This was another review Goodreads lost, but from what I remember...

>> I loved the cat, of course!
>> I thought it a bit odd that he only showed up in a few extremely spaced out times throughout history and with such varying story lengths.
>> The real killer was that I never truly understood the cat's motivation. Why, exactly, did he want to take over the world? That big letdown was what earned this one two stars and a spot in the local Little Free Library. ( )

Allison gets an offer to write the memoirs of a mysterious figure. This figure has many historical tales to tell, tales that suggest he's lived a very long life. Or nine lives, because he's a talking cat.

This was a really cute graphic novel. Allison is at first thrown by the idea of a talking cat, but then she realizes this is a fascinating story that needs to be told. But that's not all: she finds a cat conspiracy that she's determined to get to the bottom of.

(Provided by publisher) ( )

Imagine you could trace your cat's nine lives, to relive his history and his deaths. That is the magic of this comic. The wonders the cat discovered, the times he lived in are a historical carpet ride. The downside is always having to be there for his deaths. It is part of life and the cat takes it in stride. I found it fascinating and found myself looking at my cat wondering if.... LOL
Nice illustrations support the story without taking away from it. I hope we get more cat's stories in the future for this author. Very interesting and unique ( )

Good. Kinda weird. I sort of wish the artwork (and ultimately the book) was larger. Burma reminds me of The Brain from The Animaniacs. The spy angle is sort of...stupid and overblown. ( )

I bought this collected graphic novel cold on the recommendation of a comic shop owner, and for the majority of the read, I really enjoyed it. It moves fast and there's a lot of fun to it. The setup is simple: a popular blogger is summoned by the mysterious, wealthy "Burma" to write his life story. Burma, it transpires, is a talking cat - a talking cat in the last of his nine lives, who has spent most of human history attempting to take over the world. Of course, he gave that up a long time ago; now, he is content to have his every need met by a butler, and to oversee more...humanitarian...business concerns.

Sure. That doesn't sound like a convenient cover at all.

Tobin spends 12 issues of story veering back and forth between the tales of Burma's previous lives (at least, as much as the cat feels like telling) and the slowly unfolding revelations of his latest scheme. The idea of an over-intelligent cat wanting to take over the world is surely going to find resonance with many, many readers as a simple but all-too-plausible fantasy, and quite a few of them will also recognize the various historical, literary, and filmic situations into which Burma has inserted himself. (The James Bond sequence - without ever using the name James Bond - is especially chuckle-worthy.) It's all very entertaining, and Benjamin Dewey's art is clean and clear, which is exactly the sort of thing I usually prefer.

Unfortunately, about halfway through, I got a gnawing sensation that protagonist Allison Breaking and her friend Reggie were almost willfully obtuse to Burma's machinations. They stumble around and spend chapter after chapter (originally issue after issue) completely oblivious to really, really suspicious things going on around them. When the denouement finally comes, it happens with almost staggering abruptness - and it's not terribly satisfying, which is a real disappointment. ( )