Wow, a tribute to cartoon cats

After “88 cani di carta” (88 paper dogs), the exhibit entirely dedicated to dogs, the Wow – Museo del Fumetto di Milano (Comics Museum of Milan) will host, up until March 4^th, “Gattoni animati – 44 gatti a cartoni animati in mostra” (44 cartoon cats on exhibit): the idea stems, obviously, from the famous song of the Zecchino d’Oro. Arranged by Riccardo Mazzoni, the exhibit chose eleven “top” characters and other less famous but still very… catty characters.

In the beginning it was Krazy Kat, in love with the cruel mouse, Ignazio; shortly after came Felix, that for some time enjoyed a reputation equal to that of Charlie Chaplin. He was superseded with the arrival of Mickey, struggling with the evil Pegleg Peter, introduced in a few illustrations where the two remember their first meeting. Then came Tom and Jerry, the two enemies par excellence, then Sylvester, Ginxie, and the Disney cats: the Cheshire Cat, the Siamese cats of Lady and the Tramp and the Aristocats. Garfield and Puss in Boots are included as well. From an ethological point of view the stories of Top Cat were true and correct. The cartoon was about a feline colony that established hierarchies.

Together with these famous characters there are other goodies: the strange love of the skunk towards the “painted” cat, the little cat created by Grazia Nidasio drawn inside a sort of film and published on the Corriere dei Piccoli, Goofy and Menelaus (Pif et Hercule) published on the Pionere, a supplement of the newspaper, l’Unità. For the more refined there are the illustrations of Dorè and a collection of the Pellerin editions. Among the Italian characters, there’s the sad cat created by Bruno Bozzetto in “Allegro ma non troppo” and an original Telegattone.

In addition to the invisible character, “the stupid neighbour’s cat” in Snoopy, there are those that go against the tide like Fritz the cat and the couple, Itchy & Scratchy; the Japanese area is also very rich with Doraemon, Julian, Spank’s cat, Hello Kitty, Torachichi, Totoro and Pikachu. And last but surely not least there’s the latest feline star, Simon’s Cat. Another interesting collection are the illustrations created by Sandro Dossi: collaborating with almost all publishing houses he has drawn practically all the cats of the cartoon world.

Friday the 17th, the mini-review “Volevo un gatto nero” (I wanted a black cat) was added to the main exhibit: often they are philosophers like the alien Ottag, Esterina or the Cagliostro cat of Dylan Dog. A very interesting item is the original cover of an edition of Mickey Mouse with cat, Nip, which will appear only once to be replaced by Pegleg Pete, and the first illustration that has ever been used for the “spoken” comic: a story of Yellow Kid based on the mocking of a black cat.