Bernard "Hap" Kliban (b. 1935, d. 1990)

was an influential cartoonist born in New York. He studied at the Pratt Institute and spent time painting and travelling in Europe before moving to California near San Francisco. In 1962, Kliban became a Playboy cartoonist, contributing cartoons until his death. He is best-known for the book Cat, a collection of cartoons about cats drawn in Kliban's distinctive style. The cat cartoons were discovered by Playboy editor and the 1975 book Cat was born.Cat paved the way for cat books by other cartoonists, and for hundreds of other cat collections with gaudy artistic themes.

Unlike many of them though, Kliban's cats were never sentimental. As an artist of abominations, it follows he should have a perceptive insight into the mind of cats. He drew them with affection, but revealed them as the self-important, sadistic, comic, hedonistic, disturbing creatures they are. We laugh at them because he shows us how cats are, from their language ("Ngow!", "Prt?"), to their nibbling mousie's feet. As bewitching as the humour is the occasional sketch of his own cats Nitty, Norton, Burton Rustle and Noko Marie the Snake.