Webcomic Book Club Full Reviews of Clan of the Cats by Jamie Robertson

Review of "Clan of the Cats" by Jamie Robertson "Clan of the Cats" was one of the first webcomics I got into several years ago. At the time, every webcomic I explored seemed like some 13-year old's lame-ass idea of comedy, so CotC was refreshing for its depth and sophistication. I still consider it a standout today (Nov 2003), even in a much more crowded field of high caliber talent. CotC convincingly portrays down-to-earth characters in a fantastic scenario. It explores aspects of modern day witchcraft and presents parallel cultures of vampires, werewolves and other occult brethren. Events in the personal lives of the characters (divorce, affairs, illness, etc.) pack as much of a wallop as the supernatural threats. It's a difficult balancing act that Jamie attempts, because the outlandishness of some of the epic magic confrontations would seem to undercut the more mundane soap opera affairs of the characters. But more often than not, the balance felt right. I tended to enjoy the smaller scale story arcs over the epics involving ancient feuds, secret societies and cosmic destinies. The smaller scale stories were a bit more convincing and allowed for more interesting character interplay. The one type of story I really didn't enjoy was the goofy crossover. The ones that maintained the CotC tone were fine, such as the engrossing "A Cat in the Shadows" and "Ghost of the Forest". But many of the crossovers involved over-the-top humor that seemed too narrowly targeted to an in-crowd. Probably CotC's greatest strength is its cast of characters. Chelsea the panther-shifter witch and her extended family all felt real to me and had convincing emotional lives. Sister Mel (a leopard morph), the comical blue cat Sebastian and the wizard Jacob were particular favorites. But really, no minor character was a throw away. They all seemed to have some genuine inner life that came to the surface. And events that impacted the characters (major and minor) were not forgotten, but lingered on, and continued to affect them hundreds of strips later. Sometimes the melodramatic soliloquies were a little thick for my tastes, but I generally enjoyed these people laying out their emotional issues. Jamie's artwork has improved greatly over the years. There's still some occasional uncertainty going on with the anatomy and facial expressions, but this is usually more than made up for by the nice mood-evoking use of color, pleasant line work, and sense of locale. Jamie's wolves are particularly appealing. If you want a good blend of soap opera, the supernatural and rich emotional characters, "Clan of the Cats" is recommended. Review by The Phantom Critic Thu Nov 20 2003 05:23 PM

Art: I like the art in Clan of the Cats, but there can be real issues with layout and poses. Sometimes, I feel that the action isn't continuous, but a series of still frames. Of course, that's what they are in reality...but a good action sequence is able to blend the panels together, and that's spotty here. It crops up in the regular story as well, but it's not as much of a concern to me. It's interesting to compare the art now to the original strips; in comparison, the originals are very sparse on the detail that's now common. But it's also nice to track the evolution of the creator's work, which is easy to do here. Characters: All of the characters seem real to me, even when I didn't like them or thought they had made a bad choice. That's a very nice thing about Clan of the Cats, and I think it's something very important to the strip. Chelsea is a good example of this, as is Ben. In fact, none of the major character seem to be simplified or "this particular cliche" to me. They all have plots and stories of their own, but not at the expense of others. Plot: This is shakier, unfortunately. While the strip goes in long plot arcs, a lot of them have a 'monster of the week' feel to it; something magical and scary comes by, and Chelsea has to deal with it. While I don't have a problem with this the first few times, it becomes rather tiresome after that-and as Salen noted, some of the plots make very little sense. Fortunately, I don't think the characters are compromised for the sake of any particular plot arc. Also, the beginning with Chelsea in New York is very distant compared to the rest of the strip...however, since North Carolina quickly becomes the focus, I feel that was a minor issue. Writing: It's not hard to distinguish which character is speaking, most of the time...but occasionally, it just sounds disjointed and incomplete. I think it could be done with a better flow of words, and some spell checking-though that was more of a concern at the beginning than in the current arc. Overall: Clan of the Cats has a good base in several areas, and it's a strip I've been following for some time. But it needs to improve its work on connection, and try to guide the readers a little-sometimes, it isn't mysterious so much as frustrating. I give it 7 out of 10. Review by Benor Sun Nov 02 2003 12:32 PM

