#based off of that one phoebe and her unicorn strip

[goblinpartyy]

silly self indulgent thingy i sketched after finishing my animation homework

[popculturebuffet]

Breaking Cat News Retrospective: Year 3: Bea-ginnings and Endings (Patreon Review for Emma Fici

Hello all you happy newscats to part 3 of my look at Breaking Cat News, one of the best comic strips running. Parts 1 and 2 are HERE and HERE respectively.

Last time we saw a huge wave of change for the strip after a pretty steady first year: The Station met their also in the union Spanish Equilvent, welcomed another baby into the family , got an av cat, met Tommy's distant roomate, found that there's a ghost in their home but it's bette than being alone, and dealt with a mice hostage situation, caused a mice hostage situation and learned the meaning of christmas. IT's also the year where the characters started to Crystalize, the family grew, and the strip really came into it's own. Year 3 rides this momentium and plants it's flag as both one of the strips most ambitious years and one of it's most important. There's only two major storylines this year.. but both leave an impact and are fan faviorites to this day: The first introduces a major addition to the main cats and their family in Beatrix, the second introduces the strips' first and so far only out and out villian, who brings in a LOT of lore with him. Both really up the stakes of the strip, deepn it's world, and change the status quo.

They also serve as an end of an era as 2016 is BCN"s last year as an independent project, with Andrew McMeel aka Uversal Uclick, aka jimmy the reach signed the strip to run on GoComics, a site if you haven't checked out you should as theire's veritable mountain of comics and the strip's dedicated community and wide appeal got it picked up for a newspaper run, joining similar stories like Phoebe and Her Unicorn before it and Crabgrass after it. As such the format changes after this going from fairly big strips to the standard format: 6 daily four or so panel strips, and one sunday. This isn't a bad thing as the new format allowed the strip to both do big stories on the week.. and do the relatable slice of life stuff based out of real life on sundays. We still get plenty of the later in the weekly's too, but it provides a nice ballance and allows her to flesh out some incidents or give the bigger story arcs time to breathe.

It just also means that in order to properly let new readres both print and web into this world.. she had to start the strip over from the top: While this isn't a full continuity reboot as previous storylines NOT covered in the newspaper run (the ghost arc discussed last time and the wicket arc discussed this time), the first few years take their time reintroducing everyone, adding in new storylines, so most of the cast was left on hold until ti was there turn to be reintroduced. It's not a bad thing as we'll get into next time, but it means that with the end of the Wicket arc our heroes stories take a breather for a while and it serves as a bit of a finale. A way to say goodbye so we could say hello again. So let's make the end of this era precious under the cut as we cover two fo the strips finest hours and prepare for a brave new big pink house.

The year starts off breifly with some buisness as usual. The boy is speaking now and has given the cats names

Naturally i'll be using Dad Cat and Mom Cat liberally, though Puck is obviously taken. I can't blame the kid though I got Elvis and LUpin confused name wise a LOT early on and sometimes my brain still screws it up despite being FULLY aquanted with both. We also get some more of our IX Lives, and Elvis gets into some butter with delightful results

So far so normal> But as is tradition at this point, and you don't fuck with tradition, it takes a newcomer to really shake things up. Everything's Coming Up Beatrix It's a standard winter for our heroes: the humans are all cozied up and the cats.. are reporting everything's gone outside because the windows are fogged up and it snowed everywhere. Standard news day… until

Naturally The Man and Woman figure out there's a cat outside via the usual method

The man is able to rescue the little lady whose not doing great, but thankfully Tommy's Woman is more than willing to brave the void to come help, and being an experienced animal rescue, helps get bea back to health.. but since it's really not a good idea to take her back into the cold cruel world, someone's going ot need to foster her and it's not a huge shock the lady with three cats she all fostered first gladly takes her in. Spoilers, this will not be the last time she does this. We soon get one of the sweetest moments in the entire strip: As Puck plans to stand guard and worries about their new charge..

This is possibly my faviorite panel in the whole strip. We've seen Elvis nurture before with the girl .. but it was always tempered by his overprotective shouty side and natural hatred of her actual father. Here we just see him be kind, calm and nurtring. We also see a big change in his character: While Elvis will still puff out at the unknown plenty, after Bea he's a lot quicker to accept new additions to the crew. His experinces with Tommy, Fig, and Burt have had him realize his hair trigger attitude just isn't necessary any more. Will he still freak out like a drama queen at some new arrivals? Yes. He woudln't be elvis if he didn't respond to most new people and things with melodramatic outrage. That's what makes him elvis. But we now see an elvis who instead of taking months to accept someone takes maybe a few hours and who will calmly sit with his newly adopted daughter simply because she's alone in the world.

