Free Comic Book Day is an annual event where comic book publishers present your local comic book dealer with full-color mini-comics to give away for free — Now how cool is that? It takes place on the first Saturday in May, which in this case is May 1st. Inevitably, you can find some cool anthropomorphic titles in among the freebees for the day if you look. This time around, Ape Entertainment Shrek and the Penguins of Madagascar, featuring four stories which preview two of their upcoming comic book titles (guess what they are!). Archai Entertainment also combines two titles, in their case Mouse Guard and Fraggle Rock (!). Archie Comics presents a special free edition of Sonic the Hedgehog, while Top Shelf Productions has a special introduction to Owly and Friends (his friends being Johnny Boo and Korgi). There’s lots more to be found on Free Comic Book Day, but of course supplies are going to be limited! If you want to find out more about the event, check out www.freecomicbookday.com.
Donald Duck… Secret Agent?
Once again, the folks at Boom! Kids take things in a whole new direction… Donald Duck and Friends Volume 1: Double Duck is a new trade paperback (also available in hardcover) that collects the recent issues of this comic book series… featuring everyone’s favorite cranky duck as a top-flight secret agent, out to save the world from a madman bent on melting the world’s polar ice caps! The story is by Fausto Vitaliano and Marco Bosco, with various folks contributing the full-color art. The books are scheduled to come out in early May.
c. 2010, Boom! Studios. Not the final art... but oooo!
Finding Artists to Commission
17 Cats is a new web site with one mission: To connect artists with buyers. Here’s how they describe it: “In a nutshell, this site is simply a place for artists to organize and manage commissions. We also provide a place for people to come and see who is available for commissions. What kind of artwork? Anything. Paintings, Sculptures, Woodwork, Sketches, Cartoons, Comics, Manga, Knitting… If you are an artist and create custom works, you are welcome here. Join cost: Free. Yup.” We always like to hear that. More than 100 artists are listed as “open for commissions” on the site, and of course eager art-buyers can use it to discover new artists and new works.
“Up” takes it, but…
The International Animated Film Society (ASIFA) presented the 37th annual Annie Awards on Saturday, February 6th. The presentation was held at UCLA’s Royce Hall, and none other than William Shatner was the host.
As many had been expecting, Disney/Pixar’s Up took the honors for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as a Best Director win for co-director Pete Docter. But what was notable about the evening was that, unlike last year’s Kung Fu Panda sweep, no one film or TV show ran away with a multitude of awards. By sheer numbers, three items emerged victorious for winning three awards each: Coraline (Best Feature Character Design, Best Feature Production Design, Best Feature Music), Prep & Landing (Best TV Character Design, Best TV Production Design, Best TV Production), and The Princess and the Frog (Best Effects Animation, Best Feature Character Animation (Eric Goldberg for Lou the Alligator), and Best Feature Voice Acting (Jen Cody for Charlotte). The Penguins of Madagscar won two awards, Best TV Directing and Best TV Production for Children. Another 10 items won a single award each, including one for Fantastic Mr. Fox (for Best Writing in a Feature). In other words, the awards were spread around quite a bit!
Besides the regular awards, the evening also included several special awards and honors. Bruce Timm, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Tim Burton each received the Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime Achievement in Animation. The June Foray Award for “Benevolent Impact” on Animation went to long-time animator and union activist Tom Sito. William T. Reeves of Pixar won the Ub Iwerks Award for Technical Achievement (he practically invented particle systems animation), while Martin Meunier and Brian McLean were given Special Achievement Awards for creating a new fabrication process used in making the film Coraline. Also, moving tributes were held for the late Roy E. Disney and Wayne Allwine (the voice of Mickey Mouse). A complete listing of the Awards and pictures from the ceremony will be up soon at the Annie Awards web site.
