Pooch Café

Pooch Café is a comic strip written and illustrated by Paul Gilligan.

Overview

Its main character is "Poncho", a kibble-hoarding, cat-hating, toilet drinking enthusiastic but naive dog. The strip follows Poncho's life with his master, Chazz, and Chazz's cat-loving wife, Carmen (who owns cats, "Sprinkles", "Fluffy", as well as four others), and Poncho's adventures with his fellow dogs Boomer, Hudson, Droolia (a female Bullmastiff with a drooling problem), Gus (a Scottish Terrier), Beaumont, and Poo Poo (a Bichon Frise), and a goldfish named "Fish".

The universe of the comic strip is one in which dogs are recognizably canine in some of their behavior but with many anthropomorphic traits. For example, Chazz, Carmen and other human characters are able to talk not just to Poncho but to Poncho's dog friends as well, all seeming to speak the same language. The strip takes its name from the café where Poncho and his friends gather to compare notes about life among the humans.

Many people attach commendable characteristics to dogs, such as loyalty and unconditional love. But Poncho embodies other less-dwelt-upon traits; he's greedy and self-serving, a fact of which he is blissfully aware. Poncho hates cats with a passion, and dreams of the day he and his canine companions can catapult all the cats of the world into the sun. This plan is often referred to during the dogs' "Catapult all Cats into the sun" meetings, which are led by Boomer. Chazz and Carmen are often driven to their wits' end by his constant schemes, but still love him unconditionally, tough though it may be.

Pooch Café is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate after a short time with Copley's syndicate, and currently appears in approximately 275 papers. There are two comic book collections of Pooch Cafe, and a new collection available online at www.lulu.com. The creator has also recently started a blog, which can be reached by clicking the "official website" link below. Poochcafe.com offers fans an opportunity to connect with Paul Gilligan through his blog and on its message board. There has even been some speculaton that a few recent strips may have been influenced during this open fan/author dialogue.

Paul Gilligan reports on his Web site that he's inked an option deal with Sony Pictures Animation to bring Poncho and friends to the big screen.

External links

* [http://www.poochcafe.com/ Official Pooch Café Website and Paul Gilligan Blog]