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Books and Trade Paperbacks

The Best of Berkeley Breathed

May 16th, 2011
by rodney.
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Early this year, the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco made the following announcement: “The Cartoon Art Museum presents ‘From Bloom County to Mars: The Imagination of Berkeley Breathed’, an exhibition of original artwork featuring one of the most popular cartoonists of the past quarter-century! To commemorate this exhibition, the Cartoon Art Museum, in conjunction with IDW, publisher of Breathed’s Bloom County: The Complete Collection, will publish a limited edition, full color, 96-page catalog featuring original artwork from Bloom County, Outland, A Wish for Wings That Work, Goodnight Opus, and other childrens’ books and feature film proposals from Breathed, including Mars Needs Moms!, soon to be released as an animated feature film from Walt Disney Studios. In addition to full-color reproductions of original artwork, the catalog will feature exclusive content including essays by Bill Amend, creator of FoxTrot; Keith Knight, creator of The K Chronicles; Amy Lago, Comics Editor of the Washington Post Writers Group; and Cartoon Art Museum Curator Andrew Farago; as well as a lengthy interview with Breathed conducted by cartoonist and author Shaenon K. Garrity“. Now, this limited-run publication is being offered by IDW, starting this July. You may need to pre-order a copy, so visit their web site to find out more.

 

image c. 2011 Berke Breathed

Beware the Worgen

May 14th, 2011
by rodney.
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And now something for fans of the massive on-line role-playing game World of Warcraft — and also fans of werewolves. DC Comics is collecting the five-issue miniseries World of Warcraft: Curse of the Worgen into a single hardcover graphic novel, coming this September. This is from the publisher’s notes: “A series of grisly, animalistic murders have rocked the walled town of Gilneas. A famous detective sets out to discover the perpetrators and finds far more than he bargained for. To find the truth, he must delve through years of twisted history – both the history of his family and Gilneas itself.” The original series was written by Micky Neilson and James Waugh, and illustrated in full-color by Ludo Lullabi and Tony Washington.

 

image c. 2011 DC Comics

Fuzzy Nation

May 12th, 2011
by rodney.
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By far one of the Grand-Daddies of anthropomorphic science fiction (as opposed to furry fantasy or children’s stories) is the Fuzzy series by the late H. Beam Piper. Beginning with Little Fuzzy in 1962, Piper introduced us to the short, fur-covered in inhabitants of the planet Zarathustra, and what happens when humans colonizing the planet stumble across them. (Yes, we’re certain that George Lucas read the book as a young man, too.) Piper wrote a second Fuzzy book (Fuzzy Sapiens), but then he committed suicide in 1964, seemingly bringing the series to an end. However, the books continued to grow in popularity, becoming nearly required reading for up-and-coming science fiction fans in the 1970’s and 80’s. Eventually, Ace Books hired William Tuning to write a third book in the series, and Fuzzy Bones was the result. Some time later, Ardath Mayar wrote a book called Golden Dreams: A Fuzzy Odyssey, which told of the planet Zarathustra from the point of view of the fuzzies themselves — and postulated that they were actually a space-fairing race.  Then, strangely enough, H. Beam Piper’s missing third Fuzzy book turned up, Fuzzies and Other People, and the history of Zarathustra was changed all over again. So, why are we telling you all this now? Well, it seems that author John Scalzi has decided to “reboot” the Fuzzy series all over again with his new book, Fuzzy Nation. It’s available now from Tor Books. According to the press release, it tells the story of one Jack Holloway, who discovers a wealth of gems on the planet Zarathustra. They belong to company that hired Jack, so long as there are no sentient species on the planet.  Then, these fuzzy little aliens show up in Jack’s camp…

Miranda and the Tiger’s Eye

May 4th, 2011
by rodney.
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Recently stumbled across: Miranda and the Tiger’s Eye, by Sara Beacham. “Miranda’s adventure begins with a gift and a wish. The gift, from a collector’s shop in India, is a special stone that fell from a statue stolen long ago. The stone, called a tiger’s eye, is said to have magical powers. Follow Miranda as she literally falls into a journey beyond the mist. Along the way, she is joined by a talking Secretary Bird and Barn Owl. Together they search for the rightful owner of the tiger’s eye.” That rightful owner is a tiger named Raja, and Miranda’s journey to find him takes her, two talking birds, and numerous other animal characters on an adventure that critics have compared to both Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis. Miranda and the Tiger’s Eye is available from FOM Publishing. You can read more about it on Amazon.

 

image c. 2011 FOM Publishing

The Fat Cat is Back

Mar 21st, 2011
by rodney.
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Well this sort of came out of nowhere… A brand new CGI show featuring Jim Davis’ inescapable cat Garfield was made in France in 2008. Then, in 2009, episodes of The Garfield Show began airing in North America on Cartoon Network, with all-around voice actor Frank Welker voicing Garfield in place of the late Lorenzo Music. One of the main writers and voice directors for the series is Mark Evanier, who was also lead writer for the original 2D series Garfield and Friends in the 1980’s. Now it seems that Papercutz (home of the Geronimo Stilton series) is creating a series of hardcover full-color comic collections based on The Garfield Show. The collections are titled Garfield & Co., and they come to stores this May.

