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Comic Strips

Ursa Major Awards Nominations are Open!

Jan 12th, 2012
by rodney.
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Here’s a press release from Fred Patten of the Ursa Major Awards’ organizing group, the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association: “Nominations are now open for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards, intended to recognize the best works published in the field of anthropomorphics last year. Nominations will close on February 29; voting starts March 15 and closes May 4 (to allow last-minute online voting from Morphicon). Furry fans may nominate up to five works in each category.  The 2011 Awards will be announced and presented in a ceremony at CaliFur VIII in Irvine, California, June 1 – 3, 2012. Award categories include Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture, Dramatic Short Work or Series, Novel, Short Fiction, Other Literary Work, Graphic Story, Comic Strip, Magazine, Website, Published Illustration, and Game. If you cannot think of five worthwhile nominees in each category, see the 2011 Recommended Anthropomorphics List on the Ursa Major Awards website for suggestions.” Remember, something doesn’t have to be on the Recommended List to be nominated. It just has to have furry characters featured in it prominently, and have been released during the 2011 calender year.  So get started! [And we’ll see you next after Further Confusion!]

image c. 2012 Heather Bruton

Goodbye 2011… Hello Awards Season!

Dec 31st, 2011
by rodney.
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As we wish you all a happy, healthy, and creative New Year in 2012, it’s time to start thinking about what we’re going to award from 2011! Besides the Oscars and the Annie Awards (which many of us follow closely), for Furry Fandom it’s time to start thinking about the annual Ursa Major Awards, the anthro-fan’s answer to the Hugo Awards ™ from science fiction fandom. Nominations for 2011 are open to any and all, and they open on January 12th. If you visit the Ursa Major Awards web site, you’ll find the Recommended Anthropomorphics Reading and Viewing List for you to peruse, listing some of the many interesting items of anthropomorphic interest that came about in 2011.  Like what?  Well… movies like Rango, Rio, Puss in Boots, and Kung Fu Panda 2… TV series like Thundercats, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic… books and stories by authors like Kyell Gold, Alflor Aalto, MCA Hogarth, and Paul Kidd…  plus comics, games, artwork, and a brand new category for Best Anthropomorphic Web Site. All this and much much  more! But remember: An item does NOT need to be on the Recommended List for  you and your friends to nominate it for an Ursa Major Award. It just needs to be Furry! [Check the web site for how the Ursa Majors define that!] After the the nominations are tabulated, the voting will begin this spring — followed by the Ursa Major Awards presentation at CaliFur in Southern California this June.  Remember, last year more than 1,000 fans world wide took part in the voting.  Help to make that number even bigger in 2012!

image c. 2011 ALAA / Heather Bruton

The Wonderful, Wonderful Cat

Oct 18th, 2011
by rodney.
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Comic historians differ as to who exactly created the iconic character Felix the Cat: Joe Sullivan or his employee, Otto Messmer. To further complicate things, after his world-wide fame as a star of animated shorts (and being the first cartoon character ever represented by a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade), Felix appeared in a series of comic strip and comic book adventures in the 1940’s and 1950’s — some of which were drawn by Otto Messmer, and some by Joe Oriolo, but which were usually credited to Joe Sullivan. Got all that? It’s just one of the many facts presented in the introduction to Felix the Cat’s Greatest Comic Book Tails, in paperback now from IDW Publishing. After the opening essay by Craig Yoe and Don Oriolo (Joe’s son), be prepared for more than 200 of black & white and full-color comics. Righty-oh! More information is available at Amazon.

image c. 2011 IDW Publishing

Not Furry At All, But…

Oct 16th, 2011
by rodney.
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Here’s a non-furry item by a world-famous furry icon we think you all should know about. Chuck Jones, aka Charles M. Jones (1912-2002) was, in case you’ve been living on another planet for the past few decades, one of the master animators and directors at Warner Brothers animation in the 20th Century. He not only helped to refine the personalities of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, he also created the enduring characters of Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner, and Pepe Le Pew the skunk. After his time at Warner Brothers, one of Jones’ many projects was a newspaper comic strip called Crawford, which he toiled on for 27 years before it had a brief run in 1978. Now, IDW Publishing brings us Chuck Jones: The Dream That Never Was, a new hardcover book that not only collects the Crawford strips, but also gives us the story of its creation with numerous original sketches, drawings, storyboards, and production notes. It’s a look into the mind of one of the greats of animation. The book was edited by Kurtis Findlay and Dean Mullaney, and designed by Lorraine Turner. According to Amazon, it comes to shelves this December.

