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Fat Freddy's Cat UK Variants

Category:  Underground
Owner:  labratnotincluded
Last Modified:  4/8/2021
Set Description
Fat Freddy's Cat UK Variants








"Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope."

~ Gilbert Shelton


Fat Freddy's Cat first appeared in 1969 in underground newspapers as a character in The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers strip. He soon gained his own small spin-off topper strip, in imitation of the early Krazy Kat strips below The Family Upstairs by George Herriman. Some full-size stories also featured Fat Freddy's Cat.

Many of these strips have been collected in comic book form by Rip Off Press in a series of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers compilations and later The Adventures of Fat Freddy's Cat, which ran for four small size issues in the 1970s. Fat Freddy's Comics and Stories (one-shot, 1983) also included several stories about the Cat.

The Adventures of Fat Freddy's Cat were reprinted and expanded (starting over from #1) in six comic book size issues in the 1980s. They included new longer stories about the Cat. A seventh edition was released (in the US only) in 1993. After the demise of the underground newspaper, the Cat continued to appear in various comic books. His last appearance to date was in a 1990 strip reprinted in The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers #12.Fat Freddy's Cat is much smarter than Freddy, and while sharing many of his preoccupations such as drugs, food, sleep and sex, his stories also feature a fair amount of defecation. Like Garfield (whom he predates) he is laid back, but in his personal habits and outlook he is more like the Freak Brothers. However he tends to regard the Freak Brothers with amused contempt, frequently expressed by defecating in inappropriate and inconvenient places, such as stereo headphones.

Like Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes he has a fertile imagination. He is apt to tell tall stories to his three "nephews". One storyline features him playing the role of "F. Frederick Skitty", an undercover agent sworn to stop the distribution of "Tee Hee Hee", a drug that turns people into homosexuals.[Fat Freddy's Cat Issue 1] Another story involves a scheme by Fat Freddy to replicate Dick Whittington's success and sell the Cat to the (fictional) small, oil-rich nation of Pootweet to deal with mice[Fat Freddy's Cat Issue 5] [source: Wikipedia]

Fat Freddy's Cat was my first encounter with underground comics. I read some issues that I purchased at a head shop, off the newstand in Ann Arbor, Michigan at their Annual Street Art Fair back when it was first published in digest form, I was around 9 or 10 at the time which makes me think I probably shouldn't have been reading that kind of thing! I wish I would've bought and preserved a bunch of copies when I had the chance as they're extremely difficult to come by in great shape, especially the first printings. His iconic look is what first caught my attention and the type of humor was certainly different than what I was used to at the time. I hope you enjoy browsing through my descriptions and scanned images as I am intent on creating a world class set!


Set Goals
Highest Graded #1 of any of the Fat Freddy's Cat issues! CGC 9.6 inside!

Slot Name
Item Description
Grade
Owner Comments
Pics
Fat Freddy's Cat 1 95p UK Variant Fat Freddy's Cat 1 Modern 9.6 Fat Freddy's Cat 1 01/76
UK .95p Variant
Self Submission
"I Led Nine Lives"
Cover Price: UK 0.95 pence
Writer(s): Gilbert Shelton
Penciller(s): Gilbert Shelton
Inker(s): Gilbert Shelton
Colorist(s): Gilbert Shelton
Letterer(s): Gilbert Shelton
Editor(s): Gilbert Shelton
Cover Artist(s): Gilbert Shelton

Synopsis: 01/76 Fat Freddy's Cat opens the issue talking to the reader about how he wasn't always Fat Freddy's Cat. He relates how he used to be a Secret Agent, F. Frederick Skitty (Fat Freddy's Cat with a mustache). He is awakened by his emergency red phone ringing which startles his busty, human, female secretary that is laying naked next to him with the sheets covering her lower body. He is summoned to his bosses office. He heads there and gives him the password by hand as the man states he shouldn't be there without an appointment (he karate chops him). F Frederick Skitty then enters his bosses office and taps him on the opposite shoulder and when he looks, he cuts off his tie from the other side. His boss says they're under attack from within by someone threatening their water supply with a dangerous drug that turns eveyrone queer called "Hee Hee Hee". He proceeds to fly over the mountains in his secret jet and parachutes into a nudist colony thinking it's the headquarters of the secret mountain drug factory. The nudists say if he wants to stay there he'll have to strip down. He thinks to himself that if he does that they'll see his guns so he cuts loose of the parachute and dashes to their mansion headquarters. Upon entering, two nude, busty women say they want to help him get over his "hangups" but he pulls out his gun and shoots them saying he'd normally "indulge" them but it's a matter of national security then proceeds to shoot all the other nudists. Upon seeing the address, he figures out he landed at the wrong place and was off by 2 numbers. He makes it to the actual lair and sees a guy carrying a garbage can full of garbage and thinks it's one of the bad guys disguising the drug, "Hee Hee Hee" as an ordinary can of garbage so he kills him. Then the real bad guy jumps out all prancy and says the fool killed the garbage man and says he already released the drug in the coffee supply. He then tells his henchmen to off F. Frederick Skitty which causes him to go into action and he shoots all of the bad guys and goes back to headquarters to tell his boss the bad news. His boss says maybe it wasn't such a bad drug afterall as he sips his coffee and says "hee hee hee" F Frederick Skitty shoots him to put him out of his misery then turns the gun on himself and when his nephews ask if he shot himself he says "of course, I still had 8 lives" The rest of the issue is Fat Freddy's Cat and his antics with eating the Freak Brother's pot plants, peeing on their stuff, pooping in outrageous places like a hanging plant and battling against cockroaches and interacting with them and mice before going on adventures outdoors until his owner, Fat Freddy, once again finds him after 3 days and says he once had a striped orange cat..but he guesses this one will do.

Featured Characters:
Fat Freddy's Cat
Fat Freddy's Cat as F. Frederick Skitty

Other Characters:
Freak Brothers:
Fat Freddy Freetowski
Phineas T. Phreakears
Freewheelin' Franklin Freek
Ensemble of animals and other characters 		View Comic

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