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Indie Animation Looking for Help

May 7th, 2013
by rodney.
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Jerry Beck’s Animation Scoop has an interesting article about a pair of independent animation projects in the works — both of which just happen to be very furry. First up is Ghost of a Tale, a new video game designed by Lionel “Seith” Gallat. Lionel has worked as a supervising animator at Dreamworks on movies like The Prince Of Egypt, The Road to Eldorado, Spirit, Sinbad, SharkTale, and others. More recently he’s been a director for Illumination on films like Despicable Me and The Lorax. Ghost of a Tale follows the adventures of a medieval mouse battling rat zombies on a mysterious island. In a very different vein is Dogonauts by Shel and Justin Rasch. “Mortal enemies, a Dogonaut Pilot and a Space Flea, shoot each other down only to awake, marooned side by side on an alien desert planet.” Justin is a stop-motion animator known for films like Paranorman. He and his wife Shel completed Dogonauts in their garage, all the while both of them working full-time jobs. Both of these projects are seeking crowdfunding help to move from their current levels of production up to the next, and hopefully get them out into the world. The Scoop article features trailers as well as the official pitches for each of these projects. Check ’em out.

Dogonauts promo poster by Paul Linsley

Their Own Take on the Mice

Mar 26th, 2013
by rodney.
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One of the most famous furry comics out there at the moment is Mouse Guard by David Petersen. This sword-and-sorcery tale (tail?) has already spawned collections, role-playing games, and a devoted following. Now and then, Mr. Petersen allows some of his friends to try their paw at the Mouse Guard characters and situations — and some of the best in the business came calling. After the first go-round’s success, Archaia Entertainment have announced that Volume 2 of Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard will be released  as a full-color 4-issue miniseries, starting this May. “Contributors to issue #1 include Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), Ben Caldwell (The Dare Detectives!), and the team of writer Nick Tapalansky and illustrator Alex Eckman-Lawn (Awakening). Subsequent issues will include contributions from Christian Slade (Korgi), Rick Geary (The Adventures of Blanche), Jemma Salume (Unicorn Life Cycle), Jackson Sze (concept art on films like The Avengers and Iron Man 3), Cory Godbey (Fraggle Rock, the upcoming Jim Henson’s Labyrinth), Eric Canete (Fear Itself: Spider-Man), C.P. Wilson III (The Stuff of Legend), Bill Willingham (Fables), and fantasy illustrator Justin Gerard.” After the mini-series is completed, the whole thing will be released as a hardcover graphic novel this fall.

image c. 2013 Archaia Entertainment

Little Mouse Gets Ready

Dec 19th, 2012
by rodney.
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Jeff Smith, the multiple-award-winning creator of Bone, has returned with a new full-color softcover children’s book from Toon Books. In Little Mouse Gets Ready, “There’s lots to do before Little Mouse is ready to go visit the barn. Will he master all the intricacies of getting dressed, from snaps and buttons to Velcro and tail holes?” According to Amazon, this book has already been given the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award. So how the heck did we miss this one? It came out in 2009!

image c. 2009 Toon Books

Big Bear, Little Mouse

Nov 23rd, 2012
by rodney.
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It looks as if we’re finally getting some motion on the long-in-development film Ernest & Celestine. This 2D animated feature from France tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a middle-aged bear and a young mouse, and how they learn to realize their dreams and overcome bigotry by working together. Based on a series of books by Daniel Pennac, the film version is directed by Benjamin Renner (A Mouse’s Tale), Stephane Aubier, and Vincent Patar (A Town Called Panic), and produced by Studio Canal.  There’s a trailer up on YouTube, and according to Animation Magazine, it’s likely to come to North American shores in the fall of 2013.

