One Cup at a Time: A Cat’s Café Collection by Matt Tarpley
Recommended: sure
for more cute comics, for building on established world and characters, for self-affirmation kind of comics as well as some that are just silly
Summary
A follow-up collection based on the popular webcomic Cat’s Cafe, One Cup at a Time immerses readers in the gentle, supportive world of cafe owner Cat and his adorable friends. With familiar faces like Penguin and Kiwi and new friends like Fox and Spider, this collection handles real issues like relationships, self-esteem, and mental health through a tender, positive lens. One Cup at a Time isn’t about forgetting your problems; it’s about supporting one another through those problems and loving each other and ourselves through it all.
Thoughts
The one issue I had with this collection was a few repeats from the end of the second collection. I was a little confused when I first started it about why they seemed familiar. Ultimately it’s not a big deal as many collections repeat from comics they’ve published in other places (ex social media or online profiles) but it seemed kind of odd to include them in both published versions.
Anyway, now that we know the characters from the first collection, this one was free to establish more of their backstory and current story. The vibe is very much the same, with a big focus on mental health and self-love. A few new characters are introduced, but the core ones remain (Cat, Rabbit, Penguin, etc). The new ones don’t tend to become “main” characters, but they are sometimes recurring or seen in the background.
My Book Joy 