Samurai Cat Goes To Hell [Paperback]

Mark E. Rogers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1998

Miaowara Tomokato is back--and he's gone to his reward. The warrior who's defeated everyone from Darth Vader to Nazi dinosaurs has died and gone to Heaven--the fitting end to his illustrious career. Or not quite. For taking a little to much enthusiastic glee in wreaking vengeance, his faithful sidekick, Shiro, has been sent to Hell. Tomokato must now descend and retrieve Shiro from eternal damnation. Shiro, of course, isn't the only resident of Hell who knows the Samurai Cat. Tomokato encounters all the folks he's consigned to the lower realm, who want their last chance a the furry samurai.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of Miaowara Tomokato and his sidekick, Shiro, know what to expect from these anthropomorphic felines: puns, satire and loads of actionAthough not much credible plot. Rogers first created the characters in his paintings, and this volume continues the tradition of lavish, attractive illustrationsAmarked, like the story, by both gore and humor. The beginning, as Tomokato and Shiro fight Genghis Khan, is labored (including more than a page of puns on Pax Mongolica), but the story picks up when the heroes go to hell, literally. This comedic Inferno includes Nazi tyrannosaurs in dinosaur-sized tanks, characters resembling figures from the Oz books, Virtuous Pagans galore and Satan, who, though trapped in ice at the bottom of hell, wears pink panties and can send out projections in the shape of bad actors. The heroes are aided by felines from the other Samurai Cat books, a guardian angel named Henry and a mysterious "itinerant preacher" who looks like Clint Eastwood. The self-reference can get awfully cute ("Boy, are a lot of story threads getting tied up in this chapter or what?") but the combined comedy and moral concerns (subtle and hence not intrusive, but very real) will appeal to many.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Blood flows freely as Tomokato--Samurai Cat--and his nephew Shiro, still seeking revenge for their master's death, attack Genghis Khan and the Mongols. The puns flow freely, too: Tomokato uses Aim Toothpaste with Tartar Control to subdue Khan's troops--get the picture? When both cats are killed in the skirmish, Shiro is sent to hell because he watched a porn flick shortly before dying. Tomokato, though, is headed for heaven but takes a detour downward when he is commissioned by an angel to defeat the final enemy, Satan. Tongue firmly in cheek, Rogers lampoons everyone from mimes to Nazis as he sends his heroes through layers of hell in search of the head man. Illustrated by Rogers' imaginative drawings and packed with gratuitous violence and slapstick humor, this is a fitting conclusion to the wacky series. And as Rogers says, "If you don't like these jokes, read some other book." Candace Smith

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (April 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312866429
• ISBN-13: 978-0312866426
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,208,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed this book a lot, February 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Samurai Cat Goes To Hell (Paperback)

This book wasn't as funny as the previous Samurai Cat installments, largely (I think) because it relies less on satire than it does on its own legs. But it's still a very imaginitive work and many parts made me laugh out loud. All in all, it's very satisfying.

It uses a very clever premise to end the series: Samurai Cat descending into the depths of Hell to avenge his master, where he can re-encounter all of his foes who perished by his blade (or gun, or grenade, or ...) in the previous books. Admittedly, a first-time Samurai Cat reader probably won't catch all the references.

So if you've been following Samurai Cat through the years, what are you waiting for? But if you're a Samurai Cat virgin, then you should probably read at least one or two of the preceeding volumes before attempting this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Samurai Cat Goes to Hell is absolutely tremendous!, April 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Samurai Cat Goes To Hell (Paperback)

Mark Rogers is hilarious and erudite! SCGTH is absolutely full of the most vividly bizzare imagery and clever wordplay. Plus, this guy knows more about Chinese history than any Gwailo I've ever read! Anyone who likes dinosaurs, Dante, decapitations, or, (to break the d-pattern,) the films of Ching Siu Tung should check out this book..and the other Samurai Cat books too!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars hilarious ultra-violent theological comedy, March 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Samurai Cat Goes To Hell (Paperback)

Boy does this guy know a lot about everything---guns, Chinese history, Dante, Christian and Muslim Neoplatonism...I'm a Dante scholar, and the stuff about the Hell for the Virtuous pagans is a well-informed hoot. Where Dante only gives you a couple of medieval moslem philosophers, Rogers gives you four(that's excluding Al-jolson and Al-Capone)---if you catch a third of the jokes in this book you'll be lucky. Great stuff---C.S. Lewis on speed.