I don't know where to start with King Cat. It's a complicated comic. It comes out so infrequently it's like sighting a rare bird (or a woodchuck!). John Porcellino has been self publishing King Cat Comics since 1989 (according to Wikipedia) but part of desperately wants Porcellino to have been publishing King Cat since the dawn of time and to continue publishing it till the universe ends. its that good. But this thought makes me feel guilty because King Cat is autobiographical and it's content is emotionally charged.
For me reading King Cat is like prodding a bruise or deliberately reminding yourself of time when you were sad/unhappy/depressed. I don't want to make King Cat sound melancholy or 'emo' (I know this word is essentially meaningless but hey, I never said I was a writer) or in any way self-indulgent, it is far, far from being any of those things.
There is an almost serene nature to stories in King Cat, thanks to Porcellino's simplistic but beautifully descriptive lines but also to the achingly beautiful subject matter of what Porcellino is telling.
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| this is from King Cat #60 but it's so beautiful i had to include it... |
'But!' I hear you shout 'We thought you said this comic was complicated! so far you have made it sound very simplistic, buddy!'
Well King Cat is complicated because WE are all complicated people. We are walking talking autobiography. Everything that has ever happened to us is written on to our person, written into the way we feel when we stand in our back yards looking up at the stars, the way we feel when someone we love dies or leaves us. Porcellino imparts these emotions onto the page so so well you barely register the fact an actual person has drawn it, its almost like actual emotion itself has manifested itself on the page, when I read King Cat it hits me hard, right in the chest.
Porcellino's work is so pure. Visually, yes but also in the transition from thought to what we see printed on the page. Text and dialogue in King Cat is delivered is short captions above or below each panel. The linework, as I mentioned before is beautifully spare, like looking out of your window and seeing crisp, unsullied, virgin snow laying on the ground.
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| another one from King Cat #60 |
I won't harp on about John Porcellino's personal situations, he chronicles his life in his comic and I wouldn't want to subtract from that. All I will say is his life, like any of our lives, has been fraught with sadness, illness, death of relationships, moments of wonder and discovery, moments of quiet realisation and reverie.
This issue, like most issues I have read before it, balance moments of melancholy and reflective sadness with upbeat and fun short stories, the legendary King Cat Top Forty list and the 'Catcalls' letters page. The letter featured in issue #72 brought a huge smile to my face.
For me the centrepiece of issue #72 is the 'Christmas Eve' story. A solemn figure walking through a snowy neighbourhood looking thoroughly sad. This story hit me like a ton of bricks
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| i took this one myself, its from #72... |
I would recommend King Cat to anyone with a passing interest in comics, obviously. But more broadly I think every single person alive would be able to take something from any issue. I speaks directly to you a person, there is nothing hidden, no clever plot devices to second guess or any of the usual things that get internet comic nerds foaming at the mouth and bitching about in message boards. It is pure, undiluted emotion and experience poured onto the page.
An issue of King Cat is like cradling a small bird in your hands and feeling it tremble and live. Its life, like our lives, are uncertain often painful things but that doesn't mean we should live it and experience all the pain and joy and everything in-between.
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| and funnily enough there is a small bird drawn on the back cover... |
A single issue of King Cat will set you back around £2.99 or something, you can buy them online direct from Porcellino but I would implore you visit Page 45 (if you live in Nottingham or have the internet) as they stock numerous back issues and the Map of My Heart collection, which bundles together a whole bunch of back issues and gives you more bang for your buck.
I hope if anyone reads this they at least try one issue of King Cat. I did and I haven't been able to imagine my life without since.
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