Review: Angel Catbird, Vol. 1 – Margaret Atwood & Johnnie Christmas

Angel Catbird, Vol. 1 – Margaret Atwood & Johnnie Christmas

On a dark night, young genetic engineer Strig Feleedus is accidentally mutated by his own experiment and merges with the DNA of a cat and an owl. What follows is a humorous, action-driven, pulp-inspired superhero adventure—with a lot of cat puns.

Review: So . . . I’m confused.

I’ve never been a fan of superheroes or comic books. It seems like most kids go through a phase where they’re obsessed with Spiderman or Wonder Woman, but that never happened with me. I’ve always thought superheroes were lame.

Then, my favorite author wrote a superhero comic book. If anyone could make me care about a superhero, it’s Margaret Atwood. I decided to give Volume 1 of Angel Catbird a try.

And, now I’m confused. This book feels like a joke that I didn’t completely understand.

The story follows a genetic engineer, Strig Feleedus, who accidently merges his DNA with the DNA of a cat and an owl. He becomes part of a community of human/animal hybrid creatures, but everything is not peaceful in the hybrid world. The rat-people are trying to destroy the cat-people. It’s up to Angel Catbird (Strig’s superhero persona) to stop them.

I really like the introduction to the comic. Margaret Atwood writes about her childhood and how she became interested in art and comic books. She also talks about what inspired Angel Catbird and how she worked with artists to bring her vision to life. And, I learned a new word! Manqué.

Who knew that my entire life could be summed up perfectly with one word?

Another part of Angel Catbird that I like is the last section. It explains how comic book art is created and shows how the colorist adds layers of color to each picture. It was interesting to see all the “behind the scenes” stuff. I wasn’t a huge fan of the art style, but I enjoyed learning about it, and the cats are cute. There are cat facts at the bottoms of the pages, so I learned a few things about cats, too.

The story itself is a disappointment. I don’t feel like I totally understood it. Is it supposed to be a meta superhero story that pokes fun at real superhero stories? Was the writing intentionally bad? The plot is simplistic and full of tropes. There’s no character development. The dialogue is cringe-worthy. I never felt invested in what was happening. Everything is just very . . . silly. I have a feeling I would have appreciated it more if I was familiar with other superhero stories. It seems like it’s making fun of the genre.

Maybe cat-loving kids would like this book? There are a few sexual innuendos, but they’d probably go over kids’ heads. The plot is simple enough for kids to follow, and there’s a lot of action. It’s not bloody, though. Everything is very PG.

Oh, I thought of something else I like! The sexy love-interest character, Cate Leone, has a similar haircut to me. That’s cool. I guess.

Luckily for you, I never wear my fur bikini out of the house.

Margaret Atwood will probably always be my favorite author, but I don’t think I’ll be reading the rest of this series.