I did 100 entries of The Daily Comic Book Coffee on the Comic Book Historians group at Facebook. I decided to switch things up after that, and began posting Comic Book Cats. Each day I post cat-centric comic book artwork by a different artist.
Comic Book Cats is being archived on First Comics News. But here are 10 highlights from the first 50 entries.
Steve Ditko
Ghostly Tales #85, drawn by Steve Ditko and written by Joe Gill, published by Charlton Comics in April 1971, and Speedball #10, plotted & penciled by Steve Ditko, inked by Dan Day, scripted by Jo Duffy, lettered by Jack Morelli and colored by Tom Vincent, published by Marvel Comics in June 1989.
Steve Ditko drew a number of stories with cats throughout his lengthy career. Here is artwork from couple of them.
The first page is from “The 9th Life,” one of the best stories that Joe Gill wrote for Charlton’s horror anthologies. Ditko did really good work illustrating Gill’s story.
Michael Holt rescues a stray black cat and takes it back to his apartment in the slums. Michael is depressed about the state of the modern-day world. The black cat is apparently a shape-shifting witch named Felicia, and she offers to transport Michael back to the past. Michael agrees, but soon discovers the “good old days” were not so good, with tyranny and disease. Returning to the present day, Michael realizes that he needs to actively work to make the world he lives in a better place. He is reunited with Felicia, who joins him on his path of fighting for a better world.
The second page is from the last issue of the short-lived Speedball series. The laboratory accident that endowed Robbie Baldwin with his kinetic energy powers also gave those same powers to Niels, a cat who belonged to one of the scientists at the lab.
A subplot running through the Speedball series was Robbie’s repeatedly-unsuccessful efforts to capture Niels. Getting a hold of a normal feline who doesn’t want to be caught is difficult enough as it is; give a cat bouncing superpowers and the task becomes nigh-impossible!
Dwayne Turner & Chris Ivy
Sovereign Seven #7, penciled by Dwayne Turner, inked by Chris Ivy, written by Chris Claremont, letter by Tom Orzechowski and colored by Gloria Vasquez & Rob Schwager published by DC Comics in January 1996.
I spotlighted Chris Claremont’s Sovereign Seven in a couple of Comic Book Coffee entries. It was a fun series, so I’m happy to take another look at it.
In this issue Finale of the Sovereigns is caught in the middle of a struggle between international mercenary Marcello Veronese and his fugitive quarry. Pursuing the sword-wielding fugitive, Finale enters a doorway, only to find herself in the Crossroads Coffee Bar & Inn on the opposite side of town. Crossroads once again lives up to its name, serving as a portal to different places, dimensions & times. Greeting the stunned Finale is Lucy the cat, who is apparently dressing as Supercat for Halloween.
I purchased the original artwork for this page from Chris Ivy at New York Comic Con in 2015. The close-up panel of Lucy on the original really demonstrates Ivy’s very detailed and delicate inking.
David Mazzucchelli & Richmond Lewis
Batman #406, drawn by David Mazzucchelli, written by Frank Miller, lettered by Todd Klein and colored by Richmond Lewis, published by DC Comics in April 1987.
I must have read the Batman: Year One trade paperback a dozen times in high school. To this day, it remains one of my all-time favorite Batman stories. Many of the images from this story have burned themselves into my consciousness. So as soon as I decided to do Comic Book Cats, I just knew I was going to spotlight this page.
A pre-Catwoman Selina Kyle, her roommate Holly, and their menagerie of cats being awoken at 5 AM by the GCPD’s corrupt, trigger-happy swat team attempting to kill Batman by dropping bombs on him. Of course the cats now want to be fed, even though it’s much too early! I’ve always thought David Mazzucchelli did an especially good job on this page.
This is actually scanned from the trade paperback, which was re-colored by Richmond Lewis. As has been astutely observed by colorist Jose Villarubia, newsprint has a different texture from the paper used in TPBs, and the result is that coloring done for the former will not reproduce accurately in the later.
Batman: Year One is apparently one of the very few times when the original colorist was asked to do new coloring for a collected edition. Lewis’ work for the Year One collection is outstanding, and I’m grateful that for once DC Comics actually went the extra mile.
Rachel Dukes
Frankie Comics #3, written & drawn by Rachel Dukes, published by Mix Tape Comics in November 2014
Rachel Dukes’ mini comic Frankie Comics is absolutely adorable, a really cute look at quirky cat behavior. I met Dukes a couple of times at Mocca Fest, where I picked up copies of the first and third issues. I still need the second one.
In this two page sequence Dukes demonstrates that Frankie has a very cat-like approach to “helping” out his humans.
Dukes showed me a photo of the real-life Frankie, who looks very much like one of my two cats, Nettie Netzach. Judging by the antics Dukes portrays in her comic, they also act alike. Michele suggested they could be long lost sisters. You never know.
Bob Brown & Don Heck
Daredevil #109, penciled by Bob Brown, inked by Don Heck, written by Steve Gerber, lettered by Artie Simek and colored by Petra Goldberg, published by Marvel Comics in May 1974.
