Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
Also from Silver Sprocket… The (human) star of Benji Nate’s web comic CatBoy says this about herself: “Hi, I’m Olive. My cat Henry is my best friend. I saw a shooting star and wished he could hang out with me like a person. I think I should have been more careful with my wording.” Now Silver Sprocket have assembled a 140-page trade paperback of CatBoy that includes the comics from Vice.com as well as unreleased new material and bonus artwork.
image c. 2017 Silver Sprocket
Also at San Diego Comic Con we came across Silver Sprocket, a publishing house with several funny-animal titles under their banner. Among them is Please Keep Warm, a funny animal web-comic written and illustrated by Michael Sweater. Here’s what he says: “Please Keep Warm is a comic about friendship, overcoming depression, finding your place in the world, and also sometimes black metal. Please Keep Warm covers exciting subjects like not having an idea for a novel, showing a child how to play DOOM II, and not knowing what day of the week Silicon Valley comes on. Please Keep Warm is essentially the television show Friends but with references to The Cure.” What he said. The first paperback collection of Please Keep Warm is called This Must Be The Place, and it’s available now through Silver Sprocket.
image c. 2017 Silver Sprocket
Somehow we missed the book Catstronauts: Mission Moon, written and illustrated by Drew Brockington. But now he’s back with a brand new hardcover graphic novel for young readers called Catstronauts: Race to Mars. “Fresh off of their heroic mission to save the world, the CatStronauts — Major Meowser, Pom Pom, Blanket and Waffles — are taking a well deserved victory lap. Parades and fancy awards dinners are the new norm! But around the world, other cat space programs are watching–in particular the CosmoCats, the first cats to go to space! With national pride and scientific research on the line, the world’s space programs rush to be the first cats to Mars, and the CatStronauts are starting months behind! Can they catch up and prove their first mission was no fluke?” It’s available now in full color from Little, Brown Books.
image c. 2017 Little, Brown
Before he (and his wife!) created a world-famous mouse, Walt Disney was already well-known for his Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons (co-created with the great Ub Iwerks, of course). Now in celebration of Oswald’s 90th birthday Animation Scoop let us know about a new hardcover book dedicated to his legacy. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons (whew!) is coming out this week from Disney Editions. From editor David Bossert’s press release: “For the first time ever, all the known material and information relevant to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit has been aggregated into one book, including never-before-seen images, photographs, development art, production artwork, scripts, as well as gag and situation notes are all inclusive. This handsome volume contains a variety of color posters, many of which were found at auction houses and with collectors. This deluxe hardcover edition features an embossed cloth spine and is profusely illustrated with many rare images that reconstruct many of the still lost cartoons in the series.”
image c. 2017 Disney Editions
If you regularly read Previews magalog to find out the latest about upcoming comic books (and graphic novels and so forth) you might be familiar with Comic Shop Tales, a funny animal comic strip (written by Andy Mueller and illustrated by Scoot McMahon) about the strange and funny goings-on at a comic book shop both run and frequented by furries. Well now Previews has finally decided to release a collection of Comic Shop Tales in a new paperback collection. Check it out: “It’s all work and lots of fun at the fictional Berke’s Comic Shop, where owner Berke the Badger tries to keep his crazy band of comic shop goers and employees like Phil the Hippo and Kit the Cat in order! This 64-page book collects the madcap comic strip adventures as printed each month in the Previews catalog and single gag strips from previewsworld.com.” Comic Shop Tales: Book 1 – Grand Opening is coming to shops itself this November.
image c. 2017 Previews
Once again, from out of nowhere, this one. We’ll let Image Comics explain it: “Journey into the thrilling world of international espionage as one of Britain’s most covert MI-6 divisions, The Nest, recruits a brand-new secret agent to their team: SPY SEAL! An exciting new comic series-reminiscent of The Adventures of Tintin and Usagi Yojimbo.” Spy Seal is written and illustrated by Rich Tommaso (She Wolf) and the first full-color issue is available now.
image c. 2017 Image Comics
As you may have heard, a couple years ago Berke Breathed once again fired up his seminal comic strip Bloom County. Well for those among us who remember the first go-round, IDW has brought together a special box set called Bloom County: Real, Classy, & Compleat, 1980-1989. Here’s the press release: “Presenting every Bloom County daily and Sunday strip in chronological order from the first to the last! Bloom County debuted in late 1980 and ran until August 1989. Featuring an exceedingly quirky cast of characters, including the sweetly naive Opus the penguin, the flea-bitten Bill the cat, womanizing attorney Steve Dallas, Milo Bloom, Cutter John, and many others, Bloom County soon became one of the most popular comic strips in history, appearing in over 1200 newspapers. Then, at the peak of its popularity, Berkeley Breathed did something unprecedented… he walked away. Now, more than 25 years later, the complete collection of the Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip is collected into a deluxe, two-volume box set.” It’s available now at your local comic book store.
image c. 2017 IDW Publishing
From the it’s about hoofin’ TIME department: Ninja Division has developed and published the first official role-playing game (RPG) based on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. (Several fans have previously created unofficial My Little Pony mods for existing generic RPG systems, of course.) My Little Pony: Tales Of Equestria is described as “…a storytelling pen and paper game for 2 to 6 players. Players create and role-play as pony heroes who explore and seek adventure in the various lands of Equestria. Guided by a Game Master (GM), players adventure together and use the magic of friendship to overcome obstacles as they learn more about each other and the world around them. With a full-color, hardback, 152-page rule book outlining character creation, scenarios, and play, Tails of Equestria brings My Little Pony to life for all who love the magic-filled world of Equestria. Using the rulebook, players are encouraged to create their own pony that represents them. Armed with core skills and special abilities, each player then ventures into the world with their pony peers, forging deeper friendships as they help one another in the whimsical world they create through every action they take.” The core rule book is available now on Amazon.
image c. 2017 Ninja Division
Tokidoki is a boutique toy and design company we encountered at Comic Con. Their web site describes them very well: “Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, tokidoki was founded in 2003 by designer Simone Legno and his partners Pooneh Mohajer and Ivan Arnold. An innovative line of apparel, handbags, cosmetics, accessories and more, tokidoki has built a worldwide following with its larger-than-life characters and designs. The brand’s cult status has fueled high-profile collaborations with Karl Lagerfeld, LeSportsac, Onitsuka Tiger, Marvel, New Era, Hello Kitty, Fujitsu, Levi’s, Smashbox cosmetics, Xbox, T-mobile, Fornarina, Skullcandy and Medicom Toy.” Whew! Those “larger than life characters” include unicorns, cute cows, and other chibi human and funny animal creations. Turns out they’re available at a large number of well-known retail stores worldwide too.
image c. 2017 tokidoki
