'Captain Ginger: Volume One' by Stuart Moore with art by June Brigman is a about a spaceship crewed entirely by cats.

A group of evolved cats is running a spaceship left behind by humans. The humans are long gone, and left in their place is an alien race called the Lumen. When Captain Ginger boards an abandoned Lumen ship, he starts a mutiny since his own ship is running low on space and supplies. Speaking of space, the cats have a breeding problem as kittens threaten every system on the ship. That along with internal tensions between crewmates makes for an uneasy journey.

I couldn't tell immediately if this was supposed to be comedy or not. There are certainly funny bits, but it feels pretty serious. I also like that the cats act like cats, not necessarily baby humans. The art is quite a bit of fun and I can't wait to read the next volume.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Ahoy Comics, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

This is a comic about a starship run by anthropomorphic cats, with all the issues and troubles cats can face including excessive breeding and cleaning the litter boxes, all in space. The human race has died out, and cats inherited the Earth, or at least a starship. Now Captain Ginger has to herd cats, keep the crew unified somehow, and find their way in space. Al the while his second in command, Mittens, is also a source of conflict.


This is an interesting concept for a comic. The authors really worked to make sure the intelligent cats still behave like the cats we know. If you are a cat fancier, you'll appreciate the small details. However, you do not have to be a cat fancier to enjoy the book. While the story has some humor, this is not primarily a humor comic. It's more a science fiction adventure. I will note we get little in way of set up. Readers get dropped in the middle of the story, and they pick up bits and pieces along the way, much like the cats trying to figure things out.


Though it had some slow moments, I found the story and idea interesting overall. The art is pretty good as well, and the comic is in color. Note this is the first volume, so it ends in a cliffhanger. I am curious enough I may take a chance on the next installment. In the end, I liked it.

This book started out great but it got quite strange by the end.

This story is an imagining of Star Trek cast with cats. There were tons of cat jokes throughout the story. There was a character called Sargent Mittens. Their enemy targeted them by sending laser lights to distract them. One cat even had a ton of kittens that overcrowded the ship!

The story took a strange turn by the end. One cat was transformed into an omniscient being that could create new parts of the ship. It was very weird and quite creepy.

This book could have been clever, but it was just too strange for me.

Thank you Diamond Book Distributors for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy thru #netgalley in exchange from an honest review (thanks!)

If you love Cats, Sci-fi, you should read this one, you will fell in love with the characters and the illustrations are high top. Such an stunning graphic novel. I highly recommend it.

A fun read, good but not great. Genetically altered cats have evolved on a spaceship after humans are killed off, learning how the ship works as they go along, helped by The Maker, a machine something like the replicators on Star Trek. Hints and details of how the cats came to be are revealed as the story moves along. The plot is interesting enough, but doesn't really grab you. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

#CaptainGinger #NetGalley

I had my doubts about this. Evolved cats in space? But Stuart Moore and June Brigman make it work. Moore smartly plays it straight. This is hard sci-fi with cats that were artificially evolved by humans operating spaceships and machines they don't fully understand now that humans have died off. It feels some like Planet of the Apes in that way. There's also a lot of comedy because the cats are unable of ignoring their instincts. It hilarious seeing cats paw at a screen while under attack because they're chasing a laser. I look forward for more Captain Ginger.

This was the coolest graphic novel ever! Especially if you like cats. It seems as thought the humans of this doomed space ship have all died and now the cats in order to save themselves have taken over and are now the crew, and you will get a glimpse into their life as they learn how to work together to save the ship and each others lives. What can I say this graphic novel is awesome from the illustrations to the way the cats think, if you like cats even in the littlest and sci-fi this is the book for you.

Very cute read, I like the flow in terms of a sci-fi genre item, in the thick of it, then figuring out what happens.

But overall, the plot is present, but I spent a few pages trying to understand the background until it made sense later on, and this wasn't for the lack of the story, but a more along the lines of it was a bit hard to understand in the beginning where the story was going.

While I understand taking liberties since this is a sci-fi novel and cat people are present, and because the author chooses to keep the feline nature of the cats very much alive in the story, my peeve as a cat owner is that, at times in the story I just went 'umm, that not, cats dont,' etc.

