Serial, Vol. 2: Cat and Mouse

Serial #6-10

by Terry Moore

Zoe is a serial killer who has been 10 years old for decades. Now she's hunting for Jenni, the psychopath who murdered Zoe's childhood friend. Following Jenni's trail of victims and subtle clues, Zoe races to find the clever killer and avenge her friend before the police close in. But Zoe discovers that finding Jenni is one thing... stopping her is another!

Cat and Mouse collects the final 5 issues of Serial, from the Eisner Award-winning creator of Strangers in Paradise and Motor Girl!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Comic Book

106 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2022

About the author

Following the examples of independent comic creators such as Dave Sim and Jeff Smith, he decided to publish Strangers in Paradise himself through his own Houston-based "Abstract Studios" imprint, and has frequently mentioned a desire to do a syndicated cartoon strip in the authors notes at the back of the Strangers in Paradise collection books. He has also mentioned his greatest career influence is Peanuts' Charles Schulz.[1] Some of Moore's strip work can additionally be found in his Paradise, Too! publications.

His work has won him recognition in the comics industry, including receiving the Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story in 1996 for Strangers in Paradise #1-8, which was collected in the trade paperback "I Dream of You".

It was announced on June 15th, 2007 that Moore would be taking over for Sean McKeever as writer of Marvel Comics's Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane series starting with a new issue #1. On July 27th, Marvel announced that Moore would also take over for Joss Whedon as writer of Marvel's Runaways.[2]

On November 19th, 2007 Terry Moore announced in his blog that his new self-published series would be named Echo and its first issue would appear on March 5th, 2008.[3]

Reviews

[Chris Everson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was worried this would not be as good as the first half (The Glass Tomb), but it does not disappoint. More excellence from the mind of Terry Moore.

I just love Zoe's character. Moore also succeeds in making you (or me anyway) sympathise with the killer a little bit, and her way of tormenting her mother is brilliant.

There's blood, there's humour, there's pathos. It's great. Some criticise this for trying to be edgy and failing. If they think that... then either they don't know how Moore writes of don't know Zoe's full backstory.... which is the only drawback to new readers I guess, as they will not pick up on, or understand a lot.

But as I did and I do... it's another 5 stars from me.

[Popcar2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Same as the first volume, it's a cool premise with great art but everything just feels underdeveloped. There are good moments, but the story never really comes together or becomes exciting. I also understand Zoe is a character from Terry Moore's other comics, but she feels out of place in what should be a very serious, grounded story.

Plus, the book ends with a pseudo plot-twist cliffhanger that detracts even more from the story. Come on, man...

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The eternal kid Zoe from Rachel Rising is on the hunt of this female serial killer. I like what Moore did with this. I also liked the little twist at the end. Maybe we'll get more to this story one day.

[Theo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wants to be edgy but ultimately holds no message, only to be shocking.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zoe follows a serial murderer, hence the title. The ending sets up further adventures for her.

[Sophia K · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was stellar. If you are in to serial killers, blood baths and the blackest sense of humor. Highly recommend.

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 2 out of 5]

no one to cheer for here

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but hampered by a weird continuity error and an unsatisfying twist ending.

[FrontalNerdaty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serial volume 2 sees Zoe finally catching up the killer and the two have a gruesome time.

Picking up where vol 1 finished the story here fleshes out the killer and gives us her motives. Zoe sort of feels the most tacked on element here though sadly. Jenni gets an oddly antihero backstory and whilst her methods/ actions are far from justifiable from a legal point of view they are understandable.
I like that Moore didn’t make her a generic villain in that her motivations were jealously/ basic revenge but in doing so it made her hard to entirely root against. Or maybe I’m just a lil twisted?

Overall this is another enjoyable series from Moore and I’m interested to see what’s next.

3/5.