Johnny Wander Our Cats are More Famous Then Us

by Ananth - Ota Hirsh

8.25 x 5.75, 411 pages

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Humor, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Cats, Memoir

Hardcover

First published April 11, 2017

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t know why this slice-of-life, lightly comedic webcomic is called “Johnny Wander” (beyond the creators moving about a bit) but Our Cats Are More Famous Than Us is a collection of these Johnny Wander strips starring the authors and their housemates John, Conrad and a small army of cats.

I’m usually up for slice-of-life, silly fluff but these were just a wee bit too fluffy for me. They move about, live in crappy houses/apartments, play word games and generally doss about in between making comics. The series starts off being more focused on Ananth and Yuko before basically being mostly consumed by the weird and wacky things their cats do. There was just too many “eh… whatev” moments for me.

I liked John a lot. He’s this lanky intense dude who does shots of condiments and puts cats in his shirt – he’s quite the character. The occasional strip made me chuckle like one guy randomly picking up Yuko and carrying her off, then Ananth rescuing her by picking her up, then the guy picking up both Ananth and Yuko and running off with them! Ota’s art is great and looks good even when she’s drawing with her other hand when her drawing hand gets busted – very talented.

Our Cats Are More Famous Than Us is tonally very similar to the likes of Scott Pilgrim but much less cohesive and compelling. Nah, I wouldn’t.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Warning: For those of you obsessed with cats, this is not primarily about cats!Culled from the Johnny Wander web comic by Ananth Hirsh and Yuko Ota. Not really a story, but just a huge collection. Assumes you know their (friend, roommate, co-creator, what else is not clear) relationship, and all of the other people that wander in and out of these mostly one pagers.

This is the territory of Bryan Lee O'Malley, Jeffrey Brown, and others making comics of their post-college years, moving from place to place, with cats. Though most of them try to create a story out of their webcomics. These are mild stories, making food, hanging out, riding the subway. It's James Kochalka-ish, diary comics, not about anything remarkable. Sort of amusing in places.

When I passed around this book in my YA class the other day, we were having this kind of intense discussion about race in the book The Hate U Give. After class J gave it to me: "This is awesome. I read almost the whole thing in class!" (I had been wondering why she, who loves the Thomas book, wasn't talking!!). I think the appeal is to those in college through their early thirties.

Here's a sample:

http://www.johnnywander.com/comic/arc...

[Hristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comic collection is so awesome, I couldn't put it down. I read it in one sitting.
I loved the art and the style that the anecdotes are presented in. It's all so personal, innocent and entertaining. I enjoyed the cat-related comics most of all, as a cat owner I connected to them the most.
I love this one. And I'm looking forward to checking out everything Ananth and Yuko have in store.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

These humor strips are too mild for their own good, never once drawing an audible laugh from me, just the occasional silent appreciation. Too often I felt I was witness to an in joke that would be hilarious to the creators and their friends. And though the strips are autobiographical, I felt the creators didn't actually share that much of themselves. I mean, for the longest time while reading I wasn't even sure if the the creators were romantically involved or just roommates or how many of the other characters were also living with them. And as for all the other people who kept appearing in the strip, I still have no idea who the hell they are. Friends? Relatives? Hostages? If you are doing a humor strip, you have to be funny. If you are doing an autobiographical strip you need to share more. If you fail to commit one way or the other, you get this inoffensive pile of pap.

[Raina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping this would have a little more content that was new to me.
But that's a personal problem - I guess I'm a little bit of a Johnny Wander fangirl.

I love the aesthetic and tone of Ananth and Yuko's work - they're quirky, honest, a little snarky. Good stuff. I'm looking forward to the next long-form work they put out.

[Piper Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK WAS SO CUUUUUUUUTE!!!!!!
I love that there were different colors for like different years or smthg and I loved the different panels and all the cute funny things
Plus
OH MY GOSH they got MARRIED in the END
That scene was literally the cutest everrrrrrrrr i srsly hope whoever sees this READS IT
AHEM CARA KAYLEE LEAH

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend gifted this to me for the holidays. I wasn't previously familiar with Johnny Wander, but I loved this comic collection! Funny, cute, relatable slice of life style.

[Dov Zeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

there's nothing spectacular about this book and at first, I was pretty bored and just had the sensation I was missing a lot of in-jokes or references somehow. I wasn't deeply drawn to any of the individual comics and at the same time, I liked the people/characters and the sweet mundane-ness and didn't want to put the book down.

Eventually the easy imperfect affection between lovers and friends, with intermittent full-on wonderful humor captivated me and by the end I was kind of sad it was over. Not to say I will necessarily seek out more of their work. Not sure about that. But I really appreciate all the characters/people (and cats, though I'm not a cat person still tend to love cats that live in comic strips, many of them based more or less loosely on real cats) in here, the dailiness, and the funny family dynamics.

a few of my faves, though there were many more I loved.

http://www.johnnywander.com/comic/sni...

http://www.johnnywander.com/comic/the...

http://www.johnnywander.com/comic/let... (I'm pretty sure I would eat that if it weren't for food allergy situations).

http://www.johnnywander.com/comic/urb...

http://www.johnnywander.com/comic/hos...

