Ahoy Comics 2018
Written by Stuart Moore
Pencilled by June Brigman
Inked by Roy Richardson
Coloured by Veronica Gandini
Lettered by Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
How many cats is too many? Captain Ginger has his hands full-literally-when his starship undergoes a rapid population explosion. Meanwhile, Sergeant Mittens learns the horrors of Litterbox Duty! Extra story: The heroes of HASHTAG: DANGER learn that being super-evolved doesn't make you smart. Plus more AHOY illustrated-story extras!
I really didn’t think I would enjoy a book about anthropomorphic cats. I was totally wrong on that account as this book is clearly demonstrating. Stuart has taken this and made different and interesting than anything we can preconceive coming into it. That is quite the feat to take that preconceived notion and flip it, twist and serve it up on a silver platter as something you have no idea what to expect from and thoroughly enjoy.
I love meeting more of the crew of this ship and Sergeant Buddy-Cat does not disappoint at all! He’s old possibly senile and has this crazed look about him telling us he’s not all there and ya know what I hope we see more of him! So we meet him basically because Sergeant Mittens led a mutiny and challenged Captain Ginger for leadership and lost spectacularly. To see him here doing this is something that is necessary and somewhat degrading and he knows why he’s there the real question is can he handle the stress of his own emotions to overcome that? Personalities shine here through the excellent characterisation we are seeing.
While the ship has a lot of things wrong with it it’s nice to see Ginger and his people trying to work on solutions. Even though Science Cat is sick as a dog and Ramscoop just had a litter of kittens which kind of brings us to a problem she’s trying to bring to the forefront. I like that there are a few different things happening all at once as we see the Captain being inundated with problems. The layering of this is rather extraordinary if I’m being honest and it presents avenues for the book and it’s characters to explore setting us up for some truly interesting possibilities.
The interiors here are great. I doubt it’s easy to figure out the ways the cats become advanced and operate more bipedal or humanoid. Also to see so many of these kittens on board, feral cats, takes time and discipline and I am extremely impressed with the level and quality of work making each one an individual with it’s own look. The utilisation of age layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show off a nice eye for storytelling. The way backgrounds are utilised is extremely nice to see as they really do expand the size and scope of the story. I really do think that all this beautifully done and the inking plus the colouring here is extraordinarily good.
I love the characterisation here as we see each of them with their own distinct personalities and names that aren’t really so much given as they are more in tune with what they do. While the evolution of them is nicely done it doesn’t seem as if it’s complete yet. So will they keep evolving over generations or find a way to do that to themselves are things that are on the table as far as I am concerned.
The writing here is sensational, the characters delightful and the fact that so many variations of the same species, yes like humans, having no choice but to work together if they are to survive. Yeah that sounds a little familiar only here it’s done so much better than we’re doing it in the real world. Trust me when I say this will shatter any expectations or preconceived notions you have and you will find it becoming one of your go to series!