Pussycat (Poussy in its original French, pronounced like the English word "pussy") is a Franco Belgian comic created by Pierre Culliford a.k.a. Peyo (best known for The Smurfs and Johan and Peewit).
It is one of Peyo's lesser-known comic series, and is more of a slice-of-life comic-strip-like gag comic series, about a simple black-and-white cat simply named Pussycat (or "Poussy" in French). Pussycat is a cat who likes milk, fish, chase mice, hates dogs.
It's more low-key and cuter than Peyo's usual works, which can also be part of its charm.
Pussycat contains examples of:
- Artistic License – Animal Care: A series of strips - that makes the original first album - is about Pussycat obsessed about drinking milk and enjoying it, sometimes being given to him by his human owners. In real life, milk is unhealthy for cats as they tend to be lactose-intolerant. The milk portrayed in the comic is often specifically depicted as cow's milk, which is the worst type to give cats.
- Animated Adaptation: Between the 1980 and 1980s, Pussycat gained a series
of non-verbal animated shorts. The shorts was later uploaded to "The World of Peyo" Youtube channel usually under "The Smurfs Present" or as a compilation. - The Cameo: Pussycat tends to make background cameos in other Dupuis comics published in Spirou Magazine.
- Cat Concerto: Pussycat sings loudly on a fence at night and gets a shoe in the head from an angry cobbler. He decides to sing loudly next to a pastry next.
- Cats Are Mean: Mostly averted. Pussycat is usually shown as pleasant and neutral towards others, but he can be quite mischievous and petty sometimes.
- Cute Kitten: Pussycat is not really a kitten, but boy is he cute!
- David vs. Goliath: Pussycat reads a book about the story of David and Goliath and this gives him the courage to confront a neighborhood dog. The dog easily beats him up, and so, Pussycat angrily throws the book in the fire.
- Interspecies Friendship: Pussycat sees a newspaper showing a cat and a dog being "good friends" and cuddling. He tries to do this with a nearby dog, but the dog maims him.
- Negative Continuity: Pussycats is constantly shown with a different human owner with no explanation of what happened. One gag comic has him die but he is still back alive in the next stories.
- Stock Animal Diet: Pussycat absolutely loves to drink milk and eat fish.
- Silence Is Golden: Due to focusing on a non-verbal cat, the series is often dialogue free and relies on its visuals and character interactions. However, humans are often seen talking.
- Winged Soul Flies Off at Death: One gag has Pussycat fail to catch a bird, so he walks into traffic and gets run over by a car... and Pussycat's soul is shown flying off with wings and an angel robe, going after the bird in the sky.
