King-Cat Classix

King-Cat Classix collects material from the first fifty issues of John Porcellino’s King-Cat Comics as they appeared in self-published, handmade zines throughout the 1990s!

These strips span John Porcellino’s dynamic evolution from saturated, punk drawings to his characteristic refined minimalism, revealing his work as a catalyst that has inspired artists like Chris Ware in the emerging literary comics scene. In the inky drawings featuring beloved pets, awkward teenage one-night stands, and everyday blunders, we see a nascent style steeped in truth and transparency—one that continues to ring true today.

Porcellino’s mind is spread out on the page, with an uninhibited id running wildly through dreams and sexual fantasies, not unlike the gritty, stabbing pen strokes of Julie Doucet. He sketches fragmented moments that reflect the very manner in which we process memory. We are made up of a stream of consciousness, and Porcellino externalizes that messy internal reality in fleeting mental images.

Follow along the path of a master of the form and relish in the inspirational power of this groundbreaking collection.