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Books and Trade Paperbacks

Timely, in a Sad Way

May 10th, 2016
by rodney.
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For those who might have missed it, this is from Wikipedia: “Pearls Before Swine is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Stephan Pastis, a former San Francisco, California lawyer. It chronicles the daily lives of five anthropomorphic animals: A Pig, a Rat, a Zebra, a Goat, and a fraternity of crocodiles, as well as a number of supporting characters. Pastis has said each character represents an aspect of his own personality and world view.” The continuing comic strip can be found over at GoComics. Now, Andrews McMeel Publishing bring us the latest Pearls Before Swine collection in trade paperback. “In I’m Only in This for Me, the Pearls gang dares to tell the hard truths that the country needs to hear: The importance of prioritizing cheese over everything else, the sadly ignored capacity of bears to solve all of life’s problems, and the crucial Recognition Gap between women in bars and semi-obscure cartoonists with delusions of grandeur.  But beneath all the selfishness, absurdity, bungling crocs, and bazooka-wielding ducks, Rat, Pig, Goat, and Zebra continue to find that friendship can make life warmer, humor can make stupidity less annoying, and cheese really does make everything way, way better.” Check it out over at Amazon. This new book also includes some special collaboration cartoons between Mr. Pastis and Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson.

image c. 2016 Andrews McMeel

image c. 2016 Andrews McMeel Publishing

One Crazy-Brave Raccoon

May 2nd, 2016
by rodney.
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Christopher Locke has worked for many years in the television industry. In 2004 he read the book Fast Food Nation and went through a personal transformation… emerging as a passionate animal rights advocate. He also decided to have a go at writing full-time for a living. The result is a new trilogy of fanciful fiction for young adults called The Enlightenment Adventures. The first book in the series, published in 2015, is called Persimmon Takes on Humanity. “What would you do if you saw someone committing unimaginable acts of cruelty? Turn the other way or defend those in need—no matter the cost? That’s the dilemma thrust upon Persimmon, a clever and compassionate raccoon, and her loyal forest friends. Instantly, the courageous critters spring into action, risking their own lives to rescue any animal they see suffering at the hands of humans. What the team doesn’t know is just how rampant this violence really is, and soon their exciting rescue missions turn shockingly dangerous and deadly. Will they succeed in saving the animals of the world from humans’ brutality, or will they fall victim to the powerful system of abuse they’re trying so desperately to end?” Persimmon is available now at Amazon, and you can find out more about the series at the author’s web site.

image c. 2016 Fathoming Press

image c. 2016 Fathoming Press

 

The Dream Team Won’t Make You Scream

Apr 28th, 2016
by rodney.
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Brendan McCarthy is an artist and designer well known as one of the creators of 2015’s hit movie Mad Max: Fury Road. In the meantime he also created a full-color comic called Dream Gang, which was serialized in Dark Horse Presents. “A group of psychics project themselves into the dream worlds at night, exploring other people’s dreams. But they uncover a conspiracy to invade and enslave humanity from within by a malevolent force from the dark side of the mind.” As  you can see, anthropomorphic characters also play a role in the gang! Now Dark Horse have assembled the complete Dream Gang series into a single trade paperback graphic novel. Check out Dark Horse’s preview over at their web site, and look for Dream Gang this July.

image c. 2016 Dark Horse Comics

image c. 2016 Dark Horse Comics

Kitty Kitty Rescue Me

Apr 24th, 2016
by rodney.
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Recently we discovered an author named Jaimi Ilama. Her last name is an acronym for “I Love All My Animals”. As she explains it, “I have eleven animals right now in my home. Three cats, two dogs, and seven turtles. I have written a series of children’s picture books called Rescue Me. There are five stories in all, and they all have an animal as the main character. The books are made to help parents and teachers talk to kids about ‘life struggles’ that both humans and animals go through sometime in their life. The themes that are discussed are facing fears and change, abandonment, prejudice, homelessness and saying goodbye to a loved one.” The first book in the series is called The Upstairs Cat (illustrated by Audrey Miller), and it tells the story of a cat named Amazon and how she deals with her feelings of loneliness when ‘her boy’ moves off to college. Can she find the courage to explore the rest of the house — let alone the outside world? At Mousebreath.com there’s an interview with Jaimi about this and other upcoming books in the series.  Check it out — and meanwhile, take a look around the rest of Mousebreath. The web site describes itself as “an award-winning lifestyle magazine by cats, for cats and cat lovers”.