It opens up a new side to elvis and helps recontecutalize him a bit: while before his age was mostly a tool to explain how crotchety he is and why he hates the Man (being the only one adopted before they moved in together in both real life and the strip), here we see the other side: we get the real sense this isn't the first kitten he's raised (and spoilers once again, won't be the last), as he raised the other two boys. And given PUck turned out a wonderful soft boy angel and Lupin turned out mostly fine, he's good at it. He may be their older brother.. but he's the kind who raised their sibling. It lets him be more than just shouty hilarious angry man… whcih is great, but he became one of my faviorite comic strip characters becaues he got more dimensions to him. He can be old man yelling at cloud one minute, the straight man to lupin's antics the next, and a nurtrting if overprotective daddy guy the next and these are all the same guy.

It's what makes the best comics: Calvin wouldn't have been as entertaining if he weren't both extremley smart and observant… btu still weighed down by the short sightedness and priorities of a six year old. Opus wouldn't have been as great if his inherent kindness and naivety weren't paired with some slight selfishness and histornics, and Snoopy wouldn't be nearly as loveable if he was just a grandstanding weirdo in his own world, but instead also a good friend when needed who gladly tells his best friend his heart is priceless.

It's the humanity in a character that can make them truly amazing and it's what makes these characters so fantastic.

Soon in addition to a Dad Cat the little Kitty also gets a name, Beatrix, after the boy sees a cat on a collection of beatrix potters stories that looks similar. And now she has a name… it's time to tell the story of how we got here here. See…. most of Bea's story is true to life: Georgia found and fostered a kitten who had big old paws and extra didgets, was curious and kind…. but there was one part that didn't match up. Her real life counterpart.. died of pneumonia despite everything.

So you can imagine when given the chance to do this all again.. this Beatrix gets to live. She gets to have a full life, a family and everything she deserved. Georgia has a habit of using this strip as wish fufillment: not in an endulgent way, but as a way to keep pets from her past near and dear to her. As mentiond Baba was based on Georgia's longtime cat who passed. She and Bea are the first and sadly aren't the last: as of this writing Figaro, Lupin and Tommy have all passed, and it pains my heart to know that. And as you can imagine there is not even a remote chance of any of them dying anytime in the strip: the strip became among the many other wonderful thigns it is, a way to keep these good boys and girls with Georgia forever. A piece of them etched in amber. Now i'm done tearing up as I write that, eventually Bea needs to meet the neighbors, and does so at a climbing contest with all the cats in the house.. except Elvis whose reporting it and the legendary puck

He prefers the journey. Okay so it's just lupin… till a familiar face pops in and Bea handles it with style, classs and the giant paws cat gave her

Thankfully Tabitha took it with pride and while Bea beams in her victory, winning again even with tabitha joining, and while she goes to tell puck the bigger cats have a realization if they don't hire her tabhitha will.. and since Elvis can't have that BCN gets it's first intern, bounding Beatrix who immdietly takes to it with her usual enthuasim, she makes her mistakes sure

And while making her coffee rounds, this time for Tommy and Burt, Bea also introduces us to another new face… and one the rest of our heroes handle with grace and dignity

TBF Burt it'd probably be easier to you know.. educate them instead of judge them for being accidental dog racists. Either way the two are fast friends. Turns out Burt is the bookstore dog for the local lady who runs the bookstore… and bea's future owner. Yes while our little bundle has been a loved addition to the house… she can't stay. The apartment only allows two cats and while they were able to get special permission for Lupin, The Woman dosen't want to push it. And given Bea's knowledge of plants (which the bookstore also sales explaining where the Woman gets all her victims) and warm personality she's a natural fit. While the Bookstore lady resists at first, in part because she's not sure Trevor will accept a new friend given he's a shy soft boy. But while her dickering gives Bea time to get the crew on twitter despite Elvis' strong objections to telling the birds their business….. she eventually folds and Bea has a new job, a new home.. and Elvis.. well

Clearly our heroes aren't going to get out of this emotoinally in tact and needing advice they have Tommy seek out Baba , who having had lots and lots of kittens, may know what their going thorugh if only he can find her

This arc once again shows off her wise side: she tells the cats that some cats need to go, she misses all her kids but you can't keep them forever. You have to let them go and trust you raised them best you can. They'll see her again. She also cuts Elvis drama queenery short

Hr leaving does impact Trevor, whose sad he may never see her again… though in a nice touch we get his name reveal right here…. and thus find out they'll be together again in no time.

