgin (where John still feels at home), a band trip years ago to Iowa, DeKalb in the early 90’s, a trip to a state park in Kansas, and country roads in Denver. Also included, of course, is his “Top 40” list (it’s been a while since I’ve seen it actually at 40) and his text pieces, if possible, are even more beautiful than his drawn stories. Hey, if you read any other part of this page it shouldn’t come as a shock that I love his stuff. This is just another exceptionally great issue from the series that makes it impossible for me to give up hope in the potential of this medium. Not that I’m trying to put any pressure on the guy or anything…

Website

King Cat #64 Now Available! $3

This issue came out soon after John’s Dad died, so this is filled with memories of his father and comics about the days immediately after he died. Naturally, it’s somber as can be and it makes you realize that if you have any relatives at all that you like you should probably give them a call every now and then. John was incredibly close to his father and this whole thing reads like his heart has been crushed, which I guess it has. It’s not possible to do much of a review on something like this, so all I can say is that it’s still King Cat, and if you love the other issues you’ll love this one too, but it’ll also break your heart to read it. $3

Website

King Cat #63

I’m still not sure how I manage to miss new issues when they come out, but at least that way I have more than one to read when I finally do hear about them, right? I can’t tell if this is my favorite issue in years or if it’s just the fact that I haven’t read a new one in years, but I loved this. Stories in here are about his history of alcohol, haircuts, a freakish fly, another “top 40” list and plenty of his one or two page “zen poetry” style comics. If you’ve read them you know what I mean. Fantastic, damned near flawless, not like you’re going to get anything close to an objective review out of me on a King Cat, but that’s my opinion. $2.50

Website

King Cat #61

This comic sucks! Nah, not really, I just realized that there’s very little chance for there ever being a negative review on this page, so I thought I’d start off mean. King Cat #61 is brilliant, as always.It’s kind of like the Dan Clowes Eightball effect, where you get so used to reading really incredible books every time one comes out that you start to take it for granted. It’s good to see that John has found love and has his personal life in order. His comics, if possible, might get even more peaceful. This also comes with a collection of sketchbook drawings of his cat Maisie Kukoc, and anybody who is even remotely interested in cats is going to find this adorable. I honestly don’t know how anybody could come out of reading one of his comics in a bad mood. It would just take so much effort to stay grumpy that most people wouldn’t even bother. The actual comic has the usual assortment of walks, observances and anecdotes. My favorite part was the bit where he went shopping for a CD with his Mom, but it’s my policy to not give anything away from a King Cat issue. Either you know it and love it or you just somehow haven’t heard of it yet, meaning you have such an incredible discovery ahead of you that I don’t want to spoil even the tiniest thing. I’m mostly posting this review at all to let people know that there’s a new issue out, in case they missed it…

Website

King Cat #60

I mostly wanted to review this so I could tell the story of my meeting John at SPACE a month ago. He’s been a hero of mine (and one of my comic favorites) for about nine years now and I’d never been able to get to anything he was at, but we did write each other back and forth a few times 5 or 6 years ago after I ordered some comics. Anyway, I was at his table for awhile before I introduced myself as the guy from Optical Sloth (hey, a lot of people knew what it was so I thought I’d give it a shot), Whitey. His reaction? “My Whitey?” Hee hee, “my Whitey”. He must get a fair amount of mail and I was impressed that he would remember a few letters from that long ago. Anyway, the actual comic. Do I really need to tell you to buy all of these that you can afford? There’s not a comic out there that puts me at peace after reading it like this one does. If that’s not a recommendation, I don’t know what is. Stories in here include him wandering around a disused trail and traveling with his former wife and her parents. Throw in a bunch of text pages about various things and you have another great issue. Hey, he has a new website. Now getting King Cat is easier than ever! It’s just a catalog listing (I was hoping to see rambling), but his descriptions of his comics are worth the time to check out.

Website

King Cat #38

John Porcellino is the best person currently doing mini comics. As far as I know, he’s the best person who’s ever done mini comics. I could have picked any issue of King Cat to review and it would have been positive. He’s on #57 (as I write this) and has been doing this for something like 15 years. He just recently got a book published by Highwater books which collects #49 and 50 (and a few other things) of his comic and, while I didn’t get the collected version yet, that two issue story remains one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Other people try to capture high school and the moods that you go through during it. Some do a good job, some do a really good job, and I just can’t relate to some of them. John hit just about everything during this two issue story and he deserves a fucking medal for it. In a perfect world, he would be rich and able to do his quietly beautiful comic whenever he wanted. As it is now, he has to maintain a job and is usually only able to get 2 or 3 of these out a year. I picked #38 to review because it is widely seen as the best issue of King Cat and, while I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that (how do you pick the best single issue when so many of them are incredible?), it is at least one of the best.

This remains one of the few issues of any mini comic that can make me cry every time I read it. It’s the story of John’s dog Sam. How he got her, what part she played in his life, how he became distant from her when he went through his high school years and was distant from everybody… but she was always there for him. I went through pretty much the exact same thing with my dog, almost every step of the way. I’m lucky that I read this before my dog died too because I was able to spend more time with and appreciate her. I’ll always be grateful to him for reminding me of what my dog meant to me when I was growing up. Anyway, what I’d recommend is that you give him any money that you have sitting around. Start with the Classix volumes. There are 4 of them with each of them reprinting the best from a ten issue span. #1 has #1-10, #2 has #11-20, etc. If you send $8.50 you can get all of them, but it looks like stock is limited on the #1 so ask him to send you another issue if that isn’t in. I don’t know, #50-57 are all $2 and they’re all good. If you have somehow gotten to this point in your life where you haven’t read him, seriously, at least send him a few dollars. I guarantee that you won’t regret it. Hey, I finally got an e-mail address for the man too.