And speaking of animal “companions”, try this far-out adventure for size: “From the outer reaches of space, the Space Hustlers kidnap, blow-up, extort, or just give well-deserved noogies to those who stand in their way! Joined by a Confucius alien kung-fu monkey and a semi-conscious robot, street knowledge clashes with ancient philosophy as the Space Hustlers accomplish any mision, just so long as they don’t kill each other first!” Steve Owen, writer and illustrator, presents the Space Hustlers graphic novel in trade paperback. It’s coming this November in black & white from Hey Drude Productions. Check it out at Westfield Comics too.
Comic Books
TwoKinds Comes To Print
For the first time on printed paper, Keenspot will soon be releasing TwoKinds as a pair of full-color graphic novels in trade paperback. This Ursa Major Award-winning on-line comic is written and illustrated by Thom Fischbach. “After waking up without any memory of his past, the lone mage Trace finds himself in the company of Flora, a girl from a bestial species known as the Keidran. Along with a reluctant Basitin warrior named Keith, they journey in search of a place to call their own. But with war between the races brewing, love conflicts with loyalty.” Volume 1 includes a special 5-page epilogue that was not printed on line. Though the release has been pushed back a few times, both Volume 1 and Volume 2 are currently set to hit the shelves this October. You can order them both at the Mile High Comics web site.
Llama, Llama, Llama, No Duck
Somehow, another cultural meme has passed us by (we admit it), but evidently this is a Very Important Llama: “Polka Spot has traveled the world as a fashion model, pop superstar, movie star, magazine editor, diplomatic problem-solver, and general global icon. She goes where no llama has gone before. Her life in pictures is worth a million words. And every one is massively important. In the rare moments that Polka Spot has any down time, she lives at home with Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, better known as The Beekman Boys, on their farm in Sharon Springs, NY. The Beekman Boys, who will be competing in the Amazing Race on CBS this season, wanted to feature their popular llama from their show that will start airing on the Cooking Channel later this month. Bluewater Productions is giving this larger-than-life personality a brand new comic series titled Polka Spot: My Life in Pictures. The all-ages comic was co-written by Bluewater President Darren G. Davis, Michael Troy and the Beekman Boy himself, Brent Ridge. Polka Spot’s vibrant art was created by talented artist, Bernat.” Following all that? We really didn’t either. But, you can find out more at 1st Comic News. Bluewater Productions will bring us Polka Spot #1 in full color this October.
Bride of Porkula
Look, it’s probably better if we just let the creators describe this one: “Virginia Hamm along with friends Herford Bovis and Bill E. Goat travel to Porksilvania to claim the estate of her late uncle, Otto McMonster. Little does our trio know that they must survive the likes of Count Porkula, Beefenstein, Mr. Gruff and a host of other ghosts and ghouls to bring home the bacon!” Got it? Old McMonster’s Haunted Farm was created by Brent E. Erwin, and this first full-color 48-page graphic novel in the series, Bride of Porkula, was written and illustrated by Jay Fosgitt. Ape Entertainment will be releasing it on the world this October — and if none of this makes sense to you, then check out the preview on their web site. Blah! Blah!
The Easter Kangaroo…?
In case you haven’t caught wind of it yet, Dreamworks Animation will release their new feature film Rise of the Guardians on November 21st. And already the character of the Easter Bunny — voiced by Hugh Jackman, and referred to in the story as Bunnymund — is turning quite a few heads in furry fandom. Now the tie-in merchandise is beginning to show up. First out the gate is a new full-color graphic novel from Ben Lichius and Marcelo Ferreira, Rise of the Guardians: The Hidden Truth and Other Stories. It goes like this: “North. Bunnymund. Sandman. Tooth Fairy. They are the make-believe characters that populate the imagination of children the world over. But young Jamie believes otherwise. They’re all real, and he’s been collecting the ‘evidence’ to prove it! When Jamie’s friend, Toby, comes over to spend the night, he finds Jamie’s ‘Weird Stuff’ scrapbook full of copious notes and samples about unexplained phenomenon, and the talk turns to Jamie’s stories of near-miss encounters. It soon becomes evident, however, that Toby has a pretty amazing story of his own to tell.” Ape Entertainment will release this new trade paperback on October 23rd, and you can pre-order a copy at Barnes & Noble.
