Life is hard for the teenage werewolf. Scott was an ordinary high-school kid until that one night in the woods… Now, he finds himself with amazing new abilities, coupled with horrific new urges and hungers. Not to mention the inconvenience of transforming into a growling werewolf every time he gets angry — or excited, like when his would-be girlfriend is in sight. To make life more complicated, the werewolf who bit him in the first place wants to be friends in human form, and the leader of a posse out to rid the countryside of werewolves is also the father of the girl our hero has his eyes on! Having almost nothing to do with the Michael J. Fox Teen Wolf film (obviously), the new Teen Wolf TV series stars Tyler Posey as Scott. It’s coming to MTV (formerly Music Television) on June 5th. MTV has a trailer and some more information up on their web site.
Werewolf
Retired Werewolf for Hire
There’s no way on earth we can top the publisher’s description of the second story arc of Screamland. So here it is: “‘Death Of The Party,’ Part One — In a world where movie monsters are real, most of them are just looking for work in an industry dominated by 3D, CGI and other scary acronyms. Forced to hustle their past glory on the convention circuit, Wolfman Carl London and Space Path star Travis Walters put their scheduled appearances aside to stop the screening of a legendary monster porn film that threatens to ruin the careers of feature creatures everywhere.” Got that? This new full-color comic book series is written by Harold Sipe and Christopher Sebela, and illustrated by Lee Leslie and Hector Casanova. It’s coming this June from Image Comics.
image c. 2011 by Image Comics
WOW, Worgen!
Furry fans into the World of Warcraft game and its story background might want to check out the new World of Warcraft: Curse of the Worgen comic book mini-series, published by the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics. For those who don’t play the game, according to WOW-Wiki: “Worgen are large, lupine humanoids reminiscent of a werewolf that walks upright, but lopes on all fours to run.” The five-issue comic book, exploring the mysteries of the Worgen and where they came from, was written by Micky Neilson and James Waugh. The full-color art was created by Ludo Lullabi, Tony Washington, and John Polidora. The first issue is on sale now.
A Young Lady’s Transformation…
High school is hard enough to get through, but trying to do it while slowly turning into a werewolf makes things nearly impossible! That’s the situation a teenage girl named Alice finds herself in when she and her brother are bitten by what they thought was a pack of large rabid dogs. Werewolves: An Illustrated Journal of Transformation is a new softcover graphic novel, available now from Chronicle Books. It was written by Paul Jessup, with full-color illustrations by Allyson Haller. The book is Alice’s personal journal of her and her brother’s experience as they not only transform, but have to adopt new lifestyles: Learning to eat raw meat, avoiding the werewolf hunters who are after them every night, and finding their place among the pack that caused their transformation in the first place. You can find out more at Amazon.com.
The Werewolf Calendar returns
We mentioned werewolves, we mentioned calendars… How about the both of them together? The Werewolf Calendar returns for 2011, this time featuring brand-new full-color artwork by the likes of Balaa, Dark Natasha, Goldenwolf, Heather Bruton, H. Kyoht Luterman, Katie Hofgard, Khaosdog, Myenia, Novawuff, Rayndancer, Synnabar, Therese Larsson, and Zowolf. Orders for the calender ($21.00 each in the U.S., $27.00 outside) will open up on September 1st, and remain open until November 12th, 2010. The first 100 orders placed will also include a free bookmark and sticker. At the Werewolf Calendar web site you can see sketches for the 2011 artwork, as well as download computer wall-papers created with the 2010 artwork.
Sketch c. 2010 by Goldenwolf for the 2011 Werewolf Calendar
Wolf God
Kyonosuke is a strange boy with sparkling golden eyes… He sniffs Koyuki like a dog, and then asks her “Have you seen my brother?”. It seems that Kyonosuke is not human… he’s a member of the Inugami, a tribe of wolf-gods in disguise. But what mysterious key does young Koyuki hold to his missing brother? To find out, read Wolf God, a new 3-part black & white manga miniseries written and illustrated by Ai Tenkawa. It’s available now from Digital Manga.
Now It Can Be Told!
The 2010 Ursa Major Awards, celebrating the best in anthropomorphic art, writing, and other media were presented at FurAffinity United on Sunday, May 30th. 2 the Ranting Gryphon hosted the show and presented the awards. From the Ursa Major Awards web site: “More formally known as the Annual Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Award, the Ursa Major Award is presented annually for excellence in the furry arts. It is intended as Anthropomorphic (a.k.a. Furry) Fandom’s equivalent of the Hugo Award ® presented by the World Science Fiction Society, mystery fandom’s Anthony Award, horror fandom’s Bram Stoker Award, and so forth.” This year more than 1,100 fans from more than a dozen countries world wide took part in nominating and voting for the Ursa Major Awards. The most yet!
And here, now, are the nominees and winners in each of 10 categories.
