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Comic Books

Magickal Mice

Here’s how they describe it: “The epic introduction to Kaya and her brother Jak as she begins her journey into discovering the magic and mystery of their precious world, Silmay. In Boe, Kaya goes through the Trial of the Elder’s door and meets a special trusted ally. In Broodva, Valta discovers something new and troubling.” The front cover tells you a bit more perhaps. Tailwands has been an on-line full-color comic at Comixology for a while now. It’s written by Drew Crowder with illustrations by Morgan Rae Myers. Now Hashtag Comics have released the first set of Tailwands adventures as a graphic novel in paperback. Take a look over at Previews.

image c. 2015 Hashtag Comics

image c. 2015 Hashtag Comics

Meet the Beetles

[Sorry! Couldn’t resist…] “Nestled in the grass under the big palm tree by the edge of the desert there is an entire civilization–a civilization of beetles. In this bug’s paradise, beetles write books, run restaurants, and even do scientific research. But not too much scientific research is allowed by the powerful elders, who guard a terrible secret about the world outside the shadow of the palm tree. Lucy is not one to quietly cooperate, however. This tiny field scientist defies the law of her safe but authoritarian home and leads a team of researchers out into the desert. Their mission is to discover something about the greater world…but what lies in wait for them is going to change everything Lucy thought she knew.” That’s the official word from the publisher for Last of the Sandwalkers, a new black & white graphic novel written and illustrated by Jay Hosler. It’s available now from First Second Books. You should check out the extensive review over at Bleeding Cool also.

image c. 2015 First Second Books

image c. 2015 First Second Books

All This For A Six-Pack…

On the shelves now at your local comic shop (and of course available on-line as well) look for issue #5 of Guardians Team-Up. As in Guardians of the Galaxy, you bet. When Cosmo the psychic space-dog absconds with a six-pack of Rocket Raccoon’s favorite brew, the shortest and loudest Guardian takes off in hot pursuit — and ends up running into the re-united Pet Avengers. Just in time too, as the Pet Avengers find themselves locked in a battle with the newly-formed Pets of Evil Masters and their self-styled leader, Vulture Von Doom! Super-powered animals abound! This issue was written by Andy Lanning and Andy Schmidt, illustrated by Gustavo Duarte and Marcelo Maiolo, with a painted cover by Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado.

image c. 2015 Marvel Comics

image c. 2015 Marvel Comics

Furries Help Kids Learn

But you knew that, yes? Now the latest in a long tradition… Robert Wayne Hickey is not only a comic book writer and artist, he is also the father of two boys with “learning differences”.  So he and his wife set out of find a way to use comics to help their boys and other kids with ADHD, dyslexia, and other differences learn the best that they can. The result of that is Clay’s Way, a continuing on-line comic strip that Robert created with artist Jackie Hernandez. Clay is a young boy who, with the help of a friendly panda named Pan and a set of other interesting furry characters, has adventures and learns as he goes. The comic is regularly updated at the Clay’s Way web site. Now, Afterburn have collected the first 150 Clay’s Way comics into a trade paperback which you can check out over at Previews.

image c. 2015 Afterburn

image c. 2015 Afterburn

Dinos from Space Help Monkeys

Evidently, the dinosaurs didn’t go extinct. Instead, as Earth’s climate began to change, they migrated to a far-off planet… and now they’re a thriving space-faring culture. At least that’s the idea behind Rexodus, a new full-color graphic novel written by James Farr and illustrated by Jon Summariva. It’s coming this June from Dark Horse Press. “The Black Blood is unleashed upon the earth again, and Amber must save her father—and the world—with the aid of the only other Black Blood survivor, Kelvin Sauridon, a dinosaur from the past. In this high-stakes adventure, can they put aside their differences long enough to save the planet they both called home?” The official Rexodus home page explains it all better.  Interestingly, there’s also an on-line newspaper article from Tulsa, Oklahoma talking about the comic. Turns out the original idea for Rexodus came from Steelehouse Productions, a Tulsa-based multi-media creation company. Announcing the launch of Rexodus, Steelehouse actually created life-sized walk-around versions of the space-dino main characters.

image c. 2015 Dark Horse Press

image c. 2015 Dark Horse Press

Fight The Pigs!

