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Fantasy

The Boy and the Bear are Back

Speaking of Mike Kunkel (which we were recently), he returns with a new edition of Herobear and The Kid in the Herobear and the Kid 2016 Fall Special, out now from Boom! Studios. “Tyler and Herobear are able to stop the dinosaurs that are attacking the parade, but at what cost? With the help of Elmo (oh yeah, Elmo totally knows that Tyler and his stuffed animal are Herobear and the Kid!), they soon discover that Von Klon has kidnapped Henry!” Trust us, it makes sense if you’ve read the previous installments. What, you haven’t? Go do that now! Then check out the preview pages over at Comic Book Resources. Below is the special variant cover by well-known comic creator Roger Langridge.

image c. 2016 Boom! Studios

image c. 2016 Boom! Studios

Life Can Be A Circus

With all the endless chatter about what a “furry year at the movies” we’re having in 2016, we’ve somewhat been missing the opportunity to talk about furry-friendly films coming up next year. Now here’s one we just learned about: It’s called Animal Crackers, and no, it does not have anything to do with the Marx Brothers. It’s a new CGI animated film being produced by Blue Dream Studios (whom we have not heard of before, we admit). According to the Wikipedia article, “Animal Crackers follows the Huntington family whose life is turned upside down when they inherit a rundown circus and a mysterious box of Animal Crackers, which magically change the person who eats them into the animal they have eaten — including monkeys, giraffes, lions, elephants, tigers, rhinos and bears. They must save the circus from being taken over by their evil uncle Horatio P. Huntington (Sir Ian McKellen).” Other notable voices include John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Danny DeVito, Sylvester Stallone, Wallace Shawn, Raven-Symoné, Patrick Warburton, Gilbert Gottfried, Harvey Fierstein, and Tara Strong. The film is being directed by Tony Bancroft (The Lion King, Mulan), Scott Christian Sava (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers), and Jaime Maestro. Interestingly, some other well-known names on the production team include Will Finn (famous Disney animator) and Mike Kunkel (creator of Herobear and the Kid). It’s coming to theaters next April.

image c. 2016 Blue Dream Studios

image c. 2016 Blue Dream Studios

 

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All the Birds Sing Words, and the Flowers Croon

We knew Disney and Marvel were drawing closer together but… this? Wow! Following in the scaly footsteps of Figment, now Marvel brings us The Enchanted Tiki Room 5-issue comic book miniseries. “Welcome to the Enchanted Tiki Room, a place of legend…of fantasy…and mystery! Here, on an isolated and mysterious island, almost anything can happen. And often does! Inside the island’s Enchanted Tiki Room – an astonishing cast of birds, plants and ancient Tiki gods spring to life. As the next boat arrives carrying new visitors, what stories will unfold, what mysteries will be revealed and how are they all connected?” Written by Jon Adams and illustrated by Horacio Domingues, issue #1 is out now. Comics Beat has more. Ole’!

image c. 2016 Marvel Comics

image c. 2016 Marvel Comics

We… are the Crystal Pokemon…

The mighty machine that is Pokemon carries on — and no, we don’t mean Pokemon Go either. Pokemon Adventures: Ruby & Sapphire is the latest black & white manga to hit North America; coming to us thanks to Viz Media. “Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald face a new crisis of epic proportions: a giant meteor hurtling toward the planet! Don’t miss these awesome new adventures inspired by the best-selling Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire video games and picking up where the Pokémon Adventures Ruby and Sapphire saga left off!” Illustrated by Satoshi Yamamoto and written by Hedenori Kusaka, this new digest-sized manga is available now. Anime News Network has this and a whole lot more brand-new Pokemon stuff as well.

image c. 2016 Viz Media

image c. 2016 Viz Media

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A Girl and her Bear in the Country

Here’s one from Japan we almost missed. Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear is a black & white manga series by Masume Yoshimoto, originally published by Media Factory. Now One Peace Books are bringing the collected first series to North America in digest form. It’s the story of a young teenage girl named Machi who lives in a remote mountain village. She’s a Miko (a shinto shrine maiden) and she has never left her idyllic native home.  But now she’s thinking about moving to the big city to attend high school. That doesn’t sit well with her best friend: Natsu Kumai, a talking bear. A tie-in anime series of Kuma Miko premiered in Japan this year; maybe we’ll get to see that our way soon too!

