Falkirk artist creates a creepy cat comic book with a Scottish twist in the tale

Paul Tonner, from Falkirk, is about to unleash his new work The King o’ the Cats on comic book fans and thrill and chill seekers nationwide.

He hopes it will build on the success of his previous comic, a modern fable Death and the Bear, which was shortlisted for Best Writer and Best Artist in the 2019 Scottish Independent Comic Book Awards (SICBAs).

A traditional British folktale about a strange encounter with a mysterious talking cat, versions of The King o’ the Cats date back 500 years and, although there are regional differences, most follow a similar plot to the one Paul drew inspiration from.

Paul said: “Folk tales have made a big comeback in films – there’s been a resurgence in interest in these stories we were all told when we were children. I’m a comic book artist, but I’m not that into superheroes.

"I just wanted to do something a bit different like my last comic book – Death and the Bear. I started looking around for folk tales. I knew about the story of The King o’ the Cats but I looked into it a bit more.

"There’s a strong beginning and middle and a surprise at the end which is perfect for a short graphic novel.”

While Paul was hard at work creating his adaptation of The King o’ the Cats he noticed an online post about the Scots Language Publication Grant and decided The King o’ the Cats was perfect for it.

"I applied for the grant and was successful so I ended up doing an English version and a Scottish version.”

Helping Paul with the Scottish version was Dr Michael Dempster, director of The Scots Language Centre, an organisation that exists to further the interests of the Scots language and its speakers.

"Thankfully Michael was into comics so I sent him the script and he returned it. I just slotted the words in,” said Paul.

The whole project took around six months of actual work to complete, but Paul had been thinking about creating it for a while.

"It’s been in my head for two or three years,” he said. “There were no comic book conventions because of COVID-19 so there was no real motivation to do anything

new because there was no outlet to get it seen.”

Now the conventions have started up again Paul will be back “touring”, attending massive gatherings of like-minded comic book fans throughout England and Scotland with The King o’ the Cats.

He revealed he is currently working on another horror-themed comic book about banshee shape shifters with fellow artist Jack Ingram, from Stirling, which he promises will be a bit more “bloodthirsty” than The King ‘o the Cats, which is currently available from The Lonely Broomstick in Falkirk High Street and online.

Paul will be officially releasing The King o’ the Cats at the Thought Bubble Comic Convention in Harrogate in November.

Visit his website for more information.