Catboy Review: Scratching, Snacking, and Silly Fun
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Catboy by Benji Nate tries to answer the question, “What kind of a person would your cat be?” through its cute, colorful panels. Protagonist Olive begins a whimsical, weird adventure when her hasty wish to “hang out” with her cat as if it were human suddenly comes true.
Olive’s cat Henry becomes human-sized, a big black furball who can talk, eat pizza, go to parties, socialize, and take up human jobs to earn extra cash. Although he still uses the litter box, eats the occasional mouse, and licks himself instead of showering. Funnily, Henry turns out to be better at interacting with people than Olive, a struggling artist working as a barista with zero friends.
This is just a silly comic book that shows Olive navigating her clueless young adult life with her “Catboy,” who ironically gets a dog-sitting job and starts to make more than his barista BFF. Benji Nate fills the graphic novel with such funny little instances, where Henry is smoother at fitting in among humans, despite his catty quirks. Basically, he is better at “adulting,” although, tbh, both of them seem like they’re still in middle school. And even though Olive’s age is never mentioned, she’s an art graduate and must be 21 or 22.
The artwork, like I’ve already mentioned, is very cute, and my favorite part about “Catboy” were the ones that simply feature Olive and Henry showing off their outfits for the day. Their wardrobe is geeky-chic, if that’s a thing. And the color palette is dominated by pleasant blues and soft pinks.
One of the funniest details is how Olive just throws Henry into her own clothes, never even considering buying him “boy stuff.” Naturally, Henry doesn’t care, he’s too busy curling up in cardboard boxes, chasing birds, inhaling pizza, and clawing up everything around him.
Had Benji Nate tightened the ending into something resembling a complete (if goofy) arc, Catboy could have been a lot more satisfying. As it is, the book stops so suddenly it feels like someone ripped out the second half. Get the novel if the premise sounds fun, and you like cutesy doodles.
Rating: 3 on 5.
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