At what point did people decide that cats are funny? It’s hard to say, but Georgia Dunn hits all the high spots of feline humor in this compilation of individual strips, comics, and stories from the Breaking Cat News comic strip. A previous volume of collected strips was marketed to adults, but neither contain mature or adult material.
The premise of the strip is that three cats, Elvis, Lupin, and Puck, are news reporters. Naturally, what cats consider breaking news isn’t always what humans would focus on—and they certainly have a different perspective! Elvis, a Siamese with a brown face and yellow ruff, dressed in red suspenders and tie, is the tough, cynical reporter. Lupin, a fluffy white cat in a brown suit and red tie, is almost always on duty as anchor. Unless, of course, kibble, feathers, or other important things distract him. Puck, a sweet black cat, follows in Elvis’s footsteps, but has a much more enthusiastic and friendly approach to life and the adventures they meet.
Shorter strips show the cats reinforcing their humans’ self-esteem by attending to their ankles (better if done on the edge of the stairs of course), interacting with a new baby, and worrying about the man when he loses his tail (ponytail that is). Longer running gags include interactions with the Spanish-speaking upstairs cats (subtitles are provided) and Elvis’s frightening adventure when he is lost outside and meets another lost cat, Tommy.
The art is in pastel shades, with lots of peaches, light browns, and pale blue and greens. The humans who live with the cats are white, the man has black hair, the woman reddish brown, and the baby is blond. While the cats wear clothes and pretend to be reporters, waving microphones labeled “CN” for Cat News, they also remain cats, chasing anything that moves, delighting in unexpected bounties of kibble, and galloping wildly around the house and leaping over baby gates, or at least trying to. Dunn produces tried-and-true cat humor, with jokes about climbing Christmas trees, otherwise known as the “Vegas Fir” and the cats leaping to the sound of a can opener. She also introduces new jokes with the cats speculating about the “ceiling cats” and my personal favorite, the strip where they meet the alpha female of the upstairs cats who proclaims, “I HAVE CAUGHT THE RED DOT,” as she faces off with these cats menacing her own colleagues.
Sure to delight fans of Bad Kitty, Chi’s Sweet Home, and Garfield, the only drawback is that this volume is available only in paperback. A possible prebound is currently marked as cancelled publication. The paperback binding feels pretty sturdy though, and the enjoyment kids of all ages, and adults who love cats, are likely to get makes it more than worth the purchase.
Lupin Leaps In
By Georgia Dunn
ISBN: 9781449495220
Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2019
Publisher Age Rating: grades 4-7