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Cats

Pool Party in the Winter?

Hoo boy: The things we forgot to ask for for Christmas! Petpool: Pool Party is a very strange one-shot that Marvel Comics brought us last holiday season. “How many PetPools does it take to collect a comic? Find out in this oversized, fan-favorite, once-in-a-lifetime, Tony Award-winning, DOGgone, CATastrophic, MOUSE… somethingorother comic book, collecting EVERY SINGLE INSTALLMENT EVER of the Dogpool, Catpool, Mousepool and Dogpool Team-Up infinity comics. What’s that? You want more?! Well, it’s your lucky day, because we’ve also thrown in a brand-new, never-before-seen PetPool holiday instant classic that we created just for this printing. Why? Because you $@&%ing deserve it.” Why, thank you. This strangeness comes to us from the mind of writer MacKenzie Cadenhead (Marvel Mutts) and artist Enid Balam. And, it’s still on the loose.

image c. 2025 Marvel Comics

They Are Here To Serve Us

Twenty years ago writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely knocked it outta the park (again) with a limited comic book series called WE3: “Deep inside a top-secret U.S. Air Force research facility, a revolution in cybernetics is taking shape. Using ordinary domestic animals for their test subjects, the scientists of Project AWE have created a new class of cyborgs — flesh-and-metal creatures designed to rule the battlefields of tomorrow. The project’s crowning achievement is a trio of prototypes code-named WE3 — each one custom-built and trained to work as specialists within a team. With their nervous systems enhanced and supplemented by cutting-edge military hardware, WE3 are the ultimate smart weapons — programmable yet autonomous, loyal yet utterly ruthless. But successful as they are, WE3 are still only prototypes, to be dismantled when their testing is complete. Inside their fearsome mechanical shells, however, are three lost pets whose amplified traits include the will to survive— an instinct which proves to be even stronger than their makers knew. Faced with destruction, WE3 runs —out into a frightening and confusing world, where they are now as much of a threat as those who hunt them. Relentlessly pursued, WE3 fights with the combined firepower of a battalion — and a faint, warm memory of somewhere called Home.” Now, two decades later, DC Comics brings us WE3: The 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, including the original graphic novel compilation plus some extensive behind-the-scenes material. It also features a new forward by director James Gunn — who has admitted that aspects of Batch 89 from Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 were directly inspired by this comic.

image c. 2025 DC Comics

Monstrous Meows

As if taking care of an “ordinary” cat weren’t enough trouble… what if they were more than that? Find out in Monster Cats  Volume 1, a graphic novel written and illustrated by Pandania. “Is it a banshee, a yeti, a gorgon, or… a cat? Monster Cats are a purrfect new breed of familiar furry friends crossed with freaky fun! If you think life with regular cats can get complicated, wait ’till you see what it’s like for people who live with these charming supernatural pets.” Oo, pretty scary kids! It’s available now in paperback from Square Enix Books.

image c. 2025 Square Enix Books

It Helps, At Least

The simple summary for Ai Shimizu’s new manga Breakfast With My Two-Tailed Cat goes like this: “A talking supernatural cat rescues a man from loneliness as they enjoy a peaceful country life and delicious food.” Okay. A little more detail, please? “Souichiro’s wife’s wanted to retire to the countryside, but soon after they achieve this dream, she dies. So he won’t be left alone, their pet cat Nii turns into a talking nekomata, a two-tailed yokai cat. Together they share a heartwarming slow life, cooking and eating delicious food surrounded by nature. Enjoy freshly baked bread, handmade jam, fluffy omelets, and seasonal vegetables with the members of this unusual household.” Better! And it’s available from Seven Seas.

image c. 2025 Seven Seas Entertainment

Pack Your Trunk for Adventure

Here’s the publisher’s notes on the new comic series Squish and Squash: “Squish and Squash are two young cadets trying to make it into the Intergalactic Search and Rescue Squad. In order to become rescuers, they must pass the difficult ‘Save the Gimblemans’ simulation test. It’s not going to be easy, especially with tough Captain Twomey breathing down their necks. Breaking the rules and saving the crew from a burning galactic cruise ship lands our two cadets in trouble. The duo are given one last chance to pass the test or be thrown out of the academy for good. Our adventurous heroes must find new and imaginative ways to earn their patch and become bona-fide rescuers!” For some reason though, they neglected to mention that Squish and Squash are an elephant and a pussycat! Issues of Squish and Squash (by Niall O’Rourke and Mike Hartigan) are available now from Keenspot Entertainment.

