Here comes a new hardcover graphic novel for young readers called Birtle and the Purple Turtles. “Everyone is a turtle in Turtletown. So Teeny thinks she must be a turtle, too. But when Teeny sprouts feathers, she begins to wonder… is there a teeny possibility she’s a… Birtle? Tootie loves tag, but the other turtles in Turtletown don’t like to play. That is, until Tootie meets Teeny. Teeny loves tag. They have tons in common! Except one big thing: Teeny may not be a turtle at all. This adorable graphic novel is about being true to yourself, friendship, and most of all, celebrating differences.” It’s written and illustrated by Tara J. Hannon, and it’s available now from Andrews McMeel.
Reptile
Lizard Latin Lover
Merry Christmas! Recently we stumbled across a new Internet star known as Tito Lizzardo, an animated lizard singer who pals around with a sexy feline dancer named Catty Baby (aka Catty B). Virtual Humans (a site we also just discovered!) has this to say about them: “Tito is a lizard that likes to dress in his school jacket. Catty Baby is a cat that rocks her sporty looks every day. Their TikTok account is exploding with the couple’s dance moves next to the beach and the palm trees in Miami. Tito and Catty are a couple of artists doing remixes of famous Latin songs like ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ or ‘Hey DJ’. Their gang is completed with Juan Gato, Catty’s brother who is always wearing a Miami Heat shirt. All together they create amazing videos of their song remixes, targeting very young audiences with their cute, animalistic appeal.” Tito and crew first appeared in a series of short, at times rather risque dance videos on TikTok. Since then, they’ve released several much-more-family-friendly music videos on their YouTube channel. Who’s behind all this? We don’t know! But we’d love to meet them!
And He Sings, Too
You may have heard about the upcoming movie adaptation of Bernard Waber‘s bestselling and beloved book Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. Well now Sony Pictures has dropped the first teaser trailer for the film, directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck (both of whom recently worked on Hit Monkey). Turns out that star Javier Bardem does not voice Lyle, the crocodile from New York — that honor goes to singer Shawn Mendes. Bardem instead plays the impresario who is trying to make Lyle into a star — if the big reptile can avoid New York Animal Control, that is. Lyle, Lyle comes to theaters this October.
Ally and Her Allies
Another graphic novel for young readers, this one written and illustrated by Norm Feuti. “Ally the alligator is perfectly happy being alone . . . until one day a noisy bird named Beak lands on her snout. Beak thinks Ally is lonely and needs a friend. He has all sorts of friendship goals in mind, like riding bikes together, going to the movies together, and even solving mysteries together! But when a Long-Billed Party Pooper crashes Beak’s nest-warming party, Ally decides to show Beak something important to her: Sticking up for what’s right.” Beak & Ally Volume 1: Unlikely Friends is available now in hardcover from Harper Collins.
Lizard in a Zoot Suit
Once again, they keep giving us titles that we just can’t top! Lizard In A Zoot Suit is a new full-color graphic novel written and illustrated by Marco Finnegan. “Los Angeles, 1943. It’s the era of the Zoot Suit Riots, and Flaca and Cuata have a problem. It’s bigger than being grounded by their strict mother. It’s bigger than tensions with the soldiers stationed nearby. And it’s shaped like a five-foot-tall lizard. When a lost member of an unknown underground species needs help, the sisters must scramble to keep their new friend away from a corrupt military scientist—but they’ll do it in style.” Lizard is available now from Lerner Publishing.
Sexy, Scaly, and Shiny, Inc.
Joe Strike has made a name for himself with his recently published non-fiction book Furry Nation (which has been getting a good deal of attention, of course). But on a side note, Mr. Strike also recently commissioned his first fur-suit — or rather scale-suit, perhaps, as it is an anthro komodo dragon named Komos. Joe then hooked up with fellow writer Oliver Coombes and created Komos & Goldie, an action-adventure crime drama comic series that is decidedly for Mature Audiences Only. “Saurian servant of Circe herself! Sheela-Na-Gig, Celtic sex-goddess, reincarnated! He’s scaly, she’s shiny — together they’re deadly!” And they work to fight organized crime in their own way: Outside of the law, and with more than a bit of magick thrown in. Most of the black & white comic is illustrated by well-known furry and underground comic artist Kjartan Arnorsson. It’s available on-line and also in good-old paper fashion, and both include lots of extra illustrations of the characters by various artists.
Your Tabletop Moves On-Line
Ultimum is another new electronic game system of more than passing furry fandom interest which is seeking development funds through a Kickstarter campaign. Created by Christian Muckler and his associates, Ultimum seeks to recreate the playing environment of a traditional tabletop fantasy role playing game — not only in a paper tabletop setting, but also as a virtual on-line “sandbox”. We should also note, of course, that the game includes several non-human playable races it its science fiction setting — Including humanoid bears, wolves, lizards, and gorillas. The Ultimum Kickstarter page includes several development videos as well as an animatic “game trailer”.
Save the Snakes! Save the World!
Serusis is the title of a new 5-issue full-color comic mini-series coming late in June from Big Dog Ink. “Planet Serusis is under the control of the Reliton army and its ruthless leader, Snogard. In an attempt to save their world, two Serusisans kidnap a group of humans in the hopes that they will be able to access the secrets of the creators of Serusis itself. Four humans versus the Reliton army? Good luck with that.” The Serusisans, by the way, resemble large snakes with terrific hairdo’s. The Relitons are big reptiles too, with four limbs and lots of attitude. This all-ages series is written by Tom Hutchison (Critter) and illustrated by Owen Gieni (Avengelyne). Things From Another World has more.
Johnny Depp is Getting Weird Again
You might have come across the teaser trailer for the upcoming CGI film Rango, which features a giant wind-up fish floating serenely through the air across a desert landscape. Well now there’s a possibly even more weird trailer that at least tells us a little more about the film. For one thing it stars Johnny Depp as the voice of a nerdy chameleon named Rango who aspires to be a swashbuckling hero. When he finds himself stranded in a run-down desert village beset by bandits, he might just have to play the role to save the day. Interestingly, this is the first animated feature film produced by Industrial Light and Magic (of Lucasfilms fame), and it’s directed by none other than Gore Verbinksi, who directed Mr. Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. This very odd (check out the trailer, trust us!) little film from Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures is set for release in March of 2011.