Jason Brubaker works by day as a visual design artist at Dreamworks Animation, and by night as a self-published comic book creator. His story reMIND… well, here, we better let him describe it: “Sonja, the lighthouse keeper at a seaside oil drilling town, loses her cat, Victuals. Everyone blames the Lizard Man, the local boogeyman, which Sonja knows is a myth created by her late father to generate interest in the town. But when Victuals unexpectedly returns and has the brain of a strange intelligent creature; it seems someone is doing experimental transplants. With the brain of a lizard and the body of a cat, Victuals must now fight to recover his original lizard body and confront what he thought was the all-powerful god.” So, you got that? Good. reMIND has been collected into one hardcover graphic novel previously, and Volume 2 has just been released. And of course, you can visit the reMIND web site to keep up with the latest adventures.
Comic Books
Turn into a Newt! It’s Better.
Gud Fit Entertainment is a rather new comic book company which produces colorful comic books and on-line comics with young readers in mind — but everyone is certainly welcome to check them out. Among their current titles is Dorse and Doose, the story of a horse (Dorse) raised by a dog (Doose) trying to find his way living on a farm. More along the traditional comic book line is Super Newts, the story of Cool and Cute: Two super-powered amphibians sworn to protect the inhabitants of Amphibiland from all dangers. Check out the Gud Fit web site to find out more about these and other upcoming projects.
Sanctuary! Sanctuary!
Actually, Sanctuary is a black & white on-line comic book by Stephen Coughlin, published as part of Slave Labor Graphics on-line comics initiative. It’s a funny animal adventure, but also a murder mystery. ” A research station on a secluded island houses a game reserve/sanctuary where the animals seem to be just a tad smarter than the human researchers observing them. The arrival of a Panda bear threatens to upset the delicate balance of life for everyone involved.” Word is out that Sanctuary will also be released soon on dead trees. For now, check it out at SLG’s page.
The Curse and The Pug
Here at In-Fur-Nation we’ve covered a lot of pirates, and a lot of werewolves, and a lot of little doggies. Well, how about a little doggy who fights pirates who are werewolves? Welcome to the world of Mike Norton’s The Curse. In 2009 Mr. Norton, creator of Battlepug (which we’ve also covered here) took up the 24-Hour Comic Book Challenge, which yes, challenges comic book creators to bring about a 24-page comic book, from scratch, in 24 hours. The result was The Curse, in which a small but tenacious pet pug helps his master to defeat an evil band of pirates who’s bite turns you into one of their kind! The response to The Curse was so positive that Mr. Norton returned to it and created Parts 2 and 3 in 2010 and 2011 for the same challenge. Now Oni Press has collected all three sections into a single black and white trade paperback, which is available for pre-order and headed to the shelves this October.
Save Yourself
Here’s a different take on the traditional princess vs. dragon story: “Princeless is about Princess Adrienne who lives in a land of fairy-tale castles. When the Princesses reach age 16 they are put in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon, where they languish until a dashing would-be Prince comes to rescue them. It’s traditional. Apparently knowing which end of a sword to stick in a dragon is a fit test for kingship… Adrienne isn’t pleased with this state of affairs, and after one particularly luckless knight turns up she decides she’s had enough. Chatting late into the night with Sparky (the dragon) they decide to abandon the castle, fake her own death and set off on a quest to save her sisters from their towers.” Fantasy creatures and fantasy tropes show up aplenty in this series, and none of them looked at in the traditional way. Now Action Lab Comics have released Princeless: Save Yourself, which collects the first story arc of the series (written by Jeremy Whitley and illustrated by M. Goodwin) into one handy full-color trade paperback. Check out their blog.
Pandering. Do it.
