It’s School For Cats: Bittersweet Candy Bowl III

Cute cartoon cats are awkward, sad, joyful, real people too…

Bittersweet Candy Bowl

Welcome back to high school. Crushes, math finals, personality contests, it’s all here. Like the author says, her webcomic, Bittersweet Candy Bowl, is “a funny, sweet, and sad story about friendship, history essays, and unrequited love.” The strip’s a journey through adolescence with a charming herd of cats–at this point, the cast of characters (like the cast themselves) is somewhere in the high teens.

It’s a rich universe–the art is often reminiscent of the moment in a serious anime when a character reveals his foolish side (and maybe in high school, you’re always  showing your foolish side), but the story’s deep, with real struggle, pain, and loss mixed in with awkward crushes. It’s almost as if the charm of the characters serves as a constant foil to their lives. 

Or maybe fuzzy animals are just cute. Hard to say.

Anyway! Author/artist Veronica Vera’s kickstarter serves a couple of different functions. Firstly, it’s a pre-order and print capital campaign for volume 3 of the Bittersweet Candy Bowl series, a book that extends the webseries with a nice recap, extra illustrations, touchups to art and dialogue, and a bonus chapter. Secondly, it offers new readers a nice place to jump in, with a discounted price on Volume II, a solid intro for newbies (though the kind people of the candy bowl have provided a convenient introduction, but in a series that’s been running continuously since 2009, it probably leaves a bit out.)

Also, for fans and followers of the series, it’s also a chance to help upgrade the web hosting of the site itself–a portion of your gift goes to the purchase a new mini-server for faster, stronger, and cheaper hosting. Pledges at the “Server Patron” level get to be a part of BCB history, with their own special touch etched into the server. You may not be ablet o take that one home with you, but it’s an interesting bragging point.

Somehow, I think this one’s going to be successful. Vera’s other two kickstarters (including “Not Enough Rings,” one of the first projects I covered here) have all been wildly successful. But with the need to upgrade BCBs internets backbone, every bit over goal helps.

On a personal note, my home town has no shortage of fine comic books, but except for established titles, mostly action titles like TMNT or big-breasted cheesecake from Radio Comics, indy furry material’s actually been scarce for the last few years. So it was a special pleasure seeing a sweet, warm slice of life title like Bittersweet Candy Bowl on the shelves. Real-life comic titles are making a lot of inroads in the indy comic world, but not so much in the furry space. Thanks, Vera, and good luck!

Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.