About.com Rating

This webcomic (now in print) may star cartoon cats, and it often has tongue firmly in cheek, but it's still in many ways a weighty story about the rum-running past of prohibition-era St. Louis. Anyone interested in the jazz age and gangsters should find something to like in this book.

Publication Information

• Full Title:Lackadaisy Volume 1
• Writer/Artist: Tracy J. Butler
• Publisher: 4th Dimension Entertainment

• Official Website: www.lackadaisycats.com
• Publication Date: 2010
• ISBN: 9780981959900

Little Daisy

It's the 1920s in St. Louis, and prohibition is in full force. Gangsters vie for control of the supply of alcohol in the city, and many have become rich through underground speakeasies where booze is sold, hidden from police eyes. One small diner, the Little Daisy, hides the entrance to the Lackadaisy speakeasy, but the place has fallen on hard times, and its owner struggles to find enough illegal alcohol to attract customers.

Luckily, though, the widow Mitzi May, owner of the Lackadaisy, is surrounded by a few loyal employees. One of them, Roark (aka "Rocky") Rickaby is a young jazz musician trying to prove his worth as a messenger boy for Ms May. Unfortunately, he's not very good at dealing with rivals and accidentally starts a small war with some locals who decide to invade the Lackadaisy in revenge.

Looking Fine 

The first and most noticeable thing about Lackadaisy is the art. It's skillfully done in sepia tones, with energetic linework, character-revealing expressions, and varied panel layouts.

The bonus color pages are rich and bright, with good use of digital tools. Even if the story was terrible, this book would be worth a careful look just for the art.

Of course, the characters are all anthropomorphic cats, which won't be to everyone's taste, but I hope it won't put off too many readers because they'd be missing out. The cartoony style may also make some folks think the book is a story for kids, but there is a lot of violence (including fistfights, gunfights, and arson) as well as smoking and drinking (it is set in the 1920s, after all), so it's definitely not a kiddy tale. The publisher recommends Lackadaisy for teen and up, so concerned parents may want to have a look before giving it to their kids.

Full of Character 

I mentioned above that Lackadaisy would be worth the cover price for the art alone, but the story is well worth reading, too. Many of the characters come across as larger than life, but they are engaging and each has their own unique quirks. The bad guys are less three dimensional than the main characters, but it suits the story. And besides, I also felt they had sufficient motivation for their actions, and wondered if perhaps the writer/artist might delve into them at greater depth in some future volume.

The plot is relatively simple, but a perfect fit for a prohibition-era tale of rival rumrunners and speakeasy owners, and there is ample room for more complexity to develop further on in the tale. And, while this volume wraps up most of the loose ends by the last page, there are many ways in which the story could continue, leaving the way open for future web instalments and eventually (I hope) print volumes.