Review: Meouch #1

So there are some titles out there that are for everyone and some that have a very specific niche little demographic that it adheres to and probably wouldn’t interest people. To me, Meouch falls into that niche bit. That’s not to say that you might not like it. It’s just to say that this little title by Paul Carroll, while being easy enough to read and keep my interest as it wasn’t too text heavy for my poor old ADHD brain, just is not my unique bag.

The premise of an mercenary cat is just not something that I think would ever garnish my interest if I hadn’t been given the title. I guess that’s because I’ve never sat around thinking…you know what would be a great idea? That being said, the fact that it was so light in its use of words, I really appreciated it. If you love cat puns, you might also enjoy a lot of the dialog. I think you’ll all be said to find out that puns are not my thing. At all.

The art inside this title, by Gareth Luby, with colors by Joe Griffin and letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elahou, also sort of reminds me of a cross between Garfield, Felix the Cat, and maybe a little of Body Bags. There’s enough violence and bloodshed in it to really satisfy anyone who digs that sort of thing, especially when you imagine it coming at the hands–err, paws, of an otherwise kind of cute little kitty. (Sorry, that’s the only cat joke I’m going to make for the rest of this review, I promise.)

Here’s the problems I had with this title, if I’m honest. Firstly, I find it very hard to care about this cat. Not because he’s not cute, which I’m sure will be part of the appeal itself for other readers, but because there wasn’t a lot of back story to him. We only get to know this far that he’s a merc who bounces around from job to job for reasons unknown. Secondly, the entire team of his adversaries feels like something out of, and forgive me for this really horrible analogy but, Kung Fu Panda. There was the Furious Five but this is the Nine Lives. It’s just not anything that I really have a mind for.

Lastly, it just…seems to miss the mark as far as understanding what exactly its target reader actually is. Take other animal characters, for example, like Rocket Raccon. I think that’s really what Carroll was trying for…but instead of understanding that too many jokes and puns and little augmented speech patterns to emphasize on species can be almost trite to read, it’s harped on to the point that it’s slightly grating. Sadly, this title just fails to keep my interest enough to give it a 2 out of 5 stars.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Art by Gareth Luby, written and lettered by Paul Carroll