Dog Town is a new black & white science fiction/western comic written and illustrated by Brent Otey. “Our story starts when the town rabbit gets kidnapped in the middle of a cat raid. Then an overly positive pig gets involved, not to mention a big, bad wolf. Before long there is a whole heap of trouble for the sheriff of this dog town to sort out. But then again, no one ever said it would be easy to keep the law in a world devastated by a cataclysm that has left the earth charred, mankind dead, and a group of tree-worshiping woodland creatures in charge.” Got all that? Published by K.O. Comix, Dog Town is available at Lulu.com. You can check out their update blog too.
Comic Books
Spyro and his Friends Take Flight!
IDW presents a special full-color hardcover graphic novel, tied in with the upcoming release of Skylanders 5. “The official story leading into this year’s all-new Skylanders video game! The citizens of Skylands are in their most desperate hour as Kaos begins to tear the world apart with his newfound powers. Spyro and an elite group of Skylanders must enter an ancient and unknown part of Skylands and find the only hope left that can stand against Kaos’ might!” Written by Ron Marz and David Rodriguez, with illustrations by Fico Ossio, Skylanders: Rift Into Overdrive hits the shelves this week.
Who Will Be the Wolf Next?
Last year DC Comics’ Vertigo line introduced an interesting new take on the killer werewolf trope with the full-color mini-series Wolf Moon, written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Jeremy Haun. In it the werewolf is not a person, or even a group of people: It’s a malevolent transforming spirit that hops from person to person every rise of the full moon, making it difficult to track and nearly impossible to stop. Dillon was one of the werewolf’s former targets — and he is determined to find the werewolf spirit and destroy it once and for all. Now just in time for Halloween, Vertigo have announced that Wolf Moon #1 to #6 have been collected in a single trade paperback edition coming in late October.
We’re Growing Accustomed to Each Other
If you haven’t been reading the newly-reinvigorated Howard the Duck comic book series from Marvel Comics… well, why haven’t you?? Taking flight from his post-credits cameo in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie (and seemingly having gotten over that whole George Lucas… thing…) Howard has been basking in the attention brought to him by this new full-color comic written by Chip Zdarsky and illustrated by Joe Quinones. In case you need to do some catching up, this October Marvel is releasing issues # 1 through #5 of the new Howard series collected together in a single trade paperback, Howard the Duck Volume 0: What The Duck. BleedingCool.com has an extensive background piece on Howard in general and the new series in particular.
My Dad is a Dog and a Snake is my Friend
The new black & white graphic novel Family Pets (published by Zenescope Entertainment) was recently reviewed at the University of Washington’s daily newspaper web site, of all places. “After her parents’ death, 16-year-old Thomasina has been wishing for something exciting to happen in her ordinary, lonely life. One morning, she wakes up to find her foster family has turned into pet animals, and her pet snake Sebastian has transformed into a man. With the help of her wizard friend Smitty, Thomasina and Sebastian embark on a magical journey to the wizard world to find a way to reverse the spell placed on the family.” Family Pets was written by Pat Shand, with illustration by Sarah Dill.
Another Bunny Not To Mess With…
Guardian Knight Comics has a new-ish full-color adventure comic out, featuring another kick-@ss rabbit. “Death for the weak, honor for the brave, and women and gold for no good dirty pirates, however, the infamous bandit Bones has set a course for revenge, and when a wanted man such as he returns to the kingdom, it never bodes well… for the kingdom that is!” Bones, in case you haven’t figured it yet, is the rabbit in question. One friend of the artist described the comic as “… like if Conan was Bugs Bunny and he sworded his way through Final Fantasy while making out with Zelda”. Got all that? Gears & Bones is written by William Thomas and Andrew Anderson, with art by Osvaldo Pestana Montpeller. Issues are out on the shelves already.
How-Wierd. We Missed This!
Somehow Marvel Comics sneaked this one by us. Howard the Human is out on shelves right now as part of their Secret Wars mega-series. “The story [finds] Howard, formerly a Duck, as a human being. What’s more, Howard will be the only living homo sapien in a city filled with animals. Talk about a role reversal. But that doesn’t mean Howard will have a ho-hum adventure. The former fowl will see plenty of cases as a private investigator, all while dodging bullets and crossing paths with a murderous anthropomorphic animal. Or, as Howard calls it, Monday.” This full-color one-shot was written by Skottie Young (well known now for Rocket Raccoon) and illustrated by Jim Mahfood. Read the interview with Skottie over at Comicbook.com.
Planet of the Big Cats
Flesk Publications have a novel way of taking pre-orders for the newly-completed graphic novel Tribes of Kai: A Kickstarter campaign. Here’s what they say: “The Tribes of Kai is a multi-layered graphic novel about honor, integrity and the trappings of war in which extreme circumstances call for unbridled decisions and finding the strength to cope with them. This is a barbaric and primitive world where the survival of the fittest is put to the test. Artist Daren Bader and writer Lance HaunRogue bring this world to life with lush detail and an incredible sense of pace, color and lighting. They introduce the Mantakai (Man of Kai), a race of six-limbed, feline/humanoid, anthropomorphic creatures. The dominance of the five individual tribes of Mantakai are threatened by a highly evolved race of reptilian creatures called the Tobognai. Tribes of Kai is an oversized, full-color hardbound book boasting sixty exciting pages of story and pinups by top creators.” Since the goal of printing the book has long since been met, now they’re adding more goodies as each new goal-level is reached.
Fraggles in a Frenzy
Got this right from publisher, thanks to Barnes & Noble: “Return to Jim Henson’s world of Fraggles, Doozers, and Gorgs with an all new story set in beloved Fraggle Rock! When the water supply of Fraggle Rock mysteriously runs dry, the Fraggles will have to journey deep in the caves of Fraggle Rock to find the fabled Everspring where adventure awaits and no Fraggle has ever gone before! Written by New York Times bestselling comic writer Kate Leth (Adventure Time: Seeing Red), this brand new Fraggle Rock graphic novel collects Fraggle Rock: Journey to the Everspring #1-#4.” With art by Jake Myler, it’s available in hardcover from Archaia later this month.