image c. 2011 Chuck Jones and IDW Publishing

Classic Comic Strips Collected

Sep 9th, 2011
by rodney.
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Fantagraphics Books has two new collected editions of famous and historically significant comic strips available. Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse brings together the 1930’s comic strips created by Floyd Gottfredson, newly edited by David Gerstein and Gary Groth. Besides nearly 600 pages of black & white Mickey Mouse adventures, each hardcover volume also features more than 50 pages of supplemental material including behind-the-scenes art, vintage publicity material, and commentary by Disney historians. Volume 1, Race to Death Valley, was released last June, and Volume 2, Trapped on Treasure Island, is coming this October. Then in December, be on the lookout for Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Volume 1, “Through the Wild Blue Yonder” (whew!) by the inimitable Walt Kelly, of course. This hardcover edition goes back as far as the 1940’s Pogo strips, and also features a biographical introduction, an extensive glossary by comics historian R. C. Harvey, and a forward by the legendary columnist Jimmy Breslin.

Housepets are Naked!

Jul 11th, 2011
by rodney.
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Housepets! is an on-line full-color comic strip by Rick Griffin. It’s well-known and well-loved… in fact it even won the Ursa Major Award for Best Comic Strip two years running. And now, it’s on dead trees! Housepets! Are Naked All The Time is the first collection of Housepets! strips available in softcover book format. In fact it’s available now from Createspace — and, of course, from Amazon. Follow the daily adventures of the pets of Babylon Gardens, USA. And now you don’t even need a computer!

 

image c. 2011 Rick Griffin

Spanish Cats come to America

Jul 7th, 2011
by rodney.
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Jose Fonollosa is a well-known comic book illustrator in Spain. For the past few year’s he’s also been working on an on-line black & white comic strip known simply as Meow, which follows that adventures of two domestic cats and their harried human companions. Cat fans, you can follow the strip at Mr. Fonollosa’s blogspot site. Meanwhile, Meow is being introduced to English-speaking audiences in a new hardcover collection from Kettledrum publishing, which is coming this August. You can order it at Westfield Comics, among other places.

 

image c. 2011 Jose Fonollosa

 

 

Buster Wilde: Weerwolf

Jun 11th, 2011
by rodney.
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Folks who have been following on-line comics for a while, especially anthro comics, might recall a particular one called Buster Wilde: Weerwolf.  As written and drawn by Scott Zellman, it tells of the trials and tribulations of an ordinary heterosexual human guy who, once bitten, keeps transforming into Buster — a decidedly queer werewolf with a party-all-night attitude! No it’s not pornographic and yes, it’s very much for adults only. Originally available exclusively on the Buster site at Furnation.com, FurPlanet and Bad Dog Books have announced that it will now be released as a black & white trade paperback later this June. Mr. Zellman has also been re-printing the original Buster strips in a larger format up on BadDog’s site.

 

Ducks from Long Ago

May 23rd, 2011
by rodney.
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We’ll let the folks at BOOM! Studios explain what’s cool about their new trade paperback coming out this August: “In Disney’s Four-Color Adventures, BOOM Kids! cracks the Disney vault to find some of the rarest Disney comics ever created. This volume features classic Disney comics and gag strips — some of them over 70 years old — from such creators as Al Taliaferro (creator of fan-favorite characters Huey, Dewey and Louie), “Disney Legend” Jack Hannah, Irving Tripp, and many more, reprinted for the first time in decades”. Also on their way from BOOM! are the Walt Disney Treasury: Donald Duck Volumes 1 and 2, collecting the work of the great Don Rosa.

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