El Señor K, 18 de Abril

El Señor K is a funny animal comic that shows clear influences of Art Spiegelmann´s MAUS ( one of the characters in the book is a jewish mouse called Spiegelmaus for heaven´s sake ) but also of Robert Crumb´s FRITZ THE CAT where story and art are concerned. Other influences may have been CERBERUS or BONE but that´s mostly speculation on my part. I think the stories first appered in a comic called POLEN ( which is the reason why trhe blog is called polencomics ) which is the reason why the story is so big in scope like ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA or GONE WITH THE WIND. Mister Katzinger becomes a comic version of Forrest Gump having many lives ( remember that he is a cat ) and a different career like pilot, politician or desk clerk.

With a loose style that tends more to the tradition of caricature
( something that Frank Miller used in THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES BACK ) Pavel Ortega tells the story of Helmut Katzinger and while reading it I really was transported to another world like in the comics of LITTLE NEMO. Helmut Katzinger is the son of a german aristocratic family. His only problem is that he is born as a cat and as such becomes the black sheep of the family. Growing up in Germany during the rise of the third reich he becomes a member of nazi party and joins the Luftwaffe. By the way there is no such thing as an ex - nazi because that is mostly an ideology and a way of thinking. Sometimes Senor K is called an ex -nazi but the right term would be " former member of the nazi party " since he seems to be more of an opportunist and follower than an actual believer in the cause.