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May, 2019:

There’s Something Strange Going On ‘Round Here…

Recently we discovered Crossroads, an urban fantasy comic series brought to you by Crossroads Comix — a collection of creative folks from San Jose State University in California. To hear them tell it, “This multimedia series takes place in the sleepy Pacific Northwest beach town of Crossroads. A washed-up college graduate named Como is at an impasse in his life, but his life is turned upside down as a series of unusual events start to follow him and his friends everywhere they go. Como and his friend Nina set out to find out what is really going on in Crossroads.” Multimedia means there’s an on-line comic, as well as upcoming animation and music videos. There’s even a trade paperback called The Art of Crossroads available. Visit their Tumblr site to find out more.

image c. 2019 Crossroads Comix

Gold Is In Them Hills

One thing we like about visiting conventions is coming across “how did we miss this?” items. For instance: At BLFC we stumbled across The Tale of Jasper Gold, a black & white on-line comic written and illustrated by Jamil Gonzalez. “When settled rancher Jasper Gold’s bounty-hunting past catches up to him, Jasper must take up his gun once again to track down a gang of criminals as he searches for his lost daughter. The Tale of Jasper Gold is a tale of dastardly villains, gun-toting bounty hunters, and courageous heroes of the West.” Last year, Volume 1 of the Jasper Gold story arc was collected in a trade paperback graphic novel by Jarlidium Press. It’s available now from Rabbit Valley. [In other bunny news: If you didn’t hear, the Rabbit Valley crew are retiring from their appearances at furry conventions. Soon they’ll be moving to on-line sales only. We’ll miss you folks in our travels!]

image c. 2019 Jarlidium Press

He’s Big, He’s White, He’s Lost

Just today we got the first full trailer for Abominable, the new animated feature from Dreamworks and Pearl, their production partners in China. Animation Scoop has the video. “When teenage Yi (Chloe Bennet, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) encounters a young Yeti on the roof of her apartment building in Shanghai, she and her mischievous friends, Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor) and Peng (Albert Tsai), name him ‘Everest’ and embark on an epic quest to reunite the magical creature with his family at the highest point on Earth. But the trio of friends will have to stay one-step ahead of Burnish (Eddie Izzard), a wealthy man intent on capturing a Yeti, and zoologist Dr. Zara (Sarah Paulson) to help Everest get home… Abominable is written and directed by Jill Culton (Open Season, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story 2) and co-directed by Todd Wilderman (Trolls, The Croods).” Look for it in theaters September 27th.

image c. 2019 Entertainment Weekly

Delivered On Time — Or Else!

Just got back from Biggest Little Fur Con, and of course we’ve got lots to talk about. But first… Udon Entertainment have released the Samurai Pizza Cats Official Fan Book in North America. What’s that you ask? Well according to Wikipedia, “Kyatto Ninden Teyandee is an anime series produced by Tatsunoko Productions and Sotsu Agency. The series originally aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from February 1, 1990 to February 12, 1991… Saban picked up the North American rights to the series in 1991, and produced an English version called Samurai Pizza Cats.” Honestly, that explanation barely cat-scratches the surface of just how weird and wonderful this series was. Fan interest has not waned over the years, and now there’s a book all about it! “The Samurai Pizza Cats: Official Fan Book is packed with the best toppings: Pinup artwork, character designs and profiles, episode summaries, rough concepts, and exclusive in-depth interviews with the show’s creators and original cast.” Check out the preview over at Comicon.com.

image c. 2019 Udon Entertainment

Murder Most Fluffy

Dunno how we missed this one, but… here’s more dark, distressing oddness from Source Point Press. “Torsobear: Yarns From Toyburg is a collection of 12 grisly crime yarns, written in the style of old film noir and set in a world of toys. In the fluffy-noir world of Toyburg, some toys just don’t play nice… Dismembered teddy bears are being found in the back alleys of this sweet city. It’s up to our hero, rookie detective Ruxby Bear, and his partner, Officer Hazbrow to solve the string of murders, no matter how high and far the clues take them.” No description of who wrote or drew it, but they’re up to Volume 3 of this trade paperback series.

image c. 2019 Source Point Press

New Take on an Old… Well Actually, Young Iguana

We got this direct from Animation World Network: “Hoho Entertainment has announced they have joined forces with JLI to co-develop and co-produce a brand-new animated preschool series based on the Latin heritage brand Juana la Iguana. In the new series, Juana becomes mentor and guide to youngsters Amazonas and Miguel. She leads them on exciting adventures as they discover the magic and wonder of Estrella Island. Juana shows the kids that kindness and compassion are the problem-solving tools needed to overcome any difficulty.  Heritage brand Juana la Iguana has been a favorite in Latin America for over 20 years. The original Spanish-language character show was created by Tania Gilinski, along with partners Amanda Quijano and Anita Katz – the three Latin American mothers wanted to create a program for children that incorporated both culture and values. The Juana the Iguana series began as three home videos, one of which was second only to The Lion King in sales in Venezuela. It was then picked up by national TV and became a smash hit in home and neighboring Latin America territories.” No word yet on North American distribution for this new series, but we assume the producers would love that.

image c. 2019 Hoho Entertainment

Does Stitch Know?

More stuff we found at WonderCon this year. Ohana Bears are the creation of “Hawaii’s own internationally renown award winning artist/designer: Bo Bergemann”. So says their web site. The cute Hawaiian bear art is available on various apparel, mugs, phone covers, and other products. And: They’re about to release a brand new plush toy based on their star character, Mahalo Bear.

image c. 2019 by Karin Bergemann

Flavorz of the Week

At WonderCon we came across an artist known as Jo2, who creates art under the name Artistic Flavorz. As you can see from their web site, they specialize in especially cute, chibi versions of characters from many places — but with a particular affinity for Disney and Harry Potter. Visit them to see what they offer in greeting cards, stickers, and especially enamel pins.

image c. 2019 by Artistic Flavorz

Give Him That Medal!

Perhaps the most famous “fur-suiter” on the planet has left us. Peter Mayhew, best known as the human inside the massive “walking carpet” Chewbacca in the Star Wars series of films, passed away on April 30th at the age of 74. Interestingly, before Mr. Mayhew came to the attention of director George Lucas he appeared as another anthropomorphic character: The minotaur in 1976’s Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. Peter Mayhew played Chewbacca the 200-year-old wookie from the first Star Wars film in 1977 (Episode 4, aka A New Hope) until 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when he passed on the role to former basketball player Joonas Suatamo. But Peter Mayhew will always be known as the warbling roar that announced Star Wars to the world.

image c. 2019 The Verge