This May it’s time for the return of everyone’s favorite lasagna-loving feline with attitude. Comic book writer and well-known critic Mark Evanier takes up a pen this time to bring as a new full-color Garfield comic book from Boom! Studios’ Kaboom! imprint. It helps, of course, that he was one of the writers of the Garfield & Friends animated TV series back in the day. This time around the art duties are handled by Garfield comic strip cartoonist Gary Barker. Check out the pre-order information at Kaboom’s web site, which also shows one of the variant covers of the premier issue.
Comedy
Madagascar 3 — The Comic
Speaking of Ape Entertainment, this May they’ll also be anticipating the latest film in Dreamworks’ Madagascar franchise with a new digest-sized full-color graphic novel. Entitled Madagascar 3: Long Live the King, it’s a prequel to the film itself (Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted) which is coming out on June 8th. Here’s what Ape has to say: “Follow the adventures of ‘The King of Versailles’ in Monte Carlo, the misadventures of Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman, and plenty of spy-jinx from everyone’s favorite feathered foursome, The Penguins Of Madagascar! It’s all-ages fun from David Server and Jackson Lanzing (Penguins Of Madagascar) and artist Bob Renzas!” By the way, you can find out more about this and many other new and upcoming releases at Ape Entertainment’s official blog.
Prehistoric Duck vs. Marauding Monkeys
Late in May there’s something definitely new and different coming down the pipe from Ape Entertainment. It’s a full-color softcover graphic novel called Dino Duck: Prehysterical. How best to describe it? Hmm, we better let them do it: “The race up the evolutionary ladder is on! But the only duck in the Duck Tribe who knows it is Dino! With the monkeys watching and copying his every move (and his fellow tribesman ignoring him completely), it’s up to Dino to drag his people out of the stone age and into evolutionary superiority before the monkeys beat him to it!” The man behind it all is writer and artist Jay Fosgitt. Check it out over at Things from Another World.
Doggie of Death
Sometimes, all you need to know is the title: Battlepug. Want more? Okay. Some time ago comic book artist Mike Norton created a t-shirt design of a Conan-type barbarian riding the back of a giant-but-cute doggie, which he titled “Battlepug”. The t-shirt design was such a hit that about one year ago Mr. Norton decided to create a Battlepug web comic, which follows the adventures of a muscular warrior, his battle-pug mount, and an old lunatic as they travel the land, yes, battling with the likes of a giant evil baby seal and a colony of gophers who team up to form a giant mega-gopher. You see it’s all a story a naked lady is telling to her two pet dogs… Well, maybe it’ll make more sense if you read it. Or maybe not. Now word is out that the web comic has done so well that Dark Horse Press will be releasing a collected print version of the first year of Battlepug this coming July.
Wallace and Gromit come to DVD — Again
Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention won the 2010 Ursa Major Award (presented at Morphicon in 2011) for Best Anthropomorphic Short Subject or Series. Now Cartoon Brew has informed us that Lionsgate is releasing the entire 6-episode BBC series (created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations, of course) to DVD and BluRay on March 13th. “Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention sees world-renowned inventor Wallace and his faithful sidekick (turned camera dog) Gromit turn their hand to presenting for the very first time, hosting a six-part series from the basement of 62 West Wallaby Street. They take an enthusiastic look at some real life cracking contraptions, from gadgets that help around the home to the mind-boggling world of space travel and much more in between.”
Black to the Moon
Black to the Moon is a 3D CGI animated feature film from Europe, which recently premiered at the Cartoon Movie event in Lyon, France. Originally known as Blackie & Kanuto, it was directed by Francis Nielsen and produced in France, Spain, Italy, and Belgium (!). Currently it’s looking for distribution in North America. Here’s the storyline according to the Internet Movie Database: “Blacky, a black sheep, is the terror of the farm. And she is obsessed with going to the Moon. Kanuto, the sheepdog, gets tangled up in her plans while failing to hide his love for her. They get swept away in an adventure where they meet an opera-singing cow, a fashion designer wolf, illegal sewing spiders, a weird couple of birds from some famous singing TV reality show contest, and a peculiar pack of dogs, the ‘Pastrinos’, who have a rocket ready to launch. And of course, Pinky, the Godzilla-sized sheep, with a bad attitude of lunar proportions.” Seriously. Maybe it’ll make more sense when you see the English-language trailer on YouTube. But then again, maybe not.
Strangeness from Antarctic Press
Where to even begin, except to say: Dead Pooh. Yes. Here, we’ll let the perpetrators try to explain: “Trash-collecting bear by day, crime-fighting martial artist by night. Dead Pooh protects the citizens of Woodland City from the menace of the Candy King. In the best traditions of parady, Comi-Kazi presents the latest hero to arise to confront the forces of darkness for truth, justice…and a jar of honey!” Sure to raise the hackles and the temperature of Marvel fans and Disney fans alike. This loony full-color one-shot is written by Al Sharpe, illustrated by Marat Mychaeis and Sean Davis, and scheduled for release from Antarctic Press in March. Oh bother.
Return to the Outland
Barely a month after retiring his world-famous Bloom County comic strip in 1989, creator Berke Breathed returned with a new Sunday-only full-color strip, Outland. It featured many of the original Bloom County characters, including Bill the Cat and Opus the Penguin, in new adventures. Now IDW Publishing has put together Berke Breathed’s Outland: The Complete Library, a 320-page hardcover collection of all the Outland strips from 1989 through 1995, scanned and reprinted from Berke Breathed’s original artwork. It will also include a collection of very rare Academia Waltz strips, which Berke Breathed began in college before he created Bloom County. Mile High Comics has a detailed write-up on the book, which is coming to stores this May.
Lycanthropy Can Be Funny
More e-books we’ve stumbled across… Check out Lycanthropy Anonymous by J.A. Konrath. This 2011 book concerns lycanthropy — shapeshifting — and the myriad ways it can make your life complicated. Here, check out the publisher’s description from Amazon: “It isn’t easy being a werewolf. Especially when you’re a newbie at shapeshifting. Lucky, there’s a group called Shapeshifters Anonymous that will help you work through the difficult times, like eating your friends, and shedding. When recently turned werewolf Robert Weston Smith discovers his new found abilities in a humorous (but alarming) way, he seeks out the support group to help him figure things out. There he meets various characters who transform into assorted, odd things, including a sexy werecheetah named Irena. But little did Weston know he’d been followed to this private gathering, by someone who wants to do the therianthropes a great deal of harm… ” The description goes on, “Shapeshifters Anonymous is a 12,000 word novella, specifically formatted for Kindle. It contains a handful of werepeople, a dash of romance, some gratuitous humor, and revisionist Xmas theories. It also has previews of Konrath’s other work.” And it’s available for the Kindle right now.








