“Yesterday’s” Comic> C.L.A.W.S. #1

“I need a litter box so bad right now!”

C.L.A.W.S. #1

Insane Comics (April, 2016)

“Welcome To The Jungle”

WRITER/CO-CREATOR: Kelly Bender

ARTIST/CO-CREATOR: Jose L Mojica

COLORIST: Anthony Cain

COVER COLORIST: Chad Scott

LETTERER: Rob Jones

Bras Olivia (what a name) was 10 when he was the last survivor of a boating accident. Raised by sentient felines and taught how to use their abilities, Bras moved to New York and took on the superhero identity C.L.A.W.S., an acronym of the six feline types who raised him: cheetah, lion, Asian tiger, western cougar, and snow leopard. An assistant DA is kidnapped and C.L.A.W.S. tries to rescue her from the Russian drug lords who want to silence her. Like I said, he tries, but ends up shot and falling off the boat. There’s another few issues (which I don’t have and are no longer available via Drive Thru Comics) so I’ll assume he lives and makes a comeback.

What they got right: I do like the design of his costume, which we never see him out of save for flashbacks of him as a child when the yacht was sinking, a memory caused by being on this yacht. That plays back to his trauma, and it does disorient him for a while. The captions take on the fur patterns of the felines whose powers he’s summoning at the time, which is okay.

What they got wrong: It’s not a good outing for the first issue when he only manages to take out two baddies, gets hurt, and seems to fail in his mission. The lead villain holding the DA at gunpoint and C.L.A.W.S. (did his name really have to include the periods?) trying to figure out his next move would have make him look like less of a chump.

What I think overall: The concept is interesting (I really want to meet these sentient cats), but while I’m curious (insert dead cat comment here) how this tale ends it’s not really exciting me beyond that.