Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
Devin Elle Kurtz is a professional illustrator and visual development artist. Her full-color paintings specialize in animals real and un-real with more than a splash of personality. She also brings the same touch of whimsy (and yes, at times weirdness) to her line of pet portrait commissions. She has released some of her work as prints, available at her web site, and we hope she brings out more soon.
image c. 2016 Devin Elle Kurtz
“I’m Lorelei Lee, the owner and proprietor of this odd little shop. I live here with my two daughters and together we care for all the lost faerie creatures that come our way. You see, the Menagerie appears to have been built upon a rather large tear in the ether that separates our universe from that of the Faerie Realm. We tend to get a lot of unusual visitors here.” That’s the story behind Lee’s Menagerie, created by Stefani Lee Scoggan. It takes several forms, including an on-line comic (illustrated by Jacob Saucedo and Erik Scoggan), an upcoming series of fantasy novels for young readers (coming later this year), and even a line of original 3-D sculptures of various fantastic creatures — crafted by Stefani herself. Find all this and more at the Lee’s Menagerie web site.
image c. 2016 by Stefani Lee Scoggan
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.
Looks like the mutual orbiting of Titan Comics and Dreamworks Animation continues…! Now they bring us Puss in Boots, a new full-color series hitting the shelves later this month. From the preview over at Flickering Myth: “Short of money and with a long milk tab to pay, Puss answers an advert that takes him out to sea with a cranky old owl on a pea-green boat. But if you think you know how this fairytale ends… think again! Flying fur balls and derring-do abound! See you on the poop deck! The Adventures of Puss in Boots is written by Max Davidson (Home, Simpsons Comics) and Chris Cooper (Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Excalibur) with art from Egle Bartolini (Penguins) and Dave Alvarez (Looney Tunes, Animaniacs).” Read it, if you dare!
image c. 2016 Titan Comics
More new stuff found at WonderCon last month: Houndstooth is a new self-published comic written by Kristen Brown and illustrated by Sam Rusk in a monochrome wash style. “Houndstooth follows the adventures of Bandit, an orphaned boy who exists in an animal’s world, along with his fellow human and best friend, Pan. The only adventure Bandit has ever wanted to have, are the ones printed inside his favorite books. But fate brought an unwanted adventure to his feet when Pan is kidnapped! Her only hope of rescue is Bandit and a couple of unlikely tag-alongs.” Issues are being released bi-monthly, both in physical (paper) form and on-line at Comixology.
image c. 2016 by Sam Rusk
Cathair Apocalypse: “A post-apocalyptic drama where humans are extinct and cats have risen to rule the wasteland left behind by their former masters.” That’s the description from the creators of this new full-color comic book series — which combines photo-realistic GGI backgrounds and props with actual photos of the creators’ cats! It’s up on line at Taptastic, plus the creators have their own web site where you can purchase the first collection (By Cutlass Or Corsage) as well as t-shirt and other goodies. Not made out of cat hair, thankfully!
image c. 2016 Cathair Apocalypse
Over at Animation Scoop they have word about a new TV series adapted from Dreamworks Animation’s successful (some might say keester-saving) movie Home. “Developed by Ryan Crego (Sanjay and Craig, Shrek Forever After) and Thurop Van Orman (The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack), and executive produced by Ryan Crego, DreamWorks Animation’s Home: Adventures With Tip & Oh, an all-new Netflix Original Series, answers the question: What happens after a misfit alien conquers Earth, befriends an adventurous teen girl named Tip and together they save the day? Picking up where the hit 2015 animated film left off and building upon their enduring friendship, this animated buddy comedy follows fearless Tip and overenthusiastic alien Oh, as they navigate the combined human and alien culture they live in, finding adventure everywhere they go… The first season will be available exclusively to Netflix members in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the Nordics, Benelux, and France beginning July 29.” Heard it here did you.
image c. 2016 Dreamworks Animation
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
Now check this out over at Kids Can Press: “Fluffy Vandermere, the cat sergeant in charge of P.U.R.S.T. (Pets of the Universe Ready for Space Travel), works tirelessly to protect the world from alien (aka bug) domination. It’s a big job. “The whole planet is Fluffy’s space station. All the people in the world are his humans. And every space pet out there is his responsibility.” Now, suddenly and without warning, Fluffy discovers P.U.R.S.T. headquarters, the most secure building in the world, is under attack by an angry swarm of insects, and they’re armed with every cat’s worst nightmare — spray bottles! Warding off this level of terrifying invasion will require cunning, skill, ingenuity and the ability to move quickly. Fluffy’s been out of the field and at his desk job for quite some time now — is he up to this massive challenge? You bet he is!” Fluffy Strikes Back is the creation of writer and artist Ashley Spires. This new full-color graphic novel for intermediate readers is a spin-off from her successful Binky adventure series. It’s available in trade paperback and hardcover editions.
image c. 2016 Kids Can Press
