Angel Catbird

In our modern era and its social climate, one writer stands out, and that writer’s name is Margaret Atwood. Of her many works, one stands out tallest of all as the work we need in our modern times, relevant to the debates we find ourselves locked in daily and the future we wish to avoid. That work, of course, is Angel Catbird Volume 2: To Castle Catula.

One of the big sleeper hits of last year was Margaret Atwood, Johnnie Christmas and Tamra Bonvillain's Angel Catbird, which saw the acclaimed novelist test the comics waters with the first in a series of graphic novels about a man who can turn into a cat-bird. While an odd premise for one of Canada's most celebrated authors, Angel Catbird was widely hailed as a successful comics debut, and next month sees the publication of the second volume, and Dark Horse has provided a preview in celebration of National Bird Day. (Which is today, in case you don't have that circled on your calendar.)

Angel Catbird Vol. 1 tackles one of life’s most pressing dilemmas, one we must all grapple with in spirit if not necessarily in flesh: what do you do when an accident turns you into a half-man, half-owl, half-human, and the co-worker you’re sweet on is really into it? The result is a colorful, old-school, pulpy, and none-too-serious comic from writer Margaret Atwood, artist Johnnie Christmas, colorist Tamra Bonvillain, and letterer Nate Piekos, with a lot of jokes and a pleasing number of facts about cats.

There's a lot to like about Margaret Atwood, Johnnie Christmas and Tamra Bonvillain's upcoming Angel Catbird graphic novel, but I think the thing that really grabbed me about it is that it's exactly what it says on the cover. It is literally the story of a new superhero who is part-angel, part-cat, and part-bird, and in these uncertain times, I appreciate a book that's being straightforward with its readers. But now, I have something else to be excited about. As we head towards the release of Angel Catbird Volume 1 in September, Dark Horse has already announced the upcoming Angel Catbird Vol. 2: To Castle Catula, in which Angel Catbird will face off against a devil-winged half-cat half-Dracula --- and there is no way that I'm not reading that comic the second it comes out.

Margaret Atwood is coming to comics. We've know this for a while, but now we have preview pages to prove it from her upcoming superhero graphic novel, Angel Catbird, featuring art by Johnnie Christmas and colors by Tamra Bonvillain.

If you were taking some time this week to sit down and try to figure out what award-winning author Margaret Atwood's next project would be, your first guess probably wouldn't have been a series of all-ages graphic novels about a superhero who is part-bird, part-cat, and suffers an identity crisis because of his conflicting predator/prey nature. But really, it probably should've --- she has, after all, pretty thoroughly conquered the world of novels, short stories and poetry, so when you get right down to it, comics is the next logical step. Today, Dark Horse announced that very project: Angel Catbird, a series of three graphic novels by Atwood and artist Johnnie Christmas, set for release in Fall of 2016.