Kindle Edition Amazon Corbett Features Amazon Kindle Category:  Humor Publisher: Corbett Features ISBN-10:  0976229445 Type: Fiction Pages: 96 Copyright: Jan 1, 2008 ISBN-13: 9780976229445 Price: $3.99 (eBook) 96 page collection of comic strips chronicling the adventures of two mismatched cats & their adopted family. Silver Medal Winner, IPPY Awards The first collection gathers 160 of the Barry Corbett’s webcomic features into one 96 page volume. Ginger and Shadow are your classic odd-couple pairing— two personalities who couldn't be any more different. When the Garrick family decided to adopt a pet, they chose a pair of very unusual cats. As different as night and day, these interesting and mysterious creatures would turn their lives inside out. Ginger— She’s a cat’s cat. Slick and self-assured, Ginger knows what she wants and always manages to get it. She’s the queen of cool—bringing the art of indifference to a new level. Oh, and don't even think about picking her up. Shadow — One very cautious kitty. Shadow is soft hearted and sentimental, a pacifist among carnivores and something of a Nervous Nellie. He never likes to rock the boat or take unnecessary risks. Jennifer — 8 year old Jenny is Shadow’s hero. A fearless and highly intelligent child, her goal is to become an Astronomer. The cats are her closest friends and confidants, and she showers them with love and affection.

BookReview.com
Cats. We are useful visitors in a world they are quick to make clear to us belongs to them. Putting two of them with opposite personalities (based on his real life pets) in a hapless family, as cartoonist Barry Corbett says, creates strips that practically write themselves. Some of these are funny. Some insightful and a few are a little self-conscious (and if there is one thing cats are not, it is self-conscious). By the way, I once had a cat that when annoyed with me would hit at the computer keyboard. I would see pages and pages of “nnnnnnnnnnnn….”

I liked the series where Ginger is trying to teach the introverted, people pleasing “Shadow” how to be cool. There’s also an interesting parallel when Ralph Garrick, the burly man of the house, tries to clue in the male Shadow on male/female differences. I love it that the rather hip mom is off to a Star-Trek convention and the segment on cats learning “the Zen of sleeping” is inspired. There’s a lot to like, even parts that fail (a cat with a black patch in search of the great, white woodchuck that cost him his eye) show cleverness. And, anyone who has a cat (I have four) can attest to the authenticity of lines like this: “I could use a catnap. It’s been about 23 minutes.” The accomplished drawings are full of energy and cat grace. Yet there is something that still needs to evolve here. And it will.
In a single page of prose, titled “Diary of a Comic Strip,” the author tells how his cast of characters and his technique have grown over the years. You can see the same thing in early Peanuts collections. It is as if the personality of each character has to come into its own over time. When that happens, there are more than cute observations about cats and human foibles. There is fresh insight into something shared by both the reader and the cartoonist. It’s recognition that is both surprising (we thought we were the only ones who felt it) and reassuring (now we know that others feel this way too). Our reaction when that happens: to laugh.

Midwest Book Review
Kitty Nirvana: The First Ginger & Shadow Collection is a webcomic anthology following the (only slightly exaggerated) adventures of author's two cats, who were adopted from an animal shelter when they were 6 week old kittens. Ginger is the queen of cool cats, self-assured, manipulative, suave, while Shadow is more nervous, soft-hearted, sentimental, and unusually pacifistic among carnivores. Their adventures with one another and their family are sure to strike a chord among cat lovers of all walks of life.

“I’m really getting fed up with this diet thing.”

“You’re just built for comfort, not speed.”

The charming black-and-white art captures the essence of cartoon felinity in this wonderfully entertaining collection. Highly recommended, especially as a giftbook for fellow feline fanciers.

IPPY Award 2008
Silver Medal, 2008 IPPY Awards, Excellence in Self Publishing, Graphic Novel / Drawn Book / Humor Category