COMIC BOOK REVIEW: A Cat? A Bug? It’s a Cute Catbug and his Adventures in BRAVEST WARRIORS: 2014 ANNUAL CATBUG

BRAVEST WARRIORS: 2014 ANNUAL CATBUG

A IS FOR, Written and Illustrated by: Kate Leth
LOVE REJUVENATION, Written and Illustrated by: Coleman Engle
WE KILLED CATBUG, Written and Illustrated by: Monica Ray
CATBUG AND THE COSMIC QUEST, Written and Illustrated by: Sloane Leong
PUBLISHER: KABOOM! Studios

I absolutely have no idea who or what is Catbug before I picked up BRAVEST WARRIORS: 2014 ANNUAL CATBUG. By simply looking at the art it seems that Catbug is a hybrid of a lady bug and a cat, if you know the cartoon character, CatDog then you’d probably have an idea. BRAVEST WARRIORS: 2014 ANNUAL CATBUG is a collection of stories by different artists that features Catbug and his space-hero looking friends in their different adventures.

Kate Leth’s A is For Alphabet is basically a story about, well, the alphabet. It shows the different letters and how they are used or characters in the Catbug universe, its funny to see “I is for INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE” and “T for TAX EVASION”, you’d probably wonder who the intended reader for this book is? I believe that no ordinary kid would have an idea what those are but for me its just funny. A weird (in a good way)interpretation of the alphabet, this story works for me. LOVE REJUVENATION by Coleman Engle is a short story about Wallow and Catbug learning the dance moves of the LOVE REJUVENATION music video. Wallow, who based on his looks is super-hero in the CATBUG universe, never gets to finish the instructional video so he just uses the dance routine in his move list, he even memorizes the time stamp where the moves were taken from.

WE KILLED CATBUG by Monica Ray is about well, as you’ve read, is the death of Catbug, well sort of. The story starts with the characters of CATBUG eating out and then Catbug fell sick, they thought it was probably in something he ate and when they were about to help him, Catbug turns into a big catbug monster and after “a considerably amount of time later” they were able to defeat and kill the catbug monster. They thought they had killed Catbug by killing the monster but as it turns out Catbug was simply shedding. The last story, CATBUG AND THE COSMIC QUEST by Sloane Leong is about Catbug wanting to go on different quests however his friends were all sleeping and no one would join him until he received a surprise invitation from a mysterious cosmic being. The cosmic being sent Catbug to adventures to his heart’s content but in the eyes of his friends, Catbug was sleeping soundly.

To be honest, Im actually confused as to who the intended demographic of this book are. Possibly young adults in their early teen years because there are certain topics (which I have discussed earlier) that kids wouldn’t simply understand. Im not saying that as a bad thing since there’s really no restrictions regarding which books you’d like to read it. BRAVEST WARRIORS: 2014 ANNUAL CATBUG reminds me of morning cartoons like Dexter’s Lab, where there were different stories all in one episode. Just like the cartoon, this book looks cute and colorful that seems to be intended for kids but at the same time it also has an appeal to adults at the same time. I liked how the stories were simply written, funny and at the same time the artists were able to incorporate twists in their own stories. The art was nicely drawn and each artist had their own take on Catbug and his friends. The color in the art stands out which makes you feel that you’re watching a cartoon and reading a comic book at the same time.

Overall, I had a pleasure reading BRAVEST WARRIORS: 2014 ANNUAL CATBUG. It’s actually a nice break from all the mainstream titles you might have been reading weekly, if you need a break then this issue is worth the shot.  It’s also nice to introduce Catbug to young readers you might know and get them started on their own comic book collection.

Rating: 8/10