image c. 2025 Keenspot Entertainment

The Annie Award Nominations for 2024

ASIFA-Hollywood (one of the biggest chapters of the International Animated Film Society) recently announced this years nominees for the best in animated movies, TV series, short films and more, all from the year 2024. Surprising no one probably, Dreamworks’ The Wild Robot lead the pack with 10 nominations — including of course Best Animated Feature, where it joins Inside/Out 2, Kung Fu Panda 4, That Christmas, Ultraman: Rising, and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. (Conspicuous in its absence, perhaps: Disney’s Moana 2.) Inside/Out 2 and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl follow behind with seven nominations each. Wild Robot is also up for Best Effects Animation, Best Character Animation, Best Character Design, Best Direction (Chris Sanders), Best Music, Best Production Design, two for Best Voice Acting (Lupita Nyong’o as Roz the robot and Kit Connor as Brightbill the goose), and Best Editing. The feline film Flow (from Latvia) is up for Best Independent Feature Film, as well as for Best Writing and Best Direction. (Interesting side note: Flow just recently won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature!) All this, and we haven’t even talked about video games or TV shows! Animation World Network has a write-up of the nominees, or visit the official Annie Awards site to find out more. The Annie Awards will be handed out at a gala event at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Saturday, February 8th. (And don’t forget: Very soon it’s time to start sending in your nominations for the 2024 Ursa Major Awards!)

image c. 2025 Dreamworks Animation

Pets Lost in Space

Catching up again, here’s a science fiction comic series from Boom! Studios that we missed last year: Man’s Best, written by Pornsak Pichetshote (The Good Asian) and illustrated by Jesse Lonergan.Homeward Bound on an alien world, Man’s Best follows three emotional support pets living on the Starship Horizon – a spacecraft searching for a new home to house a humanity compromised by bad decisions and corporate greed. But after the ship crashes and the crew is captured, these loyal pets are their owner’s only hope. Outfitted in outrageous tech, these three best friends must traverse a hostile world to rescue their owners–leaving them the only hope for a humanity that might not be worth saving. In a harrowing adventure, the pets are faced with challenges that threaten to destroy their most valuable treasure: Their friendship.” Issues are still available from Boom! and at comic shops [Happy New Year, everyone! Let’s work together to make it good, safe, and prosperous.]

image c. 2025 Boom! Studios

A Thing for Big Cats

Another one of those interesting mangas with a very interesting, very long name: A Cat From Our World and the Forgotten Witch, written and illustrated by Hiro Kashiwaba. “In her youth, Jeanne was a powerful witch who vanquished the evil Demon King and saved the world—but over time, the people she rescued have forgotten her. Now she is a lonely old woman living in a secluded forest…until she accidentally summons a cat from Earth to her home! The former city kitty is now gigantic and must acclimate to this new world. Can a cat from another world soothe the loneliness of the forgotten witch?” Several issues are available now (in English) from Seven Seas Entertainment.

image c. 2024 Seven Seas Entertainment

Life in the Trash Lane

So sorry, but we just had to steal that phrase from the publisher — couldn’t top it! “Meet the Bins family, a trio of raccoons in the risky business of dumpster diving for all their needs. With Dusty’s brains, ReRe’s muscle, and Scraps’s gadgets (please don’t tell him he’s almost definitely an opossum), the Binses are determined to leave no garbage bin unturned in their pursuit of the tastiest, most delicious trash they can find. When the family discovers a new upscale grocery store that’s throwing away their perfectly good food at the end of each day, the Binses hatch a heist so daring it’ll have them rolling in garbage all winter long. But a critter-despising CEO, Jeff Beans, and the high-tech defense system he’s installed means liberating that trash is going to take all the skills the Racc Pack have … and maybe some help from a cat burglar with a mysterious past.” Published by Simon & Schuster, The Racc Pack graphic novel is by Stephanie Cooke (My Little Pony: Camp Bighoof), with art by Whitney Gardner.

image c. 2024 Simon & Schuster