SAPHIE THE ONE-EYED CAT VOLUME 1

The antics of a one-eyed cat and her siblings, adapted from a webcomic about the author’s own pets.

In a whimsical intro, a somewhat clumsy God bakes three felines. Orange tabby Simba is dispatched from heaven sans fuss. But brown Sahn is too hot to handle and plummets to Earth after he slips from God’s hands. While making the third cat, Saphie, God drops the dough on the floor, so the gray-and-white kitty ends up missing an eye. “A little dust never harmed anybody,” God says with a smile, and Saphie joins the other cats in a family of four humans. Loosely connected vignettes provide a wry cat’s-eye view of everyday life as Saphie endures the indignity of being brushed, the injustice of being put on a diet, and the exasperation of being a big sibling when mischievous black-and-white kitten Sol arrives (after Lucifer crashes God’s kitchen to add “flay-va”). Cat lovers will grin at the feline siblings’ squabbles and sympathize with “human sister” Joho as she attempts to enlist the cats as exterminators, to humorous results. Each cat’s realistically quirky personality is reflected in the onomatopoeia-adorned comic panels, from cool Simba’s deadpan gaze to scaredy-cat Sahn’s wide eyes. Refreshingly, Saphie’s missing eye—given a more secular origin story in a nostalgic adoption flashback—is only part of her (literally and figuratively) well-rounded character. God and Lucifer are tan-skinned; Joho and her family present East Asian.

Catnip for feline fans.