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Science Fiction

Give Him That Medal!

Perhaps the most famous “fur-suiter” on the planet has left us. Peter Mayhew, best known as the human inside the massive “walking carpet” Chewbacca in the Star Wars series of films, passed away on April 30th at the age of 74. Interestingly, before Mr. Mayhew came to the attention of director George Lucas he appeared as another anthropomorphic character: The minotaur in 1976’s Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. Peter Mayhew played Chewbacca the 200-year-old wookie from the first Star Wars film in 1977 (Episode 4, aka A New Hope) until 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when he passed on the role to former basketball player Joonas Suatamo. But Peter Mayhew will always be known as the warbling roar that announced Star Wars to the world.

image c. 2019 The Verge

Are They Not Men?

IDW Publishing have an interesting new take on a very famous anthropomorphic story. They talk about it over at Bleeding Cool: “IDW will be publishing a gender-swapped adaptation of H.G. Wells The Island Of Dr Moreau by IDW founder Ted Adams and Locke & Key co-creator Gabriel Rodriguez. Protaginist Edward Prendick is now Ellen Prendick, as the comic book will be told Promethea-style in double page spreads… The Island of Doctor Moreau, an 1896 science fiction novel by H. G. Wells tells the story of a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat who is left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, a mad scientist who creates human-like hybrid beings from animals via vivisection. The novel deals with a number of philosophical themes, including pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity, and human interference with nature. Wells himself described it as ‘an exercise in youthful blasphemy’. And it is handily in the public domain.” This new version mini-series is due out in July.

image c. 2019 IDW Publishing

The Tall Blue Ones are Back

While everyone is waiting with baited breath for director James Cameron to really begin work on the sequel to Avatar (after he brought Pandora to life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida, of course), now Dark Horse Comics have a new full-color Avatar comic series hitting the shelves — Avatar: Tsu’tey’s Path. “Tsu’tey, proud warrior of the Omatikaya clan, betrothed to Neytiri, has his life turned upside down by the arrival of Jake Sully of the Sky People. Reveals events only hinted at in James Cameron’s Avatar!” It’s written by Sherri L. Smith, and illustrated by Jan Duursema, Dan Parson, and Wes Dzioba. The first issue is available in stores now.

image c. 2019 Dark Horse Comics

Are You Offended?

Look, we’re just going to quote this direct from the folks over at Cartoonbrew — no way we could explain it any better. “Four new animated series based on Marvel characters are in the works at Hulu. The shows will collectively lead up to a special event bringing them all together titled The Offenders. All of these projects will target mature audiences. Jordan Blum (American Dad!) and comedian/actor Patton Oswalt are writing M.O.D.O.K., about an evil mastermind with limited body mass and big plans. Hit Monkey, with Josh Gordon and Will Speck as writers, follows a Japanese snow monkey transformed into a vengeful assassin in Tokyo’s criminal underworld. Set in Los Angeles, Tigra & Dazzler Show follows a pair of ‘woke’ female heroes pushing to stand out in a city full talented people. Comedian Chelsea Handler and Erica Rivinoja (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2) have been tasked with writing the project. Lastly, there is Howard the Duck, centered on the publisher’s notorious anthropomorphic bird trapped in the human world. Director Kevin Smith (Clerks) and Dave Willis (creator, Aqua Teen Hunger Force) are writing this dark comedy and will also executive produce. Comic writer Jeph Loeb (also a producer on Smallville and Lost) will act as executive producer on all four projects, as well as the crossover finale. No writers have been announced yet for the crossover finale, in which all of these characters will ‘form a team no one asked for’ to save the world.” Got all that? No word yet on a release date for these shows, but we’ll be watching!

image c. 2019 Hulu

They’re Bad. Very Bad.

Recently we visited the Long Beach Comic Expo, and came across things like Devil’s Henchmen, “A comic about animals that misbehave”. And how! From the web site: “Welcome to The Devil’s Henchmen official site, a comic about a motley crew of dysfunctional bandits and their many misadventures. This comic is drawn and written by John Will Balsley” Sounds straightforward enough, but things get a lot weirder when you start to read it! The site includes not only the on-line comic itself but tons of background material and art.

image c. 2019 by JW Balsley

Nikki from Dave!

Nikki M is an illustrator we met at Further Confusion this year. Here’s what she has to say about herself: “My name is Nichole (you can call me Nikki!) and I am an illustrator/general artist based in Los Angeles CA. I graduated in 2015 from The Dave School, with experience in 3D and visual effects. My focus and passion lies in design, illustration and digital painting. Working with colors and seeing a character come to life before my eyes is what brings me pure joy. I currently am working as a freelance artist, and am open to take on any challenge that’s thrown my way!” Check out her Gallery, and keep an eye on her web site — she’ll have a Storenvy store set up soon to sell prints, pins, and other art stuff.

image c. 2019 by Nikki M

Follow That Crustacean

Here’s something new from Europe, published by Cinebook: Distant Worlds is a full-color science fiction graphic novel series created by a team known and Leo and Icar. “18-year-old Paul, his mother, and his sister land on Altair-4, a recently established human colony. They expect to be reunited with Paul’s father there and start a new life, but he doesn’t show up to welcome them at the spaceport… Later, they are rescued from a gang of thugs by a Stepanerk, a member of a sentient alien species. It’s an encounter that will prove invaluable to Paul when he decides to go and look for his father.” Check it out (three volumes so far) over at Comixology.

image c. 2019 Cinebook

Mysterious Planet’s Call

More interesting non-human science fiction. Retrograde Orbit is minimal-color graphic novel written and illustrated by Kristyna Baczynski. “At the outer edge of the solar system, on the mining planet Tisa, Flint and her mother live in the colony of Swift Springs. Displaced by a nuclear event, Flint’s family settled in Swift Springs two generations ago to become miners. Soon Flint will be old enough to begin her apprenticeship at the refinery. But is the home that her family has built for her enough, or will a mysterious, irradiated planet pull her away from them? By following in their footsteps and leaving to forge a new path, is she betraying her family, or honoring their legacy?” It’s available now in softcover from Avery Hill Publishing. Broken Frontier has an extensive review.

image c. 2018 Avery Hill

More Cats from Space

Another new full-color science fiction comic series, this time from Antarctic Press. It’s Stars End, created by Larry Spike Jarrell and Selena McDevitte. “6,000 years ago the Annunaki, visitors to Earth, departed with numerous animals as subjects for study and DNA experiments. Centuries in the future these evolved beasts, collectively known as N’Naki, have created vast civilizations in the Sirius system, with humans serving as their worker bees. One group of N’Naki are given a pre-graduation duty: Scan a mining world of human workers that’s fallen victim to a viral infection before the planet is demolished to stop the disease from spreading. But when a sixteen-year-old Annunaki girl turns up, the mission quickly becomes anything but routine.” If the description doesn’t make it obvious, the covers certainly do: The N’Naki are decidedly feline!

image c. 2019 Antarctic Press