Three black & white manga titles published by Yen Press have recently caught our eyes. Cat Paradise (written and drawn by Yuji Iwahara) tells the story of Matabi Academy, where students are allowed to keep their pet cats in their dorm rooms with them. Trouble begins with a bang when a rip between the worlds occurs and a violent cat-demon intent on revenge is released. Now the students and their friendly cat-spirit companions find themselves in a battle not only for their lives and their school, but for the whole world! Then there’s Laon, written by Young Bin Kim and drawn by Hyun You. Laon is a magical nine-tails fox who found himself on the losing end of a bet in Heaven. Now he finds himself cast out of the realm of the gods, sent to earth in the guise of a young boy — and all of his tails have been removed, cast to the four winds, along with his heavenly powers! Now the exiled fox is determined to get back his powers, and his place in Heaven, one tail at a time! Yen Press is also the home of Spice and Wolf, of course. This popular manga by Isuna Hasekura and Ju Ayakura follows the medieval adventures of a human merchant and his friend, a pretty Wolf-God of the Harvest. Volume 4 of Cat Paradise and Volume 2 of Laon are coming from Yen this May. Volume 2 of Spice and Wolf will be out in June.
Comic Books
Elephantmen coming to the Big Screen
Richard Starkings has announced that his Elephantmen comic book series (home of Hip Flask) has been optioned by Zucker Productions for development as a feature-length film. No word yet on whether the project would be live action, CGI, or some combination of the two. Also, we’re not being told yet if Jerry Zucker (Ghost) will be directing or simply producing. We do know that Starkings will be creating the story treatment for the feature himself. If you’re not familiar with the world of Elephantmen, here’s a quick summary from the press release for the film project: “Elephantmen is an Eisner Award winning series first published in 2002 under Starkings’ Active Images imprint. In 2006 Image Comics approached Starkings to bring the book under their umbrella. The story of the Elephantmen takes place in Los Angeles in the not too distant future — in a world where human/animal hybrids were created to fight a war between Africa and China. Scarred by their experiences in war and seeking to somehow find their own humanity, the Elephantmen are now scattered throughout the world amongst the humans they were created to kill. Elephantmen is a brilliant commentary on racism, miscegenation, global warming, stem cell research and warfare. Created and written by Starkings, the series features artwork by Ladrönn, Moritat, and Boo Cook.“
Captain Long Ears
New from Amaze Ink and Slave Labor Graphics: 8-year-old Michael has lost his father in a terrible accident. Though his mother is consumed by her grief, Michael insists on keeping a birthday tradition: Putting on his rabbit/spaceman costume and going to the local theme park as Captain Long Ears. If his mother won’t go, then Michael will simply go there with his imaginary friend, a purple gorilla named Jam. Trouble ensues, however, when Captain Long Ears and Jam take it upon themselves to rescue the theme park’s prize elephant… whether it wants to be rescued or not. This new black & white graphic novel was written and illustrated by Diana Thung. Look for it in May.
Legends of the Guard… Mice, this time
David Petersen’s award-winning comic and story-book series Mouse Guard gets a new twist, as some of the most creative minds in the world of comic books join him to tell all-new tales in Legends of the Guard, a new 4-issue full-color mini-series (coming this May from Archaia Entertainment). “Inside the June Alley Inn, located in the western mouse city of Barkstone, mice gather to tell tales, each trying to out-do the other. A competition, of sort, begins. The rules: Every story must contain one truth, one lie, and have never been told in that tavern before.” Story-tellers this time around include Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl), Ted Naifeh (Courtney Crumrin), and Alex Sheikman (Robotika). In future issues we’ll see contributions by Katie Cook, Guy Davis, Gene Ha, Sean Rubin, Mark Smylie, and many more.
Coming Soon from Archaia
Archaia Entertainment (not to be confused with Arcana Studio, which we were talking about recently) is bringing out two limited-edition comic books of interest in the near future. Fraggle Rock #1 is the first of a four-issue full-color miniseries based on the original Jim Henson TV series (of course). Not adaptations of the TV episodes, this comic (starting up in April) will present brand-new adventures of Gobo, Red, Mokey, Boober, Wembly, and all their friends in their underground world. In the future, Archaia will be teaming up with Jim Henson Studios to produce new comic books based on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, also. Meanwhile, closer to home, we have the preview comic for Berona’s Hundred Year War. The full-color graphic novel by Jesse Labbe and Anthony Coffey is forthcoming, but for now we have this 40-page preview. The Ele-Alta and the Cropones are two races of cute, furry, cuddly creatures… locked in an ages-old war of death and destruction with each other. Can anything break them out of the cycle of war?
Vote for the Ursa Major Awards!
