Chrono-Cat Review. The Dinosaur Punching Cat.
At the end of January, Markosia released the collection of Stu Perrins comic for young readers, Chrono-Cat - a smart-ass cat that with the help of some friends can travel through time. He also has an arch-enemy called Luther who's a fish with a human face. Sounds weird right? But there's an explanation for it. There's an explanation for everything!
Anyway, Luther is the second arch-nemesis but the most prominent since Luther is the reason that Chrono-Cat even exists. Why would you be carrying around a goldfish in a bowl to turn on a time machine for the first time? Asking for trouble if you ask me! But imagine that your mind gets transferred to a goldfish with a human face, whilst the cat that toppled the goldfish bowl over evolves to become a better version of a cat. You're going to be rather annoyed.
The title should give the time travel element away, but there are also aliens, killer robots and one of my new favourite panels in a comic - a cat punching a dinosaur right in the nose.
Armando Zanker on art duties does a tremendous job of showcasing how good a cartoon style can be in comics. Chrono always looks like a cat whilst being something more than just a cat, whilst in the flashback to when Chrono was a cat he looks exactly as you'd expect a cat to look whilst still looking like Chrono will do. Expressions are well defined for every character but Chrono has a massive array of expressions throughout the book that it's quite impressive, particularly whilst keeping the look of him being a cat.
Ron Gravelle is the colourist and letterer and plays a huge part in what makes this collection so good. He doesn't shy away from bold colours where needed and there's a subtle change in the font when Luther is speaking, aside from the different coloured text bubbles/boxes, that leaves little doubt who is speaking even when we go into the backstory of how Chrono came to be.
Now for Stu Perrins. The man behind the story. This could easily have been a four-part comic series, but instead, it's just three. There's a lot of story to get through in just three issues, all neatly wrapped up in one graphic novel. Yet you find out everything that you need to know to tell the story. It might be aimed at younger readers but there's plenty to still enjoy as an adult. It's an absurd story that's an absolute delight to read.
There's humour as well, since where would a comic like this be without a little humour? The biggest is likely to be a full page of Chrono looking slightly like Batman, facing a six-foot-tall rabbit alien with the text "and no, neither mothers name is Martha". But for me, the real humour is the little bits like Chrono saying how he feels like he's had a night on the 'nip.
Chrono-Cat then is one of those comics that all comic fans should read. It's incredibly fun, both in the story and visually. Sure, I wish it was longer. Will there be more in the future? Possibly, the ending does say the end for now, but I actually want more now. This is how you should feel after a comic and I love it. Give me more Chrono-Cat!
Rating: 5/5
You can pick up Chrono-Cat from Amazon, which really you should do as you won't be disappointed. And follow Stu Perrins on Twitter (@stuperrins) for more news on this wonderful series.