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our Cats Are More Famous Than Us is a collection of a long-running slice-of-life webcomic. It's cute with strong, expressive art, but don't let the title fool you. This is not actually about cats! Sure, there are a few comics about them, but mostly this is a comic about humans. Once I got over my disappointment, I enjoyed this behemoth of a book, but curtail your expectations of furry friends. This is the story of some twenty-somethings who slowly grow up. Except these are mostly silly one-shots, not long-running narratives. Enjoyable, but nothing that I haven't seen several times before already.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't heard of this webcomic before I got a preview copy from Oni yesterday. This was wonderful! Hirsh and Ota find humor in everyday life and observations about life. The art is perfectly suited for the content. Reminiscent of Beaton's work as well as Kochalka's comics diaries. It's a quick read but you'll want to read it again.

[Beck · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only finished this because I paid for it and I'm cheap so I didn't want to feel like I wasted my money. Turns out now I've still wasted my money but I've also wasted my time so that worked out well for me.

This wasn't awful or anything. I just don't understand the point of it. Usually comics like this are funny and I think it was trying to be funny but I had a teensy chuckle ONCE in this whole book and it's over 400 pages long so obviously I didn't think it was very funny.

It did get a bit better towards the end but here are my main issues:

There was barely any introduction to the characters. I say characters but it's autobiographical so the main 2 characters are the authors and the other characters are their friends and cats. The 2 authors of the comic are given very brief introductions and it's hugely unclear what their relationship is, the whole way through I was trying to work out if they were roommates or a couple, I won't reveal the answer because it's a fun mystery and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise! Their friends who appear sporadically in the comics are also given super brief introductions and they all look the same so I instantly forgot who was who and what they were like so there was a lot of "John did this thing! Typical John!" and I was just trying to remember which white male friend John was. It would probably be funny if I KNEW John but I don't so it isn't.

The whole book is based on a webcomic and I'm guessing most of it or all of it is directly taken from there so maybe if I read the webcomic and then this I would get it, but I'm paying to read a standalone comic/graphic novel so I don't expect to have to spend hours reading a webcomic to understand it. Also, if the quality of this book is indicitive of the quality of the webcomic I'm not interested anyway.

This critisism could stand for almost any book but I need more cats please. They don't even have cats at the beginning of the story. I need a cat on each page at least. I was promised more cats than this.

I do have positive things to say too, I liked the art style and I guess at least there were some cats so I can't be too mad. Some people would probably really enjoy this and it seems to be well liked so if you're interested in this, maybe check out the webcomic first instead of buying it without knowing anything about it just because it's bright and cute and has cats on the cover like some dumb idiot.

[Kimber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a trimmed down version of my review, to view the full review visit The Book Ramble.

I received a copy of this book from Diamond Book Distributors on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This collection of comics follows the lives of Yuko Ota, Ananth Hirsh, and their roommates as they move to a new house and get new pets. Culminating in Hirsh and Ota’s engagement. Of course there’s also cats. I enjoyed this collection a lot, it felt kind of like a Lucy Knisley book a little, though it never got quite as serious as her stuff usually is.

This book was a lot of fun to read. I grew to really like the people in this book. I really enjoy this slice of life type of writing. The hourly comics especially were fun. I really liked the cats….they were super cute!

I wasn’t a huge fan of the colours on the pages, it made things a little hard to read. If it had been black and white it might have been a little easier for me to read. I still liked the art aside from that though.

I would definitely recommend this book. I look forward to reading more by this pair.

[AquaMoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would describe this fabulous comic collection as Giant Days, Vol. 1, but with cats. It centers on a group of friends who are all trying to figure out this thing the kids of today call "Adulting". Also cats. And it was thoroughly enjoyable. And reading it made my whole day and even made me brush off the cranky old dude who was pissed about potential future re-masking and decided to take his frustrations out on me (Like, Yo! Old Dude...this hasn't even happened yet, so why are you upset? Also, whether re-masking is required or not, it's not up to me. So don't shoot the messenger. Gawsh!) Also the fact that the concert event I've been looking forward to for six months was cancelled last-minute. No matter. I had this amazing and adorable book, which made me happy beyond description and the fact that it exists and I read it makes all the other weirdness of the day not seem so bad. Did I mention there are cats?

I found Yukko's trials and tribulations of being constantly mistaken for a kid hilarious on a very personal level, because up until about age 40, I had the same issue...and was happy to have finally acquired some faint "smile" wrinkles, which I wear like a Status Symbol of Proof That YES I'm a Grown Up...at least in age (of course masks hide these, and I still get the occasional "hey kid" thing when I go to a place that "strongly encourages" wearing them).

I hope there are more collections, because I need them. Now!

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Our Cats Are More Famous That Us: A Johnny Wander Collection' by Ananth Hirsh and Yuko Ota is a huge omnibus of a comic collection, but I never felt bogged down with reading it.

