A certain shoe company collab’d with a certain cartoon cat recently and got us thinking about orange felines in pop culture and where they may rate in a national championship based on a multitude of factors.

Medalists

HEATHCLIFF

Heathcliff, Heathcliff no one should terrorize their neighborhood went the theme— what, pray tell, is wrong with that for an intro? Gets the gold. Heathcliff was battling a pimpish character and a gang of junkyard dreadnok-types with amphibious vehicular capabilities, getting the bag (the fish) and impressing the female felines while other orange cats were more.. indoorsy. He had a little Bugs (Bunny) in’im. This cat may’ve been a car-toon, but he put the G in imagination. The featured image is a screenshot from the theme. We’re so intrigued by the pink boot we might now watch the whole run.

AZRAEL

Who’s Azrael? That’s Gargamel’s sidekick — arch enemy of the miniature blue beings called Schtroumpfs — The Smurfs; who lived in a mushroom village ruled by a Papa. We were an American Smurfs’ generation half-TV-watcher. The girls collected the rubberized Smurf miniatures and the boys opted for M.U.S.C.L.E. mini-men, but the Smurfs cartoon appealed to boys AND girls despite Smurfette being one of the only female characters (more on that never). If you liked the Smurfs, check out the Snorks — underwater Smurf-types from the same cloth. We were always rooting for Azrael to catch one of the nobody Smurfs so we’re awarding them the silver. Even Gargamel had a certain charm as an evil crank. It’s all in the writing son.

Gargamel and his cat Azmael (Peyo)

CAPTAIN FURFACE

We copped two Captain Furface books from the Weekly Reader way back in the 1980s and remember them quite fondly, if at all. We didn’t know much about performance enhancers back then, so it didn’t occur to us Furface may have been a steroid user (something a cat would accuse human of accusing a cat of). To the author James M. Ellis, if you’re reading this, we have no proof that Captain was a user of performance enhancing drugs. Action and romance classics often feature ultrafied heroic imagery based on the hero character. Captain Furface is no different, and the pages prove he worked hard, ate healthy and we remember him outwitting each threat with admirable dispatch. Bronze.

Honorable Mentions

Ookla the Mok – Not really a cat, but honorably worth a mention. ‘Moc’ has a shoey ring to it too. The leonine humanoid Ookla was down with Thundarr the Barbarian and could rip trees from the ground to use as a fightstick.

Garfield – The round eyeballs, the disdain for Mondays, Italian food love, the relatability — this was kids’ stuff while the adults were playing poker watching Heathcliff and Riff Raff. Can’t knock the artstyle. Plus what other toon cat has their own line with a major sneaker company?

Tigger – he’s a tiger and only part orange but we’ll give him some honors. Glad as hell to hear he and Eeyore the donkey escaped being in the horror flick ‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’ due to their strong copyright game.

Missing any orange cats? Yep probably. If we get enough “what about _____”s , we’ll do another whole piece. It’s that simple. We’re not a doctor, nor are we cartoon experts, just a man who knows a thing or two. And if someone out there has an actual orange real cat that’s a hero to them — saved the day, or perhaps the year — we’ll keep eyes out. ♥