What’s Michael? Omnibus Collection is the Cat’s Meow!

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

In 1997, What’s Michael? arrived at Dark Horse Comics with its very first English translation. Now, the New York Library Award series returns to print with its first-ever English collection in What’s Michael? Fatcat Collection Volume 1!

Cat enthusiasts like me can do the mamba and rejoice at this edition. Finding the separate volumes which collected the original print runs in Super Manga Blast! are not too hard to find but the original pulp magazines are. Suffice to say, I loved this fat cat.

He is Japan’s answer to Garfield, Heathcliff, and Krazy Kat all rolled into one!

Makoto Kobayashi’s original cat manga mixes slice-of-life cat reality with out-of-this-world cat fantasy into one tasty dish of laughter! The Japanese print run spanned eight thick volumes, and Dark Horse’s editions were spaced out to eleven.

The 520-page oversized collection includes the out-of-print volumes Michael’s Album, Living Together, Off the Deep End, A Hard Day’s Life, Michael’s Favorite Spot, and Michael’s Mambo. 

Volume 1 arrives in comic shops on January 29, 2020, bookstores February 11, 2020, and is available for pre-order now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at your local comic shop.

Volume two (Date: TBA) will feature Fat Cat in the City, Showtime, The Ideal Cat, Sleepless Nights, and Planet of Cats.

Author: Ed Sum

I'm a freelance videographer and entertainment journalist (Absolute Underground Magazine, Two Hungry Blokes, and Otaku no Culture) with a wide range of interests. From archaeology to popular culture to paranormal studies, there's no stone unturned. Digging for the past and embracing "The Future" is my mantra. View all posts by Ed Sum