Bettina's is a great story of persistence paying off. A winner in Rising Stars 2, she was pitched as the artist on two projects that both fell through for various reasons before pitching her own story in the end. As soon as I read her notes on the concept for Loki and saw her initial designs, I knew this was a project I wanted to be a part of.

My own beloved cat, Jenny-Any-Dots, still holds a special place in my heart (and her photo has a spot on my desk at work), so I was excited at the chance to work on a book that sought to deal with the relationships of people and their pets in a smart, heartfelt and clever way! Bettina's lovely art makes each character pop off the page, and she does a stunning job of making Loki's switches from cat to human form both believable and hilarious.

The "teenage boy with kitty-ears" aspect of the story is bound to draw comparisons to Loveless, but My Cat Loki, is very much its own animal—a cheery and charming one, with just the right touch of emotion and drama.

~Lillian Diaz-Przybyl, Editor

Have you ever loved a pet so much that they became human to you?

As a child, Ameya saw his cat as someone more than pet: a brother. As the years went by, their bond grew ever tighter. But the day his "brother" died was the day Ameya withdrew from the world.

Now, several years later, a park in the pouring rain after an argument with his agent was the last place the once-prolific artist Ameya thought he'd find himself. Little did he know what fate, in the form of a drenched stray cat that resembled his beloved "brother," had in store for him. What follows after Loki's arrival, along with support and encouragement by Miss Chacha, is a series of often-colorful events. From vet visits, sunbeam snoozing/day­dreaming, fishing, and dust bunny and bird chasing, to falling in love, first dates, car trips and the grand finale of an Art Gala, Ameya and Loki's growing bond is continually tested and strengthened. What complicates matters is that Ameya begins to personify Loki and see him as a human, not a cat. This does help jumpstart his art again, but it also causes a fair amount of chaos and the occasional questioning of Ameya's mental stability. However, it is through this somewhat unorthodox relationship that Ameya regains the love and inspiration he thought he'd lost. The bond between owner and pet is an interesting and complicated one, and it will be explored fully as Ameya begins to leave his self-imposed isolation and Loki learns to trust and love again.

Bettina Kurkoski:
Bettina was born March 26, 1973 in Montague, Massachusetts. Now residing in Plymouth, MA, where she works as a freelance illustrator through her business, Dreamworld Studio. A 1996 graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth with a BFA in Illustration, she entered TOKYOPOP's Rising Stars of Manga 2 competition in 2003, placing as a runner-up, and her work Axis Lumen was published in the winners' compilation. You can see more of her artwork at www.dreamworldstudio.net.

Ameya
Age: 27, Height: 6', Eyes: blue, Hair: brown-black, Vocation: artist/painter. Ameya is a gentle, shy and caring man, often times lost in his world, masking his true feelings of guilt, loss and despair over the death of his beloved "brother" Luka, his childhood pet cat. His discovery of the stray Loki sets him on the road to recovery and new artistic inspiration.
 
Loki
Age: varying (cat) 3 (human) 14-18, Height: 5'6" Eyes: yellow-green Hair: tan-blond with orange-brown stripes Vocation: cat. Loki, despite his strong physical resemblance to Ameya's childhood cat Luka, is timid, though surprising caring in his own offbeat way.
Ms. Chacha
Age: 34 Height: 5'9" Eyes: blue-green Hair: red Vocation: artist's agent. Ms. Chacha is a quirky, flirtatious, enthusiastic go-getter! She has been Ameyafs agent since the beginning of his career and can be credited for much of his success.
 
Luka
Age: varying (cat) 12-14 (human), Height: 5'6", Eyes: yellow-green, Hair: tan-blond, Vocation: cat. Luka was quite the opposite in personality from Loki. His smile and often-sunny disposition got Ameya through a tough childhood, one filled with teasing, low self-esteem and loneliness. Luka was always there to bring a smile to Ameya's face, to cheer him up and comfort him from loneliness.
 
Dr. Kay
Height: 5'8", Eyes: brown, Hair: dark brown, Age: 52, Vocation: veterinarian. Like Ameya in many ways, though lacking his clumsiness and absentmindedness, Dr. Kay is kind, gentle and caring, the perfect personality for a veterinarian, having been Ameya's vet from the day he got Luka when he was a boy up to his new life with Loki.

SFRevu
"Cats don't do work ... that's what humans are for..."

In the first edition, readers are introduced to Ameya, a gifted artist who upon learning of the death of his beloved pet abruptly stops painting. Years later, he unexpectedly finds a stray cat under a bench in the park.

