Lew Stringer noted Billy the Cat published when the Batman television adaptation aired, but the character having a secret identity as a schoolboy was similar to Spider-Man's characterisation.

As the disguise, Grange becomes superhumanly agile: jumping off the ground onto roofs, and somersaulting great lengths; and strong enough to defeat adult criminals in hand-to-hand combat.

Although the genre had featured in the magazine since the first issue, the paragraphs of text under each panel would eventually become unpopular with readers who preferred the visual and humorous comic strips.

Illustrated by Sandy Calder, Grange is joined by his cousin Kathleen, whose parents are visiting the United States and is sent to stay with him until they return.

2008's edition was a notorious three-part story where Billy the Cat discovers the antagonist is General Jumbo, mind-controlled by his army model Private Pike.

[13] 2010's edition featured William the Cat, a similar-themed superhero strip set in the Victorian era, revealed to be Grange's imagination during a school trip to a museum.

Although Grange (and cousin Kathleen)'s age was never specified, Buddy's Billy the Cat series depicted him as looking notably older, possibly his late teens, and the story relocated to Marham, finishing in issue 128.

[37][38] In 2013, The Digital Dandy's shared universe story Retro Active featured Kathleen in her Katie Cat persona joining the superhero team, and an adult William had a supporting role, revealing he was now a police officer in charge of the force's Costumed Crime Division.

Former reader David Carman wrote online fanfiction to give William and Kathleen an (unofficial) origin story, which DC Thomson approved.