This is not technically a cat page as it does not feature any examples of Felis catus, aka the domestic cat, but I am showcasing it anyway. Because, honestly, the dramatic arrival of the stunning Shannah the She-Devil accompanied by her pet leopard and panther is a pretty damn impressive cat-related image.
Bob Brown is one of those good, solid artists from the Silver and Bronze Ages whose work often flew under the radar, but who you could always count on to turn in a professional job. Over the years I’ve developed more of an appreciation for Brown’s work. He is effectively inked here by Don Heck, another talented, underrated artist.
Rachel Smith
Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #13, written & drawn by Rachael Smith, published by Titan Comics in August 2015.
I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who since I was eight years old. Over the decades a few different cat-like aliens have shown up on the British sci-fi series, as well as in the various comic book spin-offs.
Several issues of The Tenth Doctor comic book series contained a humorous back-up strip featuring the Doctor and his cat Rose by Rachael Smith. Yes, the Doctor named his cat Rose; he really was hung up on Billie Piper, wasn’t he? In this installment Rose convinces the Doctor to try speed dating. Of course, this being Doctor Who, things go horribly, hysterically wrong.
British artist Rachael Smith has also written & drawn several creator-owned graphic novels.
Joe Staton & Freddy Lopez Jr.
Back Issue #40 cover drawn by Joe Staton and colored by Freddy Lopez Jr, published by TwoMorrows Publishing in April 2010.
Back Issue is a magazine edited by Michael Eury that takes an in-depth look back comic book from the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Each issue has a theme, and BI #40 spotlighted “Cat People,” i.e. cat-themed characters of the Bronze Age. One of the characters examined in this issue was, of course, Catwoman.
The cover illustration of Catwoman and her black cat prowling the alleys of Gotham City is by one of my favorite artists, the incredible Joe Staton, who had previously penciled two key Catwoman stories, DC Super Stars #17, the origin of the Huntress, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman on Earth 2, and The Brave and the Bold #197, which revealed how Bruce Wayne and Seline Kyle fell in love and married.
Staton has drawn a few cats in various stories throughout the years. I’ve always liked how he rendered them, with his cartoony style always giving them genuine personality. That’s certainly the case here with Selina’s feline companion. Freddy Lopez Jr’s coloring is very effective, as well.
Back Issue, along with many other great magazine & books, can be purchased through the TwoMorrows Publishing website.
Dan DeCarlo
Josie and the Pussycats #54, drawn by Dan DeCarlo and written by Frank Doyle, published by Archie Comics in April 1971.
“The Cat Woman” is drawn by Josie and the Pussycats co-creator and longtime Archie Comics artist Dan DeCarlo. This story sees the scheming Alexandra becoming convinced that her cat Sebastian is being taken by Josie as “bait” to lure in handsome Alan M. After all, Alexandra deduces, that is exactly what she would do if the tables were turned. Tsk tsk, jealous people are always projecting like that!
It turns out that the real reason why Sebastian keeps wandering over to Josie’s house is because she has a wall calendar with a photograph of a beautiful female cat!
DeCarlo always drew cute gals, and as seen here he also did a good job with cats (the actual four-legged furry kind, as opposed to the kind who play musical instruments) investing Sebastian with a lot of personality.
John Gallagher
Max Meow: Cat Crusader, written & drawn by John Gallagher, published by Penguin Random House in 2020.
In the great city of Kittyopolis, aspiring feline journalist Max Meow takes a bite out of a giant meatball from outer space and gains super powers. Donning a costume, Max becomes the heroic Cat Crusader, who protects Kittyopolis from menaces such as giant killer cheeseburgers. However, being a hero is not as easy as it might appear, something that Max must learn the hard way. Will Max save the day, or will the Cat Crusader be defeated by that rotten rodent, the despicable Agent M?
Max Meow: Cat Crusader is a funny, adorable graphic novel for younger readers by John Gallagher, who previously worked on Buzzboy and Roboy Red. He is also he is art director for Ranger Rick magazine, published by the National Wildlife Federation. As explained on the Max Meow website:
“John learned to read with comics, so he is more than excited to share the magic of reading, fun, and imagination with the young readers of the world.”
Curt Swan & Stan Kaye
Action Comics #266 cover penciled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye, published by DC Comics in July 1960.
Curt Swan was the primary artist on the various Superman titles from the mid 1950s to the mid 1980s. It’s inevitable that at some point or another during that lengthy period Swan would be called upon to draw Streaky the Supercat. Here is Swan’s cute rendition of Streaky zipping through the sky, along with Superman, Supergirl and Krypto the Superdog.
The inks are by Stan Kaye, who had previously been the regular inker over Wayne Boring’s pencils on Superman for a decade and a half. Swan and Kaye were often paired up in the late 1950s and early 60s, drawing numerous covers for Action Comics, Adventure Comics, Superman and World’s Finest.
The identity of the colorist for this cover is probably lost to time, which is too bad, because whoever it was did a really nice job.
I hope you found these interesting and informative. Please remember to check out First Comics News for the rest of the Comic Book Cats entries, as well as for the Daily Comic Book Coffee archives.
In My Not So Humble Opinion 