DMC 5 – Feral Cats of Detroit

Time to look at the fifth Detroit Mock City created for the Cartoonist Studio contest.  You are probably used to this by now, but I had to reduce the image size to fit it here and you can click on the image to view the full size.

I think happy looks a little sleazier here with the strands of hair hanging near his eyes.  I also think I picked a good fancy cat for that second panel.  I wanted a very specific look, which to me epitomized the expensive, pampered, foo foo feline that only a cat lover could enjoy.  BTW, I’m not a cat lover.  Alex is.  So is my wife.  And I must have done a good job drawing this, because when I showed it to her she responded with shocked in her voice “You drew that?…I just mean it’s really good.”  Always boosting my confidence.

And that last panel is a real crappy (hopefully) abandoned bedroom in Detroit.  Believe me, the picture was disgusting.  This comic has me searching for and staring at gross things a lot.  I love the reveal of Happy surrounded by all the cats, looking quite crazy.  We like to watch Animal Hoarders here in the Michael household, and this is actually not that messy or as full of animals as many of the sick places we’ve seen on there.  Those people are just plain gross.

I first read about the feral cat infestation of Detroit on DetroitBlog.org, which is a fantastic site for reading all the latest weird stories coming out of Detroit.  I thought this one was incredible, as did Alex.  You may have noticed we referenced it a few times with Marie in Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum, saying it was the big story she recently covered.

Feral cats have become a big problem in Detroit, as their numbers continue to soar, and they continue to spread disease and generally cause problems.  They help make the city even filthier by defecating everywhere, killing things and leaving the remains to rot, dieing themselves and decomposing where they fall, and making people sick.  They can also get nasty and hurt people.  Not to mention there is also a problem with feral dogs.

Basically animals and plants are taking over all the uninhabited parts of Detroit.  Nature is reclaiming the city in man’s absence, and not always with positive results.  It’s a fascinating study in urban decay and the resilience of the wild.