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Cats

Feline Fluency

We had not heard of the on-line comic How To Speak Cat, but now it’s available in a new book, How To Speak Cat: Fake Mews. “Not sure what your cat is trying to tell you? Learn To Speak Cat is the book for you. Have a friend who’s potty about their moggy? Learn To Speak Cat is the perfect book for them. Anthony Smith has been translating cat-speak for years, both as a long-running cartoon in The Metro and as a webcomic. Read, laugh and wonder no more what Tiddles has been trying to tell you!” Meow. From Soaring Penguin Press.

image c. 2022 Soaring Penguin Press

Kitty Invading Your TV

You may recall that recently we discovered the Bad Kitty series of books by Nick Bruel. Well now thanks to Animation World Network we have this news: “Independent entertainment company Boat Rocker has landed the rights to develop an animated television series based on the popular Bad Kitty children’s book series from author Nick Bruel. Since its release in 2005, the Bad Kitty series has become a New York Times best-seller to the tune of over 20 million copies sold, and has been published in 23 languages across dozens of territories internationally. The stories center around a mischievous housecat named Kitty who has a unique knack for creating chaos throughout her owner’s home.” No word yet when this will bust out of development, but we’ll be watching.

image c. 2022 Boat Rocker

The Reception is Fuzzy

Creator Charles Brubaker has returned with a new installment of the Ursa Major Award nominated cartoon series Fuzzy Princess, called Oingo Bongo. “Wanting to win a new set of bongo drums, Chiro enters herself and Kuma in a poetry contest. Can Chiro keep the ever-hungry Kuma ‘inspired’?” The short is already up on YouTube, and there are links to lots of Fuzzy Princess books as well.

image c. 2022 Charles Brubaker

Paw the Left Button Twice

Apparently this is a thing we missed — but now it’s available over here. Cat + Gamer is a black & white manga written and illustrated by Wataru Nadatani, now translated and distributed by Dark Horse. “Riko’s coworkers can’t quite figure her out — she never talks about her personal life, she never works overtime, and she never joins them for happy hour. Is she antisocial? Nope, she’s rushing home to play video games! One day, a stray cat is found in the office parking lot, and before Riko knows it, the cat has moved in with her! Having no experience with pets, Riko uses lessons drawn from video games to guide her in cat care, while her cute companion tries to understand her behavior through a cat’s worldview.”

image c. 2022 Dark Horse Press

Working Your Meow-scles.

It seems like cats are getting into all sorts of business these days — in mangas at least. Check out Cat Massage Therapy by Haru Hisakawa. “Nekoyama, worn out after another long day at the office, stops at a therapeutic massage parlor — only to discover that it’s run by a cat! Not only that, but the cat actually does the massaging?! As the professional ‘meowsseur’ digs soft toe beans into Nekoyama’s aching muscles, his heart warms and his worries melt away. This is only the beginning, as he and other world-weary workers are about to meet the other feline professionals who have mastered pawfully cute techniques to reduce human stress.” Available now in full color from Seven Seas.

image c. 2022 Seven Seas Entertainment

Purr-fect Little Scamp

Well here’s something we should have been covering for… quite a while now! In 2005, no less, Nick Bruel created the first Bad Kitty book — featuring the adventures of “…a housecat who wreaks havoc around her owner’s home when she is in a bad mood, hence the name,” according to Wikipedia. Turns out there have been Bad Kitty books and graphic novels ever since — the most recent including Bad Kitty Gets A Phone and Bad Kitty For President. All coming your way from Roaring Brook Press. So you’d better look out!

image c. 2022 Roaring Brook Press

Blazing A New Trail…?

If you’ve been following In-Fur-Nation for a while, you must have heard of Blazing Samurai… We’ve been following the animated film in development for nearly a decade now! At one point production ceased because the animation house that was making it actually went out of business! In fact, the convoluted history of this film’s creation would make for an interesting movie all its own. But now, it seems like things have changed: We have a trailer, we have a release date… and we have a complete change of title. Say hello to Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank. Still directed by Rob Minkoff (The Lion King), but now being released this July through Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Animation.

image c. 2022 Nickelodeon Animation

Let’s Get Ready To Purrumble…!

He’s in L.A. County, we’re in the O.C., so of course we meet up at WonderCon this year — and made sure to pick up his comic book, Super Lucha Cats! Interestingly, we came across this in a local newspaper: “When vampires, demons, and all manner of things that go bump in the night threaten the town, who will be there to save it? The Super Lucha Cats will. Created by 33-year-old Bell Gardens native Javier Solorzano, Super Lucha Cats is a brand-new comic inspired by Latin folklore, a love of lucha libre, and a couple of feline friends. It follows the adventures of Coco, Pizza, Nopalito, and Fresa; four cats adopted off the street by a retired luchadora who – with the help of a magical lucha mask – raised and trained the four siblings to piledrive the forces of evil.” Check out the interview from our local NPR radio station too.

image c. 2022 Media Noche Comics

Of Course You Want That With Cream

It’s wonderful how straightforward manga titles can be. Witness: I Am A Cat Barista, written and illustrated by Hiro Maijima. “For some people, the daily grind of city life is exhausting. Yet somewhere between the busy streets there’s a mysterious cat café that can only be found by weary souls. What’s on the menu? A delicious drink, specially brewed for each customer…by a cat barista!” Sign us up! Two volumes (for now) are available from Penguin Random House.

image c. 2022 Penguin Random House