Great art and inking and the backgrounds are stellar (Pun unintended)

Have you ever wondered what Star Trek would be like if all the human crew died and the cats became intelligent life left to run the ship. If this thought has ever crossed your mind then I have the graphic novel for you. There are two types of cats: humanistic cats, and unmutated cats that are more like how we expect a cat to behave. Kitten breading is out of control, the ship is falling apart, and the Lumans are quickly approaching. This was an interesting read, and I can wait to see where the story goes. Will they find a way to curtail breading, or will they finally get access to the “feeders” files and figure out how everything in their world works.
#NancyDrewChallenge - #AnimalonCover
#GondorGirlGNChallenge
#BNSciFichallenge #non-human narrator
#KillYourTBR #memorablecat
#SFFTBRChallenge #LowestRatedonGR

Captain Ginger was certainly an interesting read. This was a rather odd crew, all doing what they could to survive in a bad situation. These were not your usual cats, and trying to live this way was very new to them. Their adventure was full of mystery, trying to find answers and a clue of what they should do next. I can’t say it was the best graphic novel I have read lately, but overall I enjoyed it.

Hmmm… I had mixed feelings from this; some of it was a bit good, others a bit too sloppy and scratchy. The world is one where humans have been killed off – they perfected and unified their DNA to make sure they were near invincible, without realising it opened them to one attack which easily put paid to them all. But they also managed to boost cats immensely, to such an extent this book is set on a space-ship entirely crewed and populated by moggies. Some of which are not quite the obeying kind, but all the same they will try and find the rest of their kin and soldier on. What's distinctive is that this is not a bunch of anthropomorphised cats – these are cats, puking too much, breeding too much, and using litter trays too much. So while the sci-fi may be old-hat (alien species in the way, a kind of Star Trek replicator on board called The Maker, messages from light-years off, etc) the book feels entirely new.

But at the same time, I didn't know if this went too far – the stereotypes about cats not being able to keep off the furniture ("Rattle! No claws on the touchscreens!"; "...then it was nap time") and so on felt a little forced, and there's a whole holographic/spirit entity side of things that didn't work for me. The sci-fi fan is left regretting the fact we see the ship and its tech through feline eyes (ie it makes no sense). Still, the ending here is a great punchline, and I can see a few more than reasonable books coming out of this concept. This might have had the creases ironed out (much like a sphynx cat, then), but is still good company for a while – until it goes off and does its own thing too much.

Three and a half stars.

Captain Ginger is a comic book series about a crew of cat people. All of humanity has been wiped out, and the cats they left behind evolved to attain a more human like posture, and human levels of intelligence, and are now running the ship. This is a set up which should feel familiar to fans of long running British sitcom, Red Dwarf.

On the comic's opening page the titular Captain Ginger tells one of his sergeants that if he doesn't report to the bridge he will have his "ass for a scratching post". It quickly becomes clear that this isn't the only reference that will be made to the cats' animal nature.

At first it seems like such nods are the only ways in which the fact that the characters are all cats will be explored. It quickly becomes apparent however that the conflict between the beings that the crew have evolved into, and the animals that their ancestors were born to be is forms the heart of the story.

Having the cats' struggle with their identity form such an important part of the narrative is what stops this book from being just another space comic which just so happens to have a lot of cat puns. It is noted at several points throughout the story that the cats don't know much about the people who left them behind, referring to them as "feeders", and one of the older cats even mentioned that it took them time to even learn how to operate the ship they live on. Not only does this provide some sense of mystery to how the humans died (though the culprit does announce themselves fairly early on in the book), it also gives the characters room to grow in terms of character development. It is a source of jokes, personal growth, character development, background, and plot developments all in one. What might have been just an excuse to make silly cat gags under another creative team is instead an effectively told story about a crew trying to figure out how to survive and find their place in the universe.

The key to this success is that the creative team have clearly thought out the problems that might arise in a ship full of cat people. Because cats give birth to full litters the ship's ever increasing population is something that the crew has to deal with. Because no humans were around to explain to the cats what a toilet is, they still use litter boxes (albeit much bigger litter boxes), and keeping the litter room clean and free of ammonia is a constant battle. Every aspect of how cats live has been considered in relation to how it would affect life both life on a ship and the ability of the cats who live on in to maintain their existence. When was the last time an anthropomorphic animal story that much thought put into the fact that its characters are still, on some level, animals?

