Comic Book Review - Sentinel Issue #6: Bad Kitty

Rob Lake reviews Sentinel Issue #6: Bad Kitty...

Following on from a successful 2020, Alan Holloway is back, this time around he's joined by Morgan Gleave who's on art duties for Sentinel Issue #6: Bad Kitty.

Before I begin this review I'd like to give Alan Holloway a shout out for his continued support since I set up Geek Culture Reviews.  It's been an absolute pleasure in reviewing Sentinel and I hope to continue to do so going into 2021. 

Be sure to check out the Sentinel Facebook page for details on the up-and-coming Kickstarter campaign for Bad Kitty, as well as more Sentinel goodness.

Bad Kitty follows the Sentinel formula of being a 68-page self-contained story. It's a nice humorous revenge story of a tale of Cat Vs. Dog with a Human caught in the middle. 

Bad Kitty is essentially a story about Cat Vs. Dogs in a sci-fi setting. Caught up in the middle of this revenge play is Carlos Harrison. Harrison is a notorious thief who's planning on stealing a priceless gem from hotel owner - and Dog - Rover Kingston. Harrison is also our  narrator as he tells the story as to how he becomes an unsuspecting pawn in the war of Cat Vs. Dog. 

Carlos Harrison feels a lot like the strips first protagonist - Doyle Braddock. Much like Braddock, Harrison has an almost Han Solo quality to him. He's a veteran of his illicit trade and knows every trick of it. The dynamic between both Harrison and Rover Kingston is well done and come the journeys end, both end up having a mutual respect for one another. There's gags aplenty thoughout as the duo attempt to thwart the plans of the title "Bad Kitty", and Holloway writes all three central characters with whit and guile.

I quite enjoyed Bad Kitty. It starts as your typical crime-caper but soon turns into so much more. Bad Kitty is a humorous tale that's full of references and nods to a variety of cartoon dogs & cats and even Carlos Ezquerra and Harry Harrison. 

Even Charles Schultz gets caught up in the story too. The Peanuts creator has not only a Planet named after him but, Snoopy is here as well. 

The humour comes quick and fast as Holloway brings everything about cats and dogs to his script. We have dogs chasing tails and even a cat using a laser as a weapon, rather than a toy. It's a bonkers idea but here it works incredibly well. The idea of using anthropomorphic animals isn't anything new but with Bad Kitty, it feels fresh. 

Following on from the previous Sentinel outing - Kazana The Slayer. We're back to the familiar black & white setting of the previous issues. Morgan Gleave makes his debut for Sentinel in this one and he does a grand job to boot. There's a lot of black and white at play in Bad Kitty, but it never feels imposing or too much. If anything Gleave weaves a sense of balance between the two, that continues throughout the book. 

One of my favourite scenes is where Harrison and Rover meet. It’s a nice shady scene - being in a dark office, and the use of the thick black shading sets this setting incredibly well. 

All-in-all, Bad Kitty feels like a Saturday morning cartoon. It's full of action with a lot of comedic moments sprinkled on the top. It's a hilarious tale of Cat Vs. Dog set within a sci-fi setting. With great writing and a wealth of brilliant art, it's easy to see why Sentinel is the 3rd best comic of 2020! 

Rating 10/10

Rob Lake - Be sure to check Geek Culture Reviews out on Twitter for more comic book chat @GeekCultureRev

Check out the Sentinel Kickstarter page here, and turn notifications on for when the campaign for Bad Kitty goes live soon! 

Back issues of Sentinel are also available via Etsy and can be brought by clicking here. 

A review copy was kindly provided for this advanced review...