The Return of Inspector LeBrock
Bryan Talbot from the UK has become quite well known among furry fans and comic book fans for his graphic novel series Grandville. Set in an an alternate steampunk universe of talking animals, where Britain is under the rule of France, the series follows the adventures of the deadly badger detective Inspector LeBrock. Recently, Mr. Talbot announced the upcoming release of the third book in the series, Grandville: Bete Noir. “The baffling murder of a famed Parisian artist in his locked and guarded studio takes the tenacious Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard and his faithful adjunct, Detective Ratzi, into the cutthroat Grandville art scene to track the mysterious assassin. As the body count mounts and events spiral out of control, the investigation points to Toad Hall, where a cabal of industrialists and fat cats plot the overthrow of the French State . . . by use of steam-driven automaton soldiers!” Dark Horse Press will release Grandville: Bete Noir in hardcover on December 12th. Check out The Fandom Post for a preview.
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Sonic
… and his friends. And his adversaries. At least so far as the Archie Comics universe is concerned. The Sonic the Hedgehog Who’s Who is a project that has been in the works since 2010, and put on hiatus several times as Sega Games decided to become involved. Now Archie Comics have announced that the newly-named Sonic the Hedgehog: The Complete Comic Encyclopedia will be released as a full-color trade paperback this October. “For the Sonic fan on the go and those who want to know it like the pros, this is the long-awaited official source for Sonic the Hedgehog comic info! Includes new, exclusive information not yet revealed in the comic itself and packed with entertaining character and locations listings that definitely explain Sonic’s world, Mobius. It’s a big place that has been featured in hundreds of issues of stories – the longest running video-game inspired hit comic ever!” Written and edited by Ian Flynn, it features art by Patrick “Spaz” Spaziante and several others.
Werewolves of the Heartland
Furry fans can usually expect some interesting — sometimes silly, sometimes scarey, sometimes gross — anthropomorphic animal stuff to turn up in the pages of Fables, the award-winning comic book series created by Jim Willingham. The latest full-color opus from the DC Comics Vertigo imprint is Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland, illustrated by Jim Fern, Craig Hamilton, Ray Snyder, and Mark Farmer (whew!). Here’s the publisher’s description from Amazon: “Bigby Wolf takes center stage in the most brutal, action-packed FABLES story to date. Sent out into modern day America at large, Bigby’s on a quest for possible locations for a new Fabletown. In his wanderings, Bigby stumbles across a small town named Luperville, somewhere in American’s vast heartland, that, amazingly enough, seems to be populated by werewolves. These werewolves are descendants of a World War II German project to create an army of werewolf super soldiers, some of whom who were infected with Bigby’s tainted blood. And even more unfortunate the fact that they’ve captured, caged and tortured the most popular and important canine in history: Bigby Wolf.” According to Amazon this 144-page hardcover graphic novel will be released in early November.
Plushies vs. Creepy Dolls
Breaking out of the pages of Womanthology (a successful all-female-created comic anthology from last year) comes A Stuffed Bunny in Doll Land: The Furry War Begins, written by Anya Martin and illustrated in full color by Mado Pena. Here’s the basic description from their web site: “In Womanthology: Heroic, Munny, a lone stuffed bunny, showed her inner hero and entered the frightening world of dolls to save her best friend, Elephant, with only a butter knife and a sugar bowl lid. But the dolls are not pleased to lose their new pet and ready to launch an expedition of their own to take him back. Now Munny has to return to Doll-Land and venture deep, deep into their dark world of strange beauty and unexpected horror, accompanied only by a valiant band of fellow stuffed animals.” New updates for this on-line comic are coming soon.