"Dook. Welcome to Salen's Ferrety Review of Clan of the Cats. And on that note, on with the review!" "CotC (Clan of the Cats) is a rather interesting comic. It combines a bunch of mythological stuff, such as magic, curses, werecreatures, vampires, and a slew of other things to give you a comic that follows the life of one werecat witch through her trials, tribulations, and other things that just involve trying to have a normal life." "And of course, having a normal life is about the last thing that seems to happen to Chelsea. The comic swings from small sections of peace where Chelsea tries to come to terms with her new life, before being tossed head first into some new mythical danger." "There's fighting, there's romance, there's super natural creatures of evil, there's relationships formed and broken... and through all of this, Chelsea finds herself near the middle of all of it." "Artwise, I really like the way the comic comes across. The style seems to suit the comic, and I can't remember thinking at any point that the layout seemed confusing when I was reading it." "Storywise, CotC does have small breaks between large events, where you really get to see the characters, before something large comes along to shake things up. At times, it can be a bit confusing to figure out WHAT is going on when a new story arch comes along, but part of the story is a bit of suspense. On the plus side, the world of CotC seems very fleshed out with its own 'supernatural history & rules'. And that helps the story, if nothing more than helping you realize that the world of CotC is 'fleshed out'. Some of the story archs though can be a bit confusing, but eh, overall its good." "Characters, there are a lot of them. A lot. You get to know all of the main ones and see them grow quite a bit. But there's still a lot of other characters that are in the story that seem to have their own agenda in CotC. But it still can be tough trying to remembering who's who, but maybe that just has to do partly with how different story archs introduce new sets of characters and different things to deal with." "Overall, I like the comic. Its not a 'fast action' comic like some, but that hardly means there isn't a good bit of fighting and magic and other sorts of nastiness to make you continue to read. I'll admit I read the comic mostly for the shapeshifters, and I continue to read just to see 'what happens next'. I think the main reason I read the comic is because occasionally, there really is a good funny comical moment or phrase. I like comedy, and I won't deny it. And thats probably why I like Sebastian, is because if he's in the comic, 4 out of 5 times, he's doing something comical or just pointing the comedy out." "So, this ferret will give Clan of the Cats an 8 out of 10. Go read this comic if you need your fix of werecreatures, magic, vampires, or stuff like that... Dook!" Review by Salen Stormwing Thu Oct 30 2003 01:11 PM

Art: The art is good. It's not cartoony, it's not anime, and it's a fairly nice change from some of the art styles I've seen out there. It's not the most visually stunning, per se, but it's nice and does a good job of getting the mood across to those reading the webcomic. Story: The story...is good. It's not great, but it's pretty good. It'll keep your attention, most likely, though the stories aren't the sort that'll keep with you all that long. Entertaining, but not spectacular. Characters: Ah, the characters. Sebastian that talking cat may not be entirely original, but he's certainly amusing, and has risen to the occasion every now and then. This cast isn't what you might call incredibly original, but they do keep nicely in their roles, with few abrupt changes or things that seem wildly inappropriate. I found several pieces of character development to be quite interesting...and the characters do, for the most part develop. Overall, quite satisfactory. Overall: A good webcomic well worth the time to read. It's not the greatest thing out there, it's not extraordinary...but it's certainly a few cuts above many webcomics out there. I'll give it a 7.75/10. Review by Luthorne Tue Oct 28 2003 08:13 PM

Well, with my busy week, I have little time to go through the entire archives, thus I shall review from memory! While always a sketchy proposition, it is made even more so by the medium of webcomics. Well, without further ado... Clan of the Cats has fairly intriguing characters, a constant and readable style, adequate plot, and is remarkably light on the "Xian" bashing. The fact that the latter even needs to be mentioned should provide ample evidence as to my opinion of most 'wiccan' material. This does not mean that I cannot enjoy such 'bashing' pieces, merely that I have a bias against such. That is, however, a topic for a different forum, and likely quite off-topic. The characters are more than just paper cutouts. They have a life of their own and react in very human ways. Paul's initial rejection and later "coming around" and Ben's reactions from the very beginning up to the latest strip are both very human and realistic. I have always been pleasantly surprised at the level of understanding of human emotions, reactions, and relationships that Jamie seems to grasp. The current artwork is clear, realistic to a point, and certainly enjoyable enough to add to the story. Color is nice, although Sebastian has never really disturbed me as much as a blue cat should... >_> Taking a few moments to randomly glance into the past, memories flood back that this was not always so (the artwork, not Sebastian's coloring), but even back then, it had enough of a style and readability to be coherent. Not perfect, but decent. The plot comes in arcs and the occasional crossover. Werebeasts, witches, and vampires... Oh my! There's also the occasional mage, elf, mutant, demon, extra-planar traveler, talking cat, or other oddball character to help liven things up. Personally, I enjoy the plot for being cohesive and well-thought-out, although there has been the occasional story arc that has left me going, "Huh?" The Alice crossover and the current The Dracula War being the two most prominent examples in my mind. Clan of the Cats is a webcomic that I will recommend to others. Not only does it possess good characterization and plot, but the artwork gets pretty nifty, too. The pros outweigh the cons, for a nice Eight-point-Two-Five out of Ten. Review by Xenix Tue Oct 28 2003 07:39 PM

Offsite Review Summaries

"Clan of the Cats is an urban fantasy Web comic by Jamie Robertson. It chronicles the adventures of a witch, Chelsea Chattan, who is also afflicted by an ancient family curse. In times of stress she transforms into a black panther. This, coupled by her increasing magical power, makes having an ordinary life rather challenging. The stories deal with supernatural themes mainly, but also creep into the realm of normal everyday life." more... Read Full Review by Wikipedia contributors at Wikipedia Sun Feb 22 2004

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