Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
Furry Feline Creatives (cool name!) is the creation of Cheri Ong and Alvin Ong. Part-time musicians themselves, the Ongs have started an on-line store for their original posters, plushies, and 3D works of rock ‘n’ roll cats and other cartoony animal characters. They even do custom illustrated shoes! Check out their web site at www.furry-feline.com.
image c. 2013 Furry Feline Creatives
Adam Henry is a an animator, storyboard artist, and animation director. Over the years he’s worked for Disney, Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon, Klasky-Csupo, and most recently Dreamworks — where he is a director on the hit TV series Dragons: Riders of Berk. On a more personal level, Mr. Henry has created Bibby the Bunny, a young rabbit with a positive attitude, a lucky streak, and a curiosity that older bunnies find downright dangerous. The first book in this new illustrated children’s book series, Bibby: A Bunny’s Journey, is available now at Mr. Henry’s Bibby the Bunny web site. It’s also available on iTunes, and will soon be coming out in other digital formats.
image c. 2013 by Adam Henry
Flat Bonnie is called that because she’s, well, flat. And a bunny. She’s the lead character of a line of hand-made plushie animals, put together by a group of humans with a very specific agenda: Bringing attention to the number of real-live rabbits living in animal shelters and looking to be adopted by loving families. Flat Bonnie and Friends introduced several new designs at WonderCon this year, and you can see them (and more) at their web site, www.flatbonnie.com. Through the month of April, 10% of all sales will be donated to the Los Angeles Rabbit Foundation.
image c. 2013 Flat Bonnie & Friends
Chivalry and Knavery is an on-line black & white comic strip created, written, and drawn by P. T. Cooper. Now in its eighth year, this comedic sword & sorcery adventure strip is rated as a Reader Favorite on Belfry.com. It’s also made it up to #53 in the rankings at thewebcomiclist.com. Join Kira the fox wizard, Sir Toby the lion paladin, and Ulf the human barbarian in their many battles — both mundane and fantastic. Visit www.chivalryandknavery.com to see the latest installment. There you’ll also find information about P. T. Cooper’s two published novels (Rin Tin Tin and the Lost King and The King of the Cats), as well as a gallery of the strip’s characters drawn by guest artists.
image c. 2013 P. T. Cooper
We like this description of Odd Duck, a new illustrated storybook: “Theodora is a perfectly normal duck. She may swim with a teacup balanced on her head and stay north when the rest of the ducks fly south for the winter, but there’s nothing so odd about that. Chad, on the other hand, is one strange bird. Theodora quite likes him, but she can’t overlook his odd habits. It’s a good thing Chad has a normal friend like Theodora to set a good example for him. But who exactly is the odd duck here? Theodora may not like the answer.” Author Cecil Castellucci (Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd) hooks up with illustrator Sara Varon (Chicken and Cat) to create an unusual story of an unusual friendship. It’s coming this May in hardcover from First Second.
image c. 2013 First Second
The TV series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is already famous for having inspired a wellspring of creativity in many forms, including art, stories, music, and much more. Now it seems to have reached a particular peak, as a group of “Bronies” around the country have joined forces to create Double Rainboom — the first fully-animated, fully fan-created episode of the show. With the blessings of Hasbro and DHX Media, Zachary Rich (known as Flamingo Rich) and his friends at the Savannah College of Art and Design have created a real, 22-minute episode as part of his senior project in animation. That’s real as in an orchestral score, voice actors for all of the characters, high-quality sound effects, and more. The plot? Twilight Sparkle (pre-wings) develops a magic potion — which has an interesting effect on Rainbow Dash. The entire film will be released to the world on March 30th. You can visit the Double Rainboom web site to keep up with the crew’s progress.
image c. 2013 Flamingo Rich
Top o’ the mornin’ to ya, everyone! A belated Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
First off, a quick note: Voting for the 2013 Ursa Major Awards — celebrating the best in Anthropomorphic Everything from 2012 — has just opened, and will remain open until May 15th. Visit the Ursa Major web site to see the nominees and sign up to vote. Then come check out the winners at a special ceremony at this year’s Anthrocon!
Now, on to more Furry Stuff. Here’s a brand new book coming out for folks who are really, really into the game Angry Birds. “In 2009 little-known Finnish video game company Rovio Entertainment wowed the world when it unleashed an unlikely gaming phenomenon: Angry Birds. Ingeniously simple and highly addictive, the game’s initial success led to a number of bestselling sequels and in 2012 the franchise reached a staggering landmark with its one billionth Angry Birds download. For the first time, this stunning coffee table book goes behind the scenes of Rovio’s success to deliver in-depth insight into the remarkable artistry that goes into creating each Angry Birds game. Featuring exclusive conceptual artwork and revealing interviews with the game’s creators, Angry Birds: Hatching a Universe is a must read for fans.” Couldn’t have said it better ourselves. This hardcover book is edited by Danny Graydon, and according to Amazon it’s coming from Insight Editions this June.
image c. 2013 Insight Editions
Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse, the daily comic strip, was initially written by Walt Disney himself and illustrated by Ub Iwerks when the strip began in 1930. When those two men found themselves too busy with animation to handle the strip, Floyd Gottfredson took over as both writer and artist — from late 1930 until 1975! Now Fantagraphics Books have brought together a special collection of full-color Sunday strips created by Mr. Gottfredson and put them in a paperback book, Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Color Sundays, Volume 1: Call of the Wild (*whew!*). Here’s the description from Westfield Comics: “Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse series makes the jump from black and white to vibrant color. Many of these classic Sunday strips from 1932-1935 have never before been reprinted and have been restored from Disney’s archives and enhanced with a meticulous recreation of the strips’ original color. Call of the Wild also brings you more than 30 pages of supplementary features such as rare behind-the-scenes art, vintage publicity material, and fascinating commentary by a prismatic pack of Disney scholars. This is a collection that fans have been seeking for a lifetime!” Edited by David Gerstein and Gary Groth, this softcover collection hits the stores in May.
image c. 2013 Fantagraphics Books
After a successful Kickstarter campaign, DMP Digital Manga will be releasing a translated version of Osamu Tezuka’s A-Tomcat this April. Tezuka, as if you didn’t know, was the creator of Kimba the White Lion — and many many other world-famous titles, including of course Astro-Boy. This one-shot black & white paperback is an off-shoot of the Astro-Boy Series. Try to follow this: ” Tsugio is a young Japanese boy who is very fond of reading the Astro-Boy manga series. One day he finds a stray kitten and persuades his family to keep it. But then, after an encounter with two aliens honeymooning on Earth (!), suddenly the little cat not only looks like Astro-Boy, but has Astro-Boy’s Powers! Check out more at DMP’s order site.
image c. 2013 DMP Digital Manga