We end the arc with bea easily taking to her new home and her dads entirely proud, having realized she's better off here and happy for her...

…. Maybe not her new friend but Elvis eventually settles into it. Also love those proud parent of a bookstore cat shirts… wish that was real merch

Elvis goes through a wee bitt of a clingy phase out of empty nest syndrome...

But otherwise life returns to normal after. We get a brief check in with Sophie dealing with some critcisim I can't really show as the strip, while utterly gorgeous, is spaced out in a way I can't put it here, but shows the secret insecurity beneath her distant shell… something that will be important way later when we dig more into her character. And while we wait for that the Toddler learns a valuable lesson in personal space and stickers

But while the slice of life stuff is as usually, totally awesome… the peace eventualyl breaks in the night with a screech

The Wicked

Said screeching naturally wakes everyone the heck up and the culprit turns out to the worst thing you could possibly have show up screeching on your doorstep at 1 in the morning: an ex

Baba rebuffs his every advance,claming he left her with a turkey, and outright abandoned her… and then backstory's up her claim as we learn her origins: Turns out Baba was one of the many cats at Quinn Animal Shelter, one of Freddie's faviorites. She met Wicket one day when he came in with a broken wing and feel hard and fast for him. The internet in it's early age soon fell hard and fast for them, and they were a sensation, even becoming a children's book that in the newspaper run is read to the boy as a baby.

The reality though.. was much less cute: Winnie soon suspected that Wicket was no good, with him stalking the smaller animals and not trusting him near Baba. Baba being young, stupid and in love fled in the night with him… and not long after she was abandoned on the beach with a turkey while Wicket wasn't heard of again till now. She returned, but sadly too late to reconcile with Freddie who'd died, something that clearly still haunts Baba and one of the few times we see her expression change. She thankfully found a new way in life at least, one I highly supsect winnie would approve of

Turns out she's COMPLETELY right as while Wicket was likely trying to score some time with an ex and got shot down as he should when you abandon your ex with a turkey, as he quickly scoops up Natasha and Alice while their out one night planning some snack crimes. Natasha uses her needles to escpe at Alice's begging… and is forced to leave her closest friend behind and warn the others…

Turns out Wicket CAN somehow sink lower than conning a young lady into leaving home and then dumping her with a turkey as we find out the Mice have been carrying his story around like a legend: Alice and Natasha aren't from these fields (the other two are), but even they knew the story every mice has told to them.. and unlike the cat and the owl it's less a cute bedtime story and mor ea dire legend of an ancient evil to come back.

Wicket was once the terror of these lands, attacking the mice until one brave mouse, the Golden Mouse, stood up to him. She managed to get the bastards wing wedged in a bird cage. As it turns out Wicket's stay at Quinn Farms was simply to keep the mice from finishing the job while he was still weak. They kept informed thanks to Clover, one of the animals that Wicket was said to have harassed, but wicket eventually escaped, taking baba with him and using her to keep him safe till he was better. His return is simply some petty revenge. The Golden Mouse is long gone, but he refuses to let the mice get one over on him The Golden Mouse however was once again one step ahead and thus spread this legend through the generations so when he did return tehy'd be ready with a plan…. and Alice kicks off that plan, escaping and giving Wicket one simple sentence to bait the trap:

Their plan.. is not a very well thoguht out one past that. It's basically "fight an owl and hope we surivive" which even Elvis can see is more like 30% of a plan. Bea meanwhile plans to go interview the arch villian himself but thankfully Baba steps in to scoot her away before Wicket gets ANOTHER hostage. As Alice taunts wicket for a strip, revealing she knows the Golden Mouse's real name.. Agatha. She's a descident, as is Agnes. We also get a nice moment with Agnes and Puck and am I shippping a cat with a mouse?

eh not even in the top 10 weirdest thing's i've shippped. Pucky and Aggie for life. We also get a sweet moment as the plan draws nearer, with Baba more than confident in the mice, even nicer sine the two are reguarly at odds every day, but hey they both have a common enemy. If you can't team up with the robbers you sho away to against their satanic figure who happens your ex when CAN you?