No matter what it is, you can always take it to a new, higher, weirder level folks. Super Angry Birds is a new full-color on-line comic series from IDW and Rovio Studios, giving us a whole new take on (what else?) the Angry Birds universe. “It’s everyone’s favorite furious fowl as you’ve never seen them before! New Yolk City is your typical bustling metropolis and like every big city it has a dark side. Through lies, deceit and corruption, King Pig and his henchmen have taken over the town and have made life miserable for its citizens. This makes one group of birds angry…Super Angry! This new group of would-be heroes, with powers beyond mortal birds, fight a covert war against King Pig and his minions. They are the Super Angry Birds!” Told you. Two issues are out so far, so check it out over at Comixology.

image c. 2015 IDW Publishing

image c. 2015 IDW Publishing

Physics? Feh!

Benjamin Bear gets his way — Often by methods that are quite unusual but somehow they work. Now he’s back in his latest full-color book for kids, Brain Storms. Check it out over at the Toon Books web site: “The out-of-this-world outlook of a down-to-earth bear! Benjamin Bear can always surprise his friends, whether it’s by walking on his hands during a snowstorm or by using a tree as a parachute. His zany approach to life has earned him two Eisner Award nominations and bestseller status among kids everywhere. French star author Philippe Coudray continues to delight readers by bending the rules of common sense and breaking the laws of physics.” Also look out for the other Benjamin Bear comic books in hardcover, Fuzzy Thinking and Bright Ideas.

image c. 2015 Toon Books

image c. 2015 Toon Books

Filthy Animals of the World, Unite!

It’s hard to describe The Woodland Welfare Manifesto any better than Slave Labor Graphics do: “Woodland Welfare Manifesto is the story of Burnt Bear, Crazy Rabbit, and Perverted Monkey — three proletarian animals who struggle against the  corrupt capitalist system that oppresses their forest with an iron fist of injustice! Will this trio of friends triumph when working-class livelihoods are threatened, or will Crazy Rabbit’s anarchist methods threaten to make them all enemies of the state?” There you have it. Well, except to say that this full-color short graphic novel (written by Justin Sane and illustrated by John Hageman) is coming soon in trade paperback from SLG. Check out the more detailed review over at Fanboy Comics.

image c. 2015 Slave Labor Graphics

image c. 2015 Slave Labor

The Ursa Major Awards are Open!

Voting has opened for the 2015 Ursa Major Awards — celebrating all your favorite anthropomorphic movies, comics, TV series, novels, games, and more that were released in 2014. These are the annual furry fandom awards, chosen by YOU, the furry fans from around the world. The awards are presented every year in no less than 11 categories: Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture, Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short or Series, Best Anthropomorphic Novel, Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction, Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work, Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story, Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip, Best Anthropomorphic Magazine, Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration, Best Anthropomorphic Game, and Best Anthropomorphic Website. Got all that?  Here, take a look at what’s up for the awards in just the first two! For Best Anthropomorphic TV Series or Short:

  • The Beach Bears
  • Bojack Horseman
  • Furry Force
  • Littlest Pet Shop, and
  • My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Then in the category of Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture, there’s:

  • Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
  • Guardians of the Galaxy
  • How to Train Your Dragon 2
  • The Lego Movie, and
  • Mr. Peabody & Sherman

And that’s just the first two categories — there are nine more to go! Visit www.ursamajorawards.org to find out how to get registered to vote. Remember,  you don’t have to vote in every category — just choose the things you love in the categories you know! Hurry, because voting closes on April 15th — in time to compile the votes before the big Ursa Major Awards Presentation at MorphiCon 2015 (April 30 – May 3 in Columbus, Ohio).

image c. 2015 by Foxenawolf

image c. 2015 by Foxenawolf