Samurai Cat in the Real World by Mark E. Rogers

The third of the Samurai Cat books—and the the last to have full color art—features adventures through gangland Chicago, pulp Nazi Germany (with, yes, Nazi dinosaurs), and b-movie Communist Russia in the time of Stalin.

That sounds worse than it is: the Nazis here are strictly for punching (or, you know, stabbing or blowing up: they’re pulp movie Nazis), and the Russian Commies are kind of the same. In other words, this is Samurai Cat’s adventures in three violent, awful moments in history, but the whole thing is a big weird snarking mockery of mobsters and the Nazis and the Kremlin. Like I said of the previous books, it’s a cheeseburger of a book. And not a fancy one… more like one you get at that suspicious greasy spoon place you friend loves. The comedy is sloppy, but one thing you have to give Rogers is that he commits to the bit. 

This installment not as hilarious as the first few books, but still amusing enough, and a quick read. Sadly, the brash and ridiculous but committed and somehow charming art is what makes it shine. That has me a little worried about the later books in the series, which were published with less art (and none of it in color), so I’m not sure how much I’ll enjoy those. I guess we’ll see… book 4, The Sword of the Samurai Cat, is on hand, but I won’t get to it right away. Like with literal greasy cheeseburgers, I like to space out books like these, to give my inner adolescent something to look forward to while guarding my own sanity.