Schnozzer & Tatertoes: Take a Hike! © Rick Stromoski

Even when they are just being themselves, animals make us smile. There’s nothing like a picture of a cute cat in a box or a capybara in a hot tub to brighten up the social media feed, and it’s not surprising that funny animals have been some of the most popular characters in comics. Funny-animal comic stories usually combine witty dialogue and incongruous situations that adults will find amusing, along with goofy characters and silly plots that will entertain young readers.

Here’s a look at eight recent and upcoming examples that are even better than cat videos.

CHEN, Li. Detective Beans & The Case of the Missing Hat. illus. by author. Andrews McMeel. 2024.
Gr 1-4–Like all hardboiled private eyes, Detective Beans, who is a young cat, wears a fedora. When the hat goes missing, he follows a trail that leads through a park, a magician’s bag, a jazz club, and a trash can, among other places, with new adventures at every stop. Everyone has a different use for the hat, and each time Detective Beans gets his hands on it, it’s snatched away again—until the finale, when he not only gets it back but accidentally catches a jewel thief as well. The characters, human and cat, are drawn with simple lines and shapes, but Chen sprinkles in delightful details and varies the paneling to help focus the story. The improbable situations, goofy characters, and running gags will leave young readers giggling.

DEIBERT, Amanda. Rocket and Groot: Tales of Terror. illus. by Leo Trinidad. Graphix. 2024.
Gr 2-3–Rocket, a talking raccoon, and Groot, an extraterrestrial tree-like creature, are characters from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy comics and movies, and while the story stands well on its own, readers might be puzzled—or delightfully surprised—when a bunch of costumed superheroes suddenly drop in halfway through. Trapped in a dark wood after unwisely stealing a necklace from a group of monsters, Rocket and Groot are forced to tell the scariest stories they can come up with. After a couple of less-than-terrifying ones, the Guardians show up and act out a story based on The Wizard of Oz. Proceeding that, they figure out how to break the spell and escape the forest. The art is a cartoony take on Marvel comics, with detailed and expressive characters; Rocket is all teeth and attitude, while Groot is wide-eyed, timid, and only capable of saying one thing, “I am Groot,” although Rocket infers more meaning behind those words. This is a good pick for readers who are past the cute stage and ready for something that feels a bit more mature.

[Also read: "Monster Manga | Mondo Manga"]

STROMOSKI, Rick. Schnozzer & Tatertoes: Take a Hike! and Schnozzer and Tatertoes: Shoot the Moon! illus. by author. Union Square Kids. 2023, 2024.
Gr 2-5–Schnozzer and Tatertoes are two dogs who live together in cozy domesticity. Schnozzer is smart, and Tatertoes is delightfully airheaded—the sort of character who gets everything wrong but somehow ends up being right in the end. In the first book, the pair go to visit Tatertoes’s mother, a journey that takes them through a forest and into chance encounters with Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel. In the second, a trip to the Air and Space Museum turns into a space odyssey when the pair accidentally lock themselves in the Apollo space capsule and hit the controls, taking them to the moon and back. The art is simple, with no more than four panels on each page, and focuses on the characters and their expressions, making the stories very easy to follow, while the imaginative situations and characters keep them funny and interesting.

ANDERSON, Brian. Sophie: Jurassic Bark and Sophie: Frankenstein’s Hound. illus. by author. Marble Pr. 2024.
Gr 3-6–Marble Press released the first two volumes of this series on the same day, and while there is a sequence to them, each also stands well on its own. The books have a classic setup: Sophie the dog enjoys being the center of attention until human baby Doug comes along, followed in short order by two mad scientist cats. Each volume is a full-color collection of gag comics and slightly longer riffs on space adventures, superheroes, and other comic and movie stories. Sophie plays the starring role, Doug tags along going “Bak!” (the only word he knows), and the evil cats mess up the timeline any way they can. The gag comics draw heavily from Anderson’s newspaper strip Dog Eat Doug, but they have been redrawn and colored, and much of the material is new. The humor is absolutely all ages, mixing slapstick with goofy non sequiturs and pop-culture allusions. Anderson’s art has a funny pages feel to it, with big-headed Doug and a lively group of deftly drawn animals cavorting in a generic suburban landscape—except when they are swept away to the Jurassic era or outer space. A third volume is planned for 2025.

