Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
At WonderCon we met Ralph Lee Miranda, one of the minds behind Oh, Bubba — a series of animated shorts. Here’s what the makers say: “Oh, Bubba is an animated series on YouTube. It stars our titular character Bubba Lu [the gorilla], Grumpy, and their hooman friends as they navigate this modern world together, often with hilarious results and commentary… Think of it as The Muppets meets Friends.” You can also find out more about the series at IMDB.
image c. 2022 Drawn of Time
Thanks to ASIFA Hollywood we found out about Ape Star, a new Scandinavian animated film directed by Linda Hambäck. Based on a popular children’s book by Frida Nilsson, the set-up is pretty simple: “Joanna is a feisty young orphan who wants to be adopted more than anything else. When her potential new mom drives up to the orphanage, she gets a big shock as the door opens and a talking gorilla steps out.” An English dub is making its way into streaming services now. Take a look at the trailer on YouTube.
image c. 2021 Lee Film
Feral Planet is a new publishing company started by Michael Friedlander, the former CEO of FPG Inc. (Guardians). Their first project was successfully fired up on Kickstarter: Goliath, a fully-painted story book written by Mr. Friedlander and illustrated by Mike Ploog (famous for his many designs for Hollywood movies). “The story follows the adventures of a small family of prehistoric people named the Ty clan. The Ty clan live in very difficult times and face incredible dangers every day. To survive, they must embark upon an epic journey to find a new world and the peace they have always dreamed of. They find great strength and determination in their belief in magnificent stories passed down through the generations that speak of giant white guardians that protect and watch over them. As the story unfolds, we will find out if these are just age-old tales the clan elders tell while sitting around the fire or if these great guardians prove to be so much more…” It’s available to order in hardcover over at Previews, and it’s expected to hit the shelves before the end of December.
image c. 2016 Feral Planet
How did we ever miss these? Katherine Applegate is a writer of books for young readers, who has some interesting anthropomorphic credentials. The One and Only Ivan is a Newberry Award-winning novel from 2013 about a very special gorilla. “Inspired by the true story of a captive gorilla known as Ivan, this illustrated novel is told from the point of view of Ivan himself. Having spent twenty-seven years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.” Take a look over at Amazon. Then more recently, and even more anthropomorphic perhaps, there’s Crenshaw from 2015. “Jackson and his family have fallen on hard times. There’s no more money for rent. And not much for food, either. His parents, his little sister, and their dog may have to live in their minivan. Again… Crenshaw is a cat. He’s large, he’s outspoken, and he’s imaginary. He has come back into Jackson’s life to help him. But is an imaginary friend enough to save this family from losing everything?” Guess we’ll find out soon enough. It’s also available at Amazon.
image c. 2016 Feiwel & Friends
Terry Moore is a comic book artist and writer known for titles like Strangers in Paradise and Rachel Rising. Well now he’s got a new black & white comic out from Abstract Studios called Motor Girl. Here’s how they describe it: “When Samantha’s junkyard is visited by a UFO looking for spare parts, she is only too happy to oblige. But when word gets out she is a reliable source, Sam’s booming alien business catches the attention of an Area 51 investigator determined to shut her down!” Oh, and did we mention that Samantha’s best friend is a talking gorilla who may or may not exist? Find out more about it all at Ultimate Comics.
image c. 2016 Abstract Studios
BOOM! Studios have been granted an exclusive right to create a new prequel back-story for King Kong himself, taking place before even the original 1933 movie. “Award-winning publisher BOOM! Studios and DeVito Artworks LLC are excited to announce Kong of Skull Island, an original, limited comic book series… featuring the famous gargantuan ape, King Kong, created by Merian C. Cooper, and grounded in artist/author Joe DeVito’s ground-breaking literary property Skull Island.” This new full-color 6-issue mini-series is available now, and BOOM! has a lot of preview stuff on-line.
image c. 2016 BOOM! Studios
Fans of comic book art how-to’s would be wise to look up the Pen & Ink series from Boom! Studios, where professional comic book artists go into the details of their creative process in a step-by-step manner. For the next installment, Boom! have tapped the creators of the popular series Six-Gun Gorilla (which we’ve covered here previously). Now artist Jeff Stokely (aided by insights from writer Simon Spurrier) bring us Six-Gun Gorilla: Pen & Ink, which re-creates the first two issues of the comic in a large 11 x 17 inch black & white format with commentary on each panel. You can check it out over at Previews.
image c. 2015 Boom! Studios
Meanwhile, in another part of the DC Comics universe… Vertigo to be exact. Astro City is of course the well-known “different take on the super-hero concept” comic written by Kurt Busiek. All sorts of characters waltz in and waltz out of its pages, and in Astro City #23, it’s an ape. Yes, Sticks is a talking gorilla, but he’s not in town to be a superhero… he just wants to play the drums in a rock band! This first issue of a 2-part story arc is illustrated by Brent Anderson with, of course, a painted cover by Alex Ross. Look for it now.
image c. 2015 Vertigo Comics
Looks like Harley Quinn and her lady-pals aren’t the only ones running into talking animals this month. In Convergence: Adventures of Superman #1, the Man of Steel and Supergirl journey through the mysterious Phantom Zone — and wind up battling an army of intelligent apes from the world of Kamandi, Last Boy on Earth! Fortunately Kamandi and some less destruction-minded animals are there to help out. This one is written by Marv Wolfman, one of DC’s superstars. The art is by Andy Owens and Roberto Viacava, with a cover by Mikel Janin. Again, it’s on the shelves right now.
image c. 2015 DC Comics
