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Comic Book News

Friendship is POWER!

This year’s annual one-shot for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic takes a different tack, so to speak: One for the superhero fans! “Check out the original Power Ponies in action! When the Mane-iac assembles an all-star team of villains, the Power Ponies may be outmatched! It will take a familiar face from Equestria to even the odds! Get ready for super powered adventure like you’ve never seen it!” Or so they say over at Previews. Brought to you by writer Ted Anderson and artist Ben Bates, My Little Pony Annual 2014 comes blasting your way in full color this month from IDW!! (Sorry, we had to…)

image c. 2014 IDW Comics

image c. 2014 IDW Comics

The Return of Inspector LeBrock

Steampunk and furry fans may both rejoice as writer/artist Brian Talbot brings us the latest edition of his anthropomorphic alternate history series in Grandville Noel, coming this November in hardcover from Dark Horse Press. “With his trusty adjunct, Detective Sergeant Ratzi, away for Christmas, there’s no holiday for Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard as he embarks on an investigation into the disappearance of his housekeeper’s niece, Bunty Spall.  The trail leads to a growing religious cult, where a charismatic unicorn messiah and his con men cronies, already responsible for mass murder in the United States, are about to lead a crusade for the ethnic cleansing of the French Empire’s doughfaces – the derogatory nickname for humans used by the majority, animal-headed population. Teaming up with Chance Lucas, a gun-slinging operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, and reigniting his steamy love affair with the voluptuous Parisian badger prostitute Billie, LeBrock clashes with both cult fanatics and doughface terrorists, uncovering in the process a centuries-old religious conspiracy that threatens to plunge the world into bloody civil war.” Find out more about this full-color series at Brian Talbot’s blog page.

image c. 2014 Dark Horse Press

image c. 2014 Dark Horse Press

Mom and Dad are Rats

Canadian artist and writer Eric Orchard makes quite a big splash with his first graphic novel, Maddy Kettle: The Adventures of the Thimblewitch. This is from Previews: “Maddy is an eleven year old girl with a pet toad named Ralph. And they’re on a rather big adventure right now, as her parents are currently kangaroo rats – having been put under a spell. On their way to find the Thimblewitch to sort everything out, they battle Spider Goblins and befriend two endearing Cloud Mappers, Harry the bear and Silvio the raccoon, who help them get where they’re going. We won’t tell you what happens next, but we can assure you that it’s a beautiful and magical ride.” Top Shelf Productions will release this full-color all-ages fantasy in trade paperback this October.

image c. 2014 Top Shelf

image c. 2014 Top Shelf Productions

The Girl and Her Wolf Ride Again

If you haven’t already, you might want to make yourself familiar with Fairy Quest by Paul Jenkins (story) and Humberto Ramos (art). After selling out of their original trade paperback, Fairy Quest: Outlaws, Jenkins and Ramos ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to continue the story. And now Boom! Studios have picked up that continuation as a new full-color series, Fairy Quest: Outcasts. In the magical land of Fablewood, all the myths and legends of old must live their lives by the dictates of their Story — else the evil Think Police will wipe their minds clean. Now, Red Riding Hood and Wolf have broken the law — by becoming good friends. The first issue of Outcasts will hit the shelves this October. Check it out at Previews.

image c. 2014 Boom! Studios

image c. 2014 Boom! Studios

Far Less Serious Bunnies

Itty Bitty Bunnies in Rainbow Pixie Candy Land. Somehow you just know what something with a title like that is going  to be like, yes? Well you’re right. “Take some time for an adventure to a magical world with two cute bunnies… two foul mouthed, drug using, butt-naked bunnies that go on adorably offensive, insultingly hilarious adventures! Your journey into off-color fun begins here, with this mix of Adventure Time and underground comix!” It’s written and illustrated in full color by Australian underground cartoonist Dean Rankine, and brought to us thanks to Action Lab’s Danger Zone imprint. Check out their Facebook page. Oh, and speaking of Danger Zone, they’ve also released the first four issues of Bo, Plushy Gangsta (by Pavel Balabanov) in a trade paperback, Kingdom of Bo.

image c. 2014 Danger Zone

image c. 2014 Danger Zone

Heroes on a Scratching Post

Action Lab Entertainment has a new full-color comic book series for young readers, Hero Cats. “Avengers and Justice League move over! The cutest heroes on the planet have arrived! Meet the Hero Cats of Stellar City in this spectacular first issue. Not your ordinary house cats, they’re a tactical action-packed covert team dealing with extraordinary threats to humanity in ways that will amaze.” Two issues out so far, all brought to you by writer Kyle Puttkammer and illustrator Marcus Williams. There’s an official web site of course, showing off several cover variations and tie-in posters available.

image c. 2014 Action Lab Entertainment

image c. 2014 Action Lab

All the Worlds and a Rabbit

The big-name comic book publishers like to do things big. Really big: Whole universes have been made and destroyed on a regular basis. Now DC Comics is on the move again with The Multiversity, a new full-color series that tells of  a massive threat to all 52 of the known universes in the DC world. Created by superstar comics writer Grant Morrison (Animal Man and so much more…), the story goes like this: “The Multiversity is more than just a multi-part comic-book series. It’s a cosmos spanning, soul-shaking experience that puts YOU on the frontline in the Battle for All Creation against the demonic destroyers known as the Gentry!  In issue #1, pencilled by superstar artist Ivan Reis (Aquaman, Justice League), President Superman of Earth-23 uncovers a threat to all Reality so apocalyptic it will take a team of incredible heroes from across the Multiverse to face it – including Captain Carrot, like you’ve never seen him before!” Oh really now? Over at The Escapist they have a more complete review of the series.

image c. 2014 DC Comics

image c. 2014 DC Comics

30 Years of Bunny and Blade

You might have heard that Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai is turning 30, yes? The word is getting around. Well in celebration of this milestone Dark Horse Press will release The Usagi Yojimbo Saga, a collection of more than 600 pages coming this October. It brings together Usagi Yojimbo Volume 2 issues 1 thru 16 and Volume 3 issues 1 thru 6, as well as a full-color cover gallery. Check out the Dark Horse web page to find out more. Saga will be available as a (very thick!) trade paperback, and also in a limited-edition hardcover version (only 900 will be made!) signed by Stan Sakai himself.

image c. 2014 Dark Horse Press

image c. 2014 Dark Horse Press

What’s Black and Yellow, But Not A Bee?

Everyone’s favorite hard-boiled black cat detective has been busy lately — and those of us on this side of the pond are seeing more of his adventures thanks to the folks at Dark Horse Press. Now they’re bringing us Blacksad: Amarillo. “Hardboiled feline detective John Blacksad is back in the latest tour de force from the multiple-award winning duo of writer Juan Díaz Canales and artist Juanjo Guarnido. Taking a much-needed break after the events of A Silent Hell, Blacksad lands a side job driving a rich Texan’s prized yellow Cadillac Eldorado across 1950s America, hitting the back roads from New Orleans to Tulsa. But before long, the car is stolen and Blacksad finds himself mixed up in another murder, with roughneck bikers, a shifty lawyer, one down-and-out Beat generation writer, and some sinister circus folk. When John Blacksad goes on the road, trouble is dead ahead.” Find out more at Comics Beat, before it comes out in hardcover this October.

image c. 2014 Dark Horse Press

image c. 2014 Dark Horse Press