Once again, it’s time for you the fans to vote for the best that anthropomorphics have to offer with the annual Ursa Major Awards. From the web site: “More formally known as the Annual Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Awards, the Ursa Major Awards are presented annually for excellence in the furry arts. They are intended as Anthropomorphic (a.k.a. Furry) Fandom’s equivalent of the Hugo Awards presented by the World Science Fiction Society, mystery fandom’s Anthony Awards, horror fandom’s Bram Stoker Awards, and so forth.” For 2009, the nominees in 10 categories include:
Best Motion Picture - Live-action or animated feature-length movies. * "Avatar" * "Fantastic Mr Fox" * "The Princess and the Frog" * "Up" * "Where the Wild Things Are" Best Dramatic Short Work or Series - TV series or one-shots, advertisements or short videos. * "The Cat Piano" * "Partly Cloudy" * "The Penguins of Madagascar" * "Prep and Landing" * "The Secret Saturdays" Best Novel - Written works of 40,000 words or more. Serialized novels qualify only for the year that the final chapter is published. * "Bone Crossed" by Patricia Briggs * "Cheetah's Win" by Phil Geusz * "Jazmyn" by Bernard Doove * "Out of Position" by Kyell Gold * "Return to the Hundred Acre Wood" by David Benedictus * "The Unscratchables" by Cornelius Kane Best Short Fiction - Stories less than 40,000 words, poetry, and other short written works. * "Drifting" by Kyell Gold * "Moonthief" by Not Tube * "Stop the World" by Kyell Gold * "Thou Shalt Not Make Wrongful Use Of The Name Of Thy Lord" by Whyte Yote * "Trading Wishes" by Kevin Frane Best Other Literary Work - Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and convention program books. * "Bloom County - The Complete Library, Volume 1" by Berke Breathed * "Draw Furries: How to Create Anthropomorphic and Fantasy Animals" by Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges * "The First Book of Lapism" by Phil Geusz * "Who Are The Furries?" by Denise Winterman * "X" edited by Kyell Gold Best Graphic Story - Includes comic books and serialized online stories. * "Concession" by Immelman * "Furthia High" by QuetzaDrake * "Jack" by David Hopkins * "Lackadaisy" by Tracy J. Butler * "Twokinds" by Tom Fischbach Best Comic Strip - Newspaper-style strips, including those with ongoing arcs. * "Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures" by Amber M. Williams * "Doc Rat" by Jenner * "Freefall" by Mark Stanley * "Housepets!" by Rick Griffin * "Kevin and Kell" by Bill Holbrook Best Magazine - Professional magazines, amateur zines, fanzines, and internet-only magazines. * "ANTHRO" edited by Quentin Long * "Heat" published by Sofawolf * "New Fables" edited by Tim Susman * "South Fur Lands" edited by Bernard Doove * "Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe" edited by Gene Breshears Best Published Illustration - Illustrations for books, magazines, convention program books, cover art for such, coffee table portfolios. * "Gaia's Strange Seedlike Brood (Homage to Lynn Margulis)" by Patrick Farley * "It's Beautiful" by Jailbird * "Jazmyn" by Sara Palmer * "New Coyote" by Kenket * "Out of Position" by Blotch Best Game - Computer or console games, role-playing games, board games. * "Earth Eternal" * "G-Force: The Video Game" * "Predation: The Board Game" * "Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time"
Voting is open now, and will close on April 18th -- with the awards to be presented in early summer. Visit the Ursa Major Awards web site to find out more about the nominees -- or, more importantly, to vote! Make your voice heard!
New Comics for Kids from Ape
Ape Entertainment is presenting Kizoic, a new line of full-color young reader comic book titles coming this year. And, luckily, several of those titles have notably furry themes. Two of those titles come direct from Dreamworks Animation: Shrek Forever After — The Prequel, coming this April, and The Penguins of Madagascar, shipping in June. Shrek, of course, is based on the upcoming fourth Shrek feature film. In this new comic by Scott Shaw and Drew Rausch, the villainous Rumpelstiltskin tries time and again to get the best of Shrek, Donkey, Puss-in-Boots, and their friends. Meanwhile, keep your eyes out for Scratch 9, featuring the adventures of a little who can access all 8 of his past and future lives — including the one where he was a saber-toothed tiger!
The Last Unicorn Comic Book
It’s been 25 years since Peter S. Beagle’s beloved fantasy The Last Unicorn was made into a successful and iconic 2D animated film by Rankin-Bass. Now, IDW Publishing presents a brand new Last Unicorn six-part comic book mini-series coming out this April. It’s been adapted by Peter B. Gillis and illustrated in full color Renae De Liz and Ray Dillion. In case you don’t know it: A beautiful unicorn finds that her kind have disappeared, and that she might very well be the last. In her quest to find her kindred, she is captured by a freakish carnival… where she learns of a terrible monster known as the Red Bull, who has be scouring the land, capturing unicorns…
Badgers, Foxes, and Guinea Pigs!
New for very young readers, from Lerner Publishing Group: Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye is a full-color trade paperback series for kids, created by Colleen Venable and Stephanie Yue. Sasspants the guinea pig P.I. attempts to solve the mystery of the missing sandwich with the help of her sidekick, Hamisher the hamster, and a menagerie of pet-store suspects. Each book in this series is peppered with clues, and features a collection of animal facts at the end. Then there’s Mr. Badger and Mrs. Fox, a new series (also in full color) by Brittie Luciani and Eve Tharlet. In Volume 1: The Meeting, Mrs. Fox and her daughter Ginger are chased out of their home by a vicious hunter’s dog. They end up seeking shelter in the home of Mr. Badger, his two squabbling sons, and his toddler daughter. It’s a series about making friends and getting along in families of different backgrounds. Both new series are coming this March.
