“Freaky Creatures is a cross-platform, massively multiplayer online game that allows players to build the ultimate, customizable creatures and battle them against friends.” That’s the word from areyoufreaky.com, the home-page of this new game. “In the distant future, battles are fought not by humans, but by genetically enhanced creatures. These powerful creatures engage in tremendous battles in search of victory, often with great risks on the line. There are eleven known types of Freaky Creatures in the universe, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.” They include creatures with names like Hawkan, Rexar, Dracon, Goroc, and Merasha. Eleven basic creatures can be customized by players into literally thousands of unique creations, ready for battle and interaction on-line. The Freaky Creatures Starter Pack includes two action figures and a 1-gigabyte reuseable flash drive that is the key to joining the Freaky Creatures universe. But it’s not all about battles, either. There are social areas and even interactive story activities as well. There’s even a full-color comic book published by Abandon. For a series of videos about the game and the universe, check out this web site.
Fantasy
Gargoyles for Grown-Ups…
Blue Mug Productions is another new group of Disney Gargoyles fans who have become creators. The group — Edmund Tsabard, Mara Cordova, Kalia Sartre, Jennifer L. Anderson, and Boswell Bosley — are in their own words “a handful of creative types with one thing in common: We all really like to see drawings of naked people (using the term “people” loosely) having all kinds of sex”. Brought about with the blessing of Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman, the premier Blue Mug creation is Last Tengu in Paris, an adults-only web comic. It features the story of a beautiful young Parisian artist who falls in love with a creature from feudal Japan. But that, of course, is only the beginning of this multi-generational, multi-national, multi-orientational, and multi-species tale. The first story arc is complete, the second nears completion, and “issues” three and four are in the planning stages.
Visitors to the Blue Mug web site can check out the first eight pages of Last Tengu — censored. Members — who join for a modest fee — can view the full comic un-censored, as well as the ever-growing gallery of fan art. Blue Mug is also planning a full line of t-shirts and other products — including, of course, coffee mugs.
Your Hostess
The Genesis of Oblivion Saga
This came to us from Brian M. Stalians of Imagined Interprises, Inc.:
For those of you who like your furries mad as hell, meet Klain, a member of a lion race known as the Kithians. Klain was born a slave and forced to endure the bloodthirsty sporting event known as The Games. Follow along as he copes with the stress of being freed by a mysterious race and tries to fit into the world of Humans. One of four plot lines in Farmers and Mercenaries (published by Imagined Interprises, Inc.), this is the first novel of the six-part Genesis of Oblivion Saga by Maxwell Alexander Drake. This fantasy saga has been getting great reviews; you will lose yourself in this story. Read the first four chapters and find out for yourself at the official saga website, www.genesisofoblivion.com.
Klain
From Gargoyles Fans to Comic Creators
Twilight Detective Agency is a new comic created by two very active fans of Disney’s Gargoyles TV series and comic. They must be: McAdam and Rieger call their publishing company “Two Gargoyles Graphics”. Twilight follows the adventures of a pair of “gargoyle gumshoes” working in a town that has much more magic afoot than most of the inhabitants are aware of. You can find out more about this and the team’s other comic titles, at the Two Gargs web site.
Ladies and Werewolves
Dark fantasy novelist Patricia Briggs has new books and new comic books coming out from Dabel Brothers Publishing. The premiere issue of Cry Wolfe (written by Patricia with David Lawrence, and illustrated by Jordon Gunderson) introduces us to a woman named Anna. She never believed in werewolves — until the night she became one herself. A rare “omega wolf”, Anna has spent years at the bottom of the pack as a humbled servant, until she catches the eye of a powerful alpha wolf who may see her true value. But what happens when alpha and omega get together? Meanwhile, Mercy Thompson: Homecoming (in hardcover) takes place in the days before Ms. Briggs’ best-selling novel series. We meet young Mercedes “Mercy” Thompson, a shape-shifter fresh out of college and looking for a job. She soon finds herself trapped in the middle of a war between werewolves and vampires, but the worst thing is having to face the dreaded job interview!
Mice Templar: Destiny
Image Comics bring us a brand new story arc for Michael Avon Oeming’s popular mouse-knight series. Mice Templar: Destiny follows the adventures of the newly-knighted mouse Karic. With the Templar fallen and the natural world in the grip of tyrants and ever-increasing chaos, Karic is desperate to complete his training and save his family from slavery. This new full-color monthly series is brought to us by Michael Avon Oeming, Bryan Glass, and Victor Santos.
Art is Magic
The internationally famous fantasy artist known as Ciruelo has released a new hardcover illustrated storybook called Faries and Dragons — Art is Magic. It’s available from DAC Editions. Weaving together Native American legends and European fantasy traditions, the book tells the tale of two young children — one fond of dragons, the other fond of faeries — who meet plenty of both as they travel far to help a sorceress thwart a forthcoming catastrophe. A review of the book from Amazon.com can be found here.
From Furry Fandom to the Art Stores
Kythera of Anevern is a fantasy artist who has become well-known in the world of Disney’s Gargoyles fandom. She also does anthropomorphic art from time to time — you can find her web site at http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kytheraoa. Now, she’s moved on to the fine art of… art instruction! Drawing Made Easy: Dragons and Fantasy is available in softcover from Walter Foster Publishing. It includes a brief summary of tools and materials, and tips on how to draw creature elements such as fur, horns, and scales, and 13 step-by-step “lesson”-style breakdowns of various fantasy creatures, including two types of dragons, centaur, gargoyle, mermaid, and minotaur. Visit her web site or http://anevern.artchicks.org/Images/Print/DME10/ to find out more about ordering the book.
Happily N’Ever After… the sequel?
Although it didn’t exactly burn things up at the box office (in terms of cash OR critical acclaim), evidently 2006’s Happily N’Ever After did well enough on DVD world-wide to rate its own direct-to-DVD sequel, Happily N’Ever After 2: Snow White’s A New Bite at the Apple (yes that’s the title). The new film is directed by Steven E. Gordon and Boyd Kirkland, and is being released to stores by Kickstart Productions this April. Furry fan favorites (?) Munk and Mambo return, this time trying to assist Snow White while the mighty wizard is, once again, out of town.
