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Fox

Cold Reception

Arctic Dogs (2019) didn’t exactly blow up the box office or impress the critics much. (Ye EdOtter is still trying to figure out how the planned action-adventure film Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad morphed into this silly comedy…) Apparently though, Arctic Dogs has been very popular on Netflix — enough so that a spin-off series of animated shorts called Arctic Friends has been created. According to Animation Magazine: “Arctic Friends follows the exciting adventures of Swifty, the arctic fox who has finally achieved his dream job: Be the best delivery dog at Arctic Blast Delivery Service. With the help of his best friend PB the polar bear, Jade the red fox, and the ABDS team, this crew is ready to deliver at any cost! Constantly thwarted by the nefarious mastermind Otto Van Walrus and his mischievous puffins, Swifty must outsmart these villains to ensure that all packages are delivered to their rightful recipients.” The series recently premiered on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

image c. 2020 Iervolino Entertainment

Friendship is High-Caliber

Remember the comic series Franklin and Ghost from last year? Well now from the same universe — and the busy busy mind of writer/creator Garrett Gunn — comes the new one-shot Warcorns: Combat Unicorns For Hire. Now there’s a title you’re gonna notice! Here’s what they say in Previews: “After having successfully evaded two complete dispatches of Retrieval Bots from Defilion, Franklin and Ghost are sent by their female accomplice, Delilah, to retrieve a rare weapon that is instrumental to the destruction of Defilion. Warcorns Special Forces Group Alpha is dispatched, at the behest of General Erich Badguey, to intercept Franklin and Ghost and return them to Defilion dead or alive.” Illustrated by Kevin Stokes and Nicolas Touris, Warcorns should be available at comic book stores and sites any time now.

image c. 2020 Source Point Press

No Not THAT Fox and Rabbit!

… though you could be forgiven for thinking so.  Fox & Rabbit is a new graphic novel for young readers — the first foray into comic storytelling for children’s book author Beth Ferry. “Easygoing Fox and anxious Rabbit seem like total opposites. But, somehow, they make the perfect pair! Whether searching for hidden treasure or planting a garden in their own backyard, Fox and Rabbit find everyday magic at every turn. On this first adventure, the pair will discover some new favorite things like sunsets, dandelions, and cotton candy. And they’ll face new fears like heights, swimming, and (poisonous!) frogs. Thankfully, there’s nothing Fox and Rabbit can’t do together!” Illustrated by Gergely Dudas, it’s available now in hardcover from Abrams Books.

image c. 2020 Abrams Books

Keep Your Spirits Up!

Oh dear… Is this much cuteness legal? Well, here it is: The Fox & The Little Tanuki, a new black & white manga by Mi Tagawa. “After 300 years, the gods that imprisoned Senzou the Fox Spirit for his arrogance finally set him free. There is only one condition — he can’t have any of his supernatural abilities back until he successfully helps a tanuki cub named Manpachi become one of their magical assistants. Unfortunately for Senzou, there’s no cheating when it comes to completing his task! The magic beads around his neck make sure he can’t wander too far from his charge or shirk his duties, and so… Senzou the once-great Fox Spirit must now figure out how to be an actually-great babysitter to a mischievous little tanuki or risk being stuck without his powers forever!” It’s out there now in paperback from Tokyo Pop.

image c. 2020 Tokyo Pop

We Wish You A Yippy Christmas

We came across this… at International House of Pancakes, of all places. Seems that they’re a co-sponsor for Elf Pets: A Fox Cub’s Christmas Tale, a new animated holiday special from the Elf on the Shelf toy line that’s out now on DVD. It turns out that arctic foxes’ ability to disappear into the snow is vitally important to the magic that helps Santa Claus deliver his toys around the world in one single night. How does that work? Find out…

image c. 2019 Scout Elf Productions

Any Port in a Storm…

Another successful Kickstarter project we discovered at a recent comic convention: Franklin and Ghost, a full-color graphic novel series written by Garrett Gunn and illustrated by Nic Touris. Check out the glowing review over at Outright Geekery. And now comes news from the publisher, Source Point Press, that a Franklin and Ghost animated series is in development. So what’s it all about? “‘Franklin and Ghost is a sci-fi adventure story about two trouble-making aliens who escape slavery on their home planet by stealing a space ship and crashing it on Earth,’ says Source Point Press Editor-In-Chief Travis McIntire. ‘They inhabit the closest bodies to the crash site, one being a fox and the other a skull from a cemetery. It’s absolute chaos from there, as they cause all sorts of trouble, landing them on the radar of galactic police forces.'” Got that?

image c. 2019 Source Point Press

The Baker and the Painter

By now (hopefully!) you’ve heard of Brush: A Fox Tale, the award-winning CGI short film. It tells the story of an artistic fox who is too shy to tell the pretty vixen next door he has a crush on her — but, his paintings have ideas of their own. Well now, meet the creators: Willi Anton and Faustina Arriola, both graduates from the California College of the Arts. Brush was their joint graduation thesis. Over at Willi’s web page you’ll find his demo reel, showing bits from his work on Brush and other projects. Meanwhile at Faustina’s page you’ll find not only her demo reel of 3D and 2D work, but also examples of her illustrations, and even samples of her work as a voice-over artist.

image c. 2018 by Anton / Arriola

Furries from Central America

Here’s something interesting and unusual we came across at the the CTN Animation Expo this year. Fox and Chicken is an original animated film created by Space Rabbit Studios — in El Salvador. “Created by a talented team of local artist, with national and international awards, Fox & Chicken is aiming to be the first silent animated short movie done in El Salvador. The project has already seen some success through many events at a national level.” According to the web site, here’s who it’s about: “Fox & Chicken is the story of two inseparable friends and their many adventures in their quest for magic. Fox is a young wizard apprentice who has a dream of learning all the magic in the world and to discover the secrets of nature to become a master wizard. Chicken is an unconventional character for their species. She’s brave, curious and adventurous, she never doubts on accompanying Fox in his quest. Now we can see their adventures while we learn about nature and discover the hidden magic in all things.” The web site has a lot more about this and their other projects.

image c. 2018 Space Rabbit Studios

I Don’t Care If It Stunts My Growth

A Furry Fandom favorite moves further into the eye of the mainstream, thanks to AMP! Comics For Kids. Now they bring us the Ozy and Millie Graphic Novel Volume 1 — written and illustrated by Dana Simpson, of course. “From the creator of the enormously popular Phoebe and Her Unicorn series comes Ozy and Millie, a playful comic exploring the friendship between two foxes. Meet Ozy and Millie, two middle-grade students in Seattle who also happen to be foxes. This comic centers around these two best friends as they take on the everyday challenges all middle-graders face-bullies, tests, and the dread of going back to school after a surprise snow day. Ozy is a young male fox whose adoptive father happens to be a dragon and frequent presidential candidate. Ozy’s calm and thoughtful demeanor is constantly tested by Millie’s rambunctious and rebellious pursuits.” Find out more over at Previews. Available now from Andrews McMeel.

image c. 2018 Andrews McMeel Publishing