So the fight approaches, on the Big Pink House's lawn no less (broadcast saftely since Wicket dosen't watch the news), but Puck is worried for his friends, and figures they need an extra distraction… and to get the rodent's perspective, the cats gift Agnes a little something something

The fight approaches.. and puck has a revelation of how they can turn the tide so Wicket dosen't tear those meeses to pieces

And with that the plan begins.. and is just… one of the most awesome manuverse i've seen in a comic. Yes including the giant bubbling vat of super hero comics i've read

And with that Bea has the time she needs to unscrew the lid blinding wicket as he chases after our heroines.. and with a small assist from the july bug being his annoying self.. wicket is defeated (old man And thus peace is restored. Baba suprisingly takes what Bea did well, figuring she did the right thing and that she can make up the near heart attack by helping her with some light chores, something Bea happily agrees to.. and with that our heroes bid goodbye to the july bug.. and for some time.. to us.

The Wicket Arc.. is probably the series best so far. Goldie's intro comes close and there's PLENTY of good material, but this arc is one of a kind, taking us from the usual slice of life afairs with the cosional danger to an out and out epic. It's still kept in reality despite the mice spreadin git as a legend, but it's the one time our heroes face an out an dout villian, and it ties into just about everything so far: the robber mice arc, baba, bea's intro last arc. Every character gets to show up , almost all of them get something great or small to do (Tabitha made a cameo grumbling about not being able to just go out and fight Wicket), it's one giant pile of payoffs you didn't know had setups and a grand way to close out this run. My only regret is that it gets left out of the newspaper run and while they made a new story to make up for the ghost story gettting ommitied, this one didn't mak eit. It's likely for similar reasons to said ghost arc: the various newspaper clippings, murals and other stuff just coudln't be condensed into 4 panels well enough and unlike the ghosts, Wicket hasn't needed to be reintroduced yet. As of this writing he's still at the animal shelter and has only been mentioned in a characters in character blog. Still it's one of the series best and highlyw orth your time. And while it is an ending of sorts there's still a few littl ebits sprinkled around the rest of 2016 and the start of 2017 to adress before we tune out for a day.

Oddds and Ends:

The first is a 2 week arc that feels like a tryout, done in a newspaper style (four panels for dailes, sunday every 6 days, you know the deal). It's a fun enough one as the people have a party, Elvis guards the coats, Puck searches for missing ham and Lupin gets his heart broken

It's a fun arc, nothing too heavy but after the fairly detailed and epic Wicket Arc, we needed a bit of a break. We get our final arc on the site later this year with an our IX lives christmas special. Our IX Lives is an in universe soap opera, following Kit Chase as he romances Angora, an uptown kitty whose dad is determined to marry her to local jackass brad and will fake as many illnesses as he has to to make it happen.. but suprise brad sucks even worse, a car chase insues… it's a whole thing. I'm not recapping this arc as it's not really something to analize, it's really funny and uses the kinds of sets cats would use to film a soap well: there's laundry mountains, the sets are all card board and the bad guys guns are sprayer bottles, foiled by the long lost cast member captain nimble, who naturally is a sea cat and immune to water. I highly recommend checking it out. It also dosen't have a ton of character to analyize: it's a great arc, it's just at it's heart an over the top soap opera parody. It's not the first, but the world building, the fact that unlike our main cats actions nothing about how it functions is explained and the over the top nature of it, such as Angora being about ot faint at any moment and her sister grumbling at her helplesness, makes it a treasure. It even gets Elvis into the show.

But otherwise for most of the year the site went on a station break while Georgia prepared for the newspaper run. Elvis naturally is drug into it. The only real big change that affects the future is an explination for Pucky's coloring changing from kind of grayish to full on black as intended. And so we transition to the next stage as Burt redits the old broadcasts and suprises our heroes; they'll be printedi n the newspaper, a sneaky way for georgia to have the reports be an actaual in universe thing, and with that.. our heroes celebrate the fine tradition their joining.

Year 3 is defined by it's arcs, but iwth two very strong arcs and some nice bonus stuff as the strip readies for it's next chapter, it's a good way to close things out, a satisfyign conclusion to an era… while leaving the door open for a brand new chapter. It's one of the strips best and a peak most of the strips best mateiral since aspires to.. and as we'll see many reach

For now though we bid adieu for this month. Next we take a look at said new chapter as our Cats reset the clock to reintroduce our world.. but sprinkle in a few new stories. I'll be taking a look at this era: what changed between versions, the new stories sprinkled in, the new running arcs, and the new format. It's going to be fantastic.. see you next month and thanks for reading.