The comics are about young roommates living together, and the cats they share their space and neighborhood with. Some of the comics feel like they just trail off, but that is part of the charm of this collection. There are strips about moving furniture, and hour by hour art jams. There are jokes about vegetarians from the unfeeling carnivore. There are trips to meet parents and more as the couple grows closer.

I've read other young person themed works, but I think I liked this one best of all because the characters aren't really commenting on how hard it is to be a grown up. They just do it. Whether or not they succeed, I was on these character's sides. The art is fun and I really like the occasional section dividers with some nice prose and poetry.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Oni Press, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute drawing style and I like being able to see its evolution in this collection. I didn’t care for the pointillism aspect of coloring, as it made everyone look spotty / smudged. Enjoyable characters, but it was a bit confusing at times how they leapt in and our of the main pair. A lot of the jokes also felt like I was missing something, but were still amusing. Yes, there were many adorable cats, but not enough so to warrant this book’s title.

[Alexandra Urbina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me imagino que si los latinos fueramos a vivir solos a los 20 con los amigos, algo así sería mi vida, como la de este libro: viviendo con gente nerd, comprando comida chatarra y libros.

No me suelen gustar las cosas autobiograficas, pero este libro se me hizo muy entretenido de leer y tiene muchos detalles explicativos que le suman, como por ejemplo la protagonista mostrando su colección de tazas.

[elyse · Rating 5 out of 5]

so charming and funny! those confusing and strange and fun days after college told in vignettes that made me laugh out loud! i felt like i was friends with the authors, their friends and their kitties by the end of the book!

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an adorable graphic novel that had a series of short mostly one page scenes featuring the authors. The drawing style is adorable and the subject matter is very innocent and cute. I read this one very quickly.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute, it's the story of a couple and their cats, their friends, their life in NY, and just what they go through daily, funny things that happen to them. It goes very fast and I honestly picked it up because of the title. Anything with cats on it I'll read.

[Heydi Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very mild and pretty boring. There are very few cat scenes in this book. I feel strongly this book should be renamed to anything that doesn’t include the word cat.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really YA because the strips focus on 20-somethings. Cute. You really got to know Yuko and Ananath over the course of the compilation. The monochromatic art worked, except I hated the orange section (so hard to read). The cat parts made me chuckle, but the book is really about the couple.

[Emi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha parecido divertido y entrañable. Además se lee en un pispás.

[Maire]

its hilarious sweet and cute the artwork has a nice feel to it

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute! Enjoyed every page of it.

[Mori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it too fast and now I miss it.

[Abby Russo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored everything about this book.

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection just felt so very comfy to me, if comics can be comfy. The strips were relatable to a 20-something-year-old fresh out of undergrad, the art was so fluid and pleasing, and I found myself sending some to my girlfriend because they were just too funny not to share. Sometimes I was a little confused as to how other people were related to the main creators of the comics, but I figured things out. If you like cozy and relatable slice of life, I definitely would recommend.

[Siina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigh. This Johnny Wander Collection comic isn't bad per se, but it's massive and without a direction. I don't know why I end up reading stuff like this, since these are hardly ever good unless you're a fan (for whatever reason). Again, the comic could work in a blog form, but a collection of unrelated things and boring occurrences aren't great and this comic is extremely long too. Our Cats Are More Famous Than Us is autobiographical comic about Hirsh and Ota, who make comics and live together. It's a strip comic about cats, friendship and life altogether, but that's about it. I don't know if it's supposed to be funny or not, since nothing makes sense. There are some interesting ideas and happenings, but mostly the comic is aimless and sadly so, boring. There's hardly any text, which makes this a quick read and that's good. Otherwise the reading experience would be to tiresome. Also, the wedding at the end just came out of nowhere, which bothered me. Again, these types of comics are hardly ever not well made as such, I just don't know why anyone would want to read these.

The art is so-and-so. It's cute in a way, but the changing colors make it epileptic and hard to follow. The structure is mostly good, when there're panels - otherwise it's a bit messy. The text outside of panels is hard to follow and once again changing the color even with those texts is annoying. Clearer style would be better, since art-wise the comic works well enough to convey what it's supposed to. I just wish there had been something in the whole thing, some point.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you like reading about other people's lives in comic book form? There are so many to choose from, that are out there. Some are depressing. Some are funny. And some you feel as though they looked in your window and saw the things that you did, and copied them.

But, rather than explaining the cartoons, I am just going to give you a sample, of some of my favorites, so you can get a taste of them.








And yes, some of the ones I best relate to have cats in them. :)


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Tamara✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't really know what to expect going into this, I mean, I only requested to review it from NetGalley because it looked amusing and easy to read...!! I had no idea that this had been a Kickstarter project by Hirsh and Ota of their webcomic. That being said, I really didn't need to know anything going into it. The way they write and draw, and just really the humour of it all really appealed to me all the same. I feel like it'd be perfect for someone in the 20s to read, it has enough of that I RELATE TO THIS kind of humour that will make you laugh but also make you go, AHAHAHA... Ohhh....

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