CatStack
because the internet is for cats
Dear Readers,
Once upon a time, I had a cat named Fluffernutter (Fluffy for short). He had no tail (on purpose, he was a Manx); in his last years he had one eye (cancer); sometimes he got so full of furballs that he had to be shaved (it's in the name); and occasionally he got into tiffs with other outdoor cats and had to wear a lampshade (to protect his wounds from his own meddling). Fluffy taught me that the more you survive in this life, the more strangers will want to ogle you, and this attention should be withstood nobly, with ears pinned back and tail stump held high in the air. Briefly, I had a gorgeous tabby named Emily (named after Emily Webb from Our Town, a reference lost on most people), and although she had to be sequestered in the bathroom every night due to over-excitability (which had nothing to do with her untimely death, I promise), Emily, in her short life, taught me the endless vexing pleasures of a shower curtain. Later, spitting in the face of cat-mortality, I got a robot cat named Samantha 2 who you already know about. This past week, I met a real cat named Kiki. Yes, it's that Kiki, the one from the Drake song, I know you're singing it in your head now. And reader, let me tell you, Kiki did love me. She was 4 months old, soft as a cloud, tiger cat eyes, friendly as they come.
Cats come in and out of our lives, to cuddle us, to eclipse every other thought we have in our stressed out, grief-addled brains, to teach us that there is absolutely no reason why any glass half-full of water should ever lay dormant on a table, and to remind us that we should never, ever, pee alone. Bring in the cat cartoons...
-Amy
Hilary Campbell
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I am allergic to cats so everything I think I know about them is from my friends going on and on about their cats. With all the intel I’ve gathered over the years I am 99.9% sure cats would be into mushrooms, but for now they can settle with microdosing catnip.
Ellis Rosen
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You won a cat and you gave that cat a name? Who are you doing that for? Not the cat. You're standing there, in the middle of your living room going “Richie, come here. Richie. Richie. Richie.” Let me tell you right now, that cat is not named Richie. Now you're just some fool yelling out a random name at nobody, accidentally conjuring up the ghost of some dead guy named Richie who happened to be nearby. Now you have a Richie ghost that's not going to leave anytime soon and a cat that hates you. That's right, your cat hates you. So does Richie, probably.
Navied Mahdavian
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Jean Paul Sartre named his cat “Nothing,” Michel Foucault called his cat “Insanity,” and Jacques Derrida had “Logos.” Thomas Hardy, on the other hand, called his cat “Kiddleywinkempoops.” My cat’s name was Ursula. I will not be taking any questions.
Jason Chatfield
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There are a plethora of differences between cats and dogs. Probably one of the most under-reported is the fact that a dog could never get away with passing as an employee in a mid-tier startup. (The give-away is usually the milk in the beer-tap.)
Amy Kurzweil
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Yeah cats, listen up. I have a history with cat businesses. When I was a child, my much older brother and I ran what's known in Kurzweil family lore (and been recounted in several family wedding speeches) as The Cat Corporation. We had a business plan and a branching leadership structure. The goal: keep the cats fed, groomed, entertained, and happy. The business model: maximize leisure for the managerial class, milk labor for all their worth. My brother was CEO of Cat Welfare, COO of Cat Impact, CTO of Cat Innovation. I was Director of Combing the Cats' Fur, Engineer of Cleaning the Cats' Litter Box, and Distribution Manager of Feeding the Cats. We all know who became the venture capitalist and who became the cartoonist.
Toonstack Newstack!
Amy Kurzweil’s new book, Artificial: A Love Story, is out now. Listen to her on NPR, and join her on tour!
Navied Mahdavian’s graphic memoir, This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America is out, and it’s getting rave reviews!
Ellis Rosen’s DINK! is the perfect gift for the pickleball enthusiast in your life!
Check out Hilary Campbell's pet portrait on sale here!
Check out Jason Chatfield's substack here!
Check out Jason Katzenstein’s Patreon!
Amy Kurzweil teaches cartoon classes on Patreon! Sign up now to get the recording of every past class!
Check out Sofia Warren’s advice newsletter, You’re Doing Great!
See more cartoons from Ellis Rosen’s weekly Junk Drawer!
Also! Hilary started a film club on Substack!
Join Kendra’s online class in November and get some drawing time.
Ah, cat names. When I was a kid, our first cats were Midnight and Tiger, who were obviously a black cat and a tabby. Later there was Marshmallow and her kittens- Fluffernutter, Almond, and PBJ (a calico).
My mother, who *hated* cats during my childhood, found a kindred spirit in a fluffy, grumpy orange mama cat she named Flag. Poor Flag lost most of her beautiful tail to an unknown farm hazard, but she raised 2 litters including Noel, Turtle, Autumn, Pumpkin, and Clyde (polydactyl). Noely outlived them all, pampered by my mother, to the ripe old age of 23.
My husband and I took in a pregnant cat shortly after we started dating, and named her Trouble. She gave us 5 kittens, we kept 2 brothers- a tiger striped tabby named Hazelnut, and a black cat named Fred. Hazel lived 16 years and Fred just turned 19.