If you know me at all, you know I love animals. My camera roll is roughly 900 pictures, and 890 are of my cats. I have rescued tons of cats throughout my life. I was touched when Tod Emko asked me to review A Piggy’s Tale. I knew I would love it the moment I heard about a superhero dog and a street-smart cat fighting crime. Who doesn’t love an animal with a cape? This is one of those series that with seeing the cover you become involved because it appeals to your eye. You soon start wishing your cat knew how fly or your dog would were a mask to parties. It is fun seeing it all unfold. When reading, you can really feel the passion that Emko and Ethan Young had put into the story. Modeling the team from rescued animals put a tear in my eye. Then hearing about their stories after the reading was heartbreaking, but well worth the read. It makes the characters come to life. I always find it amazing how different animals’ personalities can be. With Emko and Young basing their character’s personality off of their own animals gives the comic some flare of truth. Let’s face it, we all wish that our animals are secret agents while we are out. .
Now let’s get to the comic storyline. So our team consist of Piggy, a three-legged dog, who wants to show the world compassion as the world has shown him. And then our cat, Simon. This dude is one bad cat that brings the hairball to a knife fight. They meet the first night of Piggy learning how to fly. From a whim, Piggy decides it would be nice to have a sidekick, and one who knows the streets. Not only do Piggy and Simon fight crime, but they do it with pose. These two, although it took Simon some convincing, try to save alley animals from the bullies around town. I love seeing these two together. Piggy can fly while Simon rides along on his back. Simon usually does the tough acting while Piggy is the ride. What I love most is the fun-loving art Young brings to the table. He brings the right amount of realistic animal traits and cartoon features to make each and every animal cute in its own right. But don’t think the innocent are the only ones getting help. Simon and Piggy give help to the bullies too by giving them food and keeping an eye on all of them.
From just one issue, you can see the lessons building up. The comic is trying to get across some real ideas. It is nice to read a truly all-ages title. I felt like I haven’t seen one in forever. I could see young and old getting into the ins and outs that face these two heroes. I think all people should have the chance to see what an animal can give them. Luckily for me, my parents loved animals too, so I was always crying when I ran over the ants with my bike. (I don’t like to mention it). But it taught me a lot about what you can do for a helpless creature, and taught me even more what these helpless creatures can do for you.
Score: 5/5
Writer: Tod Emko Artist: Ethan Young Publisher: Bohemian Press Price: $2.99 Release Date: 4/16/14 Format: Ongoing, Print