Updated on December 10, 2021
“My Cage” (by Melissa DeJesus and Ed Power) was a newspaper comic strip that I enjoyed during its 2007-2010 run in newspapers. Set in a world where only anthropomorphic animals live (humans having gone extinct many millennia ago), the strip focused on Norman, a platypus who’s stuck in a dysfunctional office. Unlike “Dilbert,” however, the characters in said office were actually allowed to change a bit over time. The same could be said for Norman, who ended up getting married to his girlfriend, a dog named Bridget. Norm also lives with his pet amoeba Squishy (giant amoebas serve as non-sentient doglike pets in this world).
Also similar to the 80s DC Comic “Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew,” the world the characters live in feature animal-themed puns for celebrities, politicians, etc., similar to the Zoo Crew’s Earth-C.
One of my favorite “My Cage” strips is this one, with Norm summing up his two coworkers’ relationship (mean-spirited Violet and egoistical Rex, a chihuahua and doberman respectively) as “barely ‘Alien vs. Predator’” (and not “When Hairy Met Sally”).
After the strip’s cancellation, I figured it’d be the last I’d see of the characters. However, in 2015, the strip’s made a comeback online. “My Cage” is now available with some new strips (mixed with classic ones) on GoComics. It’s also available (plus some extra material) through the creators’ Patreon page. Fortunately, the strip picked up on where its storyline left off, with Norm and Bridget expecting their first child.
