"Fucking ball of yarn!"
Serafettin the Bad Cat is a satiric Turkish comic strip, first serialized in the monthly humor magazine L-Manyak ("L-Maniac") in 1996. Serafettin (usually called "Shero") is a resident of Cihangir, a rather seedy neighborhood in İstanbul. Armed with a short temper, violent disposition and bulletproof eyebrows, the Bad Cat defends the weak against evil... when he's not sexually harassing female cats or overindulging in cheap wine.
He was named after the late cat of his creator, Bulent Ustun.
An animated film depicting his exploits was released in February 2016, just titled "Bad Cat" for international release.
The main series provides examples of:
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Shero has some massive black eyebrows that give him a gruff, unfriendly look.
- Black Comedy Rape: The comics are practically built on this, with Shero himself ending up on both ends over the course of the comics.
- Boomerang Bigot: Shero is a bona-fide street cat in attitude and behaviour, including disdain for house cats. This is a problem, as he is a housecat himself. The threat of this getting revealed to the other street cats turns out to be one of the few things that gives him pause.
- Bullet Catch: Tacettin doesn't believe Shero can do this until he sees it in action.
- Cats Are Mean: Shero has anger-management issues. The other cats of the neighbourhood are a mixed bag, but none of them match Shero's unbridled aggression and alpha-dog complex.
- Ear Ache: The titular character is not above pulling the ears off mice as torture.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: The other neighbourhood cats seem to just about tolerate Shero due to a combination of Seniority, Proximity, Necessity and Fear.
- Good Parents: While neither Shero, nor Tonguç are good parents, the comics show that Shero at least tries it with Tacettin. Unfortunately, Shero only knows how to be a scoundrel and what he can teach is limited to that as a result. Still, threatening Tacettin is one of the surest way to get Shero acting the part of a Papa Wolf.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Shero himself is one, conceived when his mother sat on his calibate / artist father Tonguç's semen.
- Implacable Man: A comic book artist living in Cihangir (based on Bulent Ustun himself) goes insane when Shero rapes his cat. He chases Shero with guns, knives and axes but ends up getting killed himself... only to return from the dead and renew the chase, again and again.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Extremely rarely, Shero will show a softer side such as refusing to kill a baby...after he murdered both the parents in a fit of rage.
- Kavorka Man: Suberted with Tonguç who gives this impression: He is not a particularly handsome man, but he talks a big game as a Starving Artist, and casually references classical authors and artists to brandish his own intellectual status, something that does endear him to many women in the circles he hangs out. Unfortunately, beneath it all, he is a repulsive Slimeball, and the mask tends to drop pretty quickly.
- Kill the Parent, Raise the Child: In one issue, Şerafettin kills a couple during a fit of rage, only to find out that they had an infant son who is now orphaned. While Shero is a remorseless Jerkass, even he seems torn up about what he did. For a while, he debates killing the boy as an act of Mercy Kill, but finds himself unable to do so and brings him back home instead, seemingly with the intent of raising him (at least until he can find a more permanent solution). Eventually the boy is taken in by someone with much better parental instincts.
- Like Father, Like Son: Shero takes after Tonguç's womanising and occasional anger issues dials it up but is nowhere as intellectual as his father. Shero's son Tacettin takes more after Tonguç's artistic and intellectual side and is usually disdainful of his father's actions but will occasionally reveal himself to be Not So Above It All.
- Lower-Class Lout: Shero embodies a specific, Middle Eastern subtype of this trope known in Turkey as kabadayı, essentially the local neighbourhood tough-guy or thug. Many other residents of Shero's neighbourhood also match this trope in one way or another.
- Only Sane Man: Tacettin usually fulfils this role where his father's more outlandish schemes are concerned. Shero himself can be this trope in his element, though any sanity is quickly overshadowed by his anger and dickishness.
- Revenge Before Reason: The artist's single-minded pursuit to kill Shero has him tend to ignore any other immediate dangers.
- Tear Off Your Face: Shero does this to a man once: "You know what this is? It's a claw. Now you might be wondering what it's good for. Let me show you."
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Shero, with an emphasis on Black Comedy.
The Animated Adaptation provides examples of:
- Adaptation Deviation: Rather than showing or implying a cat-on-cat rape, the cartoonist's cat Princess is accidentally electrocuted to death when Shero and Black break in to the cartoonist's apartment to seduce her.
- Bank Robbery: The main event of the third act, as Shero's owner Tank is late on payments to his landlord and, combined with Shero's notoriety, they could be evicted. Oh, and it's also to afford liquor.
- Brain Monster: After being revived, the cartoonist's scalp is no longer fully attached to his head, flopping around on what amounts to a hinge made of skin.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: The first and third fights between Shero and Cizer. Shero lands the most hits and wins both times, but Cizer still lands some good hits.
- Damsel in Distress: Misscat's first appearance is being antagonized by a pair of dogs that Shero saves her from. In the finale, the cartoonist also holds Misscat hostage, but gets double-teamed by Shero and Taco.
- Everything Explodes Ending: The final battle with the cartoonist ends with the explosion of a barbecue's propane tank, which segues into fireworks.
- Groin Attack: Misscat gives Shero a half-serious, half-flirtatious one.
- Love Interest: A white cat named Misscat, who initially turns down Shero even after he rescues her, falls for him over the course of the film.
- Improbable Weapon User: Cizer, the cartoonist, throws scissors at Black and instantly kills him.
- Missing Mom: Taco's mother Mimosa, whose death motivated the kitten to seek out his father.
- Recurring Boss: The cartoonist fights Shero at least four times, with both wanting revenge on each other.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Taco looks exactly like his father, except with buck teeth instead of an underbite.
- Taking the Bullet: Taco takes a bullet for Shero when a robbery goes wrong, though Shero's owner Tank is able to save his life.
- Those Two Guys: Rifki the seagull and Riza the rat, two of Shero's associates.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Black, another cat that pointed Princess out to Shero in the first place, is immediately stabbed to death by the cartoonist when he sees what they've done.
