New from Image Comics: The Mice Templar Sketchbook by Bryan Glass and Michael Avon Oeming. This full-color trade paperback features “never before seen artwork by Michael Avon Oeming from all phases of the development of the acclaimed anthropomorphic series”. It also features a brand new short story that bridges the gap between the Mice Templar, Volume 1: The Prophecy hardcover collection and the upcoming Volume 2.
Books and Trade Paperbacks
From Furry Fandom to the Art Stores
Kythera of Anevern is a fantasy artist who has become well-known in the world of Disney’s Gargoyles fandom. She also does anthropomorphic art from time to time — you can find her web site at http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kytheraoa. Now, she’s moved on to the fine art of… art instruction! Drawing Made Easy: Dragons and Fantasy is available in softcover from Walter Foster Publishing. It includes a brief summary of tools and materials, and tips on how to draw creature elements such as fur, horns, and scales, and 13 step-by-step “lesson”-style breakdowns of various fantasy creatures, including two types of dragons, centaur, gargoyle, mermaid, and minotaur. Visit her web site or http://anevern.artchicks.org/Images/Print/DME10/ to find out more about ordering the book.
A Feline Tour of Old Tokyo!
Also just found on Amazon: Edo Cats: Tails of Old Tokyo, written and illustrated by Ryuto Kanzaki. It’s available this May in hardcover and softcover from Japanime Company. “Acclaimed manga artist and historian Ryuto Kanzaki takes readers on a whimsical tour of Edo (Old Tokyo) as seen through the eyes of the local cats. Discover the costumes, customs, and color of bygone Japan. Teeming with history and nostalgia, Edo Cats: Tails of Old Tokyo will delight manga fans and feline-lovers alike!”
Mythical Creatures
Fans of fantastic beasties from around the world might want to check out The Mythical Creatures Bible by Brenda Rosen (in softcover). This is from Amazon.com: “Fabulous animals, specters from the shadow world, nature spirits, and sacred beings: These are the monstrous, marvelous, and mythic creatures that have come down to us in folklore and legend. Some probably have their origins in reality; others spring completely from the imagination. And they are all here, in this stunningly illustrated bible. It’s rich in history and images, and international in scope, covering dragons and serpents; weird insects like the Aztec Itzpapalotl; zombies, golems, and banshees; the watery Undine; the Monkey King, Sun Wukong; and much, much more.”
Luuna Volume 1
Tokyo Pop takes a new step into full-color full-sized graphic novels with the premier of Luuna, Volume 1, from Europe (and available now in English). With a script by Nicolas Keramidas and art by Didier Crisse, Luuna tells the story of a young woman of the mystic Paumanok tribe, who enters the sacred forest to find her totem — her animal spirit that represents her inner self. Unfortunately for Luuna, the Evil One plays a trick on her. Now she’s cursed with not one but two totems: Wolves, white and black, representing her own good and evil sides… one capable of miracles, the other of great destruction. And so Luuna sets out to find the wise spirits of the Earth, hoping they can rid her of this curse… if the minions of the Evil One don’t get to her first!
Cameron and his Dinosaurs
Cameron and his Dinosaurs is a new full-color digest-sized trade paperback by Scott Christian Sava (script) and Andres Silva Blanco (art), publised by IDW. From Previews: “A mad scientist breaks every law of nature and creates four extinct dinosaurs for a terrorist group called B.U.R.P.S. When the dinosaurs revolt, it’s Cameron’s good fortune to befriend them. But the mad scientist wants those dinosaurs back at any cost! And they’ll wage a war between robots and dinosaurs to get what they want!” You heard it here.
Furverts
Your ed-otter, dutifully passing it along here…
The book is called Furverts, by Michael Cogliantry (in hardcover, from Chronicle Books). This is from amazon.com: “Birds do it bees do it but no one does it like furries do it. Long an underground cult phenomenon, furries—people who dress up in furry animal costumes and role play—have gone global, holding conventions where furries from around the world can meet and mingle. Photographer Michael Cogliantry captures the kinky intimate side of the furry subculture—an elephant and a donkey a chicken and a fox caught in flagrante delicto. The playful board-book format opens with a peek-a-boo ring of fur on the cover inviting the reader into the ‘illicit’ and hysterically funny world of furverts.” Oh, lordy lordy lordy…
Farscape — The scripts (some of them…)
For fans of the late, lamented Sci Fi Channel series Farscape who just can’t wait for more, be on the lookout for this: Series creator Rockne S. O’Bannon has collected his outline for the 4-issue Farscape comic book miniseries from BOOM! Entertainment in the new Farscape Script Book, also available from BOOM!
Skelebunnies
Our friends at Amaze Ink and Slave Labor Graphics now bring us Skelebunnies: The Complete Collection in trade paperback, written and illustrated by Tommy Kovac. It brings together all three of the original Skelebunnies one-shots, with loads of extra new material. “Join these living dead abominations in a playful, episodic romp through the forest. Does it all make sense? Not really. What’s the point? To giggle, my friends, to giggle.”
