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Comic Book News

Coming Soon: The Belfry Boys

The Belfry Boys is a new full-color independent comic book title created by Richard Gaines. He’s self-publishing it, and he’ll be releasing it soon according to the press release on his Deviant Art site. You can see a bigger preview here and here on IndyPlanet. What is it? Belfry Boys is a full-color funny animal comic about “Three goofy bats who bumble through life and cause mayhem wherever they end up. Their adversaries, the  Noo-noo Heads, are annoying creatures that try to pass as funny cartoon characters but with ugly humanoid heads.”

Image c. 2010 Richard Gaines

Image c. 2010 Richard Gaines

Spider Pig, Spider Pig…

And here YOU all thought Homer Simpson invented Spider Pig! Well, the folks at Marvel Comics have decided to clear things up (?) with the release of The Spider Ham 25th Anniversary Special. Here’s the press-release for this upcoming full-color one-shot: “Written by Tom Defalco and Tom Peyer; penciled by Jacob Chabot, Agnes Garbowska, and Adam Dekraker; cover by Joe Jusko. When J. Jonah Jackal, Mary Crane, and Pete’s beloved Aunt May are kidnapped on his 25th birthday, Spider-Ham must battle Doctor Octopuss and the Swinester Six! Six-to-one odds? Don’t get your tail in a bunch — when the slop’s on, this pig throws down — and Tom DeFalco & Jacob Chabot (X-Babies) are there to bring it to you. Then, take a look into the many possible fates of Spider-Ham as the Assistant Watcher answer the questions you never really thought about in Marvel: Why Not? – a six page Spider-Ham Extravaganza by Tom Peyer (Amazing Spider-Man) and Agnes Garbowska (Girl Comics). Finally, in the not too distant future, Swiney-Girl, the daughter of Spider-Ham, returns to face down Crayfin’s Last Bunt! by Tom Defalco and Adam DeKraker (Marvel Zombies: Evil Evolution)”. You read it here, people. Look for all the fun coming your way in June.

Recently Discovered Furry Manga

Three black & white manga titles published by Yen Press have recently caught our eyes. Cat Paradise (written and drawn by Yuji Iwahara) tells the story of Matabi Academy, where students are allowed to keep their pet cats in their dorm rooms with them. Trouble begins with a bang when a rip between the worlds occurs and a violent cat-demon intent on revenge is released. Now the students and their friendly cat-spirit companions find themselves in a battle not only for their lives and their school, but for the whole world! Then there’s Laon, written by Young Bin Kim and drawn by Hyun You. Laon is a magical nine-tails fox who found himself on the losing end of a bet in Heaven. Now he finds himself cast out of the realm of the gods, sent to earth in the guise of a young boy — and all of his tails have been removed, cast to the four winds, along with his heavenly powers! Now the exiled fox is determined to get back his powers, and his place in Heaven, one tail at a time! Yen Press is also the home of Spice and Wolf, of course. This popular manga by Isuna Hasekura and Ju Ayakura follows the medieval adventures of a human merchant and his friend, a pretty Wolf-God of the Harvest. Volume 4 of Cat Paradise and Volume 2 of Laon are coming from Yen this May. Volume 2 of Spice and Wolf will be out in June.

Elephantmen coming to the Big Screen

Richard Starkings has announced that his Elephantmen comic book series (home of Hip Flask) has been optioned by Zucker Productions for development as a feature-length film. No word yet on whether the project would be live action, CGI, or some combination of the two. Also, we’re not being told yet if Jerry Zucker (Ghost) will be directing or simply producing. We do know that Starkings will be creating the story treatment for the feature himself. If you’re not familiar with the world of Elephantmen, here’s a quick summary from the press release for the film project: “Elephantmen is an Eisner Award winning series first published in 2002 under Starkings’ Active Images imprint. In 2006 Image Comics approached Starkings to bring the book under their umbrella. The story of the Elephantmen takes place in Los Angeles in the not too distant future — in a world where human/animal hybrids were created to fight a war between Africa and China. Scarred by their experiences in war and seeking to somehow find their own humanity, the Elephantmen are now scattered throughout the world amongst the humans they were created to kill. Elephantmen is a brilliant commentary on racism, miscegenation, global warming, stem cell research and warfare. Created and written by Starkings, the series features artwork by Ladrönn, Moritat, and Boo Cook.

