The Rise of Scourge

The Rise of Scourge is a stand-alone graphic novel.

The Blurb

 * When kittypet Tiny crosses paths with some wild forest cats defending their territory, he is left with scars - and a bitter, deep-seated grudge. As his reputation grows among the strays and loners that live in the dirty brick alleyways of Twolegplace, he changes his name to Scourge and puts everything about his old life behind him - except his deadly desire for revenge.

The Praise

 * "Grade 4–7—This adaptation provides a look at the origins of the cat Scourge, the evil leader of the BloodClan. Tiny is a fearful house kitten who is the runt of the litter. Once he strikes out on his own, though, he renames himself Scourge and vows to take revenge on the wild forest cats who once attacked him. Though drawn and laid out in a manga style, the illustrations are more detailed than typical manga drawings and effectively bring out the cats' personalities and characters."
 * -School Library Journal

Plot Summary

 * The book begins with a close up of Tiny, and his brother and sister, Socks and Ruby.  After several complaints from Tiny's siblings addressing they don't like to play with him because he is so small, as well as the kits' first journey outside, Quince leaps onto a couch and reminisces over her litter's father. Quoted, "Strange that none of them have your ginger fur..." This is a pointer towards the fact that Jake is the father of Tiny, and that Tiny and Firestar are in fact half-brothers.


 * Later on, when Quince takes her kits outside, Tiny notices a hole in the fence and ventures out. After looking around and playing, Tiny runs back to his family, where he then tells them he went into the forest. However, he greatly exaggerates things, like saying he climbed a 'tower' in place of a tree stump, and 'ate a fox' when he never did, and is yet again ignored by his siblings. Coming back inside, several Twoleg kits looking to adopt kittens come into the house, and before adopting Ruby and Socks, Ruby frightens Tiny by telling him that unwanted kits get thrown into the river. Believing his sister's lie, Tiny tries to act cute for the Twoleg kits, but gets ignored. He doesn't want to be thrown into the river, so he runs away through the hole in the fence.


 * Venturing into the forest, Tiny encounters a ThunderClan patrol composed of Tigerpaw, Bluefur, and Thistleclaw. Tigerpaw, as ordered by Thistleclaw, attacks Tiny, snapping the bell off of Tiny's collar and nearly killing him, but he is stopped by the more sympathetic Bluefur, who yowls at them to stop. She says that he had learned his lesson. Tigerpaw simply says he was defending their territory. The patrol heads back into the forest. Tiny, consumed by fear and the need for revenge on Tigerpaw, flees to the alleys of Twolegplace.


 * Upon arriving, Tiny survives by accepting a share of chicken from an elderly she-cat. Wandering aimlessly, Tiny attempts to take off his collar, but accidentally impales an old dog's tooth in it. Nearby cats start to laugh, and he flees. Hungry, he finds a group of cats eating, and asks if he could join them. Being questioned about the tooth in his collar, he lies and says that he wrenched it from a dog's mouth that he killed, and soon begins to feed with them, his trickery not seen through, but believed instead.


 * The next morning he is visited by Bone, a massive black tom with white markings, and Brick, a thin and gaunt cat with an unknown gender. Both soon-to-be-BloodClan cats, who ask him if he will drive out a territorial dog that is guarding a dumpster. Scared, yet not admitting to lying yet, he reluctantly enters the dog's premises. The dog seemingly prepares to attack, before it goes whimpering off, spooked by Tiny's enlarged shadow. Praised by the cats, Tiny comes up with a name that was once used in a phrase that was once said by Quince, his mother; Scourge.


 * Soon after, Scourge somewhat becomes the leader of the alley cats. Consulted yet again by Bone, he faces a gang of cats and drives them off by slaughtering one of them (from the images, these cats appear to be Brokenstar and his followers, driven out from ShadowClan; as one of the cats is a tabby with a crooked tail - just like Brokenstar). By now he has been completely consumed in revenge and comments that the chill in his blood grows, yet he welcomes it. Somewhat later he is visited by his siblings, who tell an unfortunate tale of being abandoned by their Twolegs. When his siblings ask him if blood means anything, seeing as they are kin; he replies to them that the only blood he is interested in is the blood flowing from his enemies, that his cats are bathed in blood, and that it laps at their paws - and they are BloodClan. He allows them to eat but then permanently banishes them from his territory. They are never heard from again.


 * The book draws to a conclusion as Tigerstar, guided by Boulder, comes to Scourge and asks for his alliance. Fast forward the amount of time before he leads BloodClan into the forest, Tigerstar and Scourge face off, and the books ends with Scourge standing triumphantly over Tigerstar's dead body. He states that he proved his littermates wrong that he was too small and weak. He says that he is leader of BloodClan, and has finally won.

Trivia

 * It is strongly suggested that Scourge is the cat depicted in the center of the cover, with Scourge and Tigerstar fighting below.
 * It should be noted that while this book is referred to as 'manga', it is not, as it did not originate in Japan and was not drawn by Japanese mangaka.

Publication List

 * Rise of Scourge (EN), HarperCollins (paperback), 24 June 2008
 * Бич: путь к власти (RU), Tokyopop (paperback), October 2010
 * 长鞭崛起 (CHN), Future Publishing (paperback), 30 January 2012