Last year, Garth Ennis (Preacher) and Rob Steen (Flanimals) ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for their illustrated book for young readers called Erf. The final book was presented to contributors. Now Dynamite Entertainment is putting out a mass-market edition of Erf later this month in hardcover. “Set at the dawn of time, ERF introduces its titular character and his three amphibious friends – Figwillop, KWAAAH, and the Booper – as they take their first nervous steps out of the ocean. Their exploration of exciting new lands beyond the shore leads to a confrontation with the mighty Colossux, a terrifying creature lurking in the prehistoric jungle. What follows is an evolutionary tale of love and loyalty for readers of all ages.” Check out the preview at Bleeding Cool.
Science Fiction
Prepare for the Battle of the Endor Moon
Love them or loathe them, the Ewoks became a big part of the lore of the Star Wars universe, both during and after the original movie trilogy. Now this October comes a brand-new full-color trade paperback from Dark Horse Press, looking to tie up some loose ends. “Until now, the Ewoks had been able to ignore the arrival of the Empire’s stormtroopers on Endor. But when they discover their rivals, the Duloks, have been enslaved and a legendary beast has been awakened, the Ewoks realize they may have to prepare for war—as soon as they figure out how to survive the beast!” Written and illustrated by Zack Giallongo (with art help by Braden Lamb), Star Wars: Ewoks — Shadows of Endor links up events and characters from the Ewoks animated TV series with the events in Return of the Jedi.
When Bears Take Over
Jojo Gould is a Scottish writer who has only recently come across furry fandom — just in time for him to write a very furry series of books! The first of which happens to be available at Amazon as a Kindle download. “This is he introductory book in the New Bears for the 21st Century series. In a future where humans are no more, bears have evolved as the planet’s master species. The Bear in a Safari Hat is your first humorous pawstep into that new magical world. Starting off in an almost fairy tale style, the story then unfolds as the characters emerge (think somewhere between Winnie-the-Pooh and Planet of the Apes). The Bear in a Safari Hat is the first part in a series of volumes. This is a coming-of-age serial release for young-at-heart adults and intelligent youth alike.”
Save the Snakes! Save the World!
Serusis is the title of a new 5-issue full-color comic mini-series coming late in June from Big Dog Ink. “Planet Serusis is under the control of the Reliton army and its ruthless leader, Snogard. In an attempt to save their world, two Serusisans kidnap a group of humans in the hopes that they will be able to access the secrets of the creators of Serusis itself. Four humans versus the Reliton army? Good luck with that.” The Serusisans, by the way, resemble large snakes with terrific hairdo’s. The Relitons are big reptiles too, with four limbs and lots of attitude. This all-ages series is written by Tom Hutchison (Critter) and illustrated by Owen Gieni (Avengelyne). Things From Another World has more.
A Fistful of Bananas?
Look, there’s really no way we can explain it better: “Welcome to ‘the Blister’ — a bizarre other-world colonized by humans sometime in the 22nd century, which quickly became a hotly-contested source of fertile land and natural resources long ago exhausted on Earth. In this new frontier, a rogue gunslinger and his companion wander across a wilderness in the grips of a civil war, encountering lawlessness, natives, and perversions of civilization in a world at the crossroads between the past and the future. The fact that said gunslinger is a bio-surgically modified silverback gorilla toting a pair of enormous revolvers is neither here nor there.” That’s the story of Six Gun Gorilla from Boom! Studios, coming this June. It’s written by Simon Spurrier (X-Men: Legacy) with interior art by Jeff Stokely (Fraggle Rock, The Reason for Dragons) and featuring a cover by Eisner Award-winning artist Ramón Pérez (see below). The story behind the comic is even more interesting: It’s based on an obscure 1930’s comic which no one seems to know the source of. Major Spoiler’s write-up might make it all easier to follow. Or not.
Indie Animation Looking for Help
Jerry Beck’s Animation Scoop has an interesting article about a pair of independent animation projects in the works — both of which just happen to be very furry. First up is Ghost of a Tale, a new video game designed by Lionel “Seith” Gallat. Lionel has worked as a supervising animator at Dreamworks on movies like The Prince Of Egypt, The Road to Eldorado, Spirit, Sinbad, SharkTale, and others. More recently he’s been a director for Illumination on films like Despicable Me and The Lorax. Ghost of a Tale follows the adventures of a medieval mouse battling rat zombies on a mysterious island. In a very different vein is Dogonauts by Shel and Justin Rasch. “Mortal enemies, a Dogonaut Pilot and a Space Flea, shoot each other down only to awake, marooned side by side on an alien desert planet.” Justin is a stop-motion animator known for films like Paranorman. He and his wife Shel completed Dogonauts in their garage, all the while both of them working full-time jobs. Both of these projects are seeking crowdfunding help to move from their current levels of production up to the next, and hopefully get them out into the world. The Scoop article features trailers as well as the official pitches for each of these projects. Check ’em out.
Not Your Ordinary Cat
Out in the wide Arizona desert, near a top-secret military research facility, there lived a young kitten with the unusual name of Three. Then one day, there was a terrible accident at at the facility… That’s the story behind Sonora, a new full-color comic book series written by Mike Kessler and illustrated by Erin Taylor. After a terrible explosion, the surviving animals of this desert region awaken to find they have gained amazing powers… Some of them will use those powers for good, and others… will not. Published by Bleating Goat Comics, whose web site has information about this and other independent comic books.
Ratchet & Clank: The Movie
After a wildly successful run of Ratchet & Clank releases for the Sony Playstation, Insomniac Games have announced they are teaming up with Sony Computer Entertainment, Rainmaker Entertainment, and Blockade Entertainment to bring the planet-hopping lombax and his little robot companion to the big screen in a brand-new CGI animated film — set to be released in 2015. According to an article in Forbes, Insomniac’s own TJ Fixman will be lead writer on the film, and voice talent will feature James A. Taylor as Ratchet, David Kaye as Clank, and Jim Ward as the lumbering human Qwark — all of whom are well-known from the game series. The article on-line also features a new teaser-trailer for the upcoming film.
Wolves After The Fall
Creative Mind Energy (CME) describe themselves as “a creative consortium of artists, designers, inventors, story-tellers and writers who pool their educations, talents and creative abilities to bring outstanding new products to all media markets and industries”. To that end they have several comic book series in various stages of development — and several of them are Furry in nature. First up is The Gifted, a largely black & white comic book with water-color style illustrations. According to the CME blog, “The Gifted is set in a dystopian future, in which humans have devastated the earth. What animals remain endure a barren, dangerous existence, constantly being hunted and exterminated by man. But some of the animals find themselves gifted with sophisticated intelligence and the power of speech, and rise up against man to protect their earth.” The first issue will be available at their on-line store soon. Visit their web site to find out more about this and other upcoming titles.








