Great Comic Cats

by Malcolm Whyte, Patrick McDonnell (Foreword)

Many cans of tuna have been opened and emptied since the collection's first mostly black-and-white edition, in 1981; the revised edition adds more color art as well as coverage of classics including The Cat in the Hat, Bill the Cat, and pets penned by B. Kliban and Edward Gorey. The volume covers cartoon depictions of the cat dating back to 1100 B.C., though the bulk of the images date to the 20th century. Brief essays about printing, literature, contemporary society, and other historical facts are interspersed with the goods selections from the comics themselves. Editor Whyte is a publisher who founded the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Comics, Humor, Animals, Art

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Malcolm Whyte is an author, editor, publisher, and founder of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. Whyte lives in Marin County, California with his wife, author Karen Cross Whyte. He has produced nearly 200 books, 45 of which he has written or co-written. His taste is for unique, offbeat ideas with a sense of good humor and produced with an eye for color and beautiful graphics as represented by The Original Old Radio Game (possibly the world's first trivia book) from 1965 to Maxon: Art out of Chaos, FU (Fantagraphics Underground) Press, 2018.

(biography from wikipedia.org)

Reviews

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nicely presented introduction to comic-strip cats both old and new(ish). I read the 1981 version, so "Mutts" was not included this one. I especially enjoyed the highly detailed Victorian illustrations.