It's a Hardback Life

(I received an ARC of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review)

Simon’s Cat began life as a series of animated shorts on Youtube, and I’ve watched quite a few of them, but this is my first encounter with a book version.

Simon’s Cat: Off to the Vet…and Other Cat-astrophes is a series of wordless comics about a youngish, single male cat owner and his sassy, spoiled cat. There are no sarcastic remarks- and no lasagna- but it is certainly the spiritual offspring of the food-loving, dog-kicking Garfield. To bring this comparison home, Off to the Vet features an instance of Simon’s cat attempting to trap his kitten housemate in a shipping box; the only thing missing is the Abu Dhabi mailing label. On the other hand, Simon’s cat is not quite as dignified as his fat orange predecessor.

The line art is simple and expressive, usually telling the whole story in a single image or a small handful of panels. It has a lot of the charm of the videos, but not quite all. There is something about the pacing and tone of the animations that captures the silliness and spontaneity of cats better than still art. Anyone familiar with typical cat behavior will recognize Simon’s cat as the quintessential curious house cat, though he seems to get into more trouble than your average pet.

I can safely recommend it for cat lovers in general and fans of the Simon’s Cat franchise more specifically, but I would certainly suggest you watch the animations first, and then read the books if you find you need more Simon’s Cat in your life.