A return to the UK small press world today and a look at one of the many comics I bought at Thought Bubble last year and have only just got around to reading. (If you think that is shocking then you’re going to hate me saying that it wasn’t that long ago that I stumbled upon a pile of unread comics I purchased at TB in 2014. What can I say? I’m a busy man.) Katherine Hemmings’ The Witch and Loaf Cat was created last year as part of an October daily comic challenge and, quite frankly, it’s an absolute delight from start to finish.
Lottie is the witch of the title whose command of magic is… unpredictable… to say the least. Loafie (sometimes Loafy) is her feline chum with a difference. He was created when Lottie’s sorcerous abilities, feelings of loneliness, and attempts at bakery all converged with one unlikely result. A newfound friend who just happens to be a cat made out of bread. It’s a bizarre premise to say the least but one that Hemmings finds abundant comedic potential in.
Most of the work herein consists of one-page strips building up to cute punchlines. Loafie being pursued by birdlife when taking a trip on Lottie’s broomstick; a drenched Loafie having to decide whether to be dried out in a microwave or an oven; strips that employ the odd play on words (“comfort food” being a particularly lovely one), and so on. It’s a very specific and idiosyncratic brand of hybrid cat/bread humour that really shouldn’t work and yet somehow it does, as the reader quickly gets drawn into the quirky rhythm of the comics’ humour.
Hemmings has a clean line and her witty art centres the characters first and foremost so that our attention is directly on their exploits and mishaps rather than any other extraneous details. The Witch and Loaf Cat is adorable and cleverly paced and far more sophisticated than its traditional strip build-up appears on first glance.
Katherine Hemmings (W/A) • Self-published, £5.00
Review by Andy Oliver
