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Young Readers

He’s Cool, He’s Rad, He Has A Flea Collar

Well not really (at least the last bit). This September Boom! Box Studios brings us the premier of Teen Dog, a new full-color comic book series by Australian web cartoonist Jake Lawrence. Here’s an introduction from the web site Comic Vine: “Teen Dog is the cool guy you always wanted to be in high school, à la Michael J. Fox and Ferris Bueller, except he’s a dog in a rad denim vest. Each issue contains short vignettes featuring Teen Dog, his best friend Mariella, Thug Pug, Sara the star quarterback, and many more. Teen angst and whimsical adventures collide in this new series that combines the feel of John Hughes movies with ‘90s Nickelodeon cartoons.”

image c. 2014 Boom! Box

image c. 2014 Boom! Box

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

Monsters Make All The Best Stuff

From the Booklist write-up on Amazon, here’s a quick introduction to The Creature Department by Robert Paul Weston: “Elliot is overjoyed the morning his uncle, professor Archie Von Doppler, invites him to tour the supersecret invention lab at DENKi-3000, a company famous for its unusual, logic-defying products. But the secrets are more super than Elliot had hoped. The professor’s lab is staffed entirely by fantastical creatures—a French-speaking, bird-size fairy-bat; a giant dreadlocked salamander; and a librarian with three dragon heads atop octopus legs; etc.—whose otherworldly technology gives DENKi-3000’s inventions their astonishing appeal.” But all is not well, of course, and Elliot soon finds himself charged with protecting his new monster friends and their invention lab from an evil corporate takeover. It’s all in this new illustrated book published by Razorbill. It even has its own web site, complete with monster animation.

image c. 2014 Razorbill

image c. 2014 Razorbill

Don’t Let the Dead Bugs Bite!

We couldn’t do any better than the actual title here. “Did you enjoy stepping on bugs as a child? Have you ever lit one on fire with a magnifying glass? What if all those bugs could come back from the dead? Don’t Let the Dead Bugs Bite! is the tale of a community struggling to rid itself of troublesome bugs that have come back to haunt their once peaceful town. This exciting story will capture children’s imaginations and may make them think twice before stepping on that next bug.” This new full-color book was written and illustrated by Stephen Zmina. As you can see from the official web site, there’s quite a roster of well-known celebrities who’ve read and endorsed the book! Be sure to check out the horror-movie-style book trailer too.

image c. 2014 by Stephen Zmina

image c. 2014 by Stephen Zmina

Just Give Him Your Socks And Everything’s Fine

Ndbag is a boogeyman, but not the scary people-eating kind. No, he’d much rather eat one of your dirty socks — usually the left one. Ndbag the Boogeyman lives in the closet clothes hamper of a little girl named Mylene. He’s made friends with her favorite plushie: A panda named Pandaman. They get along so well that Ndbag created his very own panda costume which he calls Pandabag. The little blue boogeyman is also “frenemies” with ZK, a fluffy dryer goblin who much prefers clean socks and munching on lint. Are you getting all of this? It all comes from the mind of Austrian artist E.F. Gludovacz, and you can find out more in the first Ndbag the Boogeyman book as well as the regularly-updated web comic… all at the official web site.

image c. 2014 by E.F. Gludovacz

image c. 2014 by E.F. Gludovacz

She Said, The Horse Said

Back from Comic Con! Give us just a few minutes to get feeling back in our feet, and we’ll get busy with our reports.

Whew! All right, here we go then… Terry Cronin is a writer, best known for his comic book series Students of the Unusual and his Skinvestigator series of detective novels. Recently, inspired by his wife Ava (who loves horses), Terry hooked up with the artists Savannah McKendree and Gary Scott Beatty to create Horse Power G, the story of a young lady named Gertrude (“G”) and her prize horse, Amber. Sounds simple enough, yes? Here’s the twist: Read the comic forwards from the front to the middle and it’s told from the humans’ point of view, but read from the back to the middle and it’s the same story from the animals’ point of view! It all meets up right in the center with a cliffhanger leading right to the next issue. Horse Power G is published in full color by 3 Boys Productions. Visit the official Facebook page to find out more.

image c. 2014 3 Boys Productions

image c. 2014 3 Boys Productions

Beasts Invade the Rain Forest

It might seem like an age ago, but earlier this year the animated sensation of the moment was Rio 2. Now that we’ve moved on to the summer, Paperkutz have announced a new tie-in graphic novel, carrying on after the events of that film. “While recording bird calls, Linda loses her new digital recorder, but when Blu finds it, it’s full of strange and horrifying growls! Is some sort of new predator on the loose in the sanctuary? Before the gang can solve the mystery themselves, monster-hunters and reality shows invade, turning their quiet jungle home into pandemonium. ” Rio 2: The Creature from Blu’s Lagoon is written by Arie Kaplan and illustrated by James Silvani. The full-color trade paperback is available for pre-ordering; otherwise look for it in stores this fall.

image c. 2014 Paperkutz

image c. 2014 Paperkutz

What a Cute Little Raccoon… NOT!

With the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie looming closer, some folks might want to get a little background on the group. Heck, even young kids might want to! And so to that end Marvel Press brings us Guardians of the Galaxy: Beginnings, written by Tomas Palacios and illustrated by a variety of artists. “How did a raccoon with a rocket launcher, a talking tree, a bald green destroyer, the most dangerous woman in the universe, and an interplanetary policeman form the heroic space squad, The Guardians of the Galaxy? Join Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, and their fierce leader Star-Lord as they band together in this origin storybook to fight through the cosmos and bring peace to a universe filled with threats and danger. This illustrated 48-page storybook introduces the fun ragtag band of Super Heroes in space!” Check out this new full-cover hardcover at Barnes & Noble.

image c. 2014 Marvel Press

image c. 2014 Marvel Press

The Gumball Rally

More animation coming to comics! The Amazing World of Gumball is of course a popular Cartoon Network series created by Ben Bocquelet. It brings us the adventures of Gumball, a young blue cat, along with his younger sister Anais, a pink rabbit, and his younger brother Darwin, a goldfish. (Hey look, it’s cartoons! It make sense, okay? Trust us!). Now Boom! Studios have brought Gumball to the world of comics through their Kaboom! imprint. The new series is written by Frank Gibson (Adventure Time) with full-color multi-media art by Tyson Hesse (Bravest Warriors). Of course Kaboom! has a write up on the whole thing.

image c. 2014 Boom! Studios

image c. 2014 Boom! Studios