Critters #4
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeCritters #4 (September 1986) marks the first appearance of Lionheart, the investigative-journalist cat created by Tom Stazer — a character who went on to become one of the title's most recognizable recurring features, eventually earning two solo full-length issues near the end of the run. The debut story planted the narrative DNA that would define the character throughout the series: a Kolchak-flavored reporter who stumbles into cases too strange to ever print. Within the broader context of Fantagraphics' flagship anthropomorphic anthology, this issue demonstrates the editorial depth Kim Thompson brought to Critters — a single issue pairing a new original voice (Stazer) with two established serial contributions (Milton's Gnuff and Gallacci's Birthright), modeling the varied, craft-conscious anthology format that distinguished the title from its peers.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Critters launched in 1986 as Fantagraphics' flagship anthropomorphic anthology under editor Kim Thompson, himself co-publisher of Fantagraphics and a champion of both European cartoonists and homegrown alternative talent. Tom Stazer came to Critters from his self-published series Spaced; by his own account, the collapse of the 1980s black-and-white comics speculator boom had effectively ended that project, and contributing to Critters relieved him of the business overhead of self-publishing while giving him a platform for an all-anthropomorphic cast. The opening Lionheart story was noted positively by the Comics Buyers Guide upon publication, helping establish the character's foothold in the series.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Lionheart, the anthropomorphic journalist cat, created (story and art) by Tom Stazer.
- Lionheart's debut story is a murder mystery built around pastiches of classic Looney Tunes-style cartoon characters.
- The character's concept draws explicit inspiration from Carl Kolchak of the TV series The Night Stalker: Lionheart pursues bizarre stories that consistently prove too unbelievable to publish.
- Issue also contains 'Political Animals,' a Gnuff story by Freddy Milton, and Chapter Four of Steve Gallacci's sci-fi serial Birthright — both ongoing features in the anthology.
- Cover is a painted piece by Ken Macklin; the issue is black-and-white interior, 32 pages.
- Published September 1986 by Fantagraphics Books under the editorship of Kim Thompson.
- Lionheart went on to appear regularly in Critters throughout the series' 50-issue run (1986–1990), receiving cover features and eventually two dedicated solo issues in the title's final stretch.
- Critters as a whole was, prior to Furrlough and Genus, the longest-running anthropomorphic anthology comic book series in American comics history.
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