The Cat on a Hot Thin Groove

Gene Deitch's singular, wordless comic strip The Cat on a Hot Thin Groove began in 2003 for Fantagraphics, a single-issue collection of his elegantly absurd, jazz-inflected single-panel cartoons. Featuring a sleek, silent feline navigating a world of cool geometry and deadpan surrealism, the book showcases Deitch's distinctive mid-century modern linework and dry wit. Though brief, it's a concentrated dose of the legendary animator and cartoonist's playful, sophisticated sensibility.