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Here Come the Hero Petz

May 13th, 2012
by rodney.
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First off, Happy Mother’s Day to you and yours!

Suddenly there is much ado about Hero Petz, written by Dale Mettam and illustrated by Juan Fleites. First off, a quick recap from the original series: “Even as the evil Itachi Clan of ninja weasels tightens its grasp on Peludo City, six heroes — okay, five heroes and a crazy Monkey — stand ready to defend the innocent and fight for justice. El Conejito the Rabbit; Wonder Squirrel; Steel Shell the Turtle; Sensei Penguin-San; Kapitan Brüllaffe the Monkey; and Golden Hamster are the Hero Petz! Together, they take it upon themselves to keep watch over the city and protect the innocent!” First off, this June Stan Lee’s Kids Universe is re-releasing the original 80-page graphic novel (from 1821 Comics) in trade paperback. Also, there’s a video trailer for a new Hero Petz video game — as well as several fan reviews — up on YouTube.

image c. 2012 by Juan Fleites

Posted in: Books and Trade Paperbacks, Comic Book News, Games.
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Off to Meet the Wild Things

May 12th, 2012
by rodney.
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Your ever-lovin’ ed-otter was taking a work-related trip to Nashville, TN for a few days. Now it’s time to get caught up…

The literary world (heck, the world in general) was saddened recently by the death of Maurice Sendak on May 8th at the age of 83. By far he was best known as the writer and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are, which revolutionized what a “children’s book” could be — and gave us all some cool monsters to befriend — when it was first published in 1963. But that is far from Mr. Sendak’s only legacy to Furry Fandom. Prior to Wild Things he was the illustrator of the Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik. (Nelvana used his Little Bear designs when they created the animated Little Bear TV series and feature film in the late 1990’s.) In the 1980’s Mr. Sendak was often hired to be a production, costume, and art designer for East Coast opera productions, including the 1981 production of The Cunning Little Vixen by Leos Janacek — possibly the most anthropomorphic opera ever, and certainly the most anthropomorphic thing on stage before Cats came along. Most recently, Maurice Sendak had his works translated for the big and little screen: Where the Wild Things Are was adapted into a feature film by Spike Jonze in 2009, and that same year Sendak’s short story Higglety Pigglety Pop was adapted into a short film (starring the voice of Meryl Streep) using  a combination of live-action and puppetry. If you want to find out more about Mr. Sendak’s wide body of work, check out his Wikipedia page. But be warned: There are Wild Things there.

image c. 2009 Warner Brothers Pictures

Posted in: People.
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The My Little Pony Project

May 5th, 2012
by rodney.
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Don’t look now, but My Little Pony has invaded the world of cool urban art. Actually, they did a long time ago, but with the phenomenal success of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, people’s awareness of ponies as fine art has grown by leaps and bounds. So folks are expecting quite a turn-out for this month’s My Little Pony Project  in Los Angeles, California. Headquartered at the Toy Art Gallery (7571 Melrose Avenue), My Little Pony Project 2012 features 2D and 3D high art from a variety of artists, all dedicated to their interpretations of My Little Pony — the current show and previous incarnations. This year, the gallery is hooking up with several local retail stores in the Melrose high fashion district (including Munky King, Japan L.A., and Joyrich) to display pony art and pony materials. Two of the sponsors of the month-long event (which started today and ends May 26th) include t-shirt maker We Love Fine and DVD maker Shout Factory. Juxtapoz Magazine has a good write-up on their site explaining it all.

image c. 2012 Toy Art Gallery

Posted in: Furry Art / Portfolios.
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Dragons on your i-Phone

May 4th, 2012
by rodney.
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Dreamworks Animation have announced the release of a new video game for the iPad and iPhone called Dragons: Tap Dragon Drop (get it?).  Players take on the role of Hiccup and Toothless from the How to Train Your Dragon movie series. As a terrible storm approaches the village of Berk, the vikings hurry to move their sheep to safety. But the sheep are scattered all over the island! Hiccup needs to train his dragon Toothless to herd (and in many cases, air-lift) the sheep away from danger while losing as few of them as possible. Dreamworks has a YouTube video preview of the game up now.

image c. 2012 Dreamworks Animation

Posted in: Games.
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The Return of Pantha

