Porcellino, John – King Cat #79

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King Cat #79

30 years! This is the 30th anniversary of King Cat, and it’s yet another great issue. It’s packed with nostalgia, exactly as a 30th anniversary issue should be, and a fair chunk of it is relevant to me on a personal level, so I’ll most likely do my best to keep myself out of it and fail completely. Anyway! I put John’s comic origin story as the sample page, for those of you who are curious. I went to Record Service (in Champaign Illinois) dozens of times myself, but my comics origin story was at a different location… dammit. Didn’t take long to mention my own stuff, did it? Maybe I should stick to saying what the comic is about. Stories in this one deal with his time camping with the cub scouts (and the inevitability of his getting the worst burger when it was his turn), several stories about his time in school with the science club and their many field trips, a few illustrated poems, his patented (but not really) top 40 list, letters from readers, the story of his tamed squirrel and her kids, an old story about the kindness of his grandfather, and the mystery of the gravity hill. Look it up, it’s damned odd! Other bits in here include a story about John from Gabrielle Bell (who you already know if you know anything about comics) and an epilogue to his comics origin story that was somehow both inevitable and shocking. I know, I didn’t think it was possible for a thing to be both either! John also mentioned a couple of times that he’s planning on retiring in the near future. I really, REALLY hope he’s just talking about Spit and a Half and not King Cat as well, but 30 years is a long time to do anything. Speaking of his comics distro service, I just placed a big old order with them in case he closes up shop suddenly (and because I got a raise recently, and what else would I spend that money on but comics?), and I’d highly recommend that y’all do that too. A number of items were sold out, so get what you can while you can. As far as recommendations go, of course you should read it! It’s an issue of King Cat. Always get the new King Cat! $5