I like to be busy, but one of
the downsides of being busy is that I don't have much time to read.
I like to read even more than I like to be
busy, so it's one of my conflicts in life that I try to figure out pretty much
all the time.
Needless to say, I've been
busy and haven't had time to wade through the digital pile of comics and
graphic novels lately, but I finally had a chance to get some reading done.
This one is a very fun
read.
I Was The Cat is published
by Oni Press.
The story is written by
Paul Tobin, illustrated and colored by Benjamin Dewey, and lettered by Jared
Jones.
As a cat lover, I was drawn in by
the title, and had hopes that it would worth spending time with.
It's definitely a light read and before I
knew it I had finished the book even though it ran 170 pages. For those of you
who don't read many graphic novels, they are definitely not all light reads.
This is a highly entertaining
tale of Burma, who is at
this point in time an orange tabby living in London.
He contacts a writer as he wants to have his memoirs written and
published.
Oh yeah, and he talks.
I mean, how else would he be able to tell his
story, right?
Anyway, through flashbacks
he tells the story of his previous 8 lives and his many attempts to take over
the world.
He appears as a different
breed of cat in each of his lives, and has lived through many eras of world
history, such as World War I,
Egypt in
roughly 1180 BC, and Victorian England.
So apparently those 9 lives that a cat has are very lengthy.
The story has some interesting twists and
turns as Burma
has a Forrest Gump like way of showing up in major historical events.
But the bottom line is that his previous
attempts at world domination always fall flat, like Pinky and the Brain.
As his memoirs unfold its discovered that in
his 9
th life he is yet again trying, and this time succeeding, at
taking over the world.
But you'll have
to read the book to find out how, and whether or not he actually does it.
The story is inventive and an
interesting twist on cats and some of their fabled 9 lives and other quirks
that you will know well if you've ever had them for pets.
It is well paced and never for a second seems
to drag or go off on tangents that make no sense.
The illustrations fit the story well and add
to the telling of the tale.
Hats off again to Oni Press for
another well done novel.
They have
continued to put out a variety of books in a wide range of styles and modes of
storytelling and keep me coming back for more.
I Was The Cat keeps the string alive.
- ODIN
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