Flimsy’s Mewsings is approximately thirty-seven single page comic strips—there’s one two-pager, a recipe—of adorable kitten Flimsy offering life advance. Gentle stuff like be kind to yourself, remember the lesson and forget the mistake, be genuinely interested in other people, email the friends you haven’t in a while, drink wine, try to remember “guys” is a gender-exclusive term (as in “hey guys”), drink some more wine, take twenty-five minute naps, and be happy for your friends when they succeed and you aren’t currently succeeding.
Artistically, the book is accessible for all—creator Rachael Smith doesn’t do a lot of detail in the strips, but when she’s doing splash pages she’s got some excellent detail. Where she’s really got it down is the coloring. Well, lettering too, but the way the colors give a page emotional weight is fantastic. Mewsings art is of the deceptively simple variety.
But content-wise—and not just because, for a kitten, Flimsy can get her wine on—it’s aimed at a somewhat older readership. At least out of high school. Flimsy’s problems aren’t the problems of someone in constant social situations; in fact, Flimsy’s Mewsings has some great unintentional tips for spring 2020 as it turns out. The kinds of things you forget and need to remember to tell yourself… well, Flimsy’s there to help.
Smith and Flimsy never come across as, well, flimsy. Even the simplest observations are sincerely expressed with a great sense of humor. Flimsy’s recounting of her father’s obvious inspiring one-liners and Flimsy’s obvious reactions come across perfectly thanks to Smith’s sense of timing, as the panel compositions and the color choices convey.
Mewsings gets a smile fast and keeps it going until the end.
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