Review: Herding Cats

Herding Cats by Sarah Andersen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

File this under 'mostly liked'. There wasn't anything in particular that was unlikable about this collection. In the following paragraphs, you're going to see me be pretentious as I nick pick, so don't read further down if a star rating is good enough for you. Just know that I like it, and you probably will too.

The comics in this collection are almost entirely light-hearted self-deprecating jabs at the writer/artist, Sarah. It's charming and even clever at times. The collection itself isn't thematic, but still has a recurring sense of making the same few jokes in different ways. Being an artist is hard, being on the internet is hard, being human is hard. Thankfully the collection seems to be just the right length and organized competently before the repetition becomes annoying. At this point, it's just noticeable.

The collection is also heavily front-ended by random art before there is a more detailed outline of what Sarah's life is like. The latter portion of the book creates a deeper sense of her and her process. It even can be a little inspiring. However, the downside is that the front ended randomness could have been helped with a similar treatment. It doesn't hurt the collection in any real way, it just feels like two different books glued together.

I like the art. It's style matches the tone and the level of detail ramps up when it needs to. Going into the book, I thought the art would be minimalist, but that isn't the case. Sarah has genuine talent and it shows through her application of it. It's good art without having to show off just for the sake of it.

There isn't much else to say. I've seen Sarah's art before, mostly used on Facebook pages that have no affiliation with her. While such a method can introduce to an artist, it doesn't help much if you don't follow it up with taking a deeper dive into her work. A collection such as this is a good way to do it.