MERCADO, Yehudi. Barkham Asylum. illus. by author. DC. 2024.
Gr 3-7–Like many dogs, Jester is devoted to his master and eager to please. Unlike most, he is the minion of a supervillain, the Joker, and he also wants to be a comedian. Jester is continually cracking goofy jokes, even as his naivete gets him and his feisty feline friend, Penny, thrown into Barkham Asylum—a sort of supermax prison for the pets of Gotham City villains. There he finds his “pack”: the other supervillain pets who have some of their masters’ abilities and also, being pets, don’t view their owners as evil. In their pets’ eyes, Poison Ivy cares about the environment, Bane is brave and makes his dog feel safe, and the Joker just wants everybody to be happy.

While Batman also makes an appearance, this story focuses on the animals and their efforts to escape, with Jester organizing them all in a talent show while an evil scientist works on plans to turn humans into dogs (and vice versa), building up to a climactic showdown at the end. Like the best classic comics, this story has lots of action, wisecracks, and a few heartfelt moments. Mercado depicts the animals with a stretchy, exaggerated style that would also be at home in classic comics and cartoons. While the story is full of Gotham City references, anything the reader needs to know is clearly explained, so even those who have never heard of Batman can enjoy it.

SMART, Jamie. Bunny vs. Monkey. illus. by author. Union Square Bks. 2023.
Gr 3-7–Bunny vs. Monkey has a unique look but a classic feel: the characters are puffy and cute, but the stories are pure Looney Tunes, mixing slapstick humor with dry wit. And just as in Looney Tunes, the story centers on the comedic struggles of an extremely deluded character. In this case, it’s Monkey, who was supposed to be launched into space but ended up in a nearby forest instead. Convinced he has reached a new planet that he is destined to conquer, Monkey teams up with mad scientist Skunk, who provides him with massive animal-shaped robots, such as a chicken zeppelin and a marauding caterpillar, with which to threaten the forest denizens, who include Bunny, a pig, and a squirrel. The weapons are all extremely silly and either malfunction in hilarious ways or are traded for a cupcake, because Monkey is easily distracted. Using thick, expressive lines and bright colors, Smart draws his characters with a rounded style reminiscent of Hello Kitty but with more energy, making this book a visual treat for young readers.

MESSNER, Dennis. The Unpetables and The Unpetables Book Two: Unpetable in the City. illus. by author. Top Shelf. 2023, 2024.
Gr 4-7–Pigmund is a pot-bellied pig, although he objects to the “pot-bellied” part of his name. Lizárdo is an iguana. They were born and raised in a petting zoo. But one day, sick of all the petting, they made their escape, driving a miniature train through the zoo gates and escaping on getaway chickens, with Maintenance Man Kenny in hot pursuit. Once freed, they decided to become freelance pets. The first book chronicles their many unsuccessful attempts to find a home and their adventures after moving in with a nerdy guy who turns out to be a werewolf. In the second, they move to the big city, mix it up with a 13-pound rat, and wind up living and working in an old-timey movie theater... until Maintenance Man Kenny returns to bust up their act. The black-and-white art is exaggerated and busy but easy to follow, and the action is fast-paced and funny, with plenty of over-the-top moments. The story starts out with Pigmund being the brains of the operation and Lizárdo his not-very-bright sidekick. But by the end of Book Two, Lizárdo has taken control of the story and the action, albeit briefly, showing what he is truly capable of. The second book ends with the two friends, having ditched Kenny, floating away on the ocean aboard a plastic bike and a bundle of toys, leaving the door open for more madcap adventures.

THOMPSON, Kelly. It’s Jeff! illus. by Gurihiru. Marvel. Jul 2025.
Gr 4-7–Jeff is an adorable, four-legged land shark who lives in the Marvel Universe and stars in short, wordless, slice-of-superhero-life comics: He “borrows” Captain America’s shield to use as a sled, infiltrates the lair of the villain M.O.D.O.K., and tries on Halloween costumes. Like a good superhero, Jeff sticks up for the little guy, making sure no one hogs the ball at the dog park and liberating an entire pet shop full of animals, with a little help from his Marvel friends. While Jeff lives with Marvel characters, the reader doesn’t need to know anything more about the Marvel Universe beyond what’s on the page. Gurihiru, the art team behind graphic novel series like Dark Horse’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and Graphix’s “Unico,” has a wonderful, super-cute style and a real talent for drawing animals. Most of these comics were originally formatted as vertical-scroll episodes and can be read in the Marvel Unlimited app.

Brigid Alverson founded and edits the “Good Comics for Kids” blog.