In this review of Purr Evil #6, we get the conclusion to Mirka Andolfo’s and Laura Braga’s mini-series about demon cats and the power to control them.
Purr Evil #6
Writer: Mirka Andolfo
Artist and Main Cover: Laura Braga
Variant Covers: Mirka Andolfo, Ennio Bufi
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: September 25, 2024
This review may contain spoilers
Okay, so, we’re on the final issue of Purr Evil. It’s been a bit of a crazy ride so far.
As for Purr Evil #6, the narrative wastes absolutely no time getting down to business. It picks up right where the prior issue left off, with Jason on stage with Deb, ready to show off his daughter to the world. Or so he initially claims. His purposes turn out to be of the nefarious sort, as he attempts to take Deb’s power for himself. Meanwhile, Rita is berating herself for failing to protect her daughter, and everything seems to be getting hopeless…
Until Jason is outright told by Mucci that only Deb is worthy of that power. He sort of loses his head over this development. The power comes close to fully overwhelming Deb, but after the intervention of Rob and a brief heart-to-heart with Rita, she comes to decide that she’ll accept that power, taking custody of Mucci’s brood. Those that had initially been under the influence of the demon cats seem to be back to normal, and Deb can look forward to a new future for herself.
Analysis
So, first and foremost, the pacing for Purr Evil #6 felt a bit quick. I wouldn’t have minded if it were a little bit longer. But at the same time, there’s a standard page number for most comics and therefore a set amount of space in which to tell any given portion of this story and adding a 7th issue would run the risk of slowing things down. So between the way it is and the option of things getting dragged out, this way works a bit better.
For a part of the climax in Purr Evil #6, Rita, Steve, and Grandma are suspended over the stage dressed in cat-angel mascot sorts of outfits. When they’re freed from this setup, the only one that hasn’t entirely shed the costume is Rita (sans the costume head). On the one hand, it could be argued that, as Deb’s mother, she’d have not bothered taking the time to shed that before rushing to her side.
On the other, the wings on that costume are quite prominent and her conversation with Deb helps the girl make her ultimate decision for this power. Given what feathered wings on a human figure tend to symbolize, one could definitely make the argument that Rita is the angel that’s pulling Deb out of her current psychological turmoil. Either way, that stuck out to me and was a nice touch to this whole thing.
I also noticed that, at the airport at the end, Amy shows up again, no longer a psychotic thrall and with only a vague memory of Deb. It’s probably for the best that this kid doesn’t have a full memory of what all happened under Mucci’s influence, given how much blood had been shed in that situation. If she were to bump into Steve in particular, things could get awkward. On the one hand, he’d likely understand that she wasn’t quite making her own decisions. On the other hand, she did saw his arm off in Psychotic Thrall Mode.
And speaking of Steve’s arm, I’d found myself wondering if he had gotten a prosthetic (or would in the future), or if he was just rocking a stump. The only reason this question comes to mind is that after what I assume is a bit of a time skip, he appears briefly at the airport to help see Rob and Deb off on their trip to Tokyo. The angles at which he’s shown make it slightly ambiguous.
As Purr Evil #6 ended, I also became a bit curious as to how Deb might utilize her newfound control over the cats. She’s shown using the ability to get a guy on the plane to stop being a jerk (and thereby making the flight at least a bit more pleasant for everyone aboard). Either way, she gets to finally have the freedom she’d been wanting for her whole life, now that the biggest threat is out of the picture…freedom, a boyfriend, and demonic cats at her command. All in all, it’s good to see things end positively for this kid, especially after the bonkers ride leading up to it.
Image Comics provided The Comic Book Spot with an advance copy of Purr Evil #6 for review purposes. If you would like to buy a copy of this title, and help support the Comic Book Spot at the same time, consider purchasing this book at Amazon, My Comic Shop, or at Things From Another World.