The characters inhabiting Captain Ginger should be easily recognisable to fans of science fiction (especially Firefly fans). Captain Ginger struggles with leading a ship with a population who both turn to him in times of need and resent him when things aren't better. Sergeant Mittens has a rivalry with his captain, and resents his captain's authority. Other characters include a wise, but frail scientist, an engineer who starts the comic expecting a new litter, and a female scientist who is in charge of some of the more complex machinery that humanity left behind.

These characters may feel a little generic at times (Ginger, and Mittens being the most noticeable in this regard), but the book's core premise, Moore's writing, and Richardson's artwork all combine nicely to make these characters more than just stock archetypes.

Captain Ginger: Volume One is a comic book which skirts near the edges of some well worn space fiction tropes, but avoids falling into them by truly committing to its premise human like cats and fully exploring everything that it might entail. The result is a gripping tale which tackles the nature of legacy, and the challenges of survival. I look forward to seeing where the series goes next, and I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

What if Star Trek, but cats? Some but not all of them uplifted to a semblance of rationality, trying to make sense of the technology the Feeders left behind, but still in many ways fundamentally cats – which poses particular problems when they encounter beings of pure light, and react as their ancestors would to a laser pointer. Ginger may not be the science officer (that's Science Cat), but is in many ways the Spock of the team, the one who tries to approach everything rationally and tends to lose touch with his feline side, so the poor bastard is largely (and yes, they go there) herding cats. I'm not sure the concept has the substance for more than an occasional miniseries, but as a quick lark it's good fun, and another promising sign as regards new publisher Ahoy. Which is handy, because Image seem to have stopped giving away loads of free ARCs this month (the cads!), so the Ahoy stuff on Netgalley is the big free comics haul for the moment.

You see, I have been spoiled by reading the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1197129.The_Pride_of_Chanur" target="_blank">Pride of Chanur.</a> . Excellent book, set in a universe where a cat like being evolved and took to the skies.

So, when I saw this graphic novel listed, I thought, oh, that will probably be just as good.

I was quite wrong. This is a hot mess, and gets no better when we discovered that space faring cats come from a human to made them evolve.

And now they are out in space, and being cat like, and not cat like. Where they have kittens all over the place that didn't evolve, or start out as kittens, or don't. It is never quite clear what the hell is going on. Frankly, at a certain point, I didn't care.

<img src="https://g2comm.co

This is a fantastic science fiction comic book with cat main characters. I loved the characters and the story line in this comic book. The plot of the story flowed very nicely and there was no point that I felt myself drifting out of the story or wanting to skim through a section. I read this comic in three sittings, I got about halfway through the first time and was very interested in the story. It really grabbed my attention in the first couple of pages. The characters were nicely fleshed out and all had their own flaws and foibles. I also really liked that there was a flash back at the end of the book showing how two of the main characters met and a little bit of their childhood. I am really hoping that there will be more issues of this. I'm very curious to see where the story goes and also how the cats got onto the spaceship in the first place. Overall I really enjoyed this and I would definitely recommend it. Especially if you are a fan of sci-fi comics or cats! I feel like this is a really good comic to suggest to someone that says they don't read comic books. It's a great, fun story with really cool artwork.

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

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Captain Ginger, Vol. 1, by Stuart Moore
(Artist: June Brigman)
★★★★★
128 Pages


While this was easily one of the strangest books I've read, it's not THE strangest. In fact, it's on the list but pretty far down.
With gorgeous illustrations, full of colour and detail, the world was vivid and alive. Yes, it's cats. Sure, that's a little strange, but it was also weirdly brilliant. Every word, phrase and action was thought about before it was put into motion. The fact that these were cat-people was a constant theme and it never failed to make sense. It was fun, smart and original, clever right down to the last detail, and had a fun, surprising ending that will make me want to read the next volume, for sure.
And, oddly enough, it was full of real-world relevance, which is the cleverest part of it all. Because, there's a population crisis, science, health issues, childhood bullies, compassion, a desperate need to help their people even if it means doing the wrong thing, abandonment issues, and an apocalyptic world that is, scarily, possible.
I will never look at cats the same way again.