Folks who consider the art of the fantastic to be true art were saddened when world-renowned fantasy artist and painter Frank Frazetta passed away from a stroke on Sunday (May 9th) at the age of 82. Never a “furry artist” so to speak, he nevertheless managed to sneak a few anthropomorphic characters into his works. No, what gave Mr. Frazetta his fame were his book-covers featuring big, muscle-bound heroes defending scantily-clad (but often well-armed) women from terrible monsters and barbarian hordes. Perhaps more-so than even the writers themselves, Frazetta’s painted covers came to define the image of such characters as Conan the Barbarian (from Robert E. Howard), Tarzan, and John Carter of Mars (both from Edgar Rice Burroughs). Since the 1960’s, Frazetta painted hundreds of well-known book covers, as well as album covers for groups as diverse as Molly Hatchet, Nazareth, and (most recently) Wolfmother. More than anyone else, Frazetta was the one who came to define fantasy heroes and heroines as sexy. He was an inspiration to an entire generation of artists, the most obvious being Boris Vallejo, Richard Corben, Rowina, and The Dark One.
Science Fiction
Elephantmen coming to the Big Screen
Richard Starkings has announced that his Elephantmen comic book series (home of Hip Flask) has been optioned by Zucker Productions for development as a feature-length film. No word yet on whether the project would be live action, CGI, or some combination of the two. Also, we’re not being told yet if Jerry Zucker (Ghost) will be directing or simply producing. We do know that Starkings will be creating the story treatment for the feature himself. If you’re not familiar with the world of Elephantmen, here’s a quick summary from the press release for the film project: “Elephantmen is an Eisner Award winning series first published in 2002 under Starkings’ Active Images imprint. In 2006 Image Comics approached Starkings to bring the book under their umbrella. The story of the Elephantmen takes place in Los Angeles in the not too distant future — in a world where human/animal hybrids were created to fight a war between Africa and China. Scarred by their experiences in war and seeking to somehow find their own humanity, the Elephantmen are now scattered throughout the world amongst the humans they were created to kill. Elephantmen is a brilliant commentary on racism, miscegenation, global warming, stem cell research and warfare. Created and written by Starkings, the series features artwork by Ladrönn, Moritat, and Boo Cook.“
Return to Munden’s Bar
IDW Publishing presents a return to the focal point of Cynosure: Grim Jack’s own multi-world famous Munden’s Bar. Grim Jack was a popular dark science-fiction adventure comic of the 80’s and 90’s, and many anthropomorphic creatures (to say nothing of other alien beasties) met up with Grim Jack and his crew at Munden’s Bar. Now we have a brand-new full-color trade paperback featuring all new never-before-printed stories of this multi-dimensional hangout by the likes of Skip Williamson, Jon Ostrander, William Messner-Loebs, Marc Hempel, Joe Staton, Hilary Barta, Mark Wheatley and more. Munden’s Bar: Grand Re-Opening will be on shelves this February.
Meet the Barque Cats
A new and futuristic take on an ancient tradition: The ship’s cat.
Since the early days of travel by sea, ship’s cats have been a vital part of any crew, working to keep the ship free of vermin and to acting as “morale boosters”. Now, in Catalyst by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, a pure-bred line of these “barque cats” have been bred to follow humans into space as vital members of any starship’s crew, seeking out air leaks and other environmental hazards in the tight and inaccessible parts of a ship. Now though, deadly livestock plague is racing between planets, and humans may be forced to destroy all exposed animals — including the barque cats. Yet as humans argue and fight over the fate of these animals, a new discovery is made: Some of the newest barque kittens are demonstrating signs of higher intelligence… and something very much like telepathy. The book is available now in hardcover from Del Ray.
Cats and Dogs, living together…
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.
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.
