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Books and Trade Paperbacks

FurSuit Superheroes?

Look, we’ll admit it: There are no anthropomorphic animals (that we know of) in Dolphin Girl Volume 2: Eye of the Baloney Storm. But just listen to the description of this new graphic novel for young readers by Zach Smith: “Ever since the evil Sea Cow tried to steal Dolphin Girl and Captain Dugong’s restaurant/hideout in Trouble in Pizza Paradise!, business has been bad. Dolphin Girl attempts to rebrand the restaurant, but everyone who works there hates the new outfits and the new music. Even worse, there’s a new superhero in town—everyone loves, Wonder Friend and they seemingly can do no wrong. On the other hand, Dolphin Girl is getting everything wrong. But when Sea Cow returns to cover Midwestern Deerburbia in a blizzard of baloney, Dolphin Girl and Otter Boy have no choice but to team up with the all-too-wonderful Wonder Friend to prevent their town from becoming a big Jimmy John’s sandwich!” Top that. Volume 1 and Volume 2 are available now from Pixel & Ink.

image c. 2022 Pixel & Ink

Warrens and Warriors

Speaking of bunnies… Quite a while ago (in the pre-COVID Before Times even) we told you about a Kickstarter campaign to bring back one of the original role-playing games, Bunnies & Burrows. Well now it finally looks as if that goal is coming to fruition: “Frog God Games has partnered with Dr. B. Dennis Sustare and Dr. Scott R. Robinson to return a venerable and influential piece of tabletop role-playing games to print… Bunnies & Burrows (B&B) is a role-playing game (RPG) that features animal characters contending with enemies and hazards in a world of nature. Published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1976, the game centered on intelligent rabbits. It introduced several innovations to role-playing game design, being the very first game to allow players to have non-humanoid roles, and the first to have detailed martial arts and skill systems. FGU published a second edition of the game in 1982, and the game was modified and republished by Steve Jackson Games as an official GURPS supplement in 1992. As rabbits, player characters are faced with dangers mirroring those in the real world. The only true ‘monsters’ in the game are humans, but there are many predators, traps, and natural hazards. The characters’ position in the food chain promotes an emphasis on role-playing and problem solving over combat.” Frog God has lots more information — and supplements too!

image c. 2022 Frog God Games

Friends Come in All Sizes and Shapes

There is the first volume in the Tiny Fox and Great Boar series of graphic novels for young readers. They’re written and illustrated (in lush watercolors) by Polish artist Berenika Kolomycka. “One beautiful fall day, as Tiny Fox relaxes under his favorite tree, he meets a new friend: Great Boar! Great Boar loves to explore the beauty of nature and the changing seasons, but Tiny Fox thinks adventuring can be scary… but so is the idea of being without his new pal! What will Tiny Fox do?” You can find out now in hardcover from Oni Press.

image c. 2022 Oni Press

Mighty Ancient Reptile Rangers

Dinomighty! is a new graphic novel series for young readers, from Clarion Books. “On their own, they are four mild-mannered dinos, but together they are . . . Dinomighty! Everything is pleasant and good in Dinotown . . . until Teri-Dactyl discovers a cryptic email that says the precious Golden Egglettes are in danger! Dinomighties unite! But can they spring into action fast enough to save these valuable jewels from evil baddies?” Written by Doug Paleo (!) and illustrated by Aaron Blecha (Shark School), volumes are available now.

image c. 2022 Clarion Books

Bunny and Bird. Of Course! Why Not?

Young beginning readers can check out the Ollie and Bea series of graphic novels, written and illustrated by Renee Tremi. The set up is as simple as can be: “Ollie is an owl who wears glasses. And Bea is a bunny with very big feet. They don’t know it yet, but they are about to be best friends. Can they help each other to find their otter-ly awesome inner superhero?” It’s Owl Good and other books in the series are available now from Allen & Unwin Book Publishers.

image c. 2022 Allen & Unwin

Paw the Left Button Twice

Apparently this is a thing we missed — but now it’s available over here. Cat + Gamer is a black & white manga written and illustrated by Wataru Nadatani, now translated and distributed by Dark Horse. “Riko’s coworkers can’t quite figure her out — she never talks about her personal life, she never works overtime, and she never joins them for happy hour. Is she antisocial? Nope, she’s rushing home to play video games! One day, a stray cat is found in the office parking lot, and before Riko knows it, the cat has moved in with her! Having no experience with pets, Riko uses lessons drawn from video games to guide her in cat care, while her cute companion tries to understand her behavior through a cat’s worldview.”

image c. 2022 Dark Horse Press

Seal The Connection

Some time ago, writer and illustrator Molly Knox Ostertag gave us The Witch Boy, a coming-of-age graphic novel about a young werewolf boy with… different preferences. We’ll tell you all about that one soon. Right now we want to point you at her latest comic work, The Girl From The Sea. “This sweet graphic novel follows Morgan, a 15-year-old girl living on a small island in Canada, who one day meets a mysterious selkie named Keltie. At first, Morgan is annoyed by Keltie, but as they spend more time together, she realizes her feelings may be stronger than she anticipated.” It’s available now in paperback from Scholastic.

image c. 2022 Scholastic

Prehistoric Pups

Formerly a Wall Street investor, currently a teacher and storyteller, Mystery Mike McHale has created a new illustrated book for kids, Dino Dogz, with the help of artist Mike Goldstein. “The DinoDogz (half Dogz/half Dinosaurs) are on a Mission to rescue five StegoPup eggs that have been stolen by the evil Dr. D. Stroy (their creator) before the doctor uses them to create an army of DinoDogz to take over the world!!!! Along the way, the Dogz must face off against enemies controlled by the doctor to collect their DinoDNA to transform into their true DinoDogz selves.” The official web site includes the on-line Dino Dogz game. Mystery Mike says there’s a mascot costume on the way too!

image c. 2022 Mystery Mike’s Funhouse

The Bard and the Barnyard

The things we find. Ham-Let: A Shakespearean Mash-Up is a new full-color graphic novel for young readers, brought to us in hardcover by Dark Horse Press. “The eponymous Pig Prince himself returns home from college to find that his uncle Claude betrayed and murdered his father to seize the throne! But this familiar fable veers into the zany and adventurous when Ham-let calls upon his best friend Horatio and a troupe of rowdy, self-centered actors to aid him in halting his uncle’s evil plans.” Ham-Let is written by Jim Burnstein, Garrett Schiff, and Andrew Cosby, with illustrations by Elisa Ferrari. Go check out the preview pages over at the Dark Horse web site.

image c. 2022 Dark Horse Press