Lone Wolf, Lone Cat Burglar: An Interview With The Creators Of ‘Cat Fight’

It’s never a good feeling to owe the mob money. For Felix, that strain is starting to affect his work (and if he can’t steal, there’s no way he’s paying off his debts), but is peace of mind worth the trouble of trying to reconcile with his grandmother? Felix is less than convinced in writer, Andrew Wheeler, and artist, Ilias Kyriazis‘, upcoming series, Cat Fight. With inks by Auguste, colors by Dennis Yatras, and letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, find out what Wheeler and Kyriazis had to say about the series below:

Rachel Bellwoar: I always get excited when a comic uses the credits page and in Cat Fight #1 the credits page is a bulletin board that sets the scene for what’s to follow. Where did that idea come from?

Ilias Kyriazis: I’m with you on that, but it was a surprise to me when I got the issue #1 PDF proof. So whoever’s idea it was… good call!

Andrew Wheeler: We have a great editorial and design team at IDW to thank for that! I was really excited when they shared it, because it does a great job of framing the story!

Bellwoar: Issue one begins in Venice but there’s not a gondola in sight. Did you always want to show parts of Venice that aren’t as regularly spotlighted?

Kyriazis: I actually had to bribe Andrew not to have any gondolas because they seemed such a pain to draw. I was happy I got my way but little did I know that he had a whole TRAIN planned for issue #2. Well played, Andrew.

Wheeler: This is an old school globetrotting adventure tale. Part of the pleasure is experiencing luxury through the eyes of these characters, so we’re not necessarily focused on the obvious tourist attractions! We’re showing you the high life – hence the luxury passenger train in issue #2!

Bellwoar: A masquerade ball, on the other hand, feels very Venice, and sees Felix sporting a cat mask. Tabitha, however, is wearing a deer mask. Should we be read into this, given her feline-sounding name?

Kyriazis: It was Andrew’s call but we had to exercise some restraint on the cat theme.

Wheeler: You’ll see that we do love our cat names in this book, especially for members of Kitty’s syndicate. Tabitha is not part of that syndicate, and her name is Aramaic for gazelle, so that’s why she’s wearing a deer mask! Good catch, though!

Bellwoar: Tabitha arguably makes the best entrance in this issue – very Cheshire Cat. We know she’s Felix’s ex, but what else can you tell us about her?

Kyriazis: Her dress is made of hair.

Wheeler: You’ll learn much more about her as the series progresses, but it’s fair to say she’s a bit of a femme fatale, but she’s also just about the only person Felix can turn to after the events of the first issue. She and Felix have similar refined tastes and similar attitudes to property rights!

Bellwoar: Presumably Felix is named after Felix the Cat, but why that cat for your main character’s namesake?

Kyriazis: I’d have loved to have him named after my own cat… too bad it was a copyrighted Marvel character’s name.

Wheeler: Felix takes his name from the same thing as Felix the Cat, which is the Latin “felis”, from which we get “feline”. I do love Felix the Cat, though, and the two Felixes do share certain characteristics. They’re mischievous, curious, and inclined towards trouble!

Bellwoar: Felix has a tendency to see everything as a price tag, which makes sense for a cat burglar. Was it fun, on the art side, to approach drawing certain objects by how expensive they should look?

Kyriazis: I’m very happy with that page and Auguste and Dennis Yatras did wonders with it. Placing the insert panels with the prices right over the characters’ faces was obviously a deliberate choice to dehumanize them. They are just prizes to Felix.

Bellwoar: Two part question: in the press release, senior editor, Heather Antos, mentioned that Felix’s grandmother, Kitty, was inspired by Earth Kitt. When did you first fall in love with Kitt, and when can we expect a prequel series that follows Kitty’s exploits?

Kyriazis: See, now… I’m answering these on the 1st of April so technically I’m allowed to “announce” whatever series I feel like, right? Let’s have Kitty in her 20s on vacation in Greece!

Wheeler: Ms. Kitt is one of the towering figures of the 20th century as far as I’m concerned. Brilliant, beautiful, talented, and fearless. I first discovered her as Catwoman in the Batman TV series, and that’s the seed of the idea that informed this series, but I also came to appreciate her as a singer and as a civil rights activist, and those aspects of glamour and righteous indignation also inform Kitty as a character.

If we get the chance to do a retro Kitty tale, I’m all for it! She’s had more than her share of adventures!

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Andrew and Ilias!

Cat Fight #1 goes on sale May 31st from IDW.