If there ever were a book that perfectly captured the essence of the housecat, it would be Cat Getting Out Of Bag & Other Observations. Drawn by cartoonist Jeffery Brown, this book contains dozens of short cartoons about the author’s late cat Misty. And while the mannerisms are clearly inspired by Brown’s cat, anyone who’s ever been around a cat will recognize their favorite feline’s behaviors in this book’s illustrations.
The pages are short and simple, but they’re constructed impeccably. Each page captures a moment in the life of Misty, and the casual mischief she makes around the Brown household. Some of the strips show Misty in calmer moments, trying to find the perfect angle in which she can lie in a sunny spot, or daintily lapping water from her bowl. Others have her causing more mayhem, ranging from physical pain (nipping her owner’s hand when overstimulated by his petting) to insomnia (waking him up in the middle of the night to utter a single meow, as though it’s a statement of life-or-death importance) to embarrassment (plopping down in front of mixed company to vigorously lick herself). Still, these are balanced out by heartwarming behaviors, such as Misty getting scared at the vet’s office and vigorously burrowing herself into her owner’s arms.
But none of these behaviors are anthropomorphized; though we recognize that this is a group of pencil and ink lines simulating a cat, these are all purely feline behaviors. Not all of the strips have an obvious punchline, and that’s because this is not a human using a cat to reflect human behavior; this is a human cartoonist showing us a nearly journalistic account of day-to-day feline activity. There are even more detailed illustrations of Misty to bring this point home, where Brown draws her with a photo-realistic style instead of the cartooning he employs throughout the rest of the book.
In the forward, Brown admits that he created this book because he was aware of how popular cats have become, especially thanks to the internet. But few artists have so deftly and humorously captured the feline mystique, and Brown does it with only his art supplies and his fond memories of his beloved Misty.
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About the author:
A freelance writer/cartoonist living in LA, with my fiance' and our wonderful cat. You can see my work at www.rubysworldcomic.com and rubynation.smackjeeves.com
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