Catching onto what seems to be a growing trend (we know, we know: When wasn’t it?), Vanguard Productions now brings us Art of the Dragon in paperback this November. Here, we’ll let them tell you about it: “Vanguard presents every dragon lover’s dream come true, Art of the Dragon: The Definitive Collection of Contemporary Dragon Paintings. This concise yet comprehensive survey by Visions of Never author Patrick Wilshire and How to Draw Chiller Monsters, Werewolves, Vampires, and Zombies author J. David Spurlock presents and examines the ultimate collection of contemporary dragon paintings and provides insights about the foremost dragon-painting fantasy artists including Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell, Keith Parkinson, Todd Lockwood, Donato Giancola, John Howe, Bob Eggleton, Don Maitz, Stephen Hickman, Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, Greg Hildebrandt, and record-breaking Hugo Award winner Michael Whelan, who also provides the cover to this long-awaited and breath-taking compendium. This book is dedicated to the memory of the late, great fantasy artist Jeffrey Catherine Jones who passed away May 19, 2011.” There’s more information about the book on Amazon. If you don’t know who some of these artists are, you should! Go on and Google them right now.
Trade Paperback
The Dog Who Fixes Cars
NBM Publishing is releasing two brand-new paperback volumes of Salvatore, a full-color graphic novel series by Nicholas De Crecy (translated into English). In an anthropomorphic world, a small dog named Salvatore is a mechanical genius, famed for his abilities to fix cars and construct all sorts of machines from car parts. And he longs to use his talents to construct an all-terrain vehicle which will take him around the world — or through it if need be — to reach South America, where his lady-love Julie has moved. That’s the plot of Volume 1, Transports of Love, which was released in January. In Volume 2, An Eventful Crossing (which arrives this December), our canine hero embarks on his journey, crossing up through Russia toward the pole — avoiding the seas, of which he’s deathly afraid — and meeting new friends and new adventures on the way. Check the whole thing out on Amazon.
image c. 2011 Nicholas de Crecy
Muppets from Marvel
With the upcoming Muppets movie on the horizon, Disney has been exerting closer control once again over the Jim Henson properties… which means, among other things, that the various Muppet comic book series (many of them published by Boom! Studios) are now gone. So what did Disney do? Have new Muppet titles published by Marvel Comics of course — since they also own that! The Muppets Present: Family Reunion is a new full-color graphic novel, written and pencilled by Roger Langridge (creator of Get Snarked, which we also reviewed before). Once again it’s time for The Muppet Show, but this time there’s a new complication: Everyone has members of their family showing up for a visit, and every single one of them is trouble! Check it out this September.
Watch for the Knuckles
Archie Comics have announced they’re collecting together several popular adventure tales with Sonic the Hedgehog’s feisty associate, Knuckles the Echidna. The Knuckles the Echidna Archives Volume 1 is a new full-color digest-sized trade paperback by Ian Flynn and Patrick Spaziante, coming this August. It brings together issues #1 – #3 of Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis: Knuckles and issues #1 – #3 of Knuckles the Echidna. The red one tries to solve the mysteries of his origins, and comes face-to-muzzle with the Dark Legion.
Ducks from Long Ago
We’ll let the folks at BOOM! Studios explain what’s cool about their new trade paperback coming out this August: “In Disney’s Four-Color Adventures, BOOM Kids! cracks the Disney vault to find some of the rarest Disney comics ever created. This volume features classic Disney comics and gag strips — some of them over 70 years old — from such creators as Al Taliaferro (creator of fan-favorite characters Huey, Dewey and Louie), “Disney Legend” Jack Hannah, Irving Tripp, and many more, reprinted for the first time in decades”. Also on their way from BOOM! are the Walt Disney Treasury: Donald Duck Volumes 1 and 2, collecting the work of the great Don Rosa.
Battle of the Superhero Sidekicks
Four would-be super-pets battle for supremacy in Sidekicks, a new full-color graphic novel written and illustrated by Southern California artist Dan Santat. From Amazon.com: “Captain Amazing, superhero and savior of Metro City, is getting old. He’s out all hours battling arch-villains, catching thieves, and helping little old ladies cross the street. He doesn’t even have time for his house full of pets. He needs – a sidekick! Captain Amazing’s four pets agree. But each one of them thinks he should get the sidekick spot – and a chance for one-on-one time with the Captain. Get ready for sibling rivalry royale as pets with superpowers duke it out for the one thing they all want: A super family.” Sidekicks is coming your way in early July, from Graphix and Arthur A. Levine Books.
image c. 2011 Dan Santat
Polar Bear Adventures
Erin Hunter is a collective writer (yes, “she” is a team) best known for the Warriors series of cat fantasy novels. More recently, Erin has been creating the Seekers series, a set of fantasy novels featuring bears of various sorts. Now, this coming February brings us Seekers: Kallik’s Adventures, an illustrated black & white graphic novel co-published by Harper Collins and Tokyo Pop. The illustrations are by Bettina Kurkoski. “Polar bear cub Kallik and her brother, Taqqiq, live in a cozy den nestled into the side of a snowy hill. Their mother, Nisa, tells them stories of the great world beyond their little den: stories of other bears, endless snow, and flecks of ice in the sky called stars. Kallik and Taqqiq can’t wait to explore everything, though Nisa says they’re still too little to venture out. But when the two cubs sneak out one day, they discover some startling new things about life in the wild and make a new friend—whose life may be in danger!” Amazon. com has more about this new softcover book.
Tales (Tails?) of the Trickster Spirit
Many cultures in our world have a long tradition of folklore relating to the trickster spirit — a being of great power who mostly uses that power to steal food or precious possessions, cheat at games, fool the opposite sex (or sometimes the same one!), and so forth. Often enough the trickster spirit is embodied as an animal — Reynard the fox from Europe and The Monkey King from Asia are great examples. Native American cultures also have rich traditions of trickster story, whether he (or she, or both) takes the form of a raven, a rabbit, a coyote, or whatever. Now Fulcrum Publishing have brought together many of these stories in a new full-color comic trade paperback: Trickster — Native American Tales — A Graphic Anthology, edited by Matt Dembicki. More than twenty Native American story-tellers worked together with a select group of artists to bring to life stories like “Coyote and the Pebbles”, “How Wildcat Caught a Turkey” , “Rabbit’s Choctaw Tail Tale”, and many more. Take a look at Fulcrum’s web site for the book.
The Adventures of Pug Davis
Pug Davis is a very strange, successful, and popular web comic written and illustrated by Rebecca Sugar. She’s already on her third “issue” (read: story arc), and now the first two have been released as a single-volume black & white trade paperback by Albatross Exploding Funny Books (what a name!). The story concerns a famously dangerous space adventurer known as Pug Davis: Gruff, grouchy, conservative, politically incorrect… Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact he’s got the face of a cute little pug dog, complete with bright and shiny little puppy-eyes. He and his companion, an optimistic and unashamedly gay human known as “Blouse”, travel the galaxy together — one looking to make friends and find a home, one looking to bash some heads. The Web Comic Overlook site has a much more detailed review and explanation of it all… but afterward, it still won’t all make sense!
