Written and Illustrated by John Gallagher
Published by Random House Children’s Books
I suppose John Gallagher’s Max Meow, Cat Crusader, is technically a children’s book.
I know it says it is but, at 240 pages, it sure feels too long to be a children’s book. Of course, I suppose if the parent is reading it, they could simply share one chapter at a time out of the book’s dozen numbered chapters, plus a Prologue and an Epilogue.
To me, though, it comes across at times more like a lighthearted superhero spoof, reminiscent of Golden Age characters such as Superkatt or Genius Jones, albeit seen through a 2020 lens.
Our hero, a cat named Max Meow, is a vlogger in Kittyopolis, and, whilst interviewing his scientist friend Mindy Microbe, gains superpowers as a result of accidentally ingesting a bit of a meteor meatball after the pair is attacked by a flying toaster robot working for an evil mouse he calls “Daddy.” Yeah, it’s goofy like that all the way through and I’m sure kids would be laughing their heads off every step of the way.
Gallagher’s artwork reminds me a bit (purposely, I would think) of that of Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey with a lot of simple panels and thick-lined characters. Where Gallagher really comes into his own, however, is in the expressions he gives the characters. Somehow, he goes for broad expressions and yet manages to deliver surprisingly nuanced ones, throughout.
The written-in jokes contain a number that kids simply would have no reference for so he was presumably writing to hold the reading parent’s interest as well.
The comics storytelling is textbook good. The pacing for such a long story is more than enough to hold one’s interest, even if it would need to be spread out a bit for a child. The characterizations are given more detail than probably needed as well, resorting in some sympathy even for the bad guys. It all leads up to a surprising reveal that felt to me like a bit of a cheat and then a setup for the next Cat Crusader adventure. Meowza, indeed!
One thing—Even though we see it as a world of anthropomorphic animals, Professor Mindy Microbe, scientist and inventor, looks from the beginning like a young African-American human woman. In the end, (spoiler alert) we see that she’s also a cat. Has she been a cat all along? Perhaps her cat ears were mis-colored as hair throughout.
Don’t know but it wasn’t a dealbreaker.
Max Meow, Cat Crusader, is the true definition of an “all ages” book.
And did I mention it’s actually a good story too? It’s just plain fun.
Booksteve Recommends.