image c. 2016 Open Door Publishing

image c. 2016 Open Door Publishing

The Sunny State Gets Schooled

Apr 22nd, 2016
by rodney.
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You’d be hard-pressed to think of more famous “ancient world” anthropomorphic stories than the fables of Aesop. Needless to say, they’ve had numerous illustrated presentations over the centuries! Well here’s a very recent take with a particular spin to it: Doug Hansen is a California native and an art instructor at California State University at Fresno. In his spare time he created a new hardcover illustrated book called Aesop in California. “Guess who just arrived in California? Aesop! Here among the plants, animals, and places of the Golden State, his timeless fables from ancient Greece take on a new vitality and immediacy. From blackberry-munching grizzlies to Hollywood house mice, this is a book to delight the eye, stimulate the imagination, and teach us some very important lessons.” Find out more about the book and the artist at the publisher’s web site. (Hot tip: He also created a book called Mother Goose in California!)

image c. 2016 Heyday Books

image c. 2016 Heyday Books

*Boing!* Surprise!

Apr 20th, 2016
by rodney.
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Somehow we missed this one, but we’re glad to find out about it now. Cartoonist Art Spiegelman (world-famous for his multi-award-winning comic Maus) has created Jack and the Box, a full-color story comic for entry-level readers. “Jack just got a new toy, and it’s full of surprises. Each time the box pops open, there’s a new and bigger surprise. Is it a silly toy, a scary toy… or something else entirely? With a limited vocabulary and unlimited imagination, Art Spiegelman applies his out-of-the-box thinking to a book that has all the surprise and bounce of a Jack-in-the-box.” Check it out over at the publisher, Toon Books. It’s available now at numerous sites, in trade paperback.

image c. 2016 Toon Books

image c. 2016 Toon Books

Art Is A Gateway

Apr 14th, 2016
by rodney.
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Found these folks at WonderCon too: The Brothers Uber describe themselves as “… an independent, creative publishing company specializing in children’s books. Focusing on art as a gateway to another realm, we pride ourselves on finding the best illustrators and working with them to bring the best books to life.” To that end they have already published several books which you can find at their web site. Of immediate note to furry fans are two: The Dragon and the Princess (written by Erik Peterson and illustrated by Mina Sanwald) is a counting book that also tells the story of a magical friendship between, yes, a dragon and a princess. Then there’s Critters Fantastique, a coloring book by Dusty Catlett featuring a variety of legendary creatures and monsters.

image c. 2016 by Dusty Catlett

image c. 2016 by Dusty Catlett

Nerdy Parents: Pass It Along!

Apr 7th, 2016
by rodney.
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This is just too cute, so we’ll let the creator Charles Thurston explain it: “I have two small wonderful little girls and the problem I had was trying to find ways to entertain them and at the same time introduce them to the nerdy pop culture things that mommy and daddy love. There’s plenty of stuff out for small kids 6 and up but not for children under 4. So I decided to write and draw parody books for them that gave them a friendly introduction into the world of pop culture and sci-fi while paying tribute to the creative geniuses of George Lucas, J. R. R. Tolkien, Laura Joffe Numeroff, Joss Whedon, Rod Serling, Robert Zemeckis, Russell T. Davies, and Steven Moffat all of which that helped shape my childhood/adulthood and imagination.” Charles’ original hand-made books include titles like Go, Smaug, Go!, Taylor in Ape Land, and The Dire Wolf At The End Of This Book. All those and more are available as a package deal at his Etsy Store. You can also find out more at his web site, as well as look through his extensive collection of original prints for sale.

CharlesThurstonSmaug

Rik-Tikki-Tikki The Ivory-Fanged

Mar 28th, 2016
by rodney.
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New discoveries from this year’s WonderCon: Rikki is a full-color comic book adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s well-known mongoose-vs.-cobra story Rikki Tikki Tavi. The story was adapted and updated to a more modern setting by Norm Harper, with illustrations by Matthew Foltz-Gray. Originally created as a 4-issue comic book mini-series, after a successful Kickstarter campaign they re-released Rikki as a graphic novel in trade paperback, complete with the original Kipling story as well as a cover-gallery by the artist Christine Knopp. Find out more over at the publisher, Karate Petshop.

image c. 2016 Karate Petshop

image c. 2016 Karate Petshop

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