Our Cats Are More Famous Than Us: A Johnny Wander Collection

by Ananth Hirsh, Yuko Ota (Illustrator)

Overview

In 2008, Ananth Hirsh and Yuko Ota launched the auto-bio webcomic Johnny Wander. Eight years, four cats, and three moves are chronicled in this gorgeous hardcover omnibus, which includes a foreword by Raina Telgemeier (SMILE, GHOSTS). Hirsh and Ota's charming reverie about new adulthood will appeal to fans of Kate Beaton, Bryan Lee O'Malley, and Jeffrey Brown—along with anyone who's just winging it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620103838
Publisher:	Oni Press
Publication date:	04/11/2017
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

Yuko Ota is an award-winning cartoonist from Brooklyn, NY. She has worked with Abrams Books, Oni Press, BOOM!, Dark Horse, Lerner Publishing, and more. Her current focus is the Reuben Award-winning Barbarous, a comedy-drama involving magic and monster men.

Editorial Reviews

01/16/2017
This sometimes-charming collection of the autobiographical web comic Johnny Wander presents the lives of creators Ota and Hirsh as a series of brief comic strips capturing their daily activities. One peril of this type of comic is that the effort to portray yourself and your friends as very charming or very quirky or very silly might feel self-referential as the entries pile up. In such a thick volume there are plenty of moments where this happens, with some gags that feel like personal jokes that a reader wasn’t even meant to get, or entries in a diary that are helpful to the diarist in dealing with something but less so to a reader. At more than 400 pages, there is need for a more careful curation of the contents in order to craft a more intentional narrative. If the parts played off each other better, it would add a lot more impact to the admittedly sweet ending. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL —

Gr 7 Up-Brooklyn-based cartoonist and writer duo Hirsh and Ota present the first full collection of their webcomic Johnny Wander. This beautifully told volume spans eight years, four cats, and three moves. The telling, often revealing illustrations are supported by funny text when necessary but are allowed to stand alone and breathe. From life after college to growing up to dealing with friends, and cats, all of life's ups and downs are deftly addressed in this introspective work. Hirsh and Ota balance the various aspects of daily existence-both the mundane and the exciting-with equal passion.
Each individual story works on its own and within the confines of the overall omnibus. VERDICT A valued addition to any YA graphic novel collection and a wonderful option for fans of the webcomic.-John Trischitti, Midland County
Public Libraries, TX

From the Publisher

02/01/2017
Gr 7 Up—Brooklyn-based cartoonist and writer duo Hirsch and Ota present the first full collection of their webcomic Johnny Wander. This beautifully told volume spans eight years, four cats, and three moves. The telling, often revealing illustrations are supported by funny text when necessary but are allowed to stand alone and breathe. From life after college to growing up to dealing with friends, and cats, all of life's ups and downs are deftly addressed in this introspective work. Hirsh and Ota balance the various aspects of daily existence—both the mundane and the exciting—with equal passion. Each individual story works on its own and within the confines of the overall omnibus. VERDICT A valued addition to any YA graphic novel collection and a wonderful option for fans of the webcomic.—John Trischitti, Midland County Public Libraries, TX

School Library Journal