Cat Burglar Black Book

The book follows the story of a young girl - "K" - who goes to a strange town where she is told to burgle a number of residents whose houses contain paintings which if collected together will reveal a secret of buried treasure. But as K sees her friends being picked off on these dangerous missions, she begins questioning the direction of her troubled life and tries to find out about what really happened to her parents.

This is the first Richard Sala which is in colour, bringing to life the usual dark shadows for readers of this book, aimed primarily at younger readers. This is also the first Richard Sala book I feel is a truly great comic book. While his previous efforts have ladled on the grotesquery's of the horror genre and brought to life characters and settings in line with Charles Addams/Edward Gorey/Hammer Horror etc. Sala's work has always been eye-catching and unique but his books have never quite made for a compelling read. "Cat Burglar Black" is a more controlled story with a fervent plotline throughout.

The characters are similar to Sala's previous efforts, especially the Obtainers, but the driven, original story and fresh looking images make for a much more interesting read than his previous books. Definitely Sala's best so far, this is the place to start with discovering this somewhat flawed but always interesting comic book artist.