Dragons Need Their Help…
Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb (in hardcover, from Eos) begins the new Rain Wilds Chronicles — set in the same world as Hobb’s Realm of the Elderling series. In this new book, humans celebrate as dragons are once again born in the city of Cassarick. But something is wrong… This is from the Publisher’s Weekly: “Here be dragons—but debilitated, deformed, damaged dragons, hatched too soon, sick and starving, into a world that has mostly forgotten them. The first of Hobb’s Rain Wild Chronicles, an absorbing extension of her Liveship and Tawny Man trilogies, introduces 15 young dragons who struggle to survive with the grudging help of mutant Rain Wilders. Eventually driven out by the Traders Council, the hatchlings decide to seek Kelsingra, their ancient home. Caught up by the dragons’ plight and longing to escape unhappy families and the stifling Rain Wild culture, self-taught dragon scholar Alise Kincannon and teenage tree-dwelling mutant Thymara volunteer to accompany them on the quest, with the help of magnetic liveship captain Leftrin and a host of colorful characters. Hobb’s meticulously realized fantasy tale is a welcome addition to contemporary dragon lore.” It’s on the shelves now.
Return to Munden’s Bar
IDW Publishing presents a return to the focal point of Cynosure: Grim Jack’s own multi-world famous Munden’s Bar. Grim Jack was a popular dark science-fiction adventure comic of the 80’s and 90’s, and many anthropomorphic creatures (to say nothing of other alien beasties) met up with Grim Jack and his crew at Munden’s Bar. Now we have a brand-new full-color trade paperback featuring all new never-before-printed stories of this multi-dimensional hangout by the likes of Skip Williamson, Jon Ostrander, William Messner-Loebs, Marc Hempel, Joe Staton, Hilary Barta, Mark Wheatley and more. Munden’s Bar: Grand Re-Opening will be on shelves this February.
A History of Comic Strip Art
Jerry Robinson is a living legend in the world of comics, having created The Joker and having been involved in the comics industry for more than 70 years now (!). In 1974 Jerry was the author and editor of a book which has since become a world-famous study: The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art. Now that historic book has been updated and re-released in trade paperback form by Dark Horse Comics. The press release describes it as “…a comprehensive history of the truly American art form! The Comics is a fully reworked and updated edition of the 1974 classic that chronicles the origins and evolution of comic strips, from prior to The Yellow Kid through today, and highlights the game-changing contributions of such creative luminaries as Milton Caniff, Walt Kelly, Hal Foster, and Winsor McCay, among countless others. A fascinating resource of enduring excellence for fans of the art form, historians, and casual readers alike, this edition has been extensively revisited by Robinson and tells the stories behind the newsprint page.” Needless to say, many furry comic strips are covered in this extensive history, including Bloom County, Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, Pogo, Garfield, and many many more. This new edition goes on sale this April.
Meet the Barque Cats
A new and futuristic take on an ancient tradition: The ship’s cat.
Since the early days of travel by sea, ship’s cats have been a vital part of any crew, working to keep the ship free of vermin and to acting as “morale boosters”. Now, in Catalyst by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, a pure-bred line of these “barque cats” have been bred to follow humans into space as vital members of any starship’s crew, seeking out air leaks and other environmental hazards in the tight and inaccessible parts of a ship. Now though, deadly livestock plague is racing between planets, and humans may be forced to destroy all exposed animals — including the barque cats. Yet as humans argue and fight over the fate of these animals, a new discovery is made: Some of the newest barque kittens are demonstrating signs of higher intelligence… and something very much like telepathy. The book is available now in hardcover from Del Ray.
Return of the Pet Avengers
They saved the world in Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers, but what have they been doing since then? Now Marvel Comics answers that question with the new Tails of the Pet Avengers full-color comic book series, coming to a comic store near you this February. The premier issue features a never-before-seen story of Zabu the sabertooth from the Savage Land, plus a new prequel-story of Frog Thor. Each of thse super-powered animals we be getting their own solo stories in the coming months, as well as joining their fellow animals for more Pet Avengers daring-do. The first issue has quite a diverse roster of talent working on it, including writers Chris Eliopoulos, Scott Gray, Colleen Coover, and Joe Caramagna, with art by Ig Guara, Gurihiru, and more. The cover art (below) is by Humberto Ramos.
Cover Art by Humberto Ramos. c.2010 Marvel Comics
