Porcellino, John – King Cat #81

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King Cat #81

It’s a new issue of King Cat, which means most of this review is going to be me fighting with myself not to leave the review with that simple fact. What, you want more information other than the fact that there’s a new King Cat in the world? I mean, OK, but you and I both know that I’m never going to give a bad review to this man, unless his brain snaps and he goes full Trumper. And since he’s damned near the last person on Earth who that would ever happen to, there are no worries here. So what’s this particular issue about? There’s John’s intro, and life has gotten him down this time around, which I don’t like to see. I get it, what with [gestures arms wildly at the world in general], but John has a seemingly effortless ability to find joy and beauty in the little things, so I hope that’s getting him through. Stories in here deal with a few of those quiet, joyful moments, finding the beauty in his medicine cabinet of all things, some of the landmark groundhogs he found driving around in 2020, a few more simple moments, an absolutely adorable strip called “Where’s Miss Moo” in which we all try to spot his cat, and how sparrows handle rain. Among a few other things, because as always I’m not going to tell you every story. A couple of the highlights are the piece about how Saturdays have evolved for him over the years (starting as the best day of the week, to just another day once he entered retail work, and finally drifting back to the best day of the week) and a brief but hilarious history of his eyebrows. John’s in his early 50’s, and anybody around there will be able to relate with how eyebrows get absolutely ridiculously out of hand as you age. There’s also the usual text highlights of his comics: a list with brief descriptions of some of his more notable dreams, his top 40 list (that, as always, is as many actual numbers as he wants, which may or may not be 40) and his reader letters. It’s still one of the more complete mini comics around, he’s still putting them out, all these years later. Get it, think about life, and enjoy. $5