Legends of the Guard… Mice, this time

David Petersen’s award-winning comic and story-book series Mouse Guard gets a new twist, as some of the most creative minds in the world of comic books join him to tell all-new tales in Legends of the Guard, a new 4-issue full-color mini-series (coming this May from Archaia Entertainment). “Inside the June Alley Inn, located in the western mouse city of Barkstone, mice gather to tell tales, each trying to out-do the other. A competition, of sort, begins. The rules: Every story must contain one truth, one lie, and have never been told in that tavern before.” Story-tellers this time around include Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl), Ted Naifeh (Courtney Crumrin), and Alex Sheikman (Robotika). In future issues we’ll see contributions by Katie Cook, Guy Davis, Gene Ha, Sean Rubin, Mark Smylie, and many more.

Coming Soon from Archaia

Archaia Entertainment (not to be confused with Arcana Studio, which we were talking about recently) is bringing out two limited-edition comic books of interest in the near future.  Fraggle Rock #1 is the first of a four-issue full-color miniseries based on the original Jim Henson TV series (of course). Not adaptations of the TV episodes, this comic (starting up in April) will present brand-new adventures of Gobo, Red, Mokey, Boober, Wembly, and all their friends in their underground world. In the future, Archaia will be teaming up with Jim Henson Studios to produce new comic books based on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, also. Meanwhile, closer to home, we have the preview comic for Berona’s Hundred Year War. The full-color graphic novel by Jesse Labbe and Anthony Coffey is forthcoming, but for now we have this 40-page preview. The Ele-Alta and the Cropones are two races of cute, furry, cuddly creatures… locked in an ages-old war of death and destruction with each other. Can anything break them out of the cycle of war?

Fafnir the Dragon

Aracana Studio describe their new full-color graphic novel, Fafnir the Dragon, like this: “Mightier than a god, dumber than a rock. While searching for his stolen treasure, history’s greatest dragon is hurled into an apocalyptic future where he and talk-show host Jon Stewart must battle hordes of slavering mutants, prevent the assassination of Barack Obama, and save earth from an Al-Qaeda super-virus!” Do tell. Based on a popular web comic by Thormond Skald and Asta Gunn, this new graphic novel (also described as “South Park meets Jurassic Park“) goes on sale this April. You can find out more about it at Aracana’s web site.

New Comics for Kids from Ape

Ape Entertainment is presenting Kizoic, a new line of full-color young reader comic book titles coming this year. And, luckily, several of those titles have notably furry themes. Two of those titles come direct from Dreamworks Animation: Shrek Forever After — The Prequel, coming this April, and The Penguins of Madagascar, shipping in June. Shrek, of course, is based on the upcoming fourth Shrek feature film. In this new comic by Scott Shaw and Drew Rausch, the villainous Rumpelstiltskin tries time and again to get the best of Shrek, Donkey, Puss-in-Boots, and their friends. Meanwhile, keep your eyes out for Scratch 9, featuring the adventures of a little who can access all 8 of his past and future lives — including the one where he was a saber-toothed tiger!

The Last Unicorn Comic Book

It’s been 25 years since Peter S. Beagle’s beloved fantasy The Last Unicorn was made into a successful and iconic 2D animated film by Rankin-Bass. Now, IDW Publishing presents a brand new Last Unicorn six-part comic book mini-series coming out this April. It’s been adapted by Peter B. Gillis and illustrated in full color Renae De Liz and Ray Dillion. In case you don’t know it: A beautiful unicorn finds that her kind have disappeared, and that she might very well be the last. In her quest to find her kindred, she is captured by a freakish carnival… where she learns of a terrible monster known as the Red Bull, who has be scouring the land, capturing unicorns…