Matt and the Cat

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Matt and the Cat
Format Half-page gag strip
First TFUK appearance Issue 5
Final TFUK appearance Issue 73

Space-age problems for a kid and his feline friend!

History

In March 1979, after several phone calls, cartoonist Mychailo Kazybrid met up with Mike Priestley and John Hewitt of the Bradford Telegraph & Argus to pitch a daily comic strip. Though the pitch was rejected, Hewitt was taken by a drawing in Kazybrid's portfolio of his then-two-year-old son, Matthew. If Kazybrid could adapt the drawing into a daily strip, Hewitt would accept it. Kazybrid did so in short order, and the first strip of this new comic, titled Matt, ran in the newspaper on 18th April, 1979. With the strip centred around the existential ponderings of Matt and his young pals, as well as the bizarre exploits of his quirky bipedal cat, Humph, the influence from Peanuts was obvious – though just as often, strips would instead facilitate plays on words or absurd slapstick. Matt ran in the Telegraph & Argus, and later the Manchester Evening News, until 1985.[1][2]

In 1984, Marvel UK's Sheila Cranna  accepted Kazybrid's humour strip into The Transformers. In concession to the book's theme, Kazybrid's characters went on more space adventures with robots than they would in the newspaper. With Humph stepping into a larger protagonist role, this new incarnation of the comic was named Matt and the Cat.[3] It was first published in issue 5, and ran until issue 73 in 1986, with only a few interruptions – though its last couple of strips provided something of an abrupt resolution, with several story threads left hanging. Robo-Capers shortly took over the half-page gag strip slot.

This was not the end for breakout character Humph, and he would appear in his own 23-page sequel story online in 2010.[4] In 2011, Kazybrid would post a four page prequel to that story that directly referenced Humph's Transformers cliffhanger and set him up in the city of Shefferham, home to another Kazybrid creation, Do-Do Man.[5] By 2015, the sequel story was removed from Kazybrid's blog[6] (save previews of pages 5 and 6[7]) to instead be published in colour in volumes 17 and 18 of Aces Weekly, a digital comics anthology series established by David Lloyd to which Kazybrid frequently contributes.

Matt and the Cat strips in TFUK

Reception

  • In issue 16's Openers, Jaime Ward of Winchester writes in to ask for more Matt and the Cat. "Great!"
  • Issue 20's Openers includes fan art of Humph by Jamie Woodruff of Pecklington, York, in which the cat is holding up a sign greeting the artist's friend Robert Parsons. The "More Readers' Favourites" section includes Stephen Goldstein of Norwich, Norfolk, naming Humph as the best Fact File (alongside Skywarp ).
  • In issue 21's Openers, Simon Keeling (aged 14) of Littleover, Derby, writes in with a list of bests and worsts: "Worst Things Ever Done in The Transformers: 1. Putting the price up 2. Matt And The Cat 3. The Chromobots 4. Machine Man". He also offers some constructive criticism: "Best Thing That Could Be Done In The Transformers: More of Planet Terry and The Transformers and no Matt And The Cat, Chromobots and Machine Man."
  • In issue 22's debut Soundwaves, Richard Hunt of London NW2 calls Matt and the Cat "hilarious!"
  • In issue 25's Soundwaves, Jason Morris of Virginia, U.S.A. says he's "not too keen on Machine Man, Matt and the Cat, and Chromobots".

References

  1. ↑ "Blast from the Past: Matt cartoon strips 1979/85" on Mychailo Kazybrid's Character Creation
  2. ↑ "The Early Days" on the Humph the Cat Blogspot
  3. ↑ "It's November 1984..." on the Humph the Cat Blogspot
  4. ↑ Humph the Cat Blogspot (archived, 2013)
  5. ↑ "Humph the Cat in Shefferham" introduction, page 1, page 2, page 3, and page 4 on Mychailo Kazybrid's Character Creation
  6. ↑ Humph the Cat Blogspot (archived, 2015)
  7. ↑ Page 5 and page 6 on Mychailo Kazybrid's Character Creation
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