Atwood says in her introduction that she grew up on old comics, both in magazine form and in the papers. It shows.This is corny, written like a throwback but without any nuance that shows the author understands readers don't read comics in the same way anymore, that they're not quick pictorial stories for children, they're full-on novels for all ages. As such, this one does not hit the mark, not by a longshot.In this particular installment, nerdy dude Stig Feleedus was headhunted by a mad scient...

This feels a bit over simplified. Strig Feleedus (yeah, if you hate punning names, you're really not going to like this book) is a genetics engineer who gets into an accident with an experimental formula that basically gives him the combined powers of a cat and an owl. This draws him into a fight between cat people and rat people, and the story will be continued in the next volume.Unfortunately, Atwood makes the same mistake that many "real" writers make in transitioning to comics by assuming th...

I enjoyed this. I found the bit about educating the reader about cats to be a bit over the top, to be honest. Yet, the artwork and story were fun.

Oh, Margaret.Let me just say right off the bat that I will read whatever volumes of Angel Catbird hit the shelves because I am a Margaret Atwood junky.But I will not pretend like this graphic novel is a good one.It has some okay features. Honestly, I was really into the artwork. I liked the concept, wherein this character turns into this great hybrid human-cat-bird-thing. I hope there will be more internal struggle over the cat-bird dichotomy because that could be really interesting.But the dial...

Perhaps my expectations were too high for this series but it just seemed all too simplistic. I know this is just the first volume but I've read plenty of first volumes where the characters were far better developed. I will continue to read the second volume (with far lower expectations).

this is so weird but I kinda liked it? once you accept its strangeness, it's very fun. it has the same or even more puns (cat related, I might add) than any Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. the story isn't that innovative but it's definitely something I wouldn't mind picking up again. also, amazing art because making good human/animal hybrids is hard af.full review here: https://catshelf.wordpress.com/2016/0...

This book could not decide whether it was a fun children's story, an ironic adult riff on classic superhero comics, or a PSA about how to keep your cat. Yes, that combination is as bizarre as it sounds. You can read it for the sheer "What was she THINKING?!", but I wouldn't spend money on it. (And that is before we get into discussing Atwood's recent public stances.)Also, it made me finally put something to words that has been rather unformed in my head: I dislike stories where one kind of anima...

I was super excited by the idea of this graphic novel, of reading one of my favorite authors in a new genre, etc. I don't want to sour the broth but I was left pretty unsatisfied. If you read this as "aging author writes something fun because she's the queen and who will stop her," then I suppose it does what it is setting out to do. It shows in the silliness of the subject matter and in the seemingly strange PSA type infospots on cat health throughout the pages. As a graphic novel, the art is w...

I so wanted to like this but....was not great...at all

This book is so goofy (not in a good way) I could barely get through it. The character motivations are completely unrealistic. The premise is just dumb. There's all these stupid asides where the people try not to act like the animal they are crossed with. The book feels like it was written by a preteen not an acclaimed novelist.Received an advance copy from NetGalley and Dark Horse in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, for a debut work this one sure is fantastic made. And what is even more awesome we get to see parts of how the story came to live and the idea behind it. I have to say the sketches and posters at the end of the story are just amazingly well done! I love the detail in each of them and I think that really made me like the story even more. All the different characters, each one of them super unique and fun, just a charry on the cake! Also the plot is interesting, fresh and besides the action a...

Was this meant to be so ridiculously bad?

Quite a few genre novelists have turned their hands to comics in the past - Greg Rucka, Brad Meltzer, Gregg Hurwitz and Caitlin Kittredge to name a few - some of them successfully too, but there’s been a weird trend recently of literary writers having a go at comics as well. Chuck Palahniuk’s much anticipated sequel, Fight Club 2, and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther for Marvel are two high profile examples from the last year with Margaret Atwood’s Angel Catbird being the latest. And, like Palahn...

“Why such a nice old lady messing around with flying cat-owl superheroes and nightclubs for cat people, not to mention giant rat men? Strange”. Margaret Atwood did predict that a comic book project such as this one, coming from an author such as her, would make a few readers raise an eyebrow. What she probably did not perceive is that it’s not so much the nature of the project as the quality of the final result which is surprising.Atwood has been, according to what she says in the introduction t...

One of our greatest living novelists writes a story for a graphic novel when she is 77. Which doesn't mean everything she writes is great, of course, but when she does write a comic, you get curious. In an introduction, she reveals she grew up reading comics, a move she makes to approach credibility, but this doesn't still make her a decent contemporary comics reader or writer. She also is a bird advocate. So she creates basically this psa for preserving birds, suggesting cats stay indoors, with...

I know, I know! I made this pledge to read at least fifty percent non-fiction books this year so what am I doing reading a comic book with such a goofy title: Angel Catbird???Let me just say, sometimes we find books, as in recommendations from friends or reviews, and sometimes a marvelous serendipity sends books to find us as in the right book for whatever mood we are in. Angel Catbird is a comic book by one of my favorite authors that found me when I needed some levity in my life. A few weeks

This is really sad because Margaret Atwood is a love of mine, and I adore her beyond belief, and I wanted this to be good. But it really, really isn't. MAYBE, MAYBE if you really love cats, you might be able to throw another star on top of my two stars, for the little RSPCA tidbits every couple pages, but I found them to be totally ridiculous. They just interrupted the flow of an already painful reading experience, and basically turned this into a pamphlet for cats rather than a graphic novel. T...

A scientist invents a formula that accidentally turns him into a half-cat, half-bird superhero. His boss repeatedly tries to steal the formula in hopes of turning his army of rats into half-humans that can take over the world.This was really, really bad. Incredibly clunky dialog, characters as flat as cardboard, very simplistic plot and action, the ONLY female character exists purely to spout exposition and get saved from danger. Instead of nuanced characters or humor, everything is a cheap cat-...

Funny, pulpy, and even unexpectedly sexy, ANGEL CATBIRD is Canadian legend Margaret Atwood's foray into graphic novels, and her voice translates well to the form. Her foreword is rooted in her love of serials growing up, and there is a throwback sensibility to a lot of what happens here that's a lot of fun to submerge into. Looking forward to volume 2!

Listen, I will read literally anything with Margaret Atwood's name on it, so I fully expect to keep on with this series. However, Angel Catbird is a profoundly silly book (so many groanworthy puns) that is very straightforward about functioning more as a PSA than as any kind of actually good story. Margaret Atwood, being a cat lover, wants people to keep their cats indoors. Margaret Atwood, also being a lover of comic books and old enough and well-respected enough that she can do whatever she wa...