Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
For some time now well-known illustrator Rod Espinosa has been giving us the latest story arch of his Adventure Finders fantasy comic series, called The Edge of Empire. It features, among many other characters, a friendly and helpful gnoll — basically a hyena on steroids. Well now Action Lab Entertainment have gathered this story arch together into a new full-color trade paperback. Take a look over at Graphic Policy for some preview pages.
image c. 2020 Action Lab Entertainment
Famed horror director John Carpenter came up with something interesting last year, in the form of a dark new comic book series. “Monica Bleue and her father move away to the country to start a new life after the death of her mother. Though she’s not speaking to her dad, she begins to find her way out from her anger and grief in her new surroundings. But while out wandering the forests near their home, she comes face to face with a hidden horror that changes her forever. Steve Niles and Damien Worm bring you Monica Bleue: A Werewolf Story, the first story in the new monthly anthology series, John Carpenter Presents Storm Kids.” Funny thing? Previews lists this as a “kid friendly” title…
image c. 2020 Storm King Productions
Hey! Remember when the worst thing we had to worry about was killer pizza robots? The folks at Scholastic do… “Don’t miss the first-ever graphic novel for Five Nights at Freddy’s, an adaptation of the #1 New York Times bestselling novel The Silver Eyes, illustrated by fan-favorite game artist Claudia Schröder! Ten years after the horrific murders at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza that ripped their town apart, Charlie, whose father owned the restaurant, and her childhood friends reunite on the anniversary of the tragedy and find themselves at the old pizza place which had been locked up and abandoned for years. After they discover a way inside, they realize that things are not as they used to be. The four adult-sized animatronic mascots that once entertained patrons have changed. They now have a dark secret . . . and a murderous agenda.” It’s available now in hardcover and trade paperback at Comixology.
image c. 2020 Scholastic, Inc.
The Adorable Beastling is a new full-color graphic novel, written and illustrated by Jonathan Rosenberg. “The Ugly Duckling but in reverse. Beastlings are fierce and scare for food, but this young group of Beastlings have an oddball who just can’t scare. She was too cute to scare anything. We wonder if she’ll survive. Just like the original fable, this story is about being yourself and being ok with it.” This softcover one-shot is available now from Action Lab.
image c. 2020 Action Lab
It’s a bit late for Halloween-y stuff, we know… but maybe we’re just getting the jump (pounce?) on next October! Fab Press have brought us The Frightfest Guide to Werewolf Movies. “The crimson eyes of the werewolf have stalked us across the centuries. We are now most familiar with the wolfman courtesy of Hollywood. Over the past century, a diverse pack of lycanthropes has manifested on the silver screen – in big-bucks blockbusters and zero-budget B-movies – each revealing a little more of the nature of the beast. Within these colorful pages we encounter reluctant wolfmen and shape-shifting sadists, big bad fairy tale wolves and lycanthropic nymphomaniacs. Our guide is acclaimed author, broadcaster, occult historian – and lifelong werewolf obsessive – Gavin Baddeley. By finding fresh perspectives on established classics, uncovering neglected gems, and even examining a few howlers among the definitive selection of werewolf movies reviewed, Baddeley shows how the myth has adapted and transformed: Whereby werewolves become analogies for alcoholism or adolescence, or ciphers for sexual awakening or serial murder. Providing our foreword is the award-winning director, writer and producer Neil Marshall, whose brilliant debut feature Dog Soldiers reinvigorated the werewolf movie for the 21st Century.” The book is available now in trade paperback.
image c. 2020 FAB Press
Drew Brockington, creator of the CatStronauts series of books (which we talked about!) has returned with a brand new full-color graphic novel called Hangry for younger readers. “When a young lizard monster gets a hankering for his favorite hot dog spot, he takes the train all the way to the city — only to find that the place is closed for vacation. But when this little monster gets too hungry, he starts to get angry. And when he gets hangry, this poor city is at risk of a full-scale monster attack. As his rage swells, so does he, until he’s the size of a skyscraper, and it falls to the citizens to find him some food — and fast!” Look for it in hardcover from Little Brown Books.
image c. 2019 Little Brown Books
Just returned from Midwest FurFest outside Chicago. GOODNESS what an impressive event! Among many other things there, your ever-lovin’ ed-otter presented a lecture called Furry Movies of 2019 — mostly as a way to remind people about some of the anthropomorphic items (very broadly defined!) which are eligible for the 2020 Ursa Major Awards. At the end of it, some folks in the audience asked if there was a version of the list up on line. Well guess what? Now there is! Furry movies (and movies with interesting anthropomorphic characters in them) this year have included:
And also coming soon: Look for a run-down of anthropomorphic movies to look forward to in 2020!
image c. 2019 Disney
Recently at Los Angeles Comic Con we came across the work of Jonathan Hallett. He’s a career storyboard artist for a living, but in the original art he creates on the side he has a very special affinity for the alien half of Disney’s Lilo & Stitch — so much so that he draws the little blue one (and the pink one, Angel) as just about every other character from every other story you can possibly think of. (With an occasional visit from Toothless of How To Train Your Dragon, as well.) Visit his Etsy store, Stitchtoons, and see what he has to offer.
image c. 2019 by Jonathan Hallett
The most interesting and unusual things seem to keep coming out of Disney’s Italian wing… now just in time for Halloween we find out about two new full-color graphic novels from Dark Horse Publishing, Disney Dracula Starring Mickey Mouse and Disney Frankenstein Starring Donald Duck. Both are adapted by Bruno Enna with art by Fabio Celoni. According to the write-ups (here and here) both try to stick pretty close to the original Gothic works upon which they’re based. Go on and judge for yourself, if you dare!
image c. 2019 Dark Horse Publishing
