Comic: THEM CATS in “Yesterday”

The lastest THEM CATS comic on what’s never said in therapy, but would totally be said in session if it were true.

Them Cats in “Yesterday” by T.McCarthy
Me: Well. That was an absolutely hard day. 
The Therapist: You mean, yesterday?
Me: Not all day. But it was hard.
The Therapist: I see.
Me: You always see. 
The Therapist: It means I listen. 
Me: SIGH

Ever have therapy sessions like these?

I do. I was writing about Them Cats to someone on Substack because he wrote “tell me more.” It gave me thought: why am I doing this comic? What value does it have?

Should the work we put on Substack—and into the world have value?

Can't something merely exist and “be” its own entity?

I know Them Cats exists as something I do out of necessity—because I have to get it out of my system to transform what I'm feeling inside.

That's why catharsis is so powerful.

We transmute and transcend.

It’s what we must do as human beings.

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I draw in the My Morning Pages journal—a beast of 5,152 pages of diary with illustrations, poetry, to-do lists, “I did it lists,” rants, notes, plans (of Wile E. Coyote proportions), and diagrams.

If this looks familiar, it’s because I’m riffing on Wile E. Coyote’s business card in the Road Runner cartoons. The title “Super Librarian” is synonymous with “Genius.”

Yesterday, I cleaned up “Let Your Inner Light Shine,” in order to pare it down in its simplest form.

I reduce complex things & feelings to simple lines or icons in my work to achieve a level of transcendence from the pain of my outer and inner world. By simplifying, I see an easier path. I forge a different future by recreating this way.

“Let Your Inner Light Shine,” 2025 by T.McCarthy

At my art collective in San Francisco, I've come to revisit my minimalist manifesto—complete with typos—over and over. It resonates.

It’s what makes sense for now in my work—until I evolve again.

And that's saying a lot.

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AUDIO