Tracy Butler: Lackadaisy

I saw some concept art for the Lackadaisy universe, and went ahead and placed an order for a signed copy of the comic book.

A fairly long while went by, until I was reminded that I never got the book. Apparently the production ran into issues with the printing. Eventually, late last year, the book showed up (with a free calendar as an apology for the delay.)

The book is a hard cover with fabric covers, embossed gold foil printing and a gorgeous satin full-color, double-sided, lacquered dust jacket. The pages are fairly heavy paper, and full color. In short, the book is gorgeous.

The setting is an idealized prohibition-era St. Louis, except all the people are anthropomorphic cats. This offers a lot of very nice visual opportunities. The plot revolves around the attempt of a speakeasy (the "Lackadaisy" from the title) to survive in the rather rough competition, a task not made easier by its slightly quirky cast of characters.

The character design is solid, and the dialogue is great. However, the plot itself doesn't feel quite confident and clear enough — and the book says "Volume 1" for a reason, as it ends in the middle of events, not really even on a cliff-hanger.

While the art is beautiful and the characters are well thought out, at times the end result seems a bit empty and clinical; the interplay between implied motion in the art and the progression of the story don't quite end up meshing, resulting in a series of still pictures, rather than the flowing sum that great comics can achieve.

If you like cats, or gangsters, or pretty things, absolutely worthwhile. I'll give it a subjective three and a half out of five; less than that for the content, and more than that for the amazing presentation.