Cat

by B. Kliban

Cat is the classic that started it all. It gave a voice to catmaniacs around the country and launched an entire genre in publishing and licensing. Everybody went cat crazy!

Genres: Humor, Comics, Cats, Art, Cartoon, Animals, Graphic Novels

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Bernard "Hap" Kliban was a popular American cartoonist. He became an instant cartoon sensation after the publication of his groundbreaking book Cat in 1975. Some forty years after their initial appearance, Kliban’s quirky, colorful cat illustrations are adored icons and cherished friends of fans worldwide. One of the top cartoonists of the 20th century, Kliban contributed work to national magazines for over 30 years.

Reviews

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes me laugh whenever I pick it up and thumb through it! I absolutely love the Kliban cats! I buy the cat calendar every year!

[Nate D]

Purposeless and meandering, a sort of sketchbook of half-formed gags and observations, but completely and absolutely packed with cats. There's a review on here that claims this bit of 70s visual fluff was a big influence on Garfield, for whatever that may be worth to you. Of course I've seen these, the style deeply in ingrained in 20th-century-memory, but it never occurred to me that they might occur in a book rather than just ambiently exist out in the world.

[sweetchillisauce · Rating 5 out of 5]

got this little comic book a year ish ago valentine’s day but didn’t read it all the way to the last page until today. hurray for finishing big books for big brains!

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cat lovers treasure!

[Sydney Teegerstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cat by B. Kilban is a fascinating book, to say the least. The reason why I picked this book up in the first place is because of the look. It is horizontally cut and says “cat.” I wasn’t sure what to expect when reading this for the first time. I’m not familiar with B. Kilban and his work, so I did some research of my own. I found out that he is a famous cartoonist responsible for many classic comics like Playboy’s Kilban.
Throughout my extensive research, I found that the most popular of Kilban’s comics are cats like we see in Cat. These cats are most famous for their appearance on the cat calendars that seem to be a classic. The many reviews that I have read of both cat calendars and books seem to be very fond of the work. I agree with these reviews. While looking through Cat, I was adequately entertained. Every picture has a punchline within; all you have to do is look for it.
This book doesn’t seem to be the most educational, but I did learn a bit about the pop culture of 1975. B. Kilban is like the Shakespeare of cat comics. He is the original cat cartoonist that many others were inspired by. For example, we have Jim Davis and the widely popular comic Garfield. Davis’s comic strip was launched in 1978 following the publishing of Cat. Based upon public opinion, Garfield the cat seems to be heavily influenced by Kilban’s illustrations.
Overall my thoughts on Cat are positive. It isn’t the typical graphic novel that I expected it to be. It has no storyline, which seems like an insult to the book, but it isn’t meant to tell a story. It is simply a collection of cat comics where the punchline is limited to a single page. It’s very different from anything else I have read, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing something new.

[Madalena Pereira · Rating 5 out of 5]

cats, that's it, tha's the book and that's the review

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I probably read this in the early 80s and every 5-10 years since. Still holds up!

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arguably Kliban's best-known book, given how Kliban cats went viral back before going viral was a thing. I remember getting the Kliban cat calendar every year. Anyway, this is the book that started it all. Calling it a collection of cartoons isn't really adequate. Some of what we have here are cartoons, to be sure, but there are also many sketches, including life sketches of Kilban's actual cats (He clearly came by the cat obsession honestly). Includes a couple of my favourite cartoons of all time, many other great ones, and a more than healthy dose of Kliban's trademark absurdism and whimsy. Recommended to cat fans and cartoon fans alike.

[Mark Horvath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many cat.
Much meow.
Purr yes.
Whisker Bisker.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, there's nothing mind-bogglingly brilliant about this stuff, it doesn't shift paradigms, it's pretty mainstream, but Kliban's kindof like a thousand-trick pony (or cat): It's impressive how many variations on a theme he can generate & still get a silent chuckle out of me. It's obssessive.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, who else had the bed sheets featuring the cats wearing red sneakers?

Come on, tell the truth now...

[g-na · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn't read this since childhood. It's bizarre, but in a good way. You can certainly see Kliban's influence on Gary Larson

[Victoria Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this....

[Fiona Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful pictures. And hardly any words... I must have missed the point somewhere considering it has 526 ratings averaging 4.18 here at the moment.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is primarily a collection of assorted cat drawings by my father's favourite (cat) artist, B. Kliban. Every page is a new drawing or comic ("How to draw a Qat"*), some photorealistic (his actual cats?, Nit and Burt) and some wildly absurd ("Helicat": a cat-helicopter; "A Cat and his Mom": cat with a kangaroo pouch, with kitten in the pouch; cat hatching out of an egg). I imagine this started a whole thing where cartoons were allowed to just be irreverent. It's a nice book, just... in doses. :)

*Example, which I'm not sure works:

[Monty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book! It may not always be funny but it is always strange.

This is basically a book full of cat comics but please keep in mind, this isn't Garfield hating Mondays. While some illustrations are funny, others cute, some of these illustrations are very off the wall and will go over your head; which I'm sure is the intention.

[Catherine Petrini · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of cat cartoons, some of them quite funny.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

B. Kliban’s good at making you laugh in a way you didn’t expect to laugh today. I’m glad I have this book.

[Hugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and cartooning. Essential to my collection now. Glad to have run across this.

[Leepy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly American comic strip book of all time. Books that formed my personality as a kid.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful, classic cartoon book! Some are funny cartoons; some just daily pictures he drew of his cats at home.

[Zero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cat.

[Andrei Atanasov]

A classic.

[Lisbeth Solberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kliban cats: the realistic ones are amazing.

[em · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cat

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still love this book and have it within arm's reach. He sure knew cats and did the first memes. lol

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as I had expected -- probably because so few words as compared to just cartoon drawings. They were amusing, but not so funny as I had hoped.

[Cissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book first came out when I was in high school, and I was smitten. The cats are spot-on perfect!

At that point, the only popular cat cartoon was Garfield, and while that was OK- Kliban brought a whole new level of humor and surreality to the mix. I suspect we can credit him as a remote ancestor of "LOLcats", for instance, as well as many of the other great cat cartoons lurking about the internet.

I am pretty sure, too, that we can credit him with the concept of a "kittyloaf". "Cat: One hell of a fine animal, frequently mistaken for a meatloaf" pretty much sums it up.

I mislaid my old, loved copy of this a long time ago, and I am thrilled to be able to replace it. It has not lost anything with age!
Comment

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

No narrative here, nor any particular theme (unlike works on suicidal bunnies or uses for dead cats)—simply cartoons of cats in different situations. Thus, in some instances the work here sometimes seems like a collection of studies. In many cases, the comedy in the work is rather understated, so much so that at some points it could be questioned whether the intention in this or that cartoon is indeed comic, or merely an exercise for the artist.

Acquired 1983
Coles Books, Fredericton, New Brunswick

[Alessandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

B. Kliban was a Playboy cartoonist who died too young. "Cat" was a massive bestseller back in 1975 and 1976, the first really popular cat cartoon book.

Every aspect of Kliban's cat cartoons, from the attitude to the art itself, showed up in the "Garfield" cartoon by Jim Davis which hit the newspapers in 1978, although the art style quickly mutated away from the edgy Kliban-style to Davis' cute style.

Anyone who likes "Garfield" should check out "Cat" by B. Kliban to see the original. It is rather edgier.