Feral #13 // Review
They’ve made it outside of immediate harm. And they’re right on the edge of some kind of small town civilization, but if they’re all infected anyway...aren’t they all just going to die? Maybe. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t need to find food and shelter in Feral #13. The cats make their way through a dystopian kitty post-apocalypse in another issue written by Tony Fleecs with art by Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez. Color comes to the page courtesy of Brad Simpson. It’s a unique perspective for dark life on the edge of civilization...with stray cats.
There’s a big, chain pet food store that isn’t far from where the cats are, but there really IS a hell of a lot of infection crawling in and around the streets and alleys that they would need to make it through in order to get there. Lots of infected cats that would think nothing of attacking them and infecting them. It could be worse, but there’s no telling what might happen for everyone involved. If they’re going to be able to make it into the massive, big box pet food store, they’re going to have to find some clever way inside.
Fleecs continues to find interesting ways to put the cats in question in a kind of peril, but the old distinctly feline. There is that clever balance between anthropomorphizing the cats and keeping them solidly cat-like. The drama of survival could really play-out with any animal at all, but the extreme cleverness in Fleecs’ approach lies in embracing the fundamental humanity of cats without losing track of what makes them so appealingly feline at the same time. The series has progressed to a stage where any residual cuteness has definitely fade-out into the background of a very compelling survival drama.
Forstner, Rodriguez and Simpson maintain a tight balance between the cel animated look of a classic animated story and the gritty realism of a perilously infected world. It’s fascinating to have come 13 issues into a series as dark as Feral without feeling crushed by the relentless humorlessness of it all. The art team makes it all look so very appealing in so many ways. THe huge feline ensemble is cozy company through the overwhelming peril. Somehow the relentlessly depressing nature of the story never really has a chance to overpwoer the overall narrative.
All this being said...there DOES appear to be a bit of repetition that seems to be settling-in around the edges of the series. The constant threats to the survival of the cast of cats feels like it mgiht be getting a bit uncomfortable once Fleecs and company hav exhausted all of the most. common settings for domestic cats. Without any central respite from the constant danger, there’s going to be a real challenge for continued forward narrative momentum. Time will tell whether Fleecs and company kind find some new direction for the series that might maintain the current appeal while moving it forward in an interesting, new direction.
