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Wolves

The Boy Who Fell to Earth

In 2012 John Claude Bemis (author of the Americana-Fantasy series The Clockwork Dark) brought us a new post-apocalypse novel for young readers called The Prince Who Fell From The Sky. “In Casseomae’s world, the wolves rule the Forest, and the Forest is everywhere. The animals tell stories of the Skinless Ones, whose cities and roads once covered the earth, but the Skinless disappeared long ago. Casseomae is content to live alone, apart from the other bears in her tribe, until one of the ancients’ sky vehicles crashes to the ground, and from it emerges a Skinless One, a child. Rather than turn him over to the wolves, Casseomae chooses to protect this human cub, to find someplace safe for him to live. But where among the animals will a human child be safe? And is Casseomae threatening the safety of the Forest and all its tribes by protecting him?” Published by Random House, check this out over at the author’s web site.

[And with that, of course, we wish you a Merry Christmas, a Blessed Solstice, and a Happy Holiday Season!]

image c. 2014 Random House

image c. 2014 Random House

Pups and Petrol

Author Tonton Jim appeared on the scene recently with a new series of books called Hound’s Glenn. The titular neighborhood is a place where families of dogs and wolves live and work — evidently, families of other species live in other neighborhoods — and the stories feature the daily adventures of a group of young canines growing up. Aimed at young readers and adults alike, each book features watercolor illustrations by the artist E. Felix Lyon.  The first book, Max and the Lowrider Car, introduces us to Max. He’s a fifth-grader wolf cub with a simple-sounding assignment from school: Find something amazing in town to write about. He finds it in the local auto customizing shop, and soon Max and his friends (and family) are off on an adventure seeking old boring cars to bring back to shiny new life. The book is available on Amazon now, published by Dayton. The second book in the series, Harold and the Hot Rod, is coming soon. Hmm, are we sensing a theme here?

image c. 2014 Dayton Publishing

image c. 2014 Dayton Publishing

Don’t Mess With The Barbarian Wolf

Amigo Comics is a publisher and distributor of creator-owned comic book series. One of their recent titles is Ghost Wolf, a new full-color barbarian adventure series written by El Torres and illustrated by Siku. “The full saga of the Ghost Wolf, the spirit of vengeance of the northern wastes. When the sons of Corr lost their courage, they were swept by the wild tribes. But there was one man decided to fight – and paid with his life. He will become the vessel for the long, forsaken spirit of vengeance. The Ghost Wolf!” Take a look over at the Previews web site before the comic hits the shelves this March.

image c. 2014 Amigo Comics

image c. 2014 Amigo Comics

A Wolf, His Mate, and Their Cubs

Turns out that the original Alpha and Omega (from 2010) was successful enough to “spawn” a sequel — at least a 44-minute direct-to-video sequel, Alpha and Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure. According to Cartoon Brew (never very kind to standard Hollywood fare), the sequel is again directed by Richard Rich. It was animated in India. In this new film, the wolves Humphrey and Kate strive to bring their cubs — Stinky, Claudette, and Runt — a happy season at Christmas time. The preview trailer is up now on YouTube. Look for the DVD from Lionsgate, coming to your local store on October 8th.

Image c. 2013 Lionsgate Pictures

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.

image c. 2013 by CME

The Big Bad Wolf — or IS he…?

After literally years of struggling to find a publisher for their full-color graphic novel, writer Paul Jenkins and artists Humberto Ramos and Leonardo Olea decided to publish Fairy Quest: Outlaws themselves — and the result premiered at San Diego Comic Con this year. In the land of Fablewood, all the world’s favorite fairy tale characters re-live their famous stories over and over again, like puppets on a string. Then one day, Little Red and Mr. Woof decide they’ve grown tired of being enemies and decide to become friends — a little act of rebellion that turns all of Fablewood onto its ear, and brands these new friends as dangerous outlaws. The web site Comic Book Resources has an interview with Humberto Ramos talking about the Fairy Quest project up on line. It’s envisioned as a four-book series.

image c. 2011 Humberto Ramos

New CGI Wolves

Can you tell who’s been under the weather for a few days?  Well now…

Stumbled across a new CGI film to be hitting our shores this September. A 3D feature from India no less, created by Crest Animation Studios. Alpha and Omega is in English though, produced by Richard Rich (The Swan Princess), directed by Anthony Bell (The Boondocks) and Ben Gluck (Brother Bear 2), and released by Lionsgate. The story revolves around a pair of wolves living in the wild in Canada. Kate (voiced by Hayden Panettiere) is a responsible pack leader, while Humphrey (voiced by Justin Long) lives just for fun, frolic, and friends — alpha and omega, get it? Kate’s father has arranged for her to be mated to the alpha male of another pack in order to prevent an inter-pack war. That plan is put in jeopardy, though, when both Kate and Humphrey are captured by humans and transferred to Idaho as part of a wolf re-introduction program. Can they make it back to their pack in time to prevent war? The trailer for this new film is up on YouTube.

Luuna Volume 1

Tokyo Pop takes a new step into full-color full-sized graphic novels with the premier of Luuna, Volume 1, from Europe (and available now in English).  With a script by Nicolas Keramidas and art by Didier Crisse, Luuna tells the story of a young woman of the mystic Paumanok tribe, who enters the sacred forest to find her totem — her animal spirit that represents her inner self.  Unfortunately for Luuna, the Evil One plays a trick on her.  Now she’s cursed with not one but two totems: Wolves, white and black, representing her own good and evil sides… one capable of miracles, the other of great destruction. And so Luuna sets out to find the wise spirits of the Earth, hoping they can rid her of this curse… if the minions of the Evil One don’t get to her first!