Inkblot #12 // Review
Cats rarely act the way anyone might expect. The tiny, black cat that was inadvertently conjured from a blot of black ink is no exception, as Seeker is about to discover in Inkblot #12. Writer/Artist Emma Kubert and writer Rusty Gladd kick the adventure into high gear in an issue that shoots rather quickly from experimentation to war to a kind of afterlife and beyond in another pleasantly weird mix of action, comedy, magic, and something more. The sudden lurch into action is something that Kubery and Gladd have tried before. In the twelfth issue of the series, the cuteness and the magic continue to find a cozy space on the comics rack.
A little black cat is being offered milk. Since the black cat in question is a little monster who is being studied in the magical library of The Seeker, it’s being offered the milk of goats and griffons and minotaurs and things. She’s trying to coax the cute little cat into action. Evidently, after some recent adventures, it hasn’t been all that magically active. When it finally springs into action, she may regret getting what she wishes for. She’s going to die about halfway through the issue, but death is only the next step in a very long adventure for the Seeker and her cute, little black cat.
The worlds created by Kubert and Gladd have been a great deal of fun, but they’ve all been largely secondary to the central focus of a cat that is largely disinterested with the world around it. Epic fantasy looms large in the background as a single girl tries to figure out what the deal is with a magical cat. The simple human/cat relationship is a particularly fun contrast against multiversal realm-spanning action in an issue that covers quite a bit of distance from one cover to the other.
Once again, Kubert’s cute cat is the center of attention in an appealingly engaging world of fantasy. The little cat rests attentively on a table amidst numerous different saucers of milk labeled for numerous different mythical beasts...it’s a stunningly cute visual that kicks off an issue with some very appealing kinetic energy. As cat and girl are thrust into the center of a conflict between two powerful witches, Kubert does a brilliant job of making the layout amplify the intensity of the action. The cold realm of limbo that death finds cat and Seeker in a few pages later might lack the beautiful stillness of an eerie otherworld, but the cuteness and the action continue to appeal.
Part of what makes the epic fantasy of Inkblot so strange is the fact that it IS little more than a backdrop for the mystery of a single black cat with huge green eyes. If it weren’t for the cat, the story might feel a bit dull, which really isn’t a problem as the mystery of the cat continues to capably drive the series in yet another issue. Kubert and Gladd are doing a great job with an odd, little fantasy series.
