Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
Devin Elle Kurtz is a professional illustrator and visual development artist. Her full-color paintings specialize in animals real and un-real with more than a splash of personality. She also brings the same touch of whimsy (and yes, at times weirdness) to her line of pet portrait commissions. She has released some of her work as prints, available at her web site, and we hope she brings out more soon.
image c. 2016 Devin Elle Kurtz
“I’m Lorelei Lee, the owner and proprietor of this odd little shop. I live here with my two daughters and together we care for all the lost faerie creatures that come our way. You see, the Menagerie appears to have been built upon a rather large tear in the ether that separates our universe from that of the Faerie Realm. We tend to get a lot of unusual visitors here.” That’s the story behind Lee’s Menagerie, created by Stefani Lee Scoggan. It takes several forms, including an on-line comic (illustrated by Jacob Saucedo and Erik Scoggan), an upcoming series of fantasy novels for young readers (coming later this year), and even a line of original 3-D sculptures of various fantastic creatures — crafted by Stefani herself. Find all this and more at the Lee’s Menagerie web site.
image c. 2016 by Stefani Lee Scoggan
This is just too cute, so we’ll let the creator Charles Thurston explain it: “I have two small wonderful little girls and the problem I had was trying to find ways to entertain them and at the same time introduce them to the nerdy pop culture things that mommy and daddy love. There’s plenty of stuff out for small kids 6 and up but not for children under 4. So I decided to write and draw parody books for them that gave them a friendly introduction into the world of pop culture and sci-fi while paying tribute to the creative geniuses of George Lucas, J. R. R. Tolkien, Laura Joffe Numeroff, Joss Whedon, Rod Serling, Robert Zemeckis, Russell T. Davies, and Steven Moffat all of which that helped shape my childhood/adulthood and imagination.” Charles’ original hand-made books include titles like Go, Smaug, Go!, Taylor in Ape Land, and The Dire Wolf At The End Of This Book. All those and more are available as a package deal at his Etsy Store. You can also find out more at his web site, as well as look through his extensive collection of original prints for sale.
More new stuff found at WonderCon last month: Houndstooth is a new self-published comic written by Kristen Brown and illustrated by Sam Rusk in a monochrome wash style. “Houndstooth follows the adventures of Bandit, an orphaned boy who exists in an animal’s world, along with his fellow human and best friend, Pan. The only adventure Bandit has ever wanted to have, are the ones printed inside his favorite books. But fate brought an unwanted adventure to his feet when Pan is kidnapped! Her only hope of rescue is Bandit and a couple of unlikely tag-alongs.” Issues are being released bi-monthly, both in physical (paper) form and on-line at Comixology.
image c. 2016 by Sam Rusk
The premier of MULP: Sceptre of the Sun passed us by, but we managed to catch it in time for issue # 2 (of 5). “MULP is an anthropomorphic comic book, a Pulp adventure set in a world of mice, [written] by Matt Gibbs and [illustrated by] Sara Dunkerton. The Sceptre of the Sun follows the exploits of Jack Redpath and Vicky Jones as they attempt to unravel a mystery surrounding an ancient stone tablet unearthed during an archaeological excavation in Egypt. This tablet is the first marker on an adventure that sees them racing around the world in search of a legendary treasure. Joined by their friends Cornelius Field, Prof. Walter Harvest-Scott, and Elisabeth Harvest-Scott, together they must prevent a powerful artifact falling into unscrupulous paws.” Published by Improper Books in full color, you can see a preview over at Matt Gibbs’ web site.
image c. 2016 Improper Books
Panther is a new hardcover graphic novel from Drawn & Quarterly: “Brecht Evens, the award-winning author of The Wrong Place and The Making Of, returns with an unsettling graphic novel about a little girl and her imaginary feline companion. Iconoclastic in his cartooning and page layouts, subtle in his plotting, and deft in his capturing of the human experience, Evens has crafted a tangled, dark masterwork. Christine lives in a big house with her father and her cat, Lucy. When Lucy gets sick and dies, Christine is devastated. But alone in her room, something special happens: a panther pops out of her dresser drawer and begins to tell her stories of distant Pantherland, where he is the crown prince. A shape-shifter who tells Christine anything she wants to hear, Panther begins taking over Christine’s life, alienating her from her other toys and friends. As Christine’s world spirals out of control, so does the world Panther has created for her. Panther is a chilling voyage into the shadowy corners of the human psyche. The Drawn & Quarterly edition of Panther is an extended ‘director’s cut’, featuring additional material not included in the original book.” Take a look over at Drawn & Quarterly’s web site for a preview.
image c. 2016 Drawn & Quarterly
Papercutz (home, once again, of Geronimo Stilton and family) have a new series of three Disney Graphic Novels coming to bookshelves later this month. Volume 1 is based on the world of Disney’s Planes (which is based on the world of Pixar’s Cars, of course). Volume 3 is called Minnie and Daisy: Best Friends Forever, which probably speaks for itself. Most unusual perhaps is Volume 2, entitled X-Mickey. “It’s a supernatural Disney adventure as Mickey Mouse meets Pipwolf, a werewolf who bears more than a passing resemblance to Goofy! X-Mickey is a fun Disney series that introduces everyone’s favorite mouse to another dimension full of spooks, ghosts, goblins and more. Accompanied by Pipwolf and an albino mouse named Manny, Mickey must do everything he can to keep Mouseton safe and keep these creatures locked up where they belong.”
image c. 2016 Papercutz
We found this in the Previews magalog: “Animation visionary Phil Mendez (creator of Kissyfur and The Black Snowman) brings an old legend to life in the story of the mystery and mayhem that occurs when an Ohgrr Pup and a Human Child meet over a magical bowl of soup. Take a sip of this fun tale for kids of all ages!” Oghrr Soup, a full-color graphic novel in hardcover, is available now from Bliss On Tap Publishing. Stuart Ng books has a black & white preview also.
image c. 2016 Bliss On Tap
Thousands of years ago, a god-like man and a wolf-monster join forces — and spirits — to defeat a monstrous threat known as The Hungry Ones. A thousand years later, when the tribes are under attack once more, the spirit of vengeance known as the Ghost Wolf is born again — in the form of a fearless young woman. That’s the story behind Ghost Wolf, a full-color comic book series created by El Torres and illustrated by Angel Hernandez. Now Amigo Comics have released the first Ghost Wolf story arc at a single trade paperback, Ghost Wolf: Born in Snow and Blood. Check out the preview over at their web site.
image c. 2016 Amigo Comics
