THE GANG OF THE FELINE SUN

City kitty Brina has a mountain vacation adventure.

Out in the country for the first time since she was a kitten, calico cat Brina is entranced by the wide-open spaces. She wanders off from her human family and meets Vespucci, a one-eyed, rough-and-tumble stray, and his Gang of the Feline Sun. Vespucci hates humans due to early abandonment, and he taunts Brina until she joins his band—much to the distress of her humans, Sam and Margaret, both white. The feline gang members tussle with one another and snitch food around town. Meanwhile, an increasingly upset Sam and Margaret search for their lost cat, usually one step behind the gang. At first, Brina enjoys the freedom of stray life and meeting other cats. But after a particularly vicious training with Vespucci ends with one of the gang returning to their human family, Brina realizes who really loves her and returns to her own humans. The trio head back to the city, a happy family. Cornia’s bright, expressive, animation-inspired art in this Italian-import graphic novel is the main attraction of this series opener. The translated text is often awkward, and the occasional present-tense narration serves, oddly, to slow the action down.

Finicky readers should just prowl away.