Chris Ayers was busy working as a concept artist in Hollywood when, in 2005, he was diagnosed with leukemia. One year later, after a period of intense treatment and therapy, Chris embarked on a personal project: To draw one animal each day, for a year, and in the process to come to terms with his illness, his recovery, and his healing. Now the result of his hard work and diligence is available as The Daily Zoo, a full-color hardcover book from Design Studio Press. It features the 365 drawings from Chris’ project, as well as his reflections on the animals presented (some realistic, some anthropomorphic, some silly, some not…) and how they reflect on his condition, his thoughts, and his life. The book also features an introduction by director and producer J.J. Abrams. You can find out more about the project and the book at Chris’ web site, www.chrisayersdesign.com.
Cute, Dangerous Toys…
Rocket World is a creative and artistic collective founded in 2001 by Patrick York Ma. We noticed this on their web site: “One of the featured properties at Rocket World is the I.nsurgents W.ilderness G.ruppo. Conceived in Patrick’s sketch book on a Xmas day flight to London in 2000; the I.W.G. are a feisty and rebellious underground group of self-aware animals who were given sentience by a group of mysterious alien beings. The I.W.G. have organized and taken up arms to fight against any humans that have killed, exploited their kind and/or polluted their habitats. As the I.W.G. adapt to their new-found intelligence, they often struggle with the same temptations and failings of their enemies. The I.W.G. are cute yet decidedly deadly, and their narrative can be described as Che meets Animal Farm with a dash of pulp science fiction thrown in for good measure.” Goodness. A whole line of I.W.G. toys, t-shirts, prints, and other cool stuff can be found at www.rocketworld.org.
Commander Kitty
Scotty Arsenault (Tales of the Fehnnik, Heebas) has returned with Commander Kitty, a brand new storyline for his continuing on-line full-color science fiction comic strip. Join Kitty, Mittens, Fluffy, and Mr. Socks (a ferret, of course!), and the rest of the crew of the Number Six as they “battle with imaginary evil alter egos from another dimension, fending off commercial advertising that would make the Borg tremble, travelling through time leaving a bloody carnage of blatant paradox behind them, discovering the secret artifacts of planet Pangolin, and going shopping for yogurt.” You heard it here. So, go and see it here.
Primal Visions Design Studio
Once again, their web site says it best: “Primal Visions Design Studios specializes in high performance creature costumes and effects, with an emphasis on naturalistic animals. We make fine animal and creature masks, costumes and effects for stage, film, television, tradeshows and the occasional well-to-do eccentric.” They also make costume and weapon accessories for their fur-suit creations, and they have created a line of post cards and even calendar projects to help advertise what they do. Their gallery at www.primalvisions.com is extensive, so check out what they’ve done.
Are You Freaky?
“Freaky Creatures is a cross-platform, massively multiplayer online game that allows players to build the ultimate, customizable creatures and battle them against friends.” That’s the word from areyoufreaky.com, the home-page of this new game. “In the distant future, battles are fought not by humans, but by genetically enhanced creatures. These powerful creatures engage in tremendous battles in search of victory, often with great risks on the line. There are eleven known types of Freaky Creatures in the universe, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.” They include creatures with names like Hawkan, Rexar, Dracon, Goroc, and Merasha. Eleven basic creatures can be customized by players into literally thousands of unique creations, ready for battle and interaction on-line. The Freaky Creatures Starter Pack includes two action figures and a 1-gigabyte reuseable flash drive that is the key to joining the Freaky Creatures universe. But it’s not all about battles, either. There are social areas and even interactive story activities as well. There’s even a full-color comic book published by Abandon. For a series of videos about the game and the universe, check out this web site.
Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes
Blam! Ventures is now the official license-holder for the Planet of the Apes series property. So what are they doing with it? A series of over-sized illustrated novels, based in the universe of the original 1968 Planet of the Apes movie. First up is Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes, set to hit stores in the spring of 2010. It’s written by Andrew Gaska, Christian Berntsen, and Erik Matthews, with a cover by Steranko and full-color interior illustrations by a variety of comics industry artists. Conspiracy follows the adventures of John Landon, one of three survivors of the doomed Project Liberty spaceship… who now finds himself stranded on a planet where apes rule and primative humans are turned slaves or worse. When two scientific chimps named Dr. Milo and Dr. Galen take sympathy on him, John dares to have hope… but other apes have much more ruthless, horrible plans for him! Want to find out more, including other new adventures in the works? Visit Blam! Ventures’ Planet of the Apes web site.
Visit the New Toonseum
The Toonseum is currently located within the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (of course). This November, however, they will be moving to their new “storefront digs” at 945 Liberty Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh (across from the August Wilson Center). The move will give the Toonseum much more room, and allow them to display a much wider variety of cartoon art — including material which might not be appropriate for showing at a children’s museum.
Here’s the Toonseum’s mission statement, from their web site: “The mission of the ToonSeum is to celebrate the art of cartooning. Our goal is to promote a deeper appreciation of the cartoonists and their work through hands-on workshops, community outreach, cartoon-oriented educational programming, and exhibitions of original cartoon art.” We like it. Next time you’re in town — like, say, for Anthrocon — why not drop on in?
Monster Comics on your Phone!
We found this on The Unofficial Apple Weblog:
“Now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch directly from the iTunes store, Crispy Comics is producing a comic book series specifically for those devices. And did I mention the comic is absolutely free? Here’s the scoop directly from Crispy Comics:
Super Kaiju Hero Force is the comedic story of 3 young fanboys who win a trip to Japan and end up trapped inside the monster costumes used on the hit live-action superhero show Colossal Man. This first 11-chapter series follows Garganturo, Democules, and Mungor in the exciting origin to the series.
The series, which will be released on a bi-weekly basis and runs between 20 and 25 pages, will tell a continuing story culminating with a chilling cliffhanger. Then, once the original series runs its course, the Crispy Comics will release a Special Edition with features such as creator commentary and iPhone wallpapers. The Special Edition will come with a minimal cost which is yet to be determined. The company also plans to release the Special Edition on other platforms such as Android in the Summer of 2009. Check it out and if you do, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments.”
You can also find out more at the Crispy Comics Web Site.
[For those who don’t know, “Kaiju” is the general Japanese term for giant, city-crunching monsters like Gamera, Godzilla, Rodan, and so forth — ye helpful Ed-Otter ]
Gargoyles for Grown-Ups…
Blue Mug Productions is another new group of Disney Gargoyles fans who have become creators. The group — Edmund Tsabard, Mara Cordova, Kalia Sartre, Jennifer L. Anderson, and Boswell Bosley — are in their own words “a handful of creative types with one thing in common: We all really like to see drawings of naked people (using the term “people” loosely) having all kinds of sex”. Brought about with the blessing of Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman, the premier Blue Mug creation is Last Tengu in Paris, an adults-only web comic. It features the story of a beautiful young Parisian artist who falls in love with a creature from feudal Japan. But that, of course, is only the beginning of this multi-generational, multi-national, multi-orientational, and multi-species tale. The first story arc is complete, the second nears completion, and “issues” three and four are in the planning stages.
Visitors to the Blue Mug web site can check out the first eight pages of Last Tengu — censored. Members — who join for a modest fee — can view the full comic un-censored, as well as the ever-growing gallery of fan art. Blue Mug is also planning a full line of t-shirts and other products — including, of course, coffee mugs.
Your Hostess
