The Fall 2024 Manga Guide

Cthulhu Cat

What's It About? 

An ordinary Japanese high school student takes home an abandoned supernatural cat left in a cardboard box. Maybe he shouldn't have meddled with kitties beyond human comprehension--after all, it had tentacles where its whiskers should have been! But it's too late!

With no Elder Sign on the cat door, soon the pick of the Mythos litter starts to invade his house, as furry and feline versions of Hastur, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, and other adorable Lovecraftian horrors blast his mind, whisper impossible secrets, and generally get underfoot!

Cthulhu Cat has a story and art by Pandania, with English translation by Zack Davisson. This volume was lettered by Steve Dutro. Published by Dark Horse Comics (November 6, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

I like cats. I like literature. I like stories that reference and parody literature. Combine all three of these things? Why, yes, that is a shortcut to my good graces! And if any of those elements appeal to you, or if you've enjoyed Pandania's other full-color cat manga (Yokai Cats, The Evil Secret Society of Cats, Monster Cats), it's more than worth picking up Cthulhu Cat. Based more closely on H.P. Lovecraft's works than you'd think, Cthulhu Cat is about a boy who takes in a very odd green kitty and inadvertently opens the door to all sorts of strangeness. Naming the green cat Cthulhu, which isn't all that weird when you consider that his normal cat is named Ur, the boy quickly finds himself playing host to cultists, a shady priest and, of course, a truly impressive amount of mythos-based kitties. It's delightfully weird.

It also really pays attention to Lovecraft's works to a degree that doesn't even become fully clear until the end of the volume. The boy's name is withheld until that point, and if you're a Lovecraft fan, you'll really appreciate the reveal, as well as another one that ties into it. But even without knowing about Dreamlands and Ancient Ones and all that, the book is a lot of fun. In part, this is because the line between cats and Cthulhu is really tentacle-thin. Maybe they can't all manifest more kittens via asexual reproduction or produce rainbow-colored hairballs, but I'm sure we've all met those cats who are just a little…different or who have a bizarre relationship with other animals. Pandania does a remarkable job of managing to highlight cat behaviors while playing up their stranger aspects and acknowledging that the “cats” of the story are really only cat-shaped. Hastur having a cat face mask tied to his head is one of the best parts.

The art is, like Pandania's other manga, full-color and deceptively simple. Lovecraftian elements are worked into the images in an impressively organic manner, keeping them recognizable while still using Pandania's basic style. Color helps to show how the world is being influenced by the presence of the cats (the vet's office and our protagonist's school friend are particularly good examples), and the four-panel style doesn't feel disjointed. It was probably wise to keep this contained to one volume because the story couldn't necessarily sustain itself beyond what we have here, but this is an absolute delight. It's short, sweet, weird, and knows its Lovecraft, and I couldn't ask for anything more than that.

Never mind the fact that the real H.P. Lovecraft had a beloved childhood cat named after a racial slur; no cats nor Elder Gods are disparaged in this fun, silly book. Lovecraft may have been a fraught figure when it came to felines, but there's nothing problematic about this comic riffing off of his creations. Primitively drawn in full, flat colors, Cthulhu Cat is a lighthearted and quick-witted modern funny book that will appeal to teen and adult readers alike.

There is an in-manga explanation for why an Elder God has appeared in the guise of a cat, but it doesn't really matter. All you need to know is that a modern day Japanese student has acquired a green, tentacled cat with a grumpy attitude—like Garfield crossed with unspeakable horrors. This creepy-cute cryptid and his incongruously adorable antics cause hilarity (and occasionally madness) to ensue. In brief, single-page joke setups, the overarching story eventually introduces a full cast of Lovecraftian kitties and the hapless humans under their thrall. From the unnatural, masked Hastur to the grinning black cat Nyarlathotep, each cat has its unsettling charms. The humor comes from the protagonist attempting to treat them like regular cats anyway and running into hijinks; when he makes a social media account for Cthulhu, the comment section indicates a populace being driven mad. It's fertile ground for a panoply of jokes about the Lovecraft pantheon, minus any of the ickier aspects of Lovecraft. The jokes land quickly, think the height of '90s era Sunday funnies with a distinctly Eldritch flavor.

Simple art and simple jokes make this the perfect book to pick up and put down again for casual reading whenever you need a laugh. But as low-key and low-stakes as the book's initial jokes may be, they're still all leading up to a thrilling conclusion that cleverly makes use of the full potential of Lovecraft's opus. Artist Pandania has transformed these familiar mythos into something cuter that still retains its claws (er, tentacles). I can predict at least a few of these jokes will become online image macros after the book comes out.

ALL HAIL THE DARK TENTACLE-Y DREAD CAT LORD CTHULHU, UNDYING DENIZEN OF THE COSMIC NON-EUCLIDEAN AND CYCLOPIC SPIRES OF R'LYEH. PRAY THAT WHEN HE COMES IN HIS GLORY TO DESTROY THE WORLD IN TERROR AND FLOOD. THAT HE WILL DEVOUR US FIRST. ALL HAIL HIS SLIMY SUCKERS AND ABOMINABLE STENCH. WE ARE UNWORTHY TO COWER BEFORE HIS UNHOLY AND BLASPHEMOUS COUNTENANCE. ALL HAIL. ALL HAIL. PH'NGLUIMGLW'NAFH CTHULHU R'LYEHWGAH'NAGLFHTAGN.

*Cough* Um, sorry. I'm not quite sure what came over me there. The last two weeks have disappeared in a mire of black, effulgent murk, ever since I picked up this charming, colorful manga about a boy and his unusual cat. It seems experiencing missing time, half-formed memories, strange fetid smells, and a vague feeling of quivering existential dread are par for the course when studying tomes concerning The Great Old Meowing Ones.

Why is the Unspeakable Elder God of the Deep now a cat? Who knows? It seems he likes it that way these days, as do all of his wonderfully furry pals like Hastur, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, and Shub-Niggurath who all feature frequently, dangerously maximizing the dribbling madness quotient. While some knowledge of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos is no doubt a sensible prerequisite for full enjoyment/ungodly worship, the humor in Cthulhu Cat is broad, cute, and sinister enough to appeal to even those with the slightest of passing (unnatural) knowledge.

Author PANDANIA is no stranger to tales of the weirder feline persuasion, having previously published volumes such as Monster Cats, Yokai Cats, and The Evil Secret Society of Cats. Cthulhu Cat is a stand-alone volume, complete in its unsettling cuteness and wry, dark humor. While the human protagonist seems to be a relatively normal high school student, the preponderance of otherworldly ghastly beings in cat form slowly transforms his friends and acquaintances into bizarre fanatics and cultists who use his front garden for unspeakable rituals, and buy vials of Cthulhu Cat bathwater from his mother.

While the artwork is incredibly simplistic, it helps to sell the extreme tonal disconnect between the fulminating madness and the cozy mundane. It's hilarious, and in writing this review, I fulfill the wishes of HIS INCOMPARABLE MAJESTY WHOSE TRANSDIMENSIONAL FELINITY STRETCHES ACROSS THE COSMIC VEIL TO INFECT THE MINDS OF ALL HUMANITY. YOU MUST BUY THIS BOOK, FOR HE WILLS IT. MEOW.