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Comic Books

Ultraduck Arrives

For years we’ve been seeing sample art from the Ultraduck project showing up at San Diego Comic Con and other fannish events. Now, it seems, Arcana Studios will finally be publishing the new Ultraduck graphic novel this October. It’s written by Edgar Delgado, with full-color art by Omar Lozano and Humberto Ramos. Here’s the basic description from Amazon: “Carlos, a regular duck living in the great city of Featherbay, just got dumped by his girlfriend, his life as a freelance do-it-all is going nowhere, and he must make some grown up decisions: to get a real job, get his girl back, and stop drinking. That is, until he gets super powers and becomes the only duck in the world who can stop a powerful creature who’s destroying the city on a vengeful rampage, and an evil weapons manufacturing corporation who wants his abilities.” Just how “anthro” is this project? Check out the promo art!

image c. 2011, Art by Delgado, Lozano, Ramos

The Big Bad Wolf — or IS he…?

After literally years of struggling to find a publisher for their full-color graphic novel, writer Paul Jenkins and artists Humberto Ramos and Leonardo Olea decided to publish Fairy Quest: Outlaws themselves — and the result premiered at San Diego Comic Con this year. In the land of Fablewood, all the world’s favorite fairy tale characters re-live their famous stories over and over again, like puppets on a string. Then one day, Little Red and Mr. Woof decide they’ve grown tired of being enemies and decide to become friends — a little act of rebellion that turns all of Fablewood onto its ear, and brands these new friends as dangerous outlaws. The web site Comic Book Resources has an interview with Humberto Ramos talking about the Fairy Quest project up on line. It’s envisioned as a four-book series.

image c. 2011 Humberto Ramos

Teen Wolf: The Comic

Admit it: At times it almost seems backwards to have a comic book based on a movie or TV series these days (as opposed to vice versa). But, here we go again: Image comics presents Teen Wolf: Bite Me, a full-color 3-issue mini-series based on the new Teen Wolf  TV series on MTV. In case you need a re-cap, Scott McCall is a high-school athlete with a beautiful girlfriend and a future that’s looking up — until the night when he’s bitten by a werewolf. Now he not only has to deal with his frequent transformations, but also the fact that his girlfriend’s father is head of a local posse that has taken it upon themselves to hunt down and kill werewolves. In this new mini-series (written by David Tischman and illustrated by Stephen Mooney), Scott must deal with the new discovery that his “condition” may be incurable. Look for it this September.

Snuggling Like Cats and Dogs

You’ve seen Feed the Kitty, right? The well-known Warner Brothers cartoon short (directed by Chuck Jones) starring Marc Antony (the big, burly, barking dog) and Pussyfoot (the ridiculously adorable kitten)? Well if somehow you haven’t, get your paws on any number of Warner Brothers cartoon collection, because this cartoon is a must for any and all furry fans! Marc Antony starts off trying to frighten the tiny kitten, but overcome by a wave of cuteness, the dog ends up falling in love with… him. Yes, him. Though the Wikipedia entry refers to Pussyfoot as a female, in the cartoon Marc Antony’s human owner distinctly refers to Pussyfoot as “he” and “him”. So, why bring all this up now? Because the Looney Tunes comic book (published by DC Comics) is featuring our smitten canine and feline pair in issue #202, on the shelves right now. It’s written by Bill Matheny, with cover art by Dave Santana.

image c. 2011 DC Comics

Muppets from Marvel

With the upcoming Muppets movie on the horizon, Disney has been exerting closer control once again over the Jim Henson properties… which means, among other things, that the various Muppet comic book series (many of them published by Boom! Studios) are now gone. So what did Disney do? Have new Muppet titles published by Marvel Comics of course — since they also own that! The Muppets Present: Family Reunion is a new full-color graphic novel, written and pencilled by Roger Langridge (creator of Get Snarked, which we also reviewed before). Once again it’s time for The Muppet Show, but this time there’s a new complication: Everyone has members of their family showing up for a visit, and every single one of them is trouble! Check it out this September.

Bubbles & Gondola

More from Europe, this time from France. We really don’t know how to summarize this; even the title doesn’t exactly make sense. Probably better to let the publisher describe this new full-color hardcover graphic novel by artist and writer Renaud Dillies. Here’s what NBM Publishing put up on Amazon regarding Bubbles & Gondola: “Poetry, fantasy, and Django Reinhardt are woven into a fairy tale about solitude and awakening the creative spirit in this graphic novel. Charlie is a mouse who enjoys his solitude, staying up late nights indoors to listen to records and play his guitar; he experiences the outside world only through the windows of his house. As Charlie begins to stumble with writer’s block, a bluebird named Mr. Solitude arrives to encourage Charlie to search for inspiration outside of himself and his home. Told with a melancholic and heart-warming lyricism, this tender story combines pithy observations with whimsical illustrations to create a simple yet poignant tale for readers young and old.” The book is scheduled for release on October 1st.

 

image c. 2011 NBM Publishing

Animal Graphic Novels

Here’s a useful link we stumbled across: Lindsay Cibos (one of the creators of the Ursa Major Award winning book Draw Furries, along with Jared Hodges) has put together a list of  36 “Graphic Novels with Animal Protagonists” using Amazon.com’s “Listmania” service. Some of the items she listed are well-known already of course — Mice Templar, Blacksad, Gon, Mouse Guard, and so forth, but she also listed several that we haven’t heard of around here before, like Chi’s Sweet Home, My Cat Loki, and Seekers: Toklo’s Story. You can check out the list here, or visit Lindsay and Jared’s web site here. Here’s your homework assignment: What other cool furry-themed graphic novels can you think of?

Get Snarked

Writer and artist Roger Langridge has previously earned a comic book Harvey Award for his work on The Muppet Show, published by Boom! Studios. Now he returns to Boom! with a completely new full-color original work called Snarked!, coming out this October. But first, Boom! is present a special “Issue 0” version this August, featuring a self-contained 8-page story and lots of background material for the upcoming series. In Snarked!, Mr. Langridge offers his own take on the world of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. Specifically, the crafty Walrus and the rather clueless Carpenter take a young prince and princess off on a wild goose-chase… or rather, a wild snark-chase.

 

image c. 2011 Boom! Studios

Watch for the Knuckles

Archie Comics have announced they’re collecting together several popular adventure tales with Sonic the Hedgehog’s  feisty associate, Knuckles the Echidna. The Knuckles the Echidna Archives Volume 1 is a new full-color digest-sized trade paperback by Ian Flynn and Patrick Spaziante, coming this August. It brings together issues #1 – #3 of Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis: Knuckles and issues #1 – #3 of Knuckles the Echidna. The red one tries to solve the mysteries of his origins, and comes face-to-muzzle with the Dark Legion.