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Hepcats #1
The Collegiate Hepcats
The Collegiate Hepcats reprints all the earliest Hepcats work, from Wagner's formative cartoons in the University of Houston newspaper, up to the debut of Hepcats in The Daily Texan at the University of Texas (June 1, 1987, all the way to the 1989 premiere issue of the comic book itself. Special Edition limited to 500 copies.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 3, 2012
Joey (a Cougar) and Gunther (a Rhino) share a flat at the University of Houston and get into multiple escapades. Some are believable (Joey falling for a girl who doesn’t love him back, one of their common friends dating a girl who turns out to be a stripper) and some are not (Gunther surviving being dumped from a plane by terrorists, Joey buying a Lamborghini on the first day of school with his parents’ credit card), but all are well written. This isn’t just another ‘furry’ college life comic: it is the original one.
Compilations of syndicated comic strips rarely have as much continuity as The Collegiate Hepcats. Martin Wagner has done a fantastic job with this one, combining The Hepcats strips that ran from 1987-9 in The Daily Texan newspaper with selected Shasta Says strips from 1986-7 (from University of Houston’s Daily Cougar) and the first episode of his self published comic Hepcats. Together, the strips tell a fairly complete story.
This black and white graphic novel shows off Wagner’s progression in cartooning and writing over the course of four years, from his time as a student to his professional cartooning beginnings. Much in the style of Doonesbury and Bloom County, Wagner’s over exaggerated expressions on simple line drawn characters (primarily Cougars, a Rhinoceros, Cats, a Mouse, and a few types of Dogs) are both relatable and at the same time just foreign enough that readers can enjoy the humor without getting bogged down in appearances.
Compilations of syndicated comic strips rarely have as much continuity as The Collegiate Hepcats. Martin Wagner has done a fantastic job with this one, combining The Hepcats strips that ran from 1987-9 in The Daily Texan newspaper with selected Shasta Says strips from 1986-7 (from University of Houston’s Daily Cougar) and the first episode of his self published comic Hepcats. Together, the strips tell a fairly complete story.
This black and white graphic novel shows off Wagner’s progression in cartooning and writing over the course of four years, from his time as a student to his professional cartooning beginnings. Much in the style of Doonesbury and Bloom County, Wagner’s over exaggerated expressions on simple line drawn characters (primarily Cougars, a Rhinoceros, Cats, a Mouse, and a few types of Dogs) are both relatable and at the same time just foreign enough that readers can enjoy the humor without getting bogged down in appearances.
November 11, 2025
A fun and surprisingly engaging gag strip that develops its characters across its run. Short and sweet, sets them up nicely for the standalone books to come. I like every character and wish they had more time to shine.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews