King-Cat Comics
| King-Cat Comics and Stories | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Spit and a Half |
| Schedule | Irregular |
| Format | Ongoing |
| Publication date | May 1989 – present |
| Number of issues | 74 (as of January 2016[update]) 75 solicited |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | John Porcellino |
| Artist(s) | John Porcellino |
| Creator(s) | John Porcellino |
| Collected editions | |
| Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man | ISBN |
| Perfect Example | ISBN |
| King-Cat Classix | ISBN |
| Map of My Heart | ISBN |
King-Cat Comics and Stories is a long-running, critically acclaimed mini-comic series, authored and self-published by John Porcellino. It is one of the longest continually published mini comics in existence.
Porcellino (under the publisher name Spit and a Half) began producing King-Cat in 1989. (The title of King-Cat comes from the Beat poem "Sometime During Eternity", by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, which Porcellino reprinted in an issue. In the poem, Jesus Christ is referred to as the "king cat".)
Content-wise, King-Cat has evolved considerably over the years: through the mid-1990s, Porcellino's stories were much more angry and humorous, with a punk rock sensibility. A popular, ongoing feature was "Trail Watch", where Porcellino affectionately criticized the various drawing and story peculiarities in the syndicated Mark Trail comic strip. Porcellino also did an entire issue chronicling his (fictional) romantic relationship with Madonna, and did a series of strips following the adventures of "Racky Racoon", a slacker-ish animal who works at a series of dead-end jobs and likes to get drunk. But mixed in with these stories there were always more quiet, melancholy or philosophical stories, and as the years went on these stories increasingly took over the book. (Porcellino developed a strong interest in zen, and he began creating very zen-like stories reflecting on the transient nature of life and sometimes recounting tales of various zen masters or illustrating ancient zen koans.) These stories alienated Porcellino's old fans who had enjoyed the humorous elements of his work, but they won him a new audience.
The active King-Cat letter column title is "Catcalls".
As of January 2016[update], Porcellino had published 74 issues of King-Cat (an average of three issues per year), with issue 73 coming out in August 2012 and issue 74 in November 2013. Issue 75 (a tribute to his cat Maisie Kukoc) has been solicited in Diamond's catalog Previews with a shipping date of April 27, 2016.
...
Wikipedia