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July, 2012:

Big Bears of Doom

Over the past couple of years, Ethan Nicolle has made a name for himself as the artist for Axe Cop, a full-color comic book series written by Ethan’s pre-teen brother Malachai Nicolle. Now, Ethan is branching out as both writer and artist of a new on-line creation called Bearmageddon.  Here’s how he describes it on the web site: “Bearmageddon is a story about a few every-day twenty-somethings getting caught up in an all-out war on mankind by grizzly bears. That’s all I’m going to say for now because I don’t want to spoil anything.” Uh, gee, thanks! All that we can tell is that the bears who attack humanity in this comic do so in some of the most bizarre mutant forms. You’ll have to see them to know what we mean. Bearmageddon updates every  Wednesday and Friday. The image below is available as a poster, and a t-shirt is currently in the works.

image c. 2012 by Ethan Nicolle

The Cat is a Lizard

Jason Brubaker works by day as a visual design artist at Dreamworks Animation, and by night as a self-published comic book creator. His story reMIND… well, here, we better let him describe it: “Sonja, the lighthouse keeper at a seaside oil drilling town, loses her cat, Victuals. Everyone blames the Lizard Man, the local boogeyman, which Sonja knows is a myth created by her late father to generate interest in the town. But when Victuals unexpectedly returns and has the brain of a strange intelligent creature; it seems someone is doing experimental transplants. With the brain of a lizard and the body of a cat, Victuals must now fight to recover his original lizard body and confront what he thought was the all-powerful god.” So, you got that? Good. reMIND has been collected into one hardcover graphic novel previously, and Volume 2 has just been released. And of course, you can visit the reMIND web site to keep up with the latest adventures.

image c. 2012 by Jason Brubaker

Turn into a Newt! It’s Better.

Gud Fit Entertainment is a rather new comic book company which produces colorful comic books and on-line comics with young readers in mind — but everyone is certainly welcome to check them out. Among their current titles is Dorse and Doose, the story of a horse (Dorse) raised by a dog (Doose) trying to find his way living on a farm. More along the traditional comic book line is Super Newts, the story of Cool and Cute: Two super-powered amphibians sworn to protect the inhabitants of Amphibiland from all dangers. Check out the Gud Fit web site to find out more about these and other upcoming projects.

image c. 2012 Gud Fit

Sanctuary! Sanctuary!

Actually, Sanctuary is a black & white on-line comic book by Stephen Coughlin, published as part of Slave Labor Graphics on-line comics initiative. It’s a funny animal adventure, but also a murder mystery. ” A research station on a secluded island houses a game reserve/sanctuary where the animals seem to be just a tad smarter than the human researchers observing them. The arrival of a Panda bear threatens to upset the delicate balance of life for everyone involved.” Word is out that Sanctuary will also be released soon on dead trees.  For now, check it out at SLG’s page.

image c. 2012 by Stephen Coughlin

Prydwen Premiers

Lynn Hogan is an author and artist from the Seattle, Washington area. She’s worked for Marvel Comics and Bella Sara, among others. Prydwen is a fantasy-adventure comic she has been putting up on line for some time. Now Sofawolf Press have released Prydwen: Gods and Monsters, the first graphic novel compilation of the on-line comic. This full-color work is available in softcover and hardcover editions. “Orphaned at a young age and raised in a Sui monastery, Prydwen settles into a peaceful life tending the gardens, never knowing who she is or where she came from. When disturbing dreams give way to waking up in patches of ash where flowers used to be, she flees the safety of the church grounds with her friend Auric, looking for answers. Her path takes her deep into the sacred gardens of the Wanderkind God, where she is destined to release his imprisoned Elynd and learn more about her past.” Sofawolf has a preview on their web site, and a video preview up on YouTube as well.

image c. 2012 Lynn Hogan

Join the Zoo

Animator Chris Ayers became well-known for his Daily Zoo project, in which he drew one new animal character every day for a year — therapy while he recovered from a life-threatening illness.  Two Daily Zoo books have been released so far… but his latest book takes a different tack. My Daily Zoo is a softcover book featuring over 96 pages of interactive black & white drawing exercises where you unleash your creativity and draw new cartoon animals. You can find out more about Chris, his inspiring story, and his works at his web site.

image c. 2012 Chris Ayers

Friendship is Magic on the Printed Page

Back from San Diego Comic Con with sore feet and lots of stuff to tell you about!

First up: Among the many things at SDCC dedicated to My Little Pony — Friendship is Magic was the news that IDW Publishing will release a brand-new full-color MLP-FIM comic book series, starting up in November. The lead artist for the series is Andy Price, who since the announcement of the comic has been answering a flood of questions over on his Deviant Art page. According to him (and IDW, whom your trusty ed-otter spoke to at the con), the series will feature brand-new in-canon stories of the inhabitants of Equestria, not adaptations of the existing TV episodes. Various artists have been commissioned to create the covers for each issue. Mr. Price made it a point to note that his art for the series will be all hand-drawn and hand-colored. Check out his site or the IDW site for more news on a release date for the first issue.

image c. 2012 IDW Publishing

Dreamworks-Land?

Interesting news making the rounds yesterday: Dreamworks Animation have inked a deal with the developer Triple Five to bring a 14-plus acre indoor theme park to Meadowlands, New Jersey. Here’s the scoop: Triple Five (who built the successful Mall of America entertainment complex in Minneapolis, Minnesota) took over the development of a large 5-story shopping and entertainment center complex built near the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Originally called Xanadu, the project has remained vacant and un-used since 2009 after having gone way over budget. Now re-named American Dream, the plan is for the new property to include an indoor theme park featuring thrill rides, dark rides, walk-about characters, and shows all based on Dreamworks animated films. The New York Times has the story on-line. The governor of New Jersey was hoping that the project would be complete by early 2014, when Met Life Stadium will be hosting the Superbowl, but for now it’s looking like American Dream won’t open until later that year.

And with that, we’ll see you again after San Diego Comic Con!

image c. 2012 Dreamworks Animation

The Curse and The Pug

Here at In-Fur-Nation we’ve covered a lot of pirates, and a lot of werewolves, and a lot of little doggies.  Well, how about a little doggy who fights pirates who are werewolves? Welcome to the world of Mike Norton’s The Curse. In 2009 Mr. Norton, creator of Battlepug (which we’ve also covered here) took up the 24-Hour Comic Book Challenge, which yes, challenges comic book creators to bring about a 24-page comic book, from scratch, in 24 hours. The result was The Curse, in which a small but tenacious pet pug helps his master to defeat an evil band of pirates who’s bite turns you into one of their kind! The response to The Curse was so positive that Mr. Norton returned to it and created Parts 2 and 3 in 2010 and 2011 for the same challenge. Now Oni Press has collected all three sections into a single black and white trade paperback, which is available for pre-order and headed to the shelves this October.

image c. 2012 Mike Norton / Oni Press