In his new collection of comics, Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations (Chronicle), Jeffrey Brown follows his cat Misty as she sleeps, frolics, and grooms her way through the day. The description sounds tedious but Brown’s obsessive chronicling of Misty’s life pokes fun at both cats and their besotted owners.
Injecting humor into cliché, each strip zooms in on his cat’s activity with a miniaturist’s eye, focusing on small actions such as stretching, sneezing, and sniffing. In one scene where there is no movement at all, time is captured not by motion but by the slow progression of sunlight from a window across Misty’s sleeping form.
Titles like “The I-Just-Smelled-Something-Funny Face” and “The Cutest Sneeze in the World” parody cat lovers’ nonstop commentary about their favorite felines. Brown’s astute depictions of heartache and his knack for capturing small moments pays off in this collection, which would be saccharine in the hands of any other cartoonist. He is adept at balancing the sweet and the wry.
The book is interspersed with Polaroid-like artwork of Misty sitting or walking and Brown’s incessant observations reveal his cat’s idiosyncrasies. Cat lovers will identify and everyone else will be amused. The book’s small size makes it perfect on-the-go reading and may alleviate the cat-piss stench of a red-line train ride. Jeffrey Brown gives cuteness an edge.
– Rihoko Ueno
Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations
Jeffrey Brown
Hardcover, 108 pages
$12.95, Chronicle Books
www.chroniclebooks.com