We don’t remember it doing that all-fire well at the box office, but evidently it pleased someone: Cats and Dogs (from 2001) has inspired a big-screen sequel, Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, coming to theaters (in 3D) at the end of July. In spite of it not appearing until this summer, a full-fledged trailer is available for viewing on YouTube and elsewhere. From what we can tell the cast, crew, and characters appear to all be different from the first film. This time around the secretly high-tech cats and dogs put aside their warring ways in order to battle with a rogue cat spy — voiced by Bette Midler no less! — who has evil plans of her own. Hmm, could it be that the basic idea of the first film (dogs as heroes and cats as villains) so turned off “cat people” that it wound up limiting the film’s audience — and box office? We’ll find out if this new take on things performs any differently this summer.
Science Fiction
It Will Leave You…
Famed horror and imaginative fiction writer Dean Koontz has returned with Breathless, his latest book in hardcover from Bantam. Check this out: Grady Adams is a man with a troubled past, living a solitary life in the remote Colorado mountains with only his Irish wolfhound, Merlin, for company. That is, until the day when Grady stumbles across a pair of magnificent, unknown furry creatures — clearly a brand new species. Grady befriends the creatures and asks Cammy Rivers, a local veterinarian, to help him study them. But then, out of nowhere, the government shows up and puts the entire area under quarantine — and refuses to answer any questions why. When something horrible happens, Grady and Cammy soon decide that they have no choice but to join the new creatures and escape to freedom.
More News From Boom! Studios
First up: It seems that the fans’ reaction to the various Farscape mini-series (plural!) put out by Boom! has been so positive that now it’s going to be an on-going full-color series. What’s more, it’s a series written by the original creator of Farscape, Rockne S. O’Bannon. With art by Keith DeCandido and Will Sliney.
For something completely different, Boom! lets us return to Radiator Springs. The World of Cars: Radiator Springs is a new full-color trade paperback written by Alan J. Porter and illustrated by Magic Eye Studios. It takes place after the events of the Pixar movie. When he returns to Radiator Springs for good, racer Lightning McQueen realizes that everyone knows his story, but he doesn’t know anyone else’s! Tune in while he learns why his fellow anthropomorphic cars came to this little town — and why they stayed.
Zipper Heads?
And now for something completely different… from China no less. The Zip-A-Gang is a new puppet TV series (and merchandizing line), produced in Hong Kong, that is looking for markets in Europe and North America. From their publicity material: “Meet the Zip-A-Gang, a zany bunch of mischievous rascals who live beyond the Milky Way, on the planet of Zip, in the bustling Zip-A-Ville hamlet of Zip-A-Town. The Zip-A-Gang live, eat, and breathe in a fantasy world of zippers! Doors, roads, and even their teeth zip and un-zip!” Hmm, for a group from a planet “beyond the Milky Way”, an awful lot of the characters sure do resemble Earth animals. And yes, all of them have zippers for teeth — even though several of them are birds! If you want to make sense out of any of this, try heading over to the Zip-A-Gang web site. Or else, just keep your eyes on the TV… and your local department store shelves.
Commander Kitty
Scotty Arsenault (Tales of the Fehnnik, Heebas) has returned with Commander Kitty, a brand new storyline for his continuing on-line full-color science fiction comic strip. Join Kitty, Mittens, Fluffy, and Mr. Socks (a ferret, of course!), and the rest of the crew of the Number Six as they “battle with imaginary evil alter egos from another dimension, fending off commercial advertising that would make the Borg tremble, travelling through time leaving a bloody carnage of blatant paradox behind them, discovering the secret artifacts of planet Pangolin, and going shopping for yogurt.” You heard it here. So, go and see it here.
Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes
Blam! Ventures is now the official license-holder for the Planet of the Apes series property. So what are they doing with it? A series of over-sized illustrated novels, based in the universe of the original 1968 Planet of the Apes movie. First up is Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes, set to hit stores in the spring of 2010. It’s written by Andrew Gaska, Christian Berntsen, and Erik Matthews, with a cover by Steranko and full-color interior illustrations by a variety of comics industry artists. Conspiracy follows the adventures of John Landon, one of three survivors of the doomed Project Liberty spaceship… who now finds himself stranded on a planet where apes rule and primative humans are turned slaves or worse. When two scientific chimps named Dr. Milo and Dr. Galen take sympathy on him, John dares to have hope… but other apes have much more ruthless, horrible plans for him! Want to find out more, including other new adventures in the works? Visit Blam! Ventures’ Planet of the Apes web site.
Return to The Pound!
Antarctic Press presents the return of writer/artist Richard Moore’s The Pound, now graduated from a black & white one-shot to a full-color one-shot! Here’s the press release: “The fur flies in FULL COLOR for Antarctic’s latest release by fan favorite Richard Moore! Chimeras: Genetically-engineered creatures, part human, part animal; faster, stronger and deadlier than both. Kat and Caleb are ‘chims’ scraping out a living in the prison-city known as The Pound, where survival of the fittest is the only law. Created for combat in off-world environments, they are now thieves — the best in the city. There’s no score they won’t take down. But being the best means making enemies, and Kat and Caleb have more than their share. When one of the biggest, Darius Blackeye, hires them to hijack a shipment of high-tech arms, the pair has to wonder what he wants more — the weapons, or to eliminate the competition?” The Pound comes to comic book stores at the end of September.
Sweet Tooth
This September, Vertico Comics premiers Sweet Tooth, a brand new full-color comic series written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire. Gus is a young boy with deer-like features and ears… and antlers growing out of his head. It seems that Gus is one of a number of hybrid children who have appeared in the wake of a devastating plague that swept the world. Mysteriously, Gus and the other “hybrids” are immune to the effects of the disease. Gus lives out in the wilderness with his father, nervous but happy — until the day his father dies. Now Gus is alone and frightened in the big world… until he meets Jeppard. A ruthless, violent drifter, Jeppard nonetheless offers to take Gus to “The Preserve”, a hidden sanctuary for hybrid children. Can Jeppard be trusted? Can anyone in this strange new world?
Zillford’s Comics and More
The artist known as Zillford has two new (very-) adult-themed furry comics avilable at his web site. Altruistic Complex is a violent tale of a dark future where a dangerous new technology is threatening to take over the minds and souls of the entire world — and one plucky raccoon lady is determined to stop it, even if she has to join it to do so! Meanwhile, Krista Claret is an adults-only comic about a mouse who is… a different sort of plucky lady. “There’s a race to be won and Krista aims to make it hers! She’s not above cheating, but what happens when it lands her smack on top of another rule-bender?
Krista Claret is one frisky mouse on a life-long quest for the answer to life. Either that, or a good time and some horny guys!” The first issues of each comic are available on the web site, along with a special full-color Krista Claret poster.
