The Misadventures of Grumpy Cat and Pokey #1

By Ben Fisher, Ben McCool, Royal McGraw, Elliot R. Serano, Ken Haeser, Steve Uy

“You do know this is a haunted house, right? The one bursting at the seams with ghosts, goals, and creatures of the night…?”

“H-haunted?”

“Oh yes. I’ve heard It’s heinously haunted. Nobody’s dared entered since…last time.”

The horror!

Issue #1 of The Misadventures of Grumpy Cat and Pokey is an articulate Fancy Feast, a Meow Mix of gags and stories…too much?

We’re shown a few different stories throughout issue #1, the first of which places our heroes (is Grumpy Cat a hero though?…hmmm…) in a haunted house! From the get-go you might get that “seen this episode” vibe as these two cats trot into various story lines you’ve seen on Saturday morning cartoons…but it’s actually pretty funny (though maybe that just says something about my juvenile sense of humor). Grumpy Cat often times takes advantage of her younger friend as Pokey just tries to have as much fun as possible…something the Garfield-like feline Grumpy Cat has no intentions of participating in.

The wide array of writers on this issue, Ben Fisher, Ben McCool, Royal McGraw, and Elliot R. Serano come into play with each of the different stories, while the art falls into the hands of the lucky Ken Haeser and Steve Uy. The art style again reflects the Saturday morning cartoon vibe as the characters seem as if they’ve been placed onto various backgrounds – this is most prevalent in the haunted house story. Their styles of the characters themselves however, are quite different as later stories show the cats in a bit more realistic detail. A lot of this detail comes from some of the chaos their dog friend makes in the second story…crazy dog makes a mess in the kitchen…classic. There’s also a quote from Grumpy Cat that kicks off one of the stories that sounds all too familiar…

“I need coffee. It needs to be strong. And very, very hot.”

Am I Grumpy Cat? Could’ve sworn I said this to my co-workers this morning.

The Misadventures of Grumpy Cat and Pokey #1 is a fun take on a character that helped the world express how much they despise everything through the use of memes (Ohh, the internet…magical place). Issue #1 sets up the “friendship” of Grumpy and her “pal” Pokey through the gazes of a handful of writers and a couple of artists. The humor falls closely to that of your favorite cartoon memories, or perhaps Scooby-Doo is just on the brain from the haunted house story…but seriously though…Grumpy Cat wanted treats before she would go in the house…hmmmm? Thought so.