The story so far... Strig Feleedus, who has, through comic book logic, become a part man, part cat, part owl known as Angel Catbird, has been captured by the evil doctor, A. Muroid, through cunning use of a glass wall, so that he can torture the formula of his genetic super-slicer out of him. Thus it now falls to his cohorts, freshly based at Count Catula's castle, to rescue him. However, as they're half-cats and half-owls, they're too busy bickering at each other to plan anything. Eventually, they sit down to figure it out and pay attention to the two mouse defectors who brought them news to begin with.

In the end, it's his girlfriend, Cate Leoni, who persuades Ray, the half-man half-raven to fly her to Muroid Corporation's headquarters where she used to work. She does make it inside, because she still has a pass, and even finds the hidden door that takes her down to the dungeon, but she fails to realise that it's a trap. They make it out anyway, because he overheard the release code being spoken by stupid rats but they fall prey to Muroid's catnip spray and now they're both imprisoned. If you don't get the tone of this book from that, then you're not paying attention.

This is golden age comic book simplicity, merely written in the twenty-first century, and this is the third in a trilogy that exists primarily to educate readers about the many dangers that face your pet cat, especially if you let him or her roam outdoors, and the birds in your area; again, especially if you let your pet cat out. After that, it's about sheer unmitigated ridiculous fun. I was especially interested in reading this third book because I found myself on the wavelength needed to have an absolute blast for only one of its predecessors. To me, the first book was stupid and simplistic. The second, well, that was stupid and simplistic too but its heart was in the right place and I loved it.

I loved this one too, even if it adheres to the golden age mindset where the good guys are good to an unquestionable degree and the bad guys are downright megalomaniacal evil. This final volume embraces that for a glorious showdown between the assembled throngs of good guys and the few bad guys in place to face them, given that most of them are countless rats. Atwood seems to grasp that limitation and addresses it by introducing us through research to a host of others, even if we never actually meet them. That's a shame as I'd have liked to see the Giant Half-Rat of Sumatra in action, but it's no big deal.

After all, there are so many good guys that it's hard to keep up with them all. Atwood doesn't get the chance to give everyone we met in book two time in the spotlight here, many of them stuck in the background. She introduces more in their stead because new talents are needed here to save Angel Catbird and his love Cate from the dastardly grasp of Dr. Muroid. A couple are conjured up by Queen Neferkitti through an ancient charm that allows its bearer to call on the protectors of Egypt, Sekhmet and Nekhbet. She's used up her three wishes but she gives the charm to the mice who use theirs well. Hey, it's not against the rules!

And those mice! We start out with two of them but they know others and, before you know it, they summoned Anonymouse, in full 'V for Vendetta' mask. That's absolutely glorious to begin with and it keeps on getting better. There are lots of them, all part of a secret mouse hacktivist group who publish their findings on Wikisqueaks. Oh yes, the puns I enjoyed so much in the second book are in full flow this time out too. Atheen-Owl, for instance, surrounded by so many mice, imagines a nice dinner of micecream, mousemallows and mice krispies. Even Muroid has his ratwork of minions.

Of course, while the puns are welcome, they're not the point. They're intended as a fun way for us to take in all the serious stuff. Most of that ties to cats, like the dangers of toxoplasmosis, with an occasional footnote dedicated to birds. However, Sekhmet is a lion-headed goddess and Nekhbet a white vulture and their powers have diminished as their tribes have suffered. I wasn't expecting to see Cecil the lion here, with "a rich American" caught in his moment of shame, and I had zero idea about how far vulture numbers have fallen or why.

So I liked this series, as outright silly as it gets. I'm always going to struggle with that first volume, as Atwood establishes her characters and story with almost no depth at all, but the other two are joyous. I don't know if it's because she fully embraced the silliness in them and had fun herself or just because she had too much else to do in the opening book. Maybe the series just took time to take flight. I presume it's done after three books because its story is finished and its information imparted, but you don't need me to tell you that, while the good guys were victorious, Dr. Muroid escaped to cause havoc another day.

Atwood could always return to the story. I wonder if it would work in continually updated fashion, a potential sequel told in silver age style and so on through the decades. I doubt I'd read the dark DC-era version but maybe others might. And the key point is to educate and educators always use what tools are at hand and best suited for the job. The first volume's problems aside, Atwood did what she needed to do here, even completely outside her usual field. Johnnie Christmas' art is a vibrant joy and Tamra Bonvillain's colours only enhance that further. Don't quit after one. Read it all. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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