Top 8 Cat Moments in Comic Books

Number 8: Catwoman Vol. 3 Issue 1

I probably could have put together an entire list of just Cat moments in Catwoman (and still might) so I decided to just pick one.  I picked the first issue of Catwoman in Vol. 3 because it occurs in the first few pages of the book and sets the tone for the series.  In 2011 DC Comics rebooted every comic book they had with new artist and writers back to issue 1.

This was a big moment for comic books.  It served as an introduction to comic books to a whole new set of fans who have never read a comic book before.  Therefore it is important that the books made a good first impression right away.  This opening scene set the mood for the whole series and this did a great job.  It’s Catwoman working on the fly, her door is getting knocked down and she’s grabbing what she can to make an escape.  It’s a fun scene and is just a taste of the shenanigans to come.

Number 7: Batman Issue 406 (Batman Year One)

This is basically another Catwoman moment, but it could be seen as the first Catwoman moment!  There is a suspenseful moment in the Batman Year One story where Batman is pinned down by cops and a cat gives away his position.  They start shooting and Batman could have just left the cat behind but he scoops the cat up on his way out and gets it out of the building to safety.

It’s one of my favorite moments in the story, not just because Batman saves the cat from certain death but because it also establishes a good relationship between Catwoman and Batman.

Number 6: Supergirl Vol. 5 Issue 14

So there is a bunch of Superpets.  If you are aware of any of them (which you probably aren’t) you probably are aware of Krypto the Superdog.  But there is clearly one pet that is the best and that is Supergirl’s pet cat Streaky, the Supercat.  I’ll have a future blog post devoted just to Streaky but I picked this issue because it is a different non-super version of Streaky.  In this version Streaky gets his name from completely non-super power related reasons…

Number 5: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 1

Every one needs a sidekick, from Batman and Robin to Tango and Cash, every one just works better in pairs.  So our number five selection is Sabrina the teenage witches’ side kick Salem.  I’m not super familiar with all things Sabrina so it’s nice they added a little info comic in the back up to explain things.

Salem serves as Sabrina’s voice of reason and occasional wit and humor.  Now lets hope they eventually release issue 2!

Number 4: Wonder Woman 600

As these types of anniversary issues tend to be Wonder Woman 600 is an anthology issue which includes several stories from various writers and artists who have had an important runs in Wonder Woman history.  Part of this included a story drawn by Amanda Conner in which Wonder Woman and Power Girl have a heart to heart over a cat.  It’s not specifically said that this cat is streaky… but… its Streaky.

Number 3: Wednesday Comics

Wednesday Comics was a weekly anthology comic book that came out in 2009 and lasted for 12 issues.  It featured short 1 page stories featuring various takes on DC characters from different writers and artists.  Throughout it’s run Amanda Conner did a few Supergirl stories and most of them featured Streaky.  I tried to find as many as I could but this series isn’t digital yet so I found as many as I could.

Number 2: Saga Chapter 14

If you aren’t reading Saga right now go ahead and close this out and start reading it right meow.  It is not only the best comic that is coming out monthly right now but could very well be one of the greatest comics of all time.  That is pretty high praise so with that I will say that the following page from chapter 14 is my favorite moment of the entire series (so far).  Lying cat is a character that has been around from the beginning of the series.  He (she possibly?) is the side kick of an assassin named “The Will”.  This particular assassin has been given the bounty of taking out our main characters so he is a bad guy but has managed to win our hearts over.  Lets just hope he never does actually kill our main characters…

Lying Cat has the ability of being able to tell if any one is telling the truth.  If they are being honest Lying cat says nothing, but if a person is lying, Lying Cat will say “lying”.

The back story of this scene is that The Will went to a pleasure planet called Sextillion for some carnal pleasures.  When he asked for a woman of the night he was presented with this 6 year old slave girl.  The Will did not approve and killed this girls pimp and took her off planet to protect her.  This scene takes place after their escape.  It’s touching, its simple, its why this series continues to be amazing.

Number 1: Sandman Issue 18

The Sandman is arguably one of the greatest series of all time, read any best of comics list and you are sure to find Sandman firmly in the top 5.  This story is a one shot story that takes place in issue 18 titled “Dream of a Thousand Cats”.  This story is a sad one about a cat who lost her kittens due to some human cruelty.  I really don’t like that part, it almost spoils the entire story for me but the rest of the story is so unique and interesting that I still enjoy it.

Apparently a long time ago cats were the dominate speices on the planet and people were their subjects.  The humans band together and a group of a thousand dreamed the same dream and were able to change cats in to smaller subordinate animals.  Our main cat in this story seeks out Dream (the Sandman) who tells her if she can get a thousand cats to dream together they can change the world and turn things back.  Our main cat goes from place to place to tell her tale and gather enough cats to dream together.  However cats are independent and skeptical of her tale and dismiss it as myth.

Like I said before the cat violence part really turns me off of the story but there is a lot to like in this story.  Neil Gaimen does a great job of getting to the essence of what it is to be a cat.  Their intelligence, their independence, their inquisitive nature.  It’s a great story and really nothing like anything thing else I’ve read in the series.

Bonus Cats! Green Lantern 55

Strap in kids because this one is going to hit you right in the feels.  The Red Lanterns symbolize the emotion of rage.  Initially at least they could not talk and could only scream and puke blood.  So of course they got their own series during the re-launch of the new 52…

Any who this was the knowledge I had of them so I was never terribly interested in reading them.  I was aware that there was a Cat that was part of their team named Dex-Starr but little else.  I did not know that this cat was given and origin story and that it was heartbreaking.