Graphic Novel: Cat Burglar Black, Richard Sala

Cat Burglar Black
Richard Sala
ISBN: 9781596431447
A Lemony Snicketish/Edward Goreyesque graphic novel pits our cat burglar against a shadowy crime organization.
Read July 2015.

I am not a huge fan of this style of artwork, but in a short set-up like this, it wasn't off my taste enough to prevent me from enjoying the story.  Think old fashioned derring do like Enid Blyton set inside the casual depression of Snicket and the overpowering gloom of Gorey.  It was enjoyable, but with a slight edge of just weird moodiness.

K is an orphan, in her teens, and has been raised by an evil crone who raised her foster children to become burglars and larcenists.  Finally rescued, she thinks she's on her way to a new life at her great-aunt's boarding school, but once there discovers a shadowy organization (claiming to be compatriots of her great-aunt and of her deceased parents) who wish her to use her fantastic cat burglar skills to steal pieces of an ancient puzzle that hides away her aunt's great wealth.

K is suspicious - wouldn't her aunt simply share that info with her colleagues?  But she's hesitant to cross the intimidating crew.  The rest of the story is like the Scooby Doo gang tried a set of spy-movie incursions - each new location to pilfer results in a member of the all-girl team mysteriously vanishing.  The remaining team-members assure themselves that the others just saw an opportunity to escape their evil overlords undetected, but the undercurrent indicates that these girls are perhaps left in dire straits.

The story ends well for our protagonist, and the tag has her musing on the fates of her very briefly known young friends.  Perhaps we'll all find out what happened to them, and perhaps we'll simply have to imagine the story ourselves.