InFurNation Rotating Header Image

Young Readers

The Lion Blocks

Perhaps it was inevitable that someone would turn Lego toys’ popular anthropomorphic fantasy series Legends of Chima into a comic book — and Papercutz were the ones to do it. No less than three volumes of Lego: Legends of Chima have hit the stands now, in both hardcover and trade paperback editions. They’re written by Yannick Grotholt with full-color art by Comicon (yes, that’s the name). “Chima— a world reigned by animal tribes, divided by the battle of the noble lions against the evil crocodiles. In High Risk [Volume 1] Laval, prince of the Lions and his friend Eris, a warrior of the Eagle Tribe, engage in a training race on their Speedorz. As the two speed through the jungle, they stumble upon a Gorilla convoy transporting CHI that is being attacked by the Crocodiles. Will Laval and Eris save their Gorilla friends? Or will they become Crocodile Meat?” Papercutz has a web site dedicated to the series.

image c. 2014 Papercutz

image c. 2014 Papercutz

A Hero in a Blanket

The story of Tugg the bull terrier is amazing — and told in great detail on Tugg’s official web site. A rescue dog, he was found as a puppy next to a highway, wrapped in a blanket and riddled with disease. But with the help of an adoptive family of animal control officers, he not only survived but thrived, and has since become a symbol of rescue pets and their needs. Enough that Kim and Blake Ovard have written and illustrated a new 4-issue comic book miniseries, Tugg the Bull Terrier (available now from Ape Entertainment). There’s even a YouTube video preview of the comic. Many of the stories of Tugg the superhero are based at the real-life adventures of the persevering dog.

image c. 2014 Ape Entertainment

image c. 2014 Ape Entertainment

Dragons Call Her Mom

Andrews McMeel publishing presents Dragon Girl: The Secret Valley, a new trade paperback graphic novel written and illustrated by Jeff Weigel. “Eleven-year-old Alanna and her older brother Hamel are orphans and doing their best to take care of each other until one day Alanna stumbles upon a cave full of dragon eggs. When the eggs hatch with no mother dragon in sight, Alanna decides to take care of the babies herself, even creating a clever costume so that the babies think she, too, is a dragon. With their large appetites and accidental fire burps, Alanna learns that dragon babies are hard work! And when a mama dragon finally comes to claim the babies, Alanna’s costume is so convincing that she is swept along for the ride as they journey to Dragon Rock, a mysterious magnetic force that draws dragons of all shapes and sizes to a magical, untouched valley.” It’s available now, and over at Comic Book Resources they have more of the story.

image c. 2014 Andrews McMeel

image c. 2014 Andrews McMeel

Straight from The Hub

Hoping to duplicate the success they found with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (admit it, you know it’s true!) IDW now brings us Littlest Pet Shop in full-color comic book form.  Animal-talker Blythe and her multi-species compadres are off on adventures all over Downtown City on their famous polka-dot moped. The series is written by Georgia Ball (My Little Pony) with art by Nico Pena and Antonio Campo (Penguins of Madagascar). The IDW web site has more. There’s also a variant cover version by Katie Cook (My Little Pony).

image c. 2014 IDW Publishing

image c. 2014 IDW Publishing

And One More Little Bear

Robert Aragon is a fine arts painter employed in Hollywood. But in his free time he created his first book, A Tiny Teddy Named Cuds. This little bear is not only a childhood friend, he’s a dreamer: He dreams of a world bigger than his room, and he dreams of being bigger than a little bear. And we follow along with his full-color adventures in his imagination. All of which you can see in the book, which is available at Tiny Teddy Press.

image c. 2014 Robert Aragon

image c. 2014 Robert Aragon

Bear Be Pirates Here

Earlier this year the artist known as Travis Hanson (creator of fantasy comic The Bean) ran a very successful Kickstarter campaign for his new project, Tanner Jones and the Quest for the Monkey Stone. ” Turns out, he more than doubled what he was asking for! So, the new full-color 60-page book will be shipping this June, according to his web site. So what’s it about? “It’s about a boy named Tanner Jones and his adventure to find the Monkey Stone. Something he just can’t do alone, so he enlists the help of the greatest treasure hunters around: The pirate bears of the Scrawny Duck. It’s a journey to an uncharted isle, full of mystery and danger, but most of all just pure fun and the importance of following one’s dreams.”

image c. 2014 by Travis Hanson

image c. 2014 by Travis Hanson

A Fat Pampered Cat

Frans Vischer grew up using his drawings as a way to communicate after his parents immigrated with him to America from Holland. That practice from an early age won him the sponsorship of animation legend Chuck Jones, an admission to CalArts… and eventually a job in animation for himself. Over the years he’s worked on such films as Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Cat’s Don’t Dance, and The Princess and the Frog. More recently he’s parlayed his talents into his own line of illustrated children’s book.  In the first, Jimmy Dabble, a young farm-boy befriends his barnyard animal friends and later saves the day with his unusual method of doing chores. For his second book, Mr. Vischer introduced the world to Fuddles — a proudly over-sized cat, based on the author’s own real-life household companion. He’s also introduced a line of Fuddles prints. You can find them and more at his web site, including a look at his upcoming third book, A Very Fuddles Christmas.

image c. 2014 by Frans Vischer

image c. 2014 by Frans Vischer

Of Bears and Pots and Deep Deep Thoughts

Psycologist, hypnotist, and philosopher, A.B. Curtiss is also and accomplished author with several award-winning books to her name.  And several of her fiction books just happen to be of interest to furry fans. Legend of the Giant Panda (illustrated by Mirto Golino) is exactly what it sounds like: A mythic telling of how pandas got their distinctive black and white markings.  Hallelujah, A Cat Comes Back is a “cat book of virtues”, where a young tom gives us the feline wisdom brought down to him from his wise granny-cat. Illustrated with a collection of Victorian feline prints. Dragons Guard The Zoo is a collection of poems on many subjects, including animals real and fanciful. And In the Company of Bears (illustrated by Barbara Stone) has been described as a “children’s philosophy book”, in which bears are used to illustrate soothing rhymes about accepting people for what they are. All of these and more are available on Amazon and at Ms. Curtiss’ web site.

image c. 2014 A.B. Curtiss

image c. 2014 A.B. Curtiss

Art from Oregon

Here’s how this artist describes himself: Matt Doering is an Illustrator/Concept Artist based in Eugene, Oregon currently working as a Production Artist and UI Designer at Disney Interactive for mobile and social games.  Matt also works as a freelance illustrator, most recently completing his first children’s book The Story of Magic Kringle, written and created by Alice Cosgrove.” His web site also has numerous examples of his character design work, as well as some of the animation he’s worked on. Of note: Matt did color design and visual development on The Girl and the Fox, an award-winner short animated film written and directed by Tyler J. Kupferer.

image c. 2014 by Matt Doering

image c. 2014 by Matt Doering