It's after Ameya takes this somewhat of a miscreant into his life that this book begins: with him curling up on the couch to watch a movie as he is recovering from an injury to his foot. He inquires to Loki, his newfound kitty, if he would wish to join him but instead of the sought after pleasure of a snuggle buddy, Ameya is suddenly thrust back into a series of painful memories--memories that reveal why his first cat, Luka, meant so much to him. And as to why he gave up his art. The tragic moment suddenly vanishes as the fairly unsocial Loki, almost as if feeling his distress, finally agrees to sit with him.

A few days later finds Ameya preparing to clean the studio he still owns with Loki (amusingly dressed like a maid) in tow. The idea is brought to a quick halt as his agent, Miss Chacha, arrives on the scene and orders him to stop hiding in his abode and get out to get some fresh air. Reluctantly he agrees, leaving Miss Chacha alone with a perturbed Loki where she unexpectedly, but very happily, discovers that Ameya is once again attending to his art, even if the subject is a bit odd in her opinion.

Meanwhile, Ameya heads down the road to his local coffee shop where he gets into a conversation with his former employer and a girl on the staff only to be interrupted by a young lady who, accompanied by her own cat, slips on a wet floor and practically falls into his lap. As one good tumble causes another, Ameya rapidly finds himself face-to-face with an attractive young photographer who just might hold the key to his getting back into the world.

But as he begins to spend more and more time with her, will Ameya, much less Loki and Miss Chacha, be prepared to live with the choices he thinks he's ready to make?

Overall, the story works--gently introducing the reader to the backstory and some of the quirky aspects of both Loki and Ameya before gradually continuing to develop from there. Although at times it does slow, on the whole it is a steadily paced tale, without too much to distract from the story or lose the reader.

The characters hold enough of their own unique qualities to keep the reader involved and interested. The endearing artwork was sufficiently done and did a good job portraying the story and engaging the reader. One note: Ameya's almost seamless visualization of the "boy-kitty" transformation of both Luka and Loki was nicely made.

In essence, My Cat Loki is a sweet, easy read dramatic fantasy designed for readers of most ages and is pretty safe for the younger lot (no violence, sex, etc.). Some non-cat aficionados may not instinctively understand some of the interplay between the characters but it probably won't detract too much from the overall tale if they don't.

~Dehanna Bailee, SFRevu
http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=6056

The Herald News
Fall River — FALL RIVER — It’s something about the large, angular eyes that seems to be the focal point of manga, the Japanese style of comic art.

The hair, it’s thick and wispy. The noses, a bit pointy. Round faces. And, nearly everything with a jagged edge. It’s a different look than American comics and a style of art that is precise yet creative, that must be mastered to be published.

For those who like to read manga and those who like to draw it, listening to Bettina M. Kurkoski, author, illustrator and creator of manga comic book “My Cat Loki,” was a rare treat on Friday afternoon.

Kurkoski gave a talk and showed her work at the main Fall River Public Library.

Her second “My Cat Loki” book was just released. Loki is a cat, an orange Tabby to be exact, who was rescued soaking wet from a park by Ameya, a 27-year-old artist mourning the loss of his brother.

“Loki is based on my own experience of having a cat and having him die,” Kurkoski said. “I had him for 21 years. We grew up together.”

Loki, like Kurkoski’s cat, is loving, but with a bit of an attitude. “I took the idea of his personality and brought it to life,” she said.

Besides growing up with her cat, Kurkoski also grew up drawing, so much so that it got her into trouble at school and at home.

“I drew all the time, even when I wasn’t supposed to,” Kurkoski said, showing an early comic she drew as a child. She drew on her desk and in her notebooks, and when she was supposed to be doing her chores.

She was unknowingly introduced to Japanese comics in the cartoons she watched as a child, like Transformers, Thundercats and “Pokemon.”

“They were more my style than unicorns and puppies,” Kurkoski said. “They were definitely my inspiration. I drew a lot of them.”

She majored in illustration at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, graduating in 1996, and drew all sorts of comics. “I went through many different styles in my college years,” Kurkoski said.

Later, she found it very difficult to get into the American comic book industry, a “boys club” she said.

“I got rid of the style I was working with,” said Kurkoski. “I went into manga.”

She created her own style, an “American hybrid manga style,” she said. “It evolved.”

It was winning the 2003 Rising Star competition of publisher TokyoPop that got Kurkoski’s work noticed and published. After drawing under several authors for a few failed projects, Kurkoski created her own story to go with her artwork.

She’s also a freelance artist and owner of Dreamworld Studios in Plymouth and is the only local manga artist around, she believes.

To get kids interested in manga, she showed them how she goes through the process of creating her characters and their stories and offered lots of helpful hints.

For folks interested in trying their own hand at manga art, log on to www.howtodrawmanga.com where there is an online lessons section. To contact Kurkoski, log on to her Web site, www.dreamworldstudio.net.