Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
Once again, from out of nowhere, this one. We’ll let Image Comics explain it: “Journey into the thrilling world of international espionage as one of Britain’s most covert MI-6 divisions, The Nest, recruits a brand-new secret agent to their team: SPY SEAL! An exciting new comic series-reminiscent of The Adventures of Tintin and Usagi Yojimbo.” Spy Seal is written and illustrated by Rich Tommaso (She Wolf) and the first full-color issue is available now.
image c. 2017 Image Comics
As you may have heard, a couple years ago Berke Breathed once again fired up his seminal comic strip Bloom County. Well for those among us who remember the first go-round, IDW has brought together a special box set called Bloom County: Real, Classy, & Compleat, 1980-1989. Here’s the press release: “Presenting every Bloom County daily and Sunday strip in chronological order from the first to the last! Bloom County debuted in late 1980 and ran until August 1989. Featuring an exceedingly quirky cast of characters, including the sweetly naive Opus the penguin, the flea-bitten Bill the cat, womanizing attorney Steve Dallas, Milo Bloom, Cutter John, and many others, Bloom County soon became one of the most popular comic strips in history, appearing in over 1200 newspapers. Then, at the peak of its popularity, Berkeley Breathed did something unprecedented… he walked away. Now, more than 25 years later, the complete collection of the Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip is collected into a deluxe, two-volume box set.” It’s available now at your local comic book store.
image c. 2017 IDW Publishing
Things take a furry turn once again over at Vertigo’s Astro City comic. (Remember that gorilla drummer?) This time, it’s canine costumed crusader. From Previews: “Meet G-Dog, possibly Astro City’s most unusual superhero ever. Half man, half dog – but who’s running the show? The answers will change a life, reveal another hero’s deepest secrets, and possibly, just possibly, save the world. Oh, who are we kidding… they’ll definitely change the world. Do you see that handsome face?” Issue #47 hits the shelves in early September.
image c. 2017 Vertigo
We got this from Marvel Comics themselves: “They say every dog has his day — and this is Lockjaw’s! The Inhumans’ prodigious pooch takes the lead, teleporting into amazing adventures! When the Avengers and Inhumans come to blows, Lockjaw shows he has a nose for danger! With Attilan in turmoil around him, the colossal canine has his own agenda in an all-time classic tale that could only be named ‘Woof!’ What a revoltin’ development for the Thing when he spends the day babysitting and dog-walking — with Lockjaw on the end of the leash, it’s slobberin’ time! Plus: The humongous hound helps the homeless, has the Inhumans in dogged pursuit, and goes digging for his Original Sin!” Collecting together previous adventures of Lochjaw by a variety of artists and writers, the Lockjaw: Dog Days full-color one-shot is available now.
image c. 2017 Marvel Comics
Evan Dahm in an artist who has illustrated and published recent editions of classics like The Wizard of Oz and Moby Dick. In the meantime he keeps himself busy with a series of on-line comics and graphic novels. Among the most extensive is a fantasy comic called Vattu. According to him: “Vattu is a story following a member of a nomadic tribe caught in the midst of a massive clash of cultures. It was started in July 2010 and is updated on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.” Visit his web site to see more, including an extensive character guide to Vattu — There are lots of non-human characters of various species.
image c. 2017 by Evan Dahm
Voracious is a recent full-color comic book series written by Markisan Naso and illustrated by Jason Muhr and Andrei Tabacaru. The first story arc (Diners, Dinosaurs, & Dives) was the simple (?) story of a young chef who inherits a time travel suit — and uses it to collect dinosaurs he can slaughter and butcher to make new meat for his ailing restaurant. (Not your vegan ed-otter’s cup of tea, but what the hey…) In the second story arc however (Voracious: Feeding Time), things take on a decidedly more anthropomorphic turn: “Hunting dinosaurs and secretly serving them at his restaurant, Fork & Fossil, has helped Chef Nate Willner become a big success. But just when he’s starting to make something of his life, he discovers that his hunting trips with Captain Jim are actually taking place in an alternate reality – an Earth where dinosaurs evolve into Saurians, a technologically advanced race that rules the far future! Some of these Saurians have mysteriously started vanishing from Cretaceous City and the local authorities are hell-bent on finding who’s responsible. Nate’s world is about to collide with something much, much bigger than any dinosaur he’s ever roasted.” Nothing worse than discovering you’re accidentally a serial killer… Feeding Time is available now in a collected edition from Action Lab.
image c. 2017 Action Lab
Um, we’ll let the folks at Kechal Comics explain it: “Placed in men’s tightie whitie underwear on a whim by the scientist who captures him, Baxter the monkey does the only logical thing possible – he instantly develops consciousness and the ability to speak. Because… SCIENCE!!! Excited by his discovery, the scientist decides to see if other animals react as well as Baxter. Gaining intelligence, rational thought and an innate understanding of justice and fairnesss. Let’s just say further experiments do not go as well. Join Baxter as he navigates a world he’s just starting to understand, a world full of fearful humans, zany animals, and one seriously deranged bunny rabbit.” See? We told you they’d say it better! Underwars #1 was written by Kevin Joseph and illustrated in black & white by C.M. Brennan, based on a series of paintings he did.
image c. 2017 Kechal Comics
[Hey Ed-Otter! Where’ve you been? Down with a temperature, that’s where. Sorry for the absence! More catching up from Comic Con…] Sean “Cheeks” Galloway is perhaps best known (among the Furry Fans at very least!) as the illustrator of the Pearls of Panderia graphic novel (which of course we’ve talked about). Now he’s back with a more personal project: His own comic imprint, Table Taffy. Recently he released the first Table Taffy Comic ‘Zine. We’ll let him explain: “Table Taffy Comic ‘Zine is a new line of books to showcase comics based on my creator-owned projects! Issue #1 features the Shadow Pirates one-shot #1, as well as comics for my Bastion’s 7, Gumshoes 4 Hire, Little Big Heads, and introducing my new property, Mohnstur Watch! Games and activities are also included, so the whole family can enjoy!” Plenty of characters both human and decidedly-not to be found here. Visit his web site to learn more.
image c. 2017 Table Taffy
Now there’s a new full-color graphic novel for young readers with the interesting title of Dog Night at the Story Zoo. It’s written by Dan Bar-El and illustrated by Vicki Nerino. Here’s how the publisher says it: “It’s Open Mic Night at the Story Zoo and the dogs are up to tell their tales in this hilarious graphic novel for young readers. At the Story Zoo, you get to tell any story you want in front of the live audience, as long as it’s about you. And tonight is dog night. So sit back, relax, and let these dogs tell their tales. We’ve got some hilarious but quite touching stories from dogs of all kinds, including a bulldog who doesn’t wanted to be judged by his looks; a bloodhound who loses her power of scent and turns to a dog called Surelick Holmes for help; an energetic poodle who saves the day with her yapping; and a stray who takes fetching to a whole new level.” Got all that? It’s available now in hardcover. [And we’ll see YOU all after a quick trip to San Diego Comic Con!]
image c. 2017 Tundra Books
