4 out of 5

One of the balances for Hawkman to maintain in Night of the Living Cat has been… how much story are we actually doing? I’m kinda not a fan of media that starts out as nonsense and then backs its way into lore (like, it’s not that deep, bro); but I also have a hard time investing in ongoings that are just interested in being straight up one thing – action, comedy, etc. – without some kind of driving force. ‘Night’ has been pretty good about this on the whole, setting us in a world in which characters are very conflicted over the consequences of being turned into cats, which is a fun way to maintain stakes and poke fun at the setup at the same time; however, the writer also keeps reverting back to other side stories periodically, which starts to turn this into a series of sketches instead of something where the main characters can grow, and we can get into a rhythm with their hijinks. I recognize some of this may just be publishing happenstance, that the chapters that get collected into a tankobon just so happen to have a side story right in the middle and thus feel more disruptive, but even so, these asides can linger for a bit too much on occasion.

Volume 5 firstly has this in just the right quantity, and at a perfect point: the last chapter of this collection is just a simple bit about some teens running afoul of delinquent cats, and it’s hilarious; it is juxtaposed against one of the most ridiculous – and also thrilling – sieges in the book to date, with cats storming the compound en masse, in control of a zoo’s worth of other animals. This is preceded by a well-paced reintroduction of another character, giving us two impactful arcs right in a row, and the side story comes right as the siege is at its peak intensity. …Which should be bad! but instead acts like a fun lil’ breather in a surprisingly tense tale.

On the art front, Mecha-Roots and Hawkman are an amazing team. The duo nail it all in this round: conversation beats; the action; and especially the jokes. I am annoying people by telling them about hilarious scenes from this book.

Lastly – kudos to translator Nan Rymer. I always feel bad when translators have to do song lyrics, and Nan manages to pull it off, maintaining (I assume) the meaning and getting a good rhythm and sense of humor that works in English as well.