BATCAT

The adventures of a creature who is not entirely one thing or the other.

A ghost has made itself at home in Batcat’s comfy Spooky Isle treehouse, hogging the remote and stealing snacks. Batcat goes to the island’s witch—who is “neither a good witch nor a bad witch,” but, like Batcat, “somewhere in between”—for a magical solution. Gathering ingredients for the promised spell leads to scary and thrilling encounters with true bats in the “cavernous caves,” snotty cats in the graveyard, and a pair of wise griffins (who, as half-birds, half-lions, are also not one creature but parts of several), and eventually Batcat resolves nagging identity issues by accepting that they are unique in themself. The message is clearly in the driver’s seat here, but the story and the visuals are sturdy and charming enough to carry it easily. In the full-color art, Ramm depicts Batcat as a rotund, Pikachu-cute figure with whiskers, pointy ears, and small (but working) wings. Likewise, for all the impenetrable darkness, mysterious graveyard screams, and seemingly deadly hazards of the spooky stops along the way, the smiling, brown-skinned witch (the only human figure) and the rest of the spectral, undead, and mythological cast have benign looks that keep the overall tone light.

Spooky fun, with a theme that’s relevant on Halloween and every other day besides.