I can’t believe it’s taken me as long as it has to review an issue of “King-Cat” here… something about “King-Cat” sort of feels like a given, like if you’re into zines, surely you know about John Porcellino already and you don’t need me to tell you that his stuff is great. But people are always learning about zines for the first time, and maybe you didn’t get into zines the same way I did, so maybe John hasn’t been on your radar. And that’s totally okay – I’m gonna put him on your radar today.

“King-Cat” is a long-running series of autobiographical comix by John Porcellino – he’s been publishing them since before I was born and this here is issue number 82. New issues of “King-Cat” always feel like the universe’s way of telling me to slow down, take a deep breath, and just be still for a while. There is something totally soothing about the small moments John captures as comics, the birds and cats and Midwesternness of it all, the appearance of the Top 40 list, always there and steady and welcoming, like an old friend. Issue 82 has a list of “Nature Notes” that I found especially delightful, a heart-wrenching tribute to John’s late cat Michi Moonbeam that left me teary-eyed, and a Letters section that contains some absolutely wonderful, funny, weirdly poetic messages from a Patrick Porter of Austin, Tx. But the standouts for me are the comix “Walking Slowly in the Backyard” and “Through this Dream”, which both had that aforementioned meditative, calming effect on me. There is a gentleness about “K-C” that I so appreciate, and reading each issue is always a treat.