Drawing Fantastic Furries

Mar 13th, 2011
by rodney.
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Christopher Hart is a name well-known among those learning to draw: He’s put out several books of how to draw cartoon characters and characters for animation in the past. But now, he’s trying something pretty new.  His new book is called Drawing Fantastic Furries: The Ultimate Guide to Drawing Anthropomorphic Characters. That’s a pretty big claim, whot? Well here’s how the publishers describe it on Amazon: “What Is A Furry? A furry is an anthropomorphic being—an animal with human characteristics. Furries have fascinated artists going back thousands of years and as seen in the influx of animal/human characters into popular culture, interest today is at an all time high. And now for the first time all in one volume, you’ll be able to take the next step to the outer limits of your imagination with the ultimate guide to drawing your own furries—Christopher Hart’s Drawing Fantastic Furries. After a basic lesson in the fundamentals of comparative human and animal anatomies, you’ll learn how to draw an entire menagerie of furry species, ranging from the adorable and charming super-cute furries to the seductive and super-popular glamorous furries to the warriors, wizards, vampires, and demons of the furry occult and fantasy realms.” The book is available this week in paperback from Watson-Guptill. The cover certainly grabs attention!

 

image c. 2011 Christopher Hart

Oh My!

Mar 11th, 2011
by rodney.
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Hermes Press have announced they are now the new publishers of Mike Bullock and Michael Metcalf’s well-known (and well-loved) comic book series Lions, Tigers, and Bears. The long-awaited full-color Volume 3 graphic novel is available now in softcover.  This is from their press release: “Mike Bullock’s internationally acclaimed, best selling title has a new home with Hermes Press! The long awaited Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Volume 3 arrives in stores March, 2011. ‘Lions, Tigers, and Bears is a remarkable title, with memorable characters, an enchanting concept, and beautiful artwork,’ observed Hermes Press’ Publisher, Dan Herman. ‘We’re really excited about releasing all new adventures of Joey, Courtney, Ares, Venus, Pallo and Minerva as a graphic novel.'” For those who haven’t found it yet, Lions, Tigers, and Bears is the story of a group of kids who discover that their stuffed animal toys have the ability to come to life — as rather large animals — to protect the children in their care from an invasion of other-worldly demons.

When Karl Barks did Barney Bear

Mar 9th, 2011
by rodney.
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Some rare and seldom-seen comic book work by Uncle Scrooge creator and artist Carl Barks is coming our way this June, thanks to IDW Publishing. It’s a new hardcover collection called Barks’ Bear Book. Here’s the publisher’s description from Amazon: “Carl Barks tops the list of greatest comic book artists of many devoted fans around the world. He has often been called ‘The Good Duck Artist’ by avid readers of all ages of his Disney Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics. Those Duck stories have been reprinted and loved again and again by millions. But, while the Duck oeuvre is easily obtainable, only a few elite fans have gotten rare glimpses of yet another fabulous, alternate universe that Barks created around the classic animation characters Barney Bear and Benny Burro. Hidden in rare, Golden Age comics only Scrooge McDuck could afford are wonderful, full-color fantasy and fun stories as only Barks can write and draw ’em! Collected for the first time in a deluxe, hardcover, full-color tome are all of these masterpieces, meticulously restored. The Barks’ Bear Book is edited and designed by Eisner-Award-winning comics historian Craig Yoe, with a fascinating introduction and special cover is by Barks-devotee Jeff Smith, the best-selling graphic novelist of the Bone comics series.”

 

image c. 2011 IDW Publishing

Kittens and Existential Angst

Mar 5th, 2011
by rodney.
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“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that he had been changed into an adorable kitten.” If that sounds vaguely familiar, it should: It’s roughly the beginning of Franz Kafka’s best-known work, The Metamorphosis. Only this time around, it’s not giant bugs that take center stage, it’s giant kittens: The Meowmorphosis is a brand-new spoof novel coming soon from the pseudonym known as Coleridge Cook. Here’s the publisher’s notes from Amazon.com: “Meet Gregor Samsa, a humble young man who works as a fabric salesman to support his parents and sister. His life goes strangely awry when he wakes up late for work and discovers that, inexplicably, he is now a man-sized baby kitten. His family freaks out: Yes, their son is OMG so cute, but what good is cute when there are bills to pay? And how can Gregor be so selfish as to devote all his attention to a scrap of ribbon? As his new feline identity threatens to eat away at his personality, Gregor desperately tries to survive this bizarre, bewhiskered ordeal by accomplishing the one thing he never could as a man: He must flee his parents’ house.” The Meowmorphosis comes to bookshelves this May, in paperback from Quirk Books.

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