image c. 2016 Media Factory

image c. 2016 Media Factory

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Somebody Hug This Cat

From the Koyama Press web site we learn that “Steve Wolfhard… draws comics like Cat Rackham and Turtie Needs Work and works as a storyboard artist on the Emmy Award-winning animated television series Adventure Time.” Turns out that Cat Rackham has quite a following of its own. Not bad for “a deeply depressed cat”. Now Koyama brings us the new Cat Rackham full-color graphic novel. “The existential dread associated with getting out of bed terrifies Cat Rackham to his cat core. However, despite his efforts, he seems to consistently find himself dewclaw deep in trouble, often deeply strange trouble.” It’s available now in hardcover — featuring a poem by Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward.

image c. 2016 Koyama Press

image c. 2016 Koyama Press

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Creatures In The Out

Quirk’s Quest: Into The Outlands is a new full-color graphic novel for young readers from First Second. Here’s what the publishers have to say: “Setting out to explore the remote Outlands of Crutonia are the brave and multifarious crew of the H.M.S. Gwaniimander, under the command of Captain Quenterindy Quirk—a leader whose confidence exceeds his competence by several lengths of his own bushy tail. Quirk’s voyage of discovery is quickly plunged into disaster and mystery, as the expedition encounters carnivorous giants, an unstable sorceress, and a valley of indestructible creatures. With the crew decimated, the ship destroyed, and a malign force plotting worse fortune, can Quirk and his compatriots hold together their royal mission? Vividly illustrated and starring a cunningly designed cast of characters, Into the Outlands is a tale of adventure in a fully-imagined fantasy world ripe for exploration. This first graphic novel of Quirk’s Quest includes an illustrated roster of the important characters, a guide to the intrepid Sxervian Frog Brigade, and mission map of the Outlands.” Written by Robert Christie and illustrated by Deborah Lang (in a style that is very reminiscent of Fraggle Rock), this new trade paperback is available now.

image c. 2016 First Second

image c. 2016 First Second

Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night…

In Fox’s Forest is a new hardcover graphic novel published by Fantagraphics. According to them, here’s how it goes: “After a successful hunt with his mate, a male fox is captured by the ‘two leggers’ and thrust into captivity. There, he faces dangers more insidious than the simple eat-or-be-eaten laws of the forest: Complacency, fear of the unknown, pack mentality, and loss of identity. Fox’s struggle to remain unbroken and return to his home and his love makes this standalone graphic novel an all-ages fable in the tradition of Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Gorgeously rendered in a classic pen and ink style, the drawing is reminiscent of the Golden Age of children’s book illustration, and its delicacy is in contrast to the characters’ (a friendly blue jay, a philosophical chimp, and a gas-lighting dog) streetwise patter. Created by underground cartoonist and fine artist Guy Colwell (Inner City Romance), this instant classic is a metaphor for incarceration, and a meditation on masculinity.” And it’s on the shelves now.

image c. 2016 Fantagraphics

image c. 2016 Fantagraphics

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Return of the Earth Pig

He’s back! Or he will be, this December. From the pages of Previews magalog: “The first new Cerebus comic since 2004! Where has Cerebus been since he died twelve years ago? Is he in hell? Purgatory? Limbo? Some strange 1980 disco with links to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Henry Kissinger? Some ancient Greek disco with links to Plato, Socrates, Aristotle? Some 1990s disco with links to The Stone Roses, the Happy Mondays, and Oasis? Is he stuck inside his own Cerebus Online Disco Twitter-feed? Well, wherever he is, he deserves it, so feel free to laugh at his misfortune! This one shot leads into the Cerebus In Hell? 4-issue mini-series in 2017 celebrating Cerebus‘ 40th-anniversary!” Brought to us by none other than Dave Sim (with a little extra help), the new black & white Cerebrus in Hell? #0 hits the shelves right after Christmas.

image c. 2016 Aardvark-Vanaheim

image c. 2016 Aardvark-Vanaheim