King City, Volume 1

If the creative team of Mad Magazine were allowed to run riot in the streets of Blade Runner it would result in something like King City. Just add cats. Lots of cats.

The hero of this story is a ‘Cat Master’ called Joe. Cat Masters are sort of like zen ninjas who can make their pets do almost anything after injecting them with a unique formula. Need to duplicate a key? Give the cat an injection, let the feline swallow the key and it’ll spit two back out because it’s... wait for it... a Copy Cat!. Need to lob something over a great distance? One injection later and you have a Cat-a-pult (look, if you don’t like puns just leave now because the books full of them).

I’m giving you the details here because that’s what writer/artist Brandon Graham does: he fills his pages with the day to day existence of our Cat Master and gives as much focus to the little moments of life (spending time with friends, having a bath) as he does to city-destroying demon gods and zombie wars. He gives his characters room to ‘breathe’ and they endear themselves to us all the more for it. Granted it makes for a meandering story but it’s clear this is point of Graham’s comic: he wants to show us his characters and their world in all its anarchic glory.

King City – both the comic and the place itself – is packed with detail. Graham fills his backgrounds and vistas with so much detail it goes beyond being a feast for the eyes to an eyeball-bursting banquet. There’s times when there really can be a hundred and one things going on in the background as we witness the other denizens of King City going about their lives, buying alien porn, shooting each other – the usual. He does this all in a uniquely cartoon-y but never simplistic style that’s all how own. Be warned: Graham’s pen likes to linger on the curves of the female form so if pouting cheesecake isn’t to your taste there might be a few pages you’ll want to skim over.

But don’t put it down! This is far too good a comic to shun. It’s a joy to read and once the final page is turned the only complaint you’ll have is that Cat Masters don’t really exist. Don’t be surprised if afterwards you find yourself giving your neighbour’s cat strange, appraising looks like it’s a Swiss army knife on legs.

By Gordon Mclean