image c. 2012 Studio Canal

Krazy Kat is Turning 100

Nov 17th, 2012
by rodney.
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Just in time for the 100th anniversary of George Herriman’s world-famous Krazy Kat comic strip, Sunday Press Books is re-releasing Krazy Kat: A Celebration of Sundays in hardcover. “A Centennial Celebration! Finally, Krazy Kat as it was meant to be seen. From the publishers of the celebrated and much-awarded Little Nemo in Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays! deluxe oversized reprint edition, come 135 full-size Sunday pages from 1916-1944 — plus dozens more early comics from George Herriman. It’s the eternal triangle of the comics — Kat, Mouse, and Pupp, along with the catalytic brick. Here are their glorious, poignant, and hilarious stories from the genius of George Herriman, reprinted for the first time in their original size and colors. Included in the 14 x 17-inch collection is a sampling of all Herriman’s creations for the Sunday newspaper comics from 1901-1906: Professor Otto, The Two Jackies, Major Ozone, and more, many of which have never been reprinted before. Now, 100 years after Ignatz tossed his first brick, step back in time to delight in the timeless tales of America’s great comic strip artist and his greatest creation, Krazy Kat.” Check it out on Amazon.

image c. 2012 Sunday Press

Chevalier Returns

Aug 11th, 2012
by rodney.
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We received this note from Darryl Hughes and Monique MacNaughton: “The furry fantasy adventure Chevalier: The Queen’s Mouseketeer, which ran from 2010 to 2011 before abruptly disappearing after the loss of it’s publishing deal, is returning in the fall. Character design sketches of the new look cast for the reboot have been posted here.” Following the link you find Coydog’s Den, which is a hosting site for several on-line comic adventures — anthropomorphic and otherwise.

image c. 2012 by Darryl Hughes and Monique MacNaughton

 

Flight for Young Readers

Jan 10th, 2012
by rodney.
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The popular Flight comic book anthology series now has a companion, Flight Explorer, coming this March from Villard Press. Like its big brother, this new full-color collection is edited by Kazu Kibuishi, and features stories loosely based around a theme of flight. Explorer is designed to help young readers get into the swing of reading for themselves — while at the same time entertaining older readers who might be helping them through it. As you can see from the cover, this first volume features several anthropomorphic characters, some of whom have been covered in InFurNation before. The stories include Kean Soo’s Jellaby, Johane Matte’s Egyptian cat, and Jake Parker’s Missile Mouse, among others. Flight Explorer Volume 1 is available for ordering on Amazon, with a special discount offer for libraries.

image c. 2012 Villard Press

When Mice Do More Than Point and Click

Dec 13th, 2011
by rodney.
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We can’t make this stuff up folks (if we could we’d be out there doing it!). Here’s the publisher’s description of Mousenet,  the first novel by Prudence Breitrose: “When ten-year-old Megan helps her uncle invent the Thumbtop, the world’s smallest computer, mice are overjoyed, and they want one for every mouse hole. The Big Cheese, leader of the Mouse Nation, has orders: follow that girl—even if it means high-tailing it to Megan’s new home on the other side of the country. While Megan struggles as the new girl, the mice watch, waiting for their chance. But when they tell Megan the biggest secret in the history of the world—mice have evolved, and they need her help—she isn’t sure anyone will believe her. With all of Mouse Nation behind her, Megan could become the most powerful girl alive, but just how will she create a Thumptop for every mouse?” It’s illustrated throughout by Stephanie Yue, and it’s available in hardcover (at Amazon and everywhere else) from Hyperion Books.

image c. 2011 Hyperion Books

Behind the Maus

Oct 4th, 2011
by rodney.
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Considered by many critics and fans to be one of the most significant (as in, socially relevant) anthropomorphic works of the 20th Century, Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor’s Tale brought us the story of a Jewish family struggling to stay alive and together in the horror of Nazi Germany during World War II. And it did so through the medium of funny animal comics — but oh, were funny animals ever so not funny… In the years since the publication of Maus (and after numerous awards), Art Spiegelman has been hounded by questions: Why the Holocaust? Why mice? And why a comic book?  Now, he attempts to take those questions head-on in his new hardcover book, Metamaus: A Look Inside A Modern Classic, Maus, which is available now from Pantheon Books. The book and accompanying DVD not only include an on-screen version of The Complete Maus, but also interviews with the creator’s father, memories of his mother (both his parents were held prisoner in concentration camps) by folks who knew her, scholarly essays on Maus, loads of background sketches, and much more.

image c. 2011 Art Spiegelman

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