May 1st, 2012
by rodney.
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No, not the semi-cat Teen Titan, this is Pantha from Harris Comics — home to the famed Vampirella. Now Dynamite Entertainment has revived Pantha in a brand-new full-color comic book series written by Brandon Jerwa with art by Pow Rodix. Pantha is a shape-shifting cat-woman, an embodiment of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet. “She stalks the night, driving the forces of Chaos from the shadows and hunting them down like prey! Much more than a feral shapeshifter, Pantha is also an avatar for the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet – and she’s going to learn that history can repeat in a violent, terrifying way! Featuring the  return of several heroes and villains from the pages of Pantha and Vampirella, ‘Dangerous Game’ will be an important cornerstone for the future of  Dynamite’s epic Vampirella universe!” That’s the official word from the publisher. Look for it this June.

image c. 2012 Dynamite Entertainment

Posted in: Comic Book News.
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New Disney/Pixar Films

Apr 29th, 2012
by rodney.
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The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Animation have announced several new films they’ll be completing and releasing over the next couple of years.  First up is a feature film called The Good Dinosaur, written and directed by Bob Peterson (Finding Nemo, Up — he was also the voice of Dug the dog in the latter movie). This new film (set for release in May of 2014) explores what might have happened if dinosaurs never went extinct. Would they wind up being our pets? Or would we wind up being theirs? Also in the pipe are a film based on the Mexican tradition of Dia de los Muertos, and an untitled film (set for release in 2015) about the inner workings of the human brain.

 

Posted in: Movie News.
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The War After

Apr 27th, 2012
by rodney.
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There’s an interesting new hardcover graphic novel coming this June from Archaia Entertainment, written and illustrated by Shane-Michael Vidaurri, with the unusual title of Iron: Or, The War After. See what you think of this description: “It is the aftermath of a long war, in a world of constant winter. An intelligence spy from the Resistance—the rabbit, Hardin—steals secret information from a military base of the Regime. His actions set off a chain of events that reverberates through the ranks of both sides, touching everyone from Pavel the crow to Giles the goat, from the highest-ranking officials to the smallest orphaned child. When the snow finally settles, who will be the true patriot.”  Find out more (and see a multi-page teaser) at Archaia’s preview page.

image c. 2012 Archaia Entertainment

Posted in: Books and Trade Paperbacks, Comic Book News.
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Nordguard: The Card Game

Apr 25th, 2012
by rodney.
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The art collective (or pair at least) known as Blotch have a new item connected with their successful comic book/graphic novel series Nordguard. Now it’s the Nordguard Card Game, coming this summer from Sofawolf Press. The game itself was developed by Tempe O’Kun and Nic Wald, and play-testing was directed over the last year by Jeremia Heupel of ThinkTank Games. And the game itself? “You and your friends play as an anthropomorphized sled dog rescue team, overcoming cannibalistic strays and a landscape as capricious as it is lethal. Only your wits and your gear stand between you and certain disaster. Quick-reference instructions provide the rules in minutes, while a scalable difficulty curve provides a challenge for everyone from pups to even the most veteran sled dogs. A randomized map ensures no two missions will ever be the same. Based on the award-winning graphic novel Nordguard: Across Thin Ice, this slim set comes packed with over 120 illustrations by the artists Tess Garman & Teagan Gavet [aka Blotch]. Custom-etched dice and a stamped metal play token fit neatly with the cards in a rugged belt pouch, emblazoned with the Nordguard logo, so you can have the game ready at hand no matter where your adventures take you.” Keep up with the latest on the game at the official web site, www.nordguard.com/about/cardgame.

image c. 2012 Tess Garman & Teagan Gavet

Posted in: Games.
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A Children’s Classic Returns On-Line

Apr 23rd, 2012
by rodney.
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Sweet Pickles is a classic educational children’s book series by Ruth Lerner Perle, Jacquelyn Reinach, and Richard Hefter which was published by Holt, Rinehart & Winston from 1977 through the mid-1990’s. Each of the 40 full-color books portrayed the adventures of the inhabitants of the town of Sweet Pickles: 26 anthropomorphic animals (one for each letter of the alphabet) who get into various “pickles” because of their all-too-human flaws… and who must learn important life lessons to get out of them. The Wikipedia entry for Sweet Pickles details each of the characters such as Accusing Alligator, Moody Moose, and Temper Tantrum Turtle. After having been out of print for the longest time, the entire series is now returning on-line in a brand-new on-line series. But not just the books: Now the original stories are presented as digitally-enhanced e-books with professional sound-effects, narration, and character voices by award-winning voice actors. For a limited time the first e-book in this new series, Very Worried Walrus, is available as a free download at the Apple iBookstore. You can find out more about the return of Sweet Pickles at www.sweetpickles.com/fob.html, and also check them out on Facebook.

image c. 2012 Sweet Pickles

Posted in: Books and Trade Paperbacks.
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