Look, we know that we very recently did a report on Chew: Secret Agent Poyo from Image Comics. Well even more recently they lobbed a curve-ball right at us, and we thought we’d better respond. So first off, what is Chew? Here’s the description from Wikipedia: “Chew is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book series written by John Layman with art by Rob Guillory and published by Image Comics. It is a story about an FDA Agent who solves crimes by getting psychic impressions by eating things, including people.” Got that? Okay. Well now comes the announcement for issue #28 of the regular Chew series. Check out the cover below, and check out this description from Image: “‘Space Cakes’,Part Three. Remember last story arc when Tony Chu got kidnapped? This issue he gets kidnapped again! How lame is that? Meanwhile, we shamelessly pander to comics’ coveted ‘furry’ demographic.” Got that? Okay. We don’t know anything more about it, but we figure if they’re going to pander to us, we’ll pander right back at them. So there!
Play-Mate of the Apes?
We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: We couldn’t make up some of this stuff if we tried. Somehow we missed the 2002 direct-to-video film Play-Mate of the Apes, a soft-core erotic spoof starring Misty Mundae. It’s described and discussed on the Internet Movie Database, though. Now Seduction Cinema Comics is presenting the Play-Mate of the Apes Deluxe Pack, coming (no pun) this July. The Deluxe Pack not only features the original film on DVD, but also a brand-new full-color comic book version of the film written by John Bacchus (the original film’s director) and illustrated by Noel Scotch Anderson. What’s it all about? “Sexy and fearless U.S. astronaut Gaylor and her shipmates crash land on a desolate planet dominated by a tyrannical race of intelligent talking apes, sparking a revolution of untamed and uninhibited female lust that threatens to bring down the repressive ape society…or set it free!” You heard it here. You can check it out on Things From Another World, too.
The Avenging Bat… Bat
New from Image Comics this July: “Man of Action Studios — creators of the international hit Ben 10 — return with an all-new big book for little readers! Livingston is a peaceful fruit bat whose life changes when he is bitten by a vampire and transformed into a vampire bat! As Batula — an avenging creature of the night — Livingston develops a taste for adventure and a need to prove that no matter what he looks like on the outside, he’s still the same bat on the inside. A full-color story book by Frankie Stein creators Steven Seagle [writing] and Marco Cinello [art]!” Visit Image Comics’ preview page to find out more about Batula (and see some interior art).
Ursa Major Winners for 2011
Hey there, we’re back among the living. Your ever-lovin’ ed-otter has been down with a very, very nasty sinus infection for no less than two weeks, and is only just now getting back to his feet. So it’s time to play some major catch-up with In-Fur-Nation, yes?
The winners of the Ursa Major Awards were recently announced at a Saturday afternoon ceremony at CaliFur in Irvine, California. The June 2nd show was emcee’d by CaliFur’s own Gary Whalen. Greenreaper was on hand to accept Flayrah’s award for Best Anthropomorphic Magazine. The full list of winners for 2011 looks like this:
Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson)
Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Series or Short Work: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Produced by Studio DHX)
Best Anthropomorphic Novel: Isolation Play, by Kyell Gold
Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction: “How to Get Through the Day”, by Kyell Gold
Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work: Nordguard, Book One, by Tess Garman & Teagan Gavet
Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story: Furthia High, by QuetzaDrake
Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip: Housepets!, by Rick Griffin
Best Anthropomorphic Magazine: Flayrah
Best Anthropomorphic Website: Equestria Daily
Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration: Blotch, for the cover of Nordguard, Book One
Best Anthropomorphic Game: Pokemon: Black and White
In addition, the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association (ALAA), which administers the Ursa Major Awards, announced a new “ALAA’s Choice” award for a nominee which the committee felt deserved special mention for its merit. This year that award went to the graphic story Red Lantern by Rukis and Alectorfencer.
The Ursa Major Awards are the “People’s Choice Awards” for anthropomorphic fandom, nominated and awarded every year by votes from regular fans like you. Want to get involved? Make suggestions? Visit www.ursamajorawards.org to find out more. And start thinking about what to nominate for 2012!








