Every time we turn around, Boom! Studios has more interesting new product for furry fans. Following in the steps of The Muppet Robin Hood comes The Muppet King Arthur, telling the tale of the ancient king as only Kermit the Frog and his friends can — in full color, every month. It’s brought to you by Paul Benjamin, Patrick Storck, and David Alvarez. You should also check out Wizards of Mickey, yet another break-out full-color comic book series that started in the pages of Mickey Mouse and Friends. When Mickey Mouse, the sorcerer’s apprentice, loses a valuable magic talisman, he must assemble a team of fellow magic-learners to retrieve it from evil hands. But when your allies are Donald Duck and Goofy, what chance have you got? Find out! While you’re at it, look for Wizards of Mickey Volume 1: Mouse Magic in hardcover. It collects the original four-part series in one full-color book. Wizards of Mickey comes to us from Stefano Ambrosio and Lorenzo Pastrovicchio.
Disney
Coming to Save Your Tail Feathers!
This January, Boom! Studios brings us the new Disney’s Hero Squad full-color comic, from the minds of writer Riccardo Secchi and artist Stefano Turconi. From the pages of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories: Super Goof! The Duck Avenger! Eega Beeva! The Red Bat! And more — see Disney’s mightiest heroes in their own comic book title. Wonder where all this came from? Then make sure to check out the Disney’s Hero Squad Volume 1: Save The World hardcover collection. The greatest superheroes in the Disney universe come together when the world’s greatest super-villain sets his sights on Scrooge McDuck’s entire fortune!
Squirrel!
Furry fans all know that the real break-out star of Disney-Pixar’s summer smash film, Up, was Dug the dog. For heaven’s sake, he’s got his own Facebook page! Now Dug and his pack of servant dogs, all fitted with their high-tech talking collars, find themselves starring in Dug’s Special Mission, a new CGI short film that will accompany Up on the new DVD and Blue-Ray release. Directed by Ronnie Del Carmen (who worked in the story department on Up), this new short tells the story of what happened right before Dug met Carl Fredricksen and intrepid explorer Russell… when Dug, on his birthday, is wishing for a new master who would be less cruel and maniacal than the one he had before. Dug himself, of course, is voiced again by Up co-director Bob Peterson. The new DVD/Blue-Ray will be available November 10th.
Dug, dog. He just met you, and already he loves you.
Dark Horse brings back Blacksad!
This is from The Beat at PublishersWeekly.com:
“One of the most excellent comics announcements to come out of you-know-what [I think that means San Diego Comic Con — ye Ed-Otter ]was the news that Dark Horse will be reprinting all three volumes of Blacksad by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido in a deluxe oversized volume. The first two Blacksad books were published here by iBooks a while back, but with iBooks having gone into bankruptcy, these became highly sought after. Getting the full series reprinted was in limbo, but now Dark Horse has ridden in to fix that right up. Blacksad is best described as hardboiled detective tales with an anthropomorphic cast, but with a darker side and social criticism mixed in. The real star is Guarnido’s art, which is some of the best stuff out there (the series has won over a dozen European awards). He worked extensively on several Disney films, and his art has the best qualities of that brand: Indelible character designs, flawless storytelling and the attention to mood and place that is the hallmark of the great European comics. The series is hugely popular in France and Spain, and we can’t wait to read the whole thing in English.” This is especially good news since Blacksad Volume 3 was never published in English before iBooks went belly-up. No word yet on if Dark Horse will also be reprinting the Blacksad Sketchbook.
Blacksad, and a cat lady with lipstick...
More News From Boom! Studios
First up: It seems that the fans’ reaction to the various Farscape mini-series (plural!) put out by Boom! has been so positive that now it’s going to be an on-going full-color series. What’s more, it’s a series written by the original creator of Farscape, Rockne S. O’Bannon. With art by Keith DeCandido and Will Sliney.
For something completely different, Boom! lets us return to Radiator Springs. The World of Cars: Radiator Springs is a new full-color trade paperback written by Alan J. Porter and illustrated by Magic Eye Studios. It takes place after the events of the Pixar movie. When he returns to Radiator Springs for good, racer Lightning McQueen realizes that everyone knows his story, but he doesn’t know anyone else’s! Tune in while he learns why his fellow anthropomorphic cars came to this little town — and why they stayed.
Disney Goes Boom!
As we noted early this year, Boom! Studios have landed themselves some plum tie-in comic titles recently, especially those from the Disney, Pixar, and Muppet lines. Now comes the word that Boom! will be handling the titles that Gemstone made famous over the decades: Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories. Perhaps one of the biggest things (literally!) to come out of this is The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Volume 1. This 112-page full-color hardcover collection brings together Scrooge stories written and illustrated by comics legend Don Rosa. See how Scrooge McDuck earned his infamous “Number One Dime” and began to build his vast fortune! Keep up with these and many more titles at the Boom! Studios web site.
Stepping into some Big Shoes… with Pooh
David Benedictus produced the audio adaptations of A.A. Milne’s orginal book Winnie-the-Pooh, starring Dame Judi Dench. Now he’s taken on a much bigger task: Continuing the story that Milne brought to a close 80 years ago with The House at Pooh Corner. In that story, Christopher Robin said his final good-byes to Pooh-Bear and all of his friends. Now, in the first book approved by the trustees of A.A. Milne’s Pooh properties, Mr. Benedictus has written the first new adventures of the original Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Piglet, and Eeyore in decades. Return to the Hundred Acre Wood is profusely illustrated by Mark Burgess, an artist who has illustrated Pooh books before — as well as stories of Paddington Bear. This new book comes to stores this October, in hardcover from Dutton Juvenile (in the U.K. The North American edition is published by Penguin Group).
Gargoyles for Grown-Ups…
Blue Mug Productions is another new group of Disney Gargoyles fans who have become creators. The group — Edmund Tsabard, Mara Cordova, Kalia Sartre, Jennifer L. Anderson, and Boswell Bosley — are in their own words “a handful of creative types with one thing in common: We all really like to see drawings of naked people (using the term “people” loosely) having all kinds of sex”. Brought about with the blessing of Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman, the premier Blue Mug creation is Last Tengu in Paris, an adults-only web comic. It features the story of a beautiful young Parisian artist who falls in love with a creature from feudal Japan. But that, of course, is only the beginning of this multi-generational, multi-national, multi-orientational, and multi-species tale. The first story arc is complete, the second nears completion, and “issues” three and four are in the planning stages.
Visitors to the Blue Mug web site can check out the first eight pages of Last Tengu — censored. Members — who join for a modest fee — can view the full comic un-censored, as well as the ever-growing gallery of fan art. Blue Mug is also planning a full line of t-shirts and other products — including, of course, coffee mugs.
Your Hostess
From Gargoyles Fans to Comic Creators
Twilight Detective Agency is a new comic created by two very active fans of Disney’s Gargoyles TV series and comic. They must be: McAdam and Rieger call their publishing company “Two Gargoyles Graphics”. Twilight follows the adventures of a pair of “gargoyle gumshoes” working in a town that has much more magic afoot than most of the inhabitants are aware of. You can find out more about this and the team’s other comic titles, at the Two Gargs web site.
