By Dustin Cabeal

How the fuck did Grumpy Cat get top billing on this book? Like, what the hell.

I have no idea who the hell this book is for. It seems to be written for children, which is just strange. Grumpy Cat, a former internet meme, gained popularity from internet users who would likely hate this book upon site. Garfield, despite the cartoon shows, Christmas special and terrible live action movies, is a comic strip that’s written for anyone and everyone. Anyone can jump on to Garfield and read it, not just children. Why then is Grumpy Cat/Garfield written for children?

The story is probably one of the dumbest plotlines I’ve ever read. Clearly, there was some attempt at capturing bad 90’s kid's cartoons with the plot, in that it doesn’t have one anyone would care about. Sadly, kid shows these days are 100 times more intelligent than this baseless plot line in which a business man wants to make cats act like dogs… cuz money.

The bulk of the issue is spent bouncing back and forth showing how shitty both characters are to their counterparts that love them no matter what. Then they’re kidnapped and put together as the test subjects of the cats to dogs program. You no longer need to read the issue. You’re welcome.

The art is a confusing mess as it contains two styles by the same artist. Mostly it’s the coloring, but when you see Garfield, it looks like the 90s cartoon, solid coloring, and not much detail. When it’s Grumpy Cat, there’s a lot of bad coloring in that it's over stylized for what it is, which is a Garfield knock off.

Which is why this is probably even dumber than I can describe. Grumpy Cat became popular because people took Garfield lines and meme’d the hell out it. Now we have the live action knock off teaming up with the OG cartoon, but not illustrated/colored in the same style.  It's rather strange considering it would be interesting to see Grumpy Cat in that style, but it’s not to be.

Again, I don’t know who the fuck this book is for; nor do I think you should read it. It’s one of the worst books I’ve ever read, I struggled to finish it for this review, and I will likely never think of it again… Until the worst of list at the end of the year. Sadly, I’m not sure it’s the worst crossover book I’ve read this week, but it’s definitely terrible and a complete and total cash grab. Once it figures out who’s money, it’s trying to grab. Don’t let it be yours.

Score: 1/5

Grumpy Cat/Garfield #1
Writer: Mark Evanier
Artist: Steve Uy
Publisher: Dynamite/BOOM!