A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories

October 13, 2014
In four off-kilter, virtually wordless stories, Martz (Destination X) sketches out wild journeys, career mishaps, and unpredictable turns of events involving a small cast of amiable animals. In the eponymous story, Tim appears to be wrestling with career indecision: a full-spread grid shows him dressed in the gear of 32 professions (chef, judge, superhero, etc.), before a few panel sequences follow his misadventures as a basketball player, scientist, and painter (having painted himself into a corner, he simply walks up the walls). Elsewhere, friends Doug (a duck) and Mouse (a mouse), travel over waterfalls, down mineshafts, and through underground rivers on their way to a pizza dance party; a rabbit named Connie shows off her impressive inventions; and Mr. and Mrs. Hamhock, an elderly pig couple, sit on a bench for a full year before Mrs. Hamhock wonders, "Did I leave the oven on?" (Naturally, the bus arrives just as Mr. Hamhock battles their house fire with a garden hose.) Martz's crisp, graphic forms defy readers' expectationsânot to mention logic and the rules of physicsâdelivering pleasing absurdity with every page turn. Ages 3â5.