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Trade Paperback

Save Yourself

Here’s a different take on the traditional princess vs. dragon story: “Princeless is about Princess Adrienne who lives in a land of fairy-tale castles.  When the Princesses reach age 16 they are put in a tower guarded by a fearsome dragon, where they languish until a dashing would-be Prince comes to rescue them.  It’s traditional.  Apparently knowing which end of a sword to stick in a dragon is a fit test for kingship…  Adrienne isn’t pleased with this state of affairs, and after one particularly luckless knight turns up she decides she’s had enough.  Chatting late into the night with Sparky (the dragon) they decide to abandon the castle, fake her own death and set off on a quest to save her sisters from their towers.” Fantasy creatures and fantasy tropes show up aplenty in this series, and none of them looked at in the traditional way. Now Action Lab Comics have released Princeless: Save Yourself, which collects the first story arc of the series (written by Jeremy Whitley and illustrated by M. Goodwin) into one handy full-color trade paperback. Check out their blog.

image c. 2012 Action Lab Comics

The Ursa Major Awards Anthology

As Furry Fandom’s Ursa Major Awards enter their 10th year, Fred Patten (a long-time member of the Awards’ parent organization, the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association) has collected and edited some of the best winners and nominees from the Awards’ “Short Fiction” category into a new book, the Ursa Major Awards Anthology. It’s coming at the end of June from Fur Planet Productions. Featuring short stories by Brock Hoagland, Michael H. Payne, M.C.A. Hogarth, Chas P.A. Melville, Kristin Fontaine, Kyell Gold, Jim Hayden, Samuel C. Conway, Paul Di Filippo, and Naomi Kritzer, as well as original illustrations, the anthology also features a new wrap-around cover by Blotch. Sample copies of the anthology were available at Anthrocon — and sold briskly. You can find out more  at Fur Planet Productions’ pre-order page.

image c. 2012 Fur Planet Productions

Bird and Squirrel… and Cat!

Animator James Burks (who previously gave us Gabby & Gator from Yen Press) returns with Bird & Squirrel Volume 1: On the Run, a new full-color graphic novel from Graphix Press. “Bird and Squirrel outwit Cat and become best friends in this zany adventure. Squirrel is afraid of his own shadow. Bird doesn’t have a care in the world. And Cat wants to eat Bird and Squirrel. Of course, he’ll have to catch them first, and that’s not going to be easy. Join this trio as they head south for the winter in a hilarious road trip. But watch out! Cat is waiting around every bend, and he’s one pesky feline.” Barnes & Noble have pre-order information for the book, which is coming this August.

image c. 2012 James Burks

Game Art from Japan

Solatorobo: Red the Hunter is an Ursa Major Award-nominated video game from Japan which (according to its Wikipedia page) is “a spiritual sequel to the Tail Concerto game”, which was also released by Namco Bandai. Now the anime/manga fan site Otaku.com has let us know that the Solatorobo Sketch Book is available for import, and you can order it on their site. It’s expensive (kind of), but it this softcover book features some striking anime-style furry art.

image c. 2012 Namco Bandai

Po’s New Comic Book Series

There’s just no getting around the Kung Fu Panda.  (Of course not! He takes up too much room!). First off Ape Entertainment’s’ Kizoic imprint is releasing the popular Kung Fu Panda comic-book miniseries from last year as a collected trade paperback called Kung Fu Panda: Kung Fu Fighting. And then this July, Po and the Furious Five (and Master Shifu, of course!) return in a brand-new full-color monthly series, Kung Fu Panda: Tales of the Dragon Warrior (written by Quinn Johnson and illustrated by Massimo Asaro). Find out more about all of these at Things From Another World.

image c. 2012 Ape Entertainment

Man’s Best Friend

Rebellion/2000AD, the folks who brought you Judge Dredd, now bring you Kingdom: Call of the Wild, a new full-color trade paperback written by Dan Abnett and illustrated by Richard Elson. “Earth, the far-future. With the planet now overrun by gigantic alien insects, mankind is all but extinct. Genetically engineered dog soldier, Gene the Hackman, now protects one of the last remaining human beings, a young girl named Leezee Sower, and the two of them have traveled to the land of Auxtralia, straight into the territory of a new pack!” Look for it this March, or find out more at The Book Depository.

image c. 2012 Rebellion/2000AD

A Legend in his Own Mind

He’s a vegan hippie with super powers, sort of. He’s Ethan Young, hero of Tails, an on-line comic… written and illustrated by Ethan Young. Maybe we’d better let the publisher explain: “Quirky, funny, and surreal, Tails follows the semi-autobiographical exploits of Ethan, a vegan cartoonist with super powers (sort of). Ethan uses his comic book creation Crusader Cat to escape from the real world, but things get interesting when his escapist work starts to talk back to him. Poignant, funny, and daring, Tails is an unflinching portrait of a believable character as he starts falling into the abyss of an unbelievable world, with results ranging from hilarious to heart-breaking”. Now Hermes Press have announced they are publishing the first Tails collection in graphic novel form, Tails: Book One. Look for this new black & white trade paperback in April, or you can pre-order it on Amazon right now.

image c. 2012 Hermes Press

Flight for Young Readers

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

Invasion of the Super-Pets

Capstone Publishing is starting 2012 off in a big way with their DC Super-Pets series of full-color graphic novels, which start to hit the shelves this month. Here’s part of their promo advertisement: “The DC Super-Pets series features the crime-fighting adventures of the pets of favorite super heroes from beloved DC Comics: Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Green Lantern. These intrepid Super-Pets—Krypto the Super-Dog, Ace the Bat-Hound, Streaky the Super-Cat, Beppo the Super-Monkey, Jumpa the Super-Kangaroo, and their friends—save the day and foil the evil plans of the universe’s most dastardly super villains.  The books have been specially designed for children just learning to read independently. Included in the endpapers are illustrations of all the Super-Pets in the series (both heroes and villains), jokes, and a guide to the meaning and pronunciation for each book’s most challenging words.” Look at this series and you’ll realize you never knew there were so many super pets! Each of these 56-page trade paperbacks features the art of Eisner Award-winning DC Comics artist Art Baltazar, with scripts by Scott Sonneborn, Sarah Stephens, Jane B. Mason, John Sazaklis, and Donald Lemke. Capstone also has an interactive web site for the entire series.

image c. 2012 Capstone Publishing