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Are We Not Merry Men?

Have we been missing something? There’s a back-story here that we’re not familiar with, but we definitely noticed the cover for Robyn Hood: The Children of Dr. Moreau, a new one-shot comic from Zenescope. “Unexplained disappearances lead Robyn deep beneath the New York City streets where something evil lurks. Robyn has faced these reptilian monsters before, but their mysterious new leader has made them deadlier than ever.” Hmm, those don’t look like reptiles on the cover, now do they? Not to us. Either way, it’s written by Joe Brusha, illustrated by Igor Vitorino, and available now.

image c. 2023 Zenescope Entertainment

What A Big Katana You Have!

Sticking with Source Point Press, here’s how you put a new spin on an old fairy tale: Little Red Ronin, written by Garrett Gunn and illustrated by Kit Wallis. “A terrible beast has haunted the citizens of Poletown for decades. Although the monster hasn’t been seen in years, disappearances and gruesome killings still plague the townsfolk. Determined to clear her family name, Red hunts The Great Wolf in hopes of exonerating her grandmother, who lives in exile for spreading terrifying propaganda.” Once again the issues have been gathered together into a single trade paperback, available now from Simon & Schuster.

Image c. 2023 Source Point Press

Caged Like Animals

Now and then we like to point out something that might not be all that “furry” itself, but that features some interesting furry characters prominently. Things like: Utramax, a comic book miniseries written by Doug Wood and illustrated by Michael Pickard. “A lowly henchman has done the impossible and killed the world’s most famous super hero. Now locked up in a prison for supervillains, he hopes no one will uncover his secret… and find out he is actually a snitch for the feds.” Why do we care? Well, one of the super-villains our “hero” encounters in prison is a big, burly canine known simply as The Dog. And he’s scary. Point Source Press have gathered all four issues of Ultramax into one trade paperback.

image c. 2023 Point Source Press

Two Brothers, On Their Way

Forgotten Seconds is another interesting project we came across at Midwest FurFest. It’s an online manga that includes animation and original music, all put together by the international team of Kylie Dracani and Koiyaroid.Forgotten Seconds is a story about two husky brothers, Teru and Kai, who haven’t seen each other for years, and now will have to learn to embrace their differences in order to overcome their personal conflicts… A story about personal growth, introspection, and the exploration of one’s identity.” The story is being created simultaneously in English, Spanish, and Japanese. The web site has all the information about the manga, their music, and their fundraising efforts.

image c. 2023 forgottenseconds.com

Dragon Crafts

Happy New Year! Before we get too far away from 2022, we want to let you know about some cool things we found at Midwest FurFest last month. Among them was an artist who goes by the name of Straya Obscura. They specialize in dragons, all sorts of colors, all sorts of media: Standees, custom pins, prints, and so forth. But more recently they’ve branched out into a new and rather unique form of craft: Ita bags and “wing wallets”. It’s all part of the Dragon Companion series. Visit their web site to find out more, but be prepared to spend some time there — they have a lot of different designs!

image c. 2022 by Straya Obscura

Bear With Him

This is a bit complex, so we’ll let Animation World Network explain it: “Nickelodeon has released a handful of first look images for Bossy Bear, the new animated preschool series from husband-and-wife team David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim (UglyDolls, Tea Time Cats), based on the Korean / U.S. pop culture blend book series by Horvath. The series follows the misadventures of unlikely besties Bossy Bear (an overly enthusiastic extrovert) and Turtle (a thoughtful introvert) in their Koreatown-inspired city of Pleasantburg.” Look for the show on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. in 2023. [And have a happy and safe New Year’s Eve!]

image c. 2022 Nickelodeon

Multi-Species Messaging

Somehow we missed The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and the Horse when it was an illustrated book sensation three years ago. But now it’s been made into a new 2D-animated film, directed by the book’s author Charlie Mackesy with the help of animator Peter Baynton (The Tiger Who Came To Tea). “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse features traditional hand-drawn animation to tell a heartwarming tale of the unlikely friendship between the title characters as they journey in search of the boy’s home. Yet, as simple as the story is, the film, like the book, contains deep and profound insights into the things that matter most in life, offering a sorely needed message of hope in a troubled time.” Animation World Network has a detailed article about the film, which premiered on Apple TV+ at Christmas. Interesting to note: Idris Elba, Chief Bogo himself, voices the Fox.

image c. 2022 Apple Original Films

Pets for Those in Need

Swinging things back to the realm of “real-world animals” we have Do Not Pet: How To Become A Service Dog, a new one-shot comic from writer Joe Biel and illustrator Gerta Oparaku. “Ruby, a service dog who gave author Joe Biel mobility, health, and companionship through the most difficult years of their life, had many things to learn during her humble beginnings. This comic details the process for training a medical alert service dog, as well as other types of service dogs, the responsibility of their handlers for these lessons, and how these incredible dogs learn their skills.” This full-color comic is available now from Microcosm Publishing, and they have a preview too.

image c. 2022 Microcosm Publishing

Lizard Latin Lover

Merry Christmas! Recently we stumbled across a new Internet star known as Tito Lizzardo, an animated lizard singer who pals around with a sexy feline dancer named Catty Baby (aka Catty B). Virtual Humans (a site we also just discovered!) has this to say about them: “Tito is a lizard that likes to dress in his school jacket. Catty Baby is a cat that rocks her sporty looks every day. Their TikTok account is exploding with the couple’s dance moves next to the beach and the palm trees in Miami. Tito and Catty are a couple of artists doing remixes of famous Latin songs like ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ or ‘Hey DJ’. Their gang is completed with Juan Gato, Catty’s brother who is always wearing a Miami Heat shirt. All together they create amazing videos of their song remixes, targeting very young audiences with their cute, animalistic appeal.” Tito and crew first appeared in a series of short, at times rather risque dance videos on TikTok. Since then, they’ve released several much-more-family-friendly music videos on their YouTube channel. Who’s behind all this? We don’t know! But we’d love to meet them!

Image c. 2022 Tito Lizzardo