Cbr15bingo strange worlds
Yes, in this final month of CBR bingo I am in a rush to get as many squares checked off as possible. As a result, I am scouring our home bookshelves for anything that can help me fill in my remaining squares. Angel Catbird Volume 1 is a graphic novel that has been sitting on the shelf for years. I remember when it came out, I was kind of excited to see that Margaret Atwood had written it. I am a fan of her work and had high hopes for Angel Catbird, but I also seem to remember some lukewarm reviews for this one. I can understand why now.
Angel Catbird was born of Atwood’s love for comic books (explained in her introduction) and cats, and her growing concern about bird conservation — all worthy interests as far as I’m concerned. Angel Catbird is about a researcher named Strig Feleedus, hired by Muroid Inc. to finish a special research project for “super-splicer serum.” The previous researcher, now dead, had taken a critical piece of information out of the file, and Strig’s job is to figure out the missing piece for his boss, Dr. Muroid. Muroid claims his interest is in saving lives, but in fact he wants to use the super-splicer serum to create a hybrid human/rat army and TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!! Mkay. I mean, pretty basic comic book fare, but go on. Strig, a cat lover, figures out what’s missing right away and on his way to the office in the middle of the night, holding an open beaker of potion in his hand, gets hit by a car while chasing after his cat. Guess what happens? Human + cat + random falling bird feathers + serum = Angel Catbird. Strig now has the ability to turn into a creature that looks like a cat but also has feathers, talons and wings. Guess what else? The hot girl at work that he likes, Cat Leone, can smell the cat on him because she is also a human/cat hybrid! In this world, some are born with this animal/human mutation (one character is bird/human, another is bat/human) but now others like Strig can get it through the serum. Cat knows Dr. Muroid is a bad actor, and she, Strig and their super mutant animal friends now have to try to stop Muroid from TAKING OVER THE WORLD!
Apparently, Angel Catbird goes on for several volumes that I’m not going to read. I’m not prepared to say it’s bad. At worst, it’s kind of silly but I think my expectations were so high because it’s written by Atwood that I just find it disappointing. On the plus side, a number of pages contain factual information about bird conservation and the importance of keeping cats indoors for their safety and for the birds. This would be ok to put in the hands of grade schoolers, I think. Whatever budding romance there is between Strig and Cat seems PG rated and takes up very little of the story.
