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The Adventures of White Cat Volume 2

Finally, a super hero parody that’s sure to please everybody. Well, such a thing is technically impossible, and that’s not even getting into the vast majority of the population that will never even see this book, but I’m already getting distracted. I just don’t see any way that a human being who had any interest in comics at all could read this and not be overjoyed. My only tiny complaint is that I really wish that there was a recap of the last book at the start of this book, but my universal edict on this subject has still not been taken up by the comic producing public. Ah well, at least the occurrences of “your” and “their” being used incorrectly seem to have dipped in recent years. Anyway, White Cat is a fairly humble guy who’s not at all sure of his place in the universe (that “aw, shucks” cover being a damned near perfect representation of that fact, along with a good way to highlight the massive cast of characters), and I’m still not clear on his super powers, other than using his punches to solve problems. This book is a series of shorter stories, maybe from the internet, maybe from mini comics, who can tell? Stories in here include White Cat’s efforts to get his musical hero changed from a dinosaur back into a human, trying to unravel the mystery of why the latest album from his musical hero is terrible (going to great lengths to avoid the obvious “maybe it’s just bad” hypothesis), a fresh take on the “our bodies have been switched around!” storyline (which I didn’t think was possible, but his discovering new powers while being in Colonel Spectacular along with many other things I don’t want to spoil here were handled very well), learning the limitations of a cell phone charge while taking a space flight to test napping, and his battle with his own insecurity about a lack of money and the future of his relationship (which materializes itself in the form of a yeti). Each one of these is densely layered, and that’s not even including some of the thicker pieces. There’s the White Cat, his casual use of a time portal that goes back to the 50’s to get a replacement typewriter for a reporter friend, the advice he gets about how to woo a lady from his mortal enemy (who is utterly fantastic in his own right), and the mental breakdown that Barracu-Dan has when he can’t get anybody to take him seriously. Or there’s the one where he gets captured by Fratboy Scientist and injected with the secret ingredient in Four Loko, while his theoretical lady love learns exactly what her current boyfriend thinks of her, and the hints of an overall evil master plan at the end of it. Or the nostalgia bomb story! That one was utterly packed with goodness, from people being forced to relive moments from the 90’s, the douchebag music critic, the robot half-brother of White Cat’s girlfriend who is the only other creature who isn’t affected by the nostalgia bomb, and the overall solution to the problem, among many other things. I’m gushing a bit here, sure, but comics are supposed to be fun, dammit, and this one was nothing but pure fun. What more could you ask for?