New comic book series, "Hero Cats," in the spotlight at Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo

By ERIC SCHELKOPF

While dogs may be man's best friend, cats are the ones that you want on your side.

That's the premise behind a new action comic book series, "Hero Cats." I had the chance to talk to writer/creator Kyle Puttkammer, who was part of the C2E2 convention.

Q - How did you come up with this idea?

My daughters love cats. They like to tell stories about cats.

I love comics. And it just seemed natural that if we're going to get new readers, if we're going to get all ages into the comic shops, this spoke to me as something that would accomplish that. 

Q - How long has it been out?

It got picked up last August by Action Lab Entertainment. They only had a few books at the time, but now they are doing really well. And "Hero Cats" is a top performer for them.

Q - So what are you looking to do with this?

I want the George Lucas deal, without the prequels.

Q - So you see "Hero Cats" being made into a movie?

There's already people talking about wanting to, yeah. I've got a lot of friends in the industry.

Right now, what I want to do is really establish it. And then once we've got a good bit of material, then we will start developing the other properties.

Q - As far as the dialogue for the cats and the situations for the cats, how do you come up with all that?

Essentially, I am just drawing from all the different influences of my childhood, "Star Wars," "Firefly," all the great movies from Marvel, all those interactions of characters.

I've kind of grown up in the comic book industry for the past 24 years. And so, it just comes out on the pages.

Q - Why do you think cats are a good comic book hero?

Honestly, cats are a little bit of a cheat. The people who come into the stores or to the conventions, they yell, "Cats!"

And I'm treating it seriously. I'm actually providing real good drama and character interaction.

I'm not speaking down to the children. We are writing these for all ages.

It will always remain somewhat innocent in regards to the material. But it won't be something that will bore the adults. It is kind of like a DreamWorks movie, where there is something for everybody.