4 out of 5

Aw man.  Why are there those of us who are just suckers for funny animal books?  Why is that even a genre, funny animals?  But we exist, and it is.  Womp.

I’m not sure what made Critters such a solid collection of tales, issue per issue.  Whether they leaned on silly, or more dramatic, one-off stories or longer running tales, this book seem to capture the Dark Horse Presents magic – just short enough overall to make each issue go by quickly, but long enough that each story gets room to grow – but subtracts the heavy-handedness that some creators added to the DHP lineage.  While some of that stuff obviously grew into classics – Sin City, for example – stores in that vein would weigh the books down, unbalancing (in my opinion) what else was presented.  But every issue – every issue – of Critters seems to be mindful of pacing and the breather needed when you’re asking the reader to switch gears between stories.  Just goes to show that anthologies – short story anthologies, comic anthologies, music compilations – aren’t just cut and paste deals; they should require just as much thought as any other project because they’re being presented as a whole.

There’s not really a good way to go into this series.  Some recognizable animals fluttered through – perhaps Usagi Yojimbo being the most notable (Sakai a good touchpoint for the feel of the series – simple yet detailed, funny yet soulful) – but better than name-dropping the celebrities is to say that every story felt welcome and polished, even if they were new creators – the story felt like it belonged, and they looked good.  But I guess that’s sort of repeating the “viewing it as a whole” thing I’m pitching up there.

Will the kiddie covers and anthropomorphic stuff turn off a lot of readers?  Probably.  Even if you can convince someone of the adult nature of something like ‘Usagi,’ they still might hesitate to pick up Critters, because, well, it looks cute.  The covers are generally bright and shiny, and really push the animal aspect, even though some stories are more just cartoony than animal-based.  Is it appropriate youth reading?  I would say yes, but I wouldn’t say it’s a youth book by any means.  It was made for us suckers who dig the funny animal genre, and it’s one of the best examples of that genre.