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Game, the nominees were:
- Earth Eternal (created by Sparkplay Media)
- G-Force – The Video Game (Developed by Keen Studios, published by Disney Interactive)
- Predation, the Board Game (created by Quentin Long)
- Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time (Developed by Insomniac Games, published by Sony Computer Entertainment)
And the Ursa Major Award went to: Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration, the nominees were:
- Blotch: Cover for Out of Position by Kyell Gold
- Patrick Farley: “Gaia’s Strange Seedlike Brood” from Thoughtcrime Experiment
- Jailbird: “It’s Beautiful” from “Trading Wishes” by Kevin Frane
- Kenket: Illustration for New Coyote from Anthrozine.com
- Sara Palmer: Cover for Jasmyn by Bernard Doove
And the Ursa Major Award went to: Blotch, for the Out of Position cover.
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Magazine, the nominees were:
- Anthro
- Heat
- New Fables
- South Fur Lands
- Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe
And the Ursa Major Award went to: Heat
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip, the nominees were:
- Dan and Mab’s Furry Adventures by Amber M. Williams
- Doc Rat by Jenner
- Freefall by Mark Stanley
- Housepets! by Rick Griffin
- Kevin and Kell by Bill Holbrook
And the Ursa Major Award went to: Housepets!
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story (with continuous story arcs) the nominees were:
- Concession by Immelman
- Furthia High by QuetzaDrake
- Lackadaisy by Tracy J. Butler
- TwoKinds by Tom Fischbach
And the Ursa Major Award went to: Concession
In the Category of Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work, the nominees were:
- Bloom County – The Complete Collection, Volume 1, by Berke Breathed, published by Idea & Design Works
- Draw Furries: How to Create Anthropomorphic and Fantasy Animals, by Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges, published by Impact
- The First Book of Lapism, by Phil Geusz, published by Anthro Press
- Who Are The Furries? by Denise Winterman, from BBC News
- X, edited by Kyell Gold, published by Sofawolf Press
And the Ursa Major Award went to: Draw Furries: How to Create Anthropomorphic and Fantasy Animals
In the Category of Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction, the nominees were:
- “Drifting”, by By Kyell Gold, from FurAffinity.net
- “Moonthief”, by Not Tube, from X by Sofawolf Press
- “Stop the World”, by Kyell Gold, from Anthrozine.com
- “Thou Shalt Not Make Wrongful Use of the Name of Thy Lord”, by Whyte Yote, from X by Sofawolf Press
- “Trading Wishes”, by Kevin Frane, from FurAffinity.net
And the Ursa Major Award went to: “Drifting”
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Novel, the nominees were:
- Bone Crossed, by Patricia Briggs, published by Ace Books
- Cheetah’s Win, by Phil Geusz, published by Anthrozine.com
- Jazmyn, by Bernard Doove, published by CreateSpace
- Out of Position, by Kyell Gold, published by Sofawolf Press
- Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, by David Benidictus, published by Dutton Juvenile
- The Unscratchables, by Cornelius Kane, published by Scribner
And the Ursa Major Award went to: Out of Position
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Short Subject or Series, the nominees were:
- The Cat Piano (from the People’s Republic of Animation, directed by Eddie White and Ari Gibson)
- Partly Cloudy (from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation, directed by Peter Sohn)
- The Penguins of Madagascar (produced by Dreamworks Animation for Nickelodeon)
- Prep and Landing (from Walt Disney Pictures Animation, directed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers)
- The Secret Saturdays (produced by Cartoon Network)
And the Ursa Major Award went to: The Penguins of Madagascar
In the Category of Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture, the nominees were:
- Avatar (from 20th Century Fox, directed by James Cameron)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (from 20th Century Fox, directed by Wes Anderson)
- The Princess and the Frog (from Walt Disney Pictures Animation, directed by Ron Clements and John Musker)
- Up (from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation, directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
- Where the Wild Things Are (from Warner Brothers, Directed by Spike Jonze)
And the Ursa Major Award went to: Avatar
The staff of InFurNation.com wish to extend our congratulations to all of this year’s nominees and winners — as well as all of the fans who took the time to participate in the nominations and voting! Remember to visit the Ursa Major Awards web site to find out more about how to nominate the best in anthropomorphics from 2010 for the 2011 awards.
Jason does Werewolves
The enigmatic Norwegian funny-animal cartoonist known only as Jason returns with a brand-new softcover graphic novel, coming (in full color) in July from Fantagraphics Books. Werewolves of Montpellier tells the story of Sven, an aimless artist who finds himself in Montpellier, France, after a failed romance. By day he plays chess and poker, sketches his new hometown, and bemoans the state of his life. By night… he dresses up as a werewolf and raids other peoples’ homes! Of course, one thing he hasn’t taken into account is the society of real werewolves who live in Montpellier…! The press release describes it as “… a lycanthropic thriller, a romantic comedy, and an existential drama… basically, your typical Jason book”.
