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Funny Animal

Feed the Kitties. Now.

Out now from Harper Collins is the first volume of Cat & Cat Adventures, written and illustrated by Susie Yi. It’s called The Quest for Snacks. “One day when their human leaves for work, Squash and Ginny find themselves in the most unfortunate predicament: Without snacks. With a little help from a magical portal, the two cats embark on a quest to find ingredients for a potion that will produce unlimited goodies. At first, their mission doesn’t seem so tough. It takes them on a boat race across Mewmaid Ocean and a hot air balloon ride over Mount Lava. But when the cats reach the Enchanted Rain Forest to gather enchanted rainwater, the last item on their list, their mission runs dry. . . It turns out it hasn’t rained in the Enchanted Rain Forest in weeks!” Find out what happens next to our heroes at the publisher’s official web site.

image c. 2021 Harper Collins

Defender of the City. Heaven Help Us All.

We’ve heard a lot lately from comic writer Steve Foxe. Well now he’s back again with a new full-color graphic novel, illustrated by Shadia Amin. “Experience a laugh-out-loud day in the life of Spider-Ham! After long being derided by the citizens of New York, Spider-Ham has finally been recognized for his outsized contribution to the city’s safety, and receives the key to the city from none other than the mayor (and, being a cartoon universe, the key actually unlocks New York City’s political and financial institutions). Sure, it’s just a publicity stunt for the beleaguered mayor-and yeah, maybe every single other super hero was busy that day — but an award is an award!” Spider Ham: Great Power, No Responsibility is available now in trade paperback or hardcover from Scholastic. There’s an interesting video up on YouTube as well.

image c. 2021 Scholastic

Look! Up in the Sky!

More natural education for kids, cleverly disguised as a superhero adventure comic. Winged Heroes: For All Birdkind is a new “science graphic novel” written by Mya Thompson and illustrated by Virginia Green. “This is the story of Emilio, an ordinary kid who just happens to be a pigeon. When life gets him down, he looks to his favorite comic book heroes for answers-The Winged Heroes. No matter what, they always find a way to save birdkind with their amazing superpowers and daring missions. So why can’t he score even a small crust of bread at the park? Join Emilio on a journey to discover his own powers in a world of challenges.” Barnes & Noble has a more more detailed description.

image c. 2021 Cornell Lab Publishing

Watch Out for the Weasel

American Mythology has a new horror mini-series comic, and it’s out now just in time for the Halloween Season. Willy’s Wonderland was a surprise hit horror movie from earlier this year. Though at first dismissed as an obvious Five Nights At Freddy’s cash-in (duh!), it turned out people really liked the film, mostly for the over-the-top performance of star Nicolas Cage. So the folks at American Mythology wondered: What happened before the movie? “Hey Kids!  Do you know what time it is? It’s your birthday and we want you to have Fun! Welcome to Willy’s Wonderland! Nicolas Cage unleashes a can of Punch Pop on the Willy’s serial killing animatronic crew in the film, but what came before the janitorial rampage?  Find out here in this official prequel to the movie giving you all the party filled blood spatter you can handle! Willy, Ozzie, Arty, Cammy, Tito, Gus, Sara, and Knighty Knight all are back with a blood soaked romp through homicidal birthday parties!” This special series is written by SA Check (Volcanosaurus) and James Kuhoric (Freddy vs Jason vs Ash) with interior art by Puis Calzada (Hatchet).” Looks like there’s a lot of seasoned horror talent behind this thing.

image c. 2021 American Mythology

TV for the Young and Young At Heart

Cartoon Brew just announced that Neflix has given the green-light to four new animated TV series for young viewers… and the cool thing is, three of them are quite furry! Check out The Creature Cases, created by Gabe Pulliam. “An animated action-comedy series which follows the adventures of Sam Snow and Kit Casey, agents of CLADE: the Covert League of Animal Detective Experts. In a world populated exclusively by animals, these brilliant sleuths travel the globe solving mind-boggling mysteries that mix real zoological facts with wild detective action!” Then there’s Big Tree City: “Hot-sauce volcanoes, biscuit dinosaur mysteries, and exploding soda pop factories; join the wild rescues of Major Prickles and his overzealous team, as they try to save the animal citizens of Big Tree City.” And finally there’s Deepa and Anoop, “An all-new animated preschool series from Mattel Television that follows the adventures of fun-loving seven-year-old Deepa and her best friend Anoop, a color-changing elephant, at Deepa’s family’s bed and breakfast Mango Manor.” All heading our way in 2022.

image c. 2021 Team To

More Fairy Tales Get Weird

Once again it’s modern takes on classic fairy tales with the new Far Out Fables series of short graphic novels from Capstone. Take Little Red Hen, Video Star (written by Steve Foxe and illustrated by Otis Frampton) for instance. “Animals in Barnyard Meadows are glued to their phones. But Little Red Hen doesn’t just want to watch internet videos. She wants to make them too! Unfortunately, her friends aren’t eager to put in the hard work of creating an online baking show. When each step of the process reveals the wild side of their quiet town, will Red’s friends realize all the fun they’re missing, and can the hen become a video star?” Other titles in the series include The Three Little Flying Pigs, Puss In Magical Motocross Boots, and The Grasshopper and the Ant at the End of the World. Whew! All of them are available now in trade paperback.

image c. 2021 Capstone

Off With Her Haida!

And now for something quite a bit different… A popular and award-winning anime series takes on a classic of European fantasy with Aggretsuko: Down The Rabbit Hole. “When Retsuko attempts to go on vacation with Gori and Washimi, she’s pulled into a terrible world where she’s forced to work for her freedom. Featuring all of the fan favorite characters from the office in twisted versions of themselves, Aggretsuko must navigate the twists and turns of a world gone mad!” Written and illustrated by Patabot, this new hardcover graphic novel from the folks at Oni Press hits the shelves this October.

image c. 2021 Oni Press

Rodent on the Range

And here we go again… Yet another interesting-sounding anthropomorphic animated project that sounds like it’s being distributed all over the world — but not here in North America. At very least not yet. From Animation World Network: “French animation production and distribution company Dandelooo has secured several deals for Billy the Cowboy Hamster, a preschool 2D animated series commissioned by France Televisions… Directed by the Swiss illustrator Antoine Rota (Kaeeloo) and Caz Murrell, Billy the Cowboy Hamster targets 4- to 7-year-olds. The series, based on the popular book series by Dutch author and illustrator Catharina Valckx, has sold over one million books in France and is popular in many other countries. The show follows three friends, Billy, Jean-Claude the worm, and Suzie the stone marten as they embark on thrill-seeking adventures… In the series, Billy wants to become a cowboy, but he is only a little boy… well a little hamster really! Growing up in the Wild West and raised on the exciting stories told by his father, he has a burning desire to hit the trail! Donning his cowboy outfit, Billy sees every day as a chance to go on an adventure worthy of the greatest cowboys.” The series is in production now. Here’s hoping we get so see it out our way sometime!

image c. 2021 Dandeloo

 

Princess Kitty in Motion

We just got this in from the creator himself, Charles Brubaker: He recently released Katrina The Fuzzy Princess, an 18-minute animated short based on his web comic The Fuzzy Princess. It’s available to see up on YouTube now. “The short focuses on Katrina, a feline princess of St. Paws, who goes on a diplomatic mission to gain alliance with the humans, only to get into misadventures along the way.” Vocal talent includes Emi Koch, Aimee Smith, Ty Konzak, Nyla C., Brittany Ann Phillips, and Michael Malconian.

image c. 2021 by Charles Brubaker