I enjoyed this graphic. How would a world look if cats ruled the world and humans were their pets? It was entertaining, sad, and humorous, especially seeing humans do the same things cats do. I liked Caitlin's sketchbook at the end. It was interesting to see how this graphic came about. I will definitely read the next one in the series. ( )

Weirdly touching.

Disclosure: I recieved an Advanced Reading Copy of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Based on the book’s description and the introduction, I had expected the book to be humorous and cute. I was wrong. Instead, it was painful and awkward to read.

First I’ll start off by saying the illustrations were good, for the most part. However, was it REALLY necessary to illustrate genitals on the men? In real life cat genitals are not so blatantly visible like that, so it just detracts from the rest of the work.

Another thing I’d like to point out is that this graphic novel could be appropriate for youth or young-adult audiences, if not for the illustrated genitals. At the end of the day, it’s the parents’ responsibility to decide what is appropriate for their kid to read. However, although tastefully done, I would be inclined to label it adult because of the nudity.

Now on to the actual story.

Even though the book is called, “ Manfried the Man,” it should really be called “Steve the Irresponsible.”Despite the title, and the parallel storylines (perspectives from Manfried and Steve), the book really focuses on Steve.

Steve is that one friend everyone has who just can’t get it together, and won’t take responsibility for his actions. Being around him can be painfully awkward and/or infuriating at times, and reading this book was exactly like that. This book was advertised as cute and funny, but in actuality, it was just sad and depressing. Yeah, there’s a happy ending, but it’s actually the worst part of the whole story because Steve never actually grows as a character. Throughout the entire book Steve has one opportunity after another to actually learn something, and become a responsible adult, but all the things that happen are just examples of serendipity, and him taking advantage of the kindess of others:

- Instead of being thankful to his old boss for giving him (likely illegal) access to call center phone lists for his personal use, and trying to get his job back like his old boss suggested he might actually have the opportunity to get, he just ghosts her
- Instead of thanking the man shelter for allowing him to use their survey as an opportunity to find his man, he just sulks around because no one found his man
- Instead of being thankful for all the support he’s getting online, he just grumbles because he’s not getting any response about his man being found
- Instead of being kind to the old cat-lady who has been taking care of so many strays, he still acts like she’s some kind of creepy pariah
- He never properly thanked Henrietta for supporting him despite how poorly he treated her
- He never took responsibility for nearly poisoning his friend’s kid
- He never actually put forth any effort to get a job, one just magically fell into his lap thanks to his irresponsible actions garnering him massive media attention

Despite all he went through, Steve doesn’t actually learn anything or grow as a person. At the end of the book, he’s basically right back where he started. The only difference is he’s lucked out on few things, so he’s still not really putting forth any effort.

Manfried, on the other hand ,is the best part of this story (and the only reason it gets two stars instead of one). Manfried starts out as a fat, lazy, demanding, and selfish house-man. When he gets lost, though, he begins to change and grow. He learns how to socialize with other men, gets a little fit, no longer demands as much, and learns to share. Manfried should be the true main character of this story, like the title suggests. If it was solely about Manfried, and not Steve, I think this book would have been exponentially better. Think “Garfield Minus Garfield,” but instead “Manfried Minus Steve.” If that was the case, the story would have actually been cute and funny, and not the disappointment it turned out to be. ( )

I have adored this comic from its first public iteration and I am thrilled it was expanded into such a delightful and fun book. Truly a fantastic and well-executed concept. I love Manfried. Art is perfect, colors are great. Story is engaging and relatable. High recommend especially for any cat lover. ( )

The concept of mostly naked cats keeping entirely naked little men as pets left me feeling too uneasy and vaguely horrified to enjoy this book at all. I know it's supposed to be a goof, trying to find a new spin on cat humor, but I found little to laugh at and much that left me confused.

Like, where do all these little men come from if there are no little women with which to breed? Are most of the female pets euthanized with only a few brood queens kept isolated in baby mills in the countryside? And I guess a big dog like the one I own could be dangerous if he turned on people, but why is it so much more terrifying that the pets in this universe can fashion spears that they use to kill prey at a distance? And why bother making a pants joke near the end of a comic where no one wears pants, and pants are shown to be a failed fad in a background gag in one panel early in the book?

Anyhow, I'm not a cat person, and I probably shouldn't have tried reading this. ( )