Mark told us the reason cats are so prominently present in his cartoons are: “Cats are great and have so many fun quirks. I'll never run out of cat ideas.”
We also asked some questions related to his whole artistic work. For instance, we wanted to know how the works of Charles Schulz, MAD Magazine, and Gary Larson influenced Parisi’s unique style and approach to creating cartoons. The artist shared with us: “Schulz taught me the simplicity of line and expression. MAD showed how fun it was to be subversive. Larson combined both and was wickedly funny.”
The cartoonist also shared with us what specific moments from his life as a cat owner sparked an idea for one of his feline-themed comics: “Many of my cat cartoons come from personal experience, but what comes to mind is a recent one (April 18) shows a man seeing his cat in the perfect pose, and just as he gets ready to take a pic, the cat licks its butt. That happens all the time.”
Asked how some of the current events and everyday occurrences, like pop culture and pandemics, have influenced the themes and humor in his cat cartoons, Mark said: “With the pandemic, I did a lot of Work at Home cartoons, which were heavy with cats. With politics, I've shown cats as Election Support Pets. As far as pop culture, there's the Floof Fighters. There is always an angle.”
Lastly, we were curious what the cartoonist hopes his readers take away from his cat-themed works. The author of the ‘Off the Mark’ series told us: “I love cats but hope my cat cartoons appeal to both cat lovers and cat dislikers. I hope I can turn a disliker into a lover, but doubt it!”
