Katman (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Katman Elizabeth Bush Pyle, Kevin C. Katman; written and illus. by Kevin C. Pyle. Holt, 2009 42p. Paper ed. ISBN 978-0-8050-8285-2 $12.99 Ad Gr. 7-10 Kit's a slacker, and his diligent older brother and single mom regularly shoo him out of the house with orders to find something worthwhile to do. He takes to feeding the stray cats in his rundown neighborhood, first sneaking cat food out of his own home and then shoplifting it from a convenience store as his feline guest list expands. His new hobby catches the attention of a group of local punks (more like poser punks, actually), particularly Jess, who creates a Katman avatar for Kit in her sketchbook. When Kit's mom hits the roof over the number of strays hanging around their rented house, she insists he get rid of the lot; unwilling to leave them in a shelter where they'll probably be euthanized, Kit works up the nerve to contact the notorious "cat lady" whose lives like a hermit in a house overrun with cats. It looks like the perfect solution until the crochety old lady dies, Kit tries to cover up her death, and Jess' gang decides to ransack her house in search of money. Graphic-novel devotees will find considerable appeal in the edginess of Pyle's shaggy characters and wrong side of town cityscapes. Beneath the visual grit, though, is a predictable and fairly shopworn yarn about the benefits of community involvement and the hearts of gold that beat within streetwise teens. Kit's flights of fancy, in which he imagines himself as Jess's heroic Katman, afford Pyle the opportunity to demonstrate his manga chops but add little to the overall effort. Pyle's title is on message with Castellucci's The Plain Janes, but its very un-girly veneer may draw a complementary readership. Copyright © 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois