Inspired by Docs blog by the wonderful Jim Mooney commission and the love of the goofy has inspired me to write this:
So many stories, so many characters have been led by a feline lead or have had a heavy presence amongst comics over the decades.
I am not going to try and name every kitty which has made an appearance as that would be far too time consuming, boring and well… I don’t roll like that.
But I will share with you some of my all-time favourite cats to cross the pages.
It is only right to start off with probably the most famous kitten around… Supergirls cat Streaky, a ginger tabby who sports a cape very much like hers and Supermans.
Streaky the supercat has flight, super speed, super vision and super strength and gained his powers by being exposed to the radiation of green kryptonite.
You saw him mainly through the 1960’s and he became a member of the Legion Of Super Pets.
One of my favourite ‘Streaky’ and somewhat poignant Streaky appearances was written by animal lover and writer; Grant Morrison.
In an issue of Animal Man we saw a grey furred Streaky but he was followed by an orange trail with the tell-tale lightning bolt… which is a lovely homage to the first.
I don’t think we should forget Streakys decendent, Whizzy!
He was created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney in 1962.
He looks just like Streaky, has the cape and thunderbolt and is telepathically linked with Supergirl.
He and Supergirl were thrown into the phantom zone… Whizzy assisted in the escape of the heroes but it is unclear if he too escaped.
Today you see Streaky in Tiny Titans, he attends a pet club and he made an appearance in Batman: The Brave And The Bold in an advert that Blue Beetle is watching for ‘Plastinos’ Cat Snacks which is a nice nod to artist Al Plastino.
Another story I hold in high regard is an 8 pg. Mary Marvel: THE GREEN EYED MONSTER.
Here we meet Kitzel who tells the story.
We learn humans are pretty dumb as we don’t have feline instinct and dogs are portrayed as the weaker species; make way for the feline-superior!...
Kitzel gets called a ‘green eyed monster’ which Kitzel takes offence too.
It is here we learn that Kitzel is telling the story to the greatest TIGER in comics!
Mr Talky Tawny.
He explains the misunderstanding… it really cannot get more awesome than this!!
So we have seen the Superman and Marvel feline families, let’s take a closer look at Batmans…
Alfred has a black and white cat named Midnight who seemingly took the place of Ace the Bathound but Midnight is only glimpsed on a few occasions but needed to be mentioned as he is the cat of Wayne manor.
Of course we see Selina Kyle Catwomans two famed kitties, Hecate and Isis.
These kitties are trained to the highest degree, and learn to alert Selina to Batman and others which may be a hindrance to her cat- burgling antics.
Isis on occasion has been seen assisting with robberies too.
As I brought Tigers into this with Mr Tawny I think we need to give a shout out to Prince Tuftan.
The son of Caesar and heir to the tiger empire! Tuftan helped Kamandi to escape when he got himself caught by soldier gorillas… He is well written as he never shows any empathy towards Kamandis plight of humanity.
Jumping back to the world of the Supers for a second, I forgot to mention THE SPACE CAT PATROL AGENTS…
NUFF SAID!
In the early 80’s creator and writer Roy Thomas brought us Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew first seen in The New Teen Titans #16.
Here we see a somewhat sassy Alley-Kat-Abra from ‘Mew Orleans’ she takes on enemy ‘Feline Faust’ and has an evil counterpart ‘Dark Alley’ who murders Little Cheese.. Yup, he’s a mouse!
So with this blog I have outlined some of the more excellent kitties of comics, they are everywhere and the list could go on and on, especially if we start to include the time Superman was turned into a black cat etc…
But if the mood ever takes you to get a little silly, make a grab for that 60’s Supergirl, or Captain Carrot, Or the Big Red Cheese himself… Captain Marvel.
Some very fine reading to lose oneself, laugh and enjoy…
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