Oddly enough for an international institution like Sesame Street, it has never had its own comic book — Until Now! Ape Entertainment’s Kizoic imprint presents the first regular Sesame Street full-color comic, written by Jason M. Burns and illustrated by Amy Mebberson. The first issue hits stores this April, and features one of five full-color covers that interlock into an ultra-wide poster. “From television to the comic panel, Ape Entertainment will portray the characters that millions of parents and children have come to know and love in a comic series that will be produced in full color and available in stores this fall in standard comic sized printed editions for $3.99 and digest sized hardcover comic book editions for $7.99. They will also be available as a digital comic book that will be available through Apple’s App Store for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.”
Young Readers
Cats with Swords
Sofawolf Press have announced that Caterwall, a new full-color young adult graphic novel by Spain Fischer, will be arriving this summer. Originally announced last spring, this sword & sorcery tale follows the adventures of Pax, a feline would-be adventurer. Pax is ” the orphaned son of the kingdom of Katia’s greatest knights. His family name and reputation has been tarnished, however, and Pax is to blame. When the young cat intercepts troubling news from the neighboring kingdom of the dogs, Dewshire, his warnings fall on deaf ears. Banished from Caterwall after insulting the Dewshire diplomat, Pax must decide if he will try to stop the dangerous tide approaching Caterwal l– or turn his back on the home which cast him out.” The story will be told in a series of three 100-page graphic novels. We’ll admit to some confusion regarding the web site for this project. Some promotional posters released at Further Confusion and elsewhere give the web site as www.caterwall.net, which leads you to a “Coming Soon” page with an illustration. More actual information, however, can be found at www.caterwall.com, which includes artwork and background write-ups.
If Polly Ran The Ship…
Another discovery from Further Confusion — and we wonder how we missed this before. Black Beak the Parrot Pirate is a creation of Jennifer Sopranzi, Catherine Van Riper, and Tony Sopranzi, featuring CGI tricked-up photos of real animals as illustrations for their rousing sea adventure stories for young readers. “In the crystal blue waters of the Southern Seas lies the home of the fierce pirate parrot Captain Black Beak. Welcome to Conure Cove, the beautiful Island home of the brave and gentle beasts and birds who live in this mystic land. These are the first seven tales of Captain Black Beak, the greatest pirate parrot to sail the seas. Long may his tales be told in stories, songs and poems.” Now the first seven short books in the series (all of them available on Amazon) have been collected into a single volume, Black Beak: Pirate Saga, which also includes some new material. You can find out more about all of this at the home page of Black Beak Press.
Little Girl to Little Cat
Well-known fantasy author Charles De Lint has teamed up with well-known illustrator Charles Vess to bring us The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, a new hardcover full-color illustrated book coming this March from Little Brown Books For Young Readers. “Lillian Kindred spends her days exploring the Tanglewood Forest, a magical, rolling wilderness that she imagines to be full of fairies. The trouble is, Lillian has never seen a wisp of magic in her hills–until the day the cats of the forest save her life by transforming her into a kitten. Now Lillian must set out on a perilous adventure that will lead her through untamed lands of fabled creatures–from Old Mother Possum to the fearsome Bear People–to find a way to make things right.” From the review at Amazon, of course.
And with that, we’ll say TTFN (ta ta for now!) until after Further Confusion in San Jose, California. Take care!
Adventures in the Ice Age
Hey look — we’re back to Free Comic Book Day stuff! First off, did you know that Ice Age: Continental Drift had the highest world-wide box office take of any animated film in 2012? Well it did, by a comfortable margin of millions. Now Boom! Studios’ Kaboom! imprint is carrying on the story and the world-famous characters with their offering for Free Comic Book Day, Ice Age: The Hidden Treasure. “When Crash and Eddie hear about a haunted treasure in a place called Bone Valley, they can’t get the idea out of their heads! After convincing Peaches and Sid to join them on their journey, they set off to become treasure hunters…but what surprise awaits them where X marks the spot?” Crash and Eddie are two rather manic opossums, Sid the sloth is their friend, and Peaches the mammoth is their niece. Yes, it somehow all makes sense! Hidden Treasure was written by Caleb Monroe and illustrated in full color by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb. Remember, Free Comic Book Day is May 4th.
Nine Lives of Power
Also on Free Comic Book Day, look for the special issue of Scratch9 to be released by Hermes Press. In case you don’t remember Scratch9, it’s the Eisner-Award nominated full-color all-ages comic book about a cat with the magical ability to summon the spirits of any one of his nine lives to help him in his adventures. It’s written by Rob Worley and illustrated by Jason T. Kruse. This special FCBD edition re-prints the premier issue with a brand new cover (by Armand Villavert, Jr.) and some brand new back-up material.
Little Mouse Gets Ready
Jeff Smith, the multiple-award-winning creator of Bone, has returned with a new full-color softcover children’s book from Toon Books. In Little Mouse Gets Ready, “There’s lots to do before Little Mouse is ready to go visit the barn. Will he master all the intricacies of getting dressed, from snaps and buttons to Velcro and tail holes?” According to Amazon, this book has already been given the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award. So how the heck did we miss this one? It came out in 2009!
Just a Donkey
This February, Papercutz (home to the Geronimo Stilton series) presents a brand new full color graphic novel by multiple award-winning author Emmanuel Guibert and renowned illustrator Marc Boutavant — Ariol, Volume 1: Just a Donkey Like You and Me. “Ariol is your everyday tween donkey with blue glasses. He lives in the suburbs with his mom and dad. His best friend is a pig. He’s in love with a beautiful cow in his class. His teacher is a dog. His gym teacher is a huge rooster. In short, Ariol is just like you and me.” Pre-order this new softcover book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
The Mane Six in the Spotlight
On the hooves of releasing the wildly successful My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book tie-in series (which sold hundreds of thousands of copies while it was still in pre-order!) IDW have announced a new My Little Pony Micro-Series. Each of these six full-color issues while feature one of the “Mane Six” characters from the series in their own showcase adventure. First up is Twilight Sparkle — ably assisted by her dragon friend Spike, of course. “Twilight Sparkle becomes enthralled in a literary masterpiece. Dismayed to hear the series never continued, Twilight goes on a quest to hunt down the reclusive author, Jade Singer. The first issue was written and illustrated by Thom Zahler. Look for it in February, or pre-order it (before everyone else does!) at Mail Order Comics.








