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Trade Paperback

He is Monkey!

One of the most popular and well-known furries in history (no, really, we mean it!) is Sun Wu Kong, the Monkey King of Chinese legend. His story, Journey to the West, has been covered in movies, TV, plays, and of course comic books many times. And now here we go again with the latter, in Monkey King Volume 1: Birth of the Stone Monkey, a new full-color graphic novel from JR Comics. “Cited as one of China’s greatest novels, Monkey King follows the adventures of Sun Wu Kong, born from a stone on Spring Mountain and given the title of Handsome Monkey King, who seeks to learn the secret of eternal life. Under the tutelage of Master Puti, Sun Wu Kong becomes incredibly powerful, but his hubris grows until he has run afoul of the gods, who dispatch an army to subdue the Monkey King.” Here’s a write-up from Sci Fi Genre. Monkey King is coming to stores at the end of November.

image c. 2011 JR Comics

Hear the Roar from the Past

With the new ThunderCats series on Cartoon Network doing very well and picking up lots of fans, it seems a good time to take another look at the original series from the 1980’s. That’s the purpose of Hear the Roar: The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to Thundercats, available now in softcover from Telos Publishing. Even though it’s “Unofficial and Unauthorized”, editor and lead writer David Chrichton managed to interview numerous people associated with the production of the original series, which began airing in 1985. From the publisher’s release notes: “Featuring over 80 exclusive interviews with cast and crew members, this definitive reference guide charts ThunderCats’ creation and development, drawing on a wealth of never-before-seen production paperwork and leaving no stone unturned.  Dedicated chapters highlight the writing, animating, scoring and recording of ThunderCats, while a comprehensive story guide reviews all 130 episodes, including notes from the scriptwriters themselves! The legendary ThunderCats toy line from LJN Toys is documented too, and even the associated series SilverHawks is explored. ” You can find out more about the book on Amazon.

image c. 2011 Telos Publishing

Puss in Boots vs. Giant Chicken

A prequel to a prequel! Can you feel the synergy? Ape Entertainment (through their Kizoic imprint) present the Puss in Boots Movie Prequel graphic novel, coming this November. Written by Troy Dye and Tom Kelesides, it features full-color art by the Kizoic crew. This is from Comics Continuum: “The exciting prequel to the Puss In Boots movie is here in this exclusive original graphic novel! Puss enters a secret sword fighting competition to determine who’s the best with a blade. Will he defeat the rabid rooster known as ‘El Pollo Mas Rapido’? Or will Chuey, the Chihuahua cat burglar, take top prize? And in a Bonus story, Puss unravels the mystery of the Maltese Gato!” Remember, the feline furry comes to theaters from Dreamworks on October 28th.

 

image c. 2011 Ape Entertainment

The Power of the Animals

Shaman’s Tears was a 12-issue full-color comic book miniseries written and drawn by Mike Grell in the 1990’s, published back then by Image. It told the story of one Joshua Brand, a native American who discovers he has the ability to harness the power of animals — and of the earth itself. He often used his powers in defense of nature, animals… and mutant animal-people, who showed up after escaping from government laboratories. Those creatures were later featured in their own 4-part spin-off series, Bar Sinister, written by Mr. Grell and illustrated by Rick Hoberg. Now, IDW Publishing has collected Shaman’s Tears together in a single trade paperback for the first time, coming this December. We can only hope they decide to do the same with Bar Sinister later on.

image c. 2011 Windjammer Comics

 

The Wonderful, Wonderful Cat

Comic historians differ as to who exactly created the iconic character Felix the Cat: Joe Sullivan or his employee, Otto Messmer. To further complicate things, after his world-wide fame as a star of animated shorts (and being the first cartoon character ever represented by a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade), Felix appeared in a series of comic strip and comic book adventures in the 1940’s and 1950’s — some of which were drawn by Otto Messmer, and some by Joe Oriolo, but which were usually credited to Joe Sullivan. Got all that? It’s just one of the many facts presented in the introduction to Felix the Cat’s Greatest Comic Book Tails, in paperback now from IDW Publishing. After the opening essay by Craig Yoe and Don Oriolo (Joe’s son), be prepared for more than 200 of black & white and full-color comics. Righty-oh! More information is available at Amazon.

image c. 2011 IDW Publishing

Never Enough Dragons

Catching onto what seems to be a growing trend (we know, we know: When wasn’t it?), Vanguard Productions now brings us Art of the Dragon in paperback this November. Here, we’ll let them tell you about it: “Vanguard presents every dragon lover’s dream come true, Art of the Dragon: The Definitive Collection of Contemporary Dragon Paintings. This concise yet comprehensive survey by Visions of Never author Patrick Wilshire and How to Draw Chiller Monsters, Werewolves, Vampires, and Zombies author J. David Spurlock presents and examines the ultimate collection of contemporary dragon paintings and provides insights about the foremost dragon-painting fantasy artists including Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell, Keith Parkinson, Todd Lockwood, Donato Giancola, John Howe, Bob Eggleton, Don Maitz, Stephen Hickman, Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, Greg Hildebrandt, and record-breaking Hugo Award winner Michael Whelan, who also provides the cover to this long-awaited and breath-taking compendium. This book is dedicated to the memory of the late, great fantasy artist Jeffrey Catherine Jones who passed away May 19, 2011.” There’s more information about the book on Amazon. If you don’t know who some of these artists are, you should! Go on and Google them right now.

The Dog Who Fixes Cars

NBM Publishing is releasing two brand-new paperback volumes of Salvatore, a full-color graphic novel series by Nicholas De Crecy (translated into English). In an anthropomorphic world, a small dog named Salvatore is a mechanical genius, famed for his abilities to fix cars and construct all sorts of machines from car parts. And he longs to use his talents to construct an all-terrain vehicle which will take him around the world — or through it if need be — to reach South America, where his lady-love Julie has moved. That’s the plot of Volume 1, Transports of Love, which was released in January. In Volume 2, An Eventful Crossing (which arrives this December), our canine hero embarks on his journey, crossing up through Russia toward the pole — avoiding the seas, of which he’s deathly afraid — and meeting new friends and new adventures on the way. Check the whole thing out on Amazon.

image c. 2011 Nicholas de Crecy

Muppets from Marvel

With the upcoming Muppets movie on the horizon, Disney has been exerting closer control once again over the Jim Henson properties… which means, among other things, that the various Muppet comic book series (many of them published by Boom! Studios) are now gone. So what did Disney do? Have new Muppet titles published by Marvel Comics of course — since they also own that! The Muppets Present: Family Reunion is a new full-color graphic novel, written and pencilled by Roger Langridge (creator of Get Snarked, which we also reviewed before). Once again it’s time for The Muppet Show, but this time there’s a new complication: Everyone has members of their family showing up for a visit, and every single one of them is trouble! Check it out this September.

Watch for the Knuckles

Archie Comics have announced they’re collecting together several popular adventure tales with Sonic the Hedgehog’s  feisty associate, Knuckles the Echidna. The Knuckles the Echidna Archives Volume 1 is a new full-color digest-sized trade paperback by Ian Flynn and Patrick Spaziante, coming this August. It brings together issues #1 – #3 of Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis: Knuckles and issues #1 – #3 of Knuckles the Echidna. The red one tries to solve the mysteries of his origins, and comes face-to-muzzle with the Dark Legion.