Graphic Novel Review: Cat Mask Boy by Linus Liu

 Reviewed by Joe Hilliard

Cat Mask Boy by Linus Liu, Nakama Press, 2025. 192 pages. $10.99 paperback. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Cat-Mask-Boy/Linus-Liu/9781545821732

"For every superhero, there's a monster. For every lazy student, there's homework." (13) So begins the journey of Tiger in Linus Liu's Cat Mask Boy. Set in early-70s Hong Kong, Tiger is a lackadaisical student, preferring to dream of a life of superhero than concentrate on his grades or working hard for the future. Well, that's not exactly true, Tiger is working hard for a future of fighting crime. Liu never shows us Tiger's "human" face. The preface shows Tiger from the back tossing a paper airplane off a building. Going forward, we only see him wearing his cat mask. Tiger is Cat Mask Boy!

Tiger just doesn't just fight for justice though. He fights a society that only cares for performance, for results. For grades. Even in second grade, Tiger's world is obsessed with the best in class, getting good grades, and how this defines life. Moms beat children for poor grades. His friends constantly worry about the future, what their grades are going to be. Perhaps this is early-70s Hong Kong, or perhaps it speaks to the constant struggle we see:  performance versus being real. Being true to yourself. The struggle we see today.  Every day. "I promise I'll still be a decent person even if my grades are poor." (133) The push and pull of Tiger versus Cat Mask Boy.

It all comes to a head for Tiger on report card day. Through a series of events that would only happen in a comic book world, Tiger loses his report card, which needs to be signed by his mom and returned to school. A lost report card which sends Tiger on a quest into the walled Kowloon City. From this juncture, a traditional hero’s journey quest does permeate the top level of the book, as Tiger moves through dangerous situations rife with gangsters, violence, loss, as he searches for the elusive report card. It's here. It's gone. It's there. It's here again. It's found and discarded, lost and not needed. All at once. Beyond this physical journey though, Tiger fundamentally chases the meaning of life as well. What it means to live well. To live meaningfully.

Liu cleverly uses the cultural touchstone of the Japanese tokusatsu television show Kamen Rider throughout, which proves an interesting counterpoint to Tiger. For those who came in late, as Lee Falk would put it, the original Kamen Rider ran from 1971-1973 and featured the namesake character, a cyborg man-grasshopper hybrid created by the villainous organization Shocker to be their agent, but who has escaped their brainwashing and now fights against them. While none of this background is dropped into Tiger's story, this context adds another layer. Who has created Cat Mask Boy? What has created Cat Mask Boy? Is he escaping societal brainwashing? Tiger needs to find what makes a hero. The true goal. "School teaches us to be a good person, but never teaches us how to protect ourselves from bad people." (154) Initially, the image of the Kamen Rider is used as a foil, as Tiger's schoolmates berate him for not being a real hero like the Rider, leading to trouble in school.

When he meets Dragon, a fellow masked boy in Kowloon, they mimic the arm motions of the Rider to each other, signifying first their bond as fellow superheroes. Later, as they work together, and Tiger sees Dragon as an embodiment of heroism, they repeat the action, this second time as friends. It's a neat piece understanding how pop culture helps create friendships. How we bond over the simplest things. As an 80s teen, buying Justice League International off the shelves, my friend and I would call ourselves Blue Butthead and Buster Gold. And mimic Giant Robot's hand signs. It's simple. It's real. And Liu taps into that.

Beyond that simple pop artifice though, Liu delves deeper with Dragon. "Even if I have tons of toys, would I be happy if there's no one to play with?" (103) Dragon understands something that Tiger does not yet. That Cat Mask Boy does not yet. This is the journey that Tiger must travel through Kowloon, and then ultimately out of the walled city. Out of his walled self. The acceptance of true friendship, true relationship. Dragon's selflessness counterpoints Tiger's selfishness.

Artistically, Liu has a beautiful clean line style more reminiscent of Los Bros Hernandez or Adrian Tomine than of manhua. It works perfectly to express the stylized Kowloon of the book – where kids wear animal masks with no question. The use of only a three color palette over the panels, accentuating the action, gives the book the feel of a 70s comic book, where the colors are perhaps bolder and off-kilter, and yet still modernized to give counterpoint to the panel work and dialogue. It reminds of J. Gonzo's use of color and paper effects in La Mano del Destino. Down to the texture of the paper. Even in eBook form, Lu captures the rag texture of paper, real paper, on each page. Manifesting as a book, an artefact, a journey. And neatly complementing the 70s feel of the story. The only ruining effect is the font used by Book Buddy Media for the English translation caption boxes and dialogue. Darker black and baldly nondescript, it gives the impression of having been typed in later on a copy and not really integrated into the book. It's a strange, and distracting, look.

"The report card reflects only schoolwork. Personal growth is based on life experience." (147) Tiger earns his life experience. He learns his freedom. He completes his hero’s journey. More than that, he affirms that life is more than simply school, work, more than the expectations and demands of society.

"My mom told me getting good grades means a can earn a lot of money from work." – "Just some comic book dialogue, which I don't think you've read." (125)  To which, always read the comic book dialogue. And always read between the lines. Read Cat Mask Boy.

 A version of this review will appear in IJOCA 27-2.