In-Fur-Nation

As we noted recently, 20th Century Fox is once again taking us to the Planet of the Apes – this time, in what is essentially a re-make of the 1972 film Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Once again, it tells the story of Caesar, a chimpanzee who comes to lead a rebellion of apes against humans in a battle for supremacy. In the new Rise of the Planet of the Apes, however, he is not the child of apes from the future, but the result of a brain-enhancing drug experiment “gone wrong”. The new film is directed by Rupert Wyatt. It stars Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) as Caesar (via motion-capture technology), and James Franco (127 Hours) as the scientist who brings about Caesar’s advance. Fox Studios seem to have a little bit of trouble settling on a release date though: IMDB.com still lists it as August 5th, but other sites have mentioned release dates as late as Thanksgiving. Meanwhile as you figure that out you can look for the official trailer, currently making the rounds on YouTube.

The latest from the endlessly creative mind (and pen, and pencil) of Richard Moore: Gobs. “Gobs are the worst. Just the worst. Don’t think goblins’ll ever move into your neighborhood? Don’t be too sure. After getting kicked out of their favorite pub, this typically vile group builds their own pub…in the hollowed-out body of a dead giant. Lovely, eh? So beware…Gobs are coming.” And they’re coming your way, bi-monthly and in black & white — starting this June, from Antarctic Press.

image c. 2011 Richard Moore, Image Comics

There’s no way on earth we can top the publisher’s description of the second story arc of Screamland. So here it is: “‘Death Of The Party,’ Part One — In a world where movie monsters are real, most of them are just looking for work in an industry dominated by 3D, CGI and other scary acronyms. Forced to hustle their past glory on the convention circuit, Wolfman Carl London and Space Path star Travis Walters put their scheduled appearances aside to stop the screening of a legendary monster porn film that threatens to ruin the careers of feature creatures everywhere.” Got that? This new full-color comic book series is written by Harold Sipe and Christopher Sebela, and illustrated by Lee Leslie and Hector Casanova. It’s coming this June from Image Comics.

image c. 2011 by Image Comics

In an unusual move, 20th Century Fox has released the next Blue Sky Studios move Rio in 72 countries outside of North America, a full week before releasing it in the U.S. on April 15th. According to reports the film is already doing quite well in Russia, and a few other countries as well.  Like the Ice Age films from Blue Sky, this new film is directed by Carlos Saldanha. It tells the story of a blue macaw named (appropriately) Blu. Domesticated, it seems that Blu has never learned to fly. It also seems that he is the last mail blue macaw — and so begins his journey to the title city, where folks hope he will mate with the one remaining female blue (named Jewel) to save the species. Fox has released the first two minutes of the film as a video, and (in an only-these-days bit of tie-in) there is also a video advertising the Angry Birds/Rio game app for your I-Phone.

image c. 2011 Blue Sky Studios

We’ve talked around here before about Reed Gunther, the weird and wacky wild west comic book independently published by brothers Shane Houghton and Chris Houghton. Now, the comic book returns, this time in full-color and published by Image. Why should furry fans care about a cowboy comic? Perhaps because wildman Reed Gunther’s noble steed is a full-grown grizzly bear named Sterling.  The bear doesn’t speak — but he has his own ways of commenting on the action all around him. Which is a lot, as Reed has a habit of meeting (and often battling) all kinds of strange and deadly critters throughout the badlands. In their first adventure from Image (coming this June), Reed and Sterling face off against a giant, cow-eating snake!

Ya gotta love Kaiju fans sometimes. The come up with things like: Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths. (“Kaiju”, if you didn’t know, is Japanese for “giant monster”.) This new five-issue full-color comic book miniseries comes to us this June from IDW. It’s written by John Layman (Chew) and illustrated by Alberto Ponticelli (Unknown Soldier). Here’s the story: Tokyo detective Makoto Sato is on a never-ending quest to bring down the Takahashi crime syndicate. Soon, his efforts win him a one-way ticket to a tropical paradise… known as Monster Island! Before long Sato is battling for his life against behemoths and bad guys… and to survive, he must enlist the aid of some “bizarre friends”.  We’ll find out what that means this summer.

Looks like they’re getting serious about the return of Thundercats this time around… This footage was recently shown at Wondercon — to, reportedly, thunderous applause. It’s interesting to note that this new show from Cartoon Network looks much more anime in style than the old original series. It also spends a lot more time setting things up on the Thundercats’ home world. We’ll find out more when Thundercats comes to Cartoon Network this July.

image c. 2011 Cartoon Network

Yet another mega-series from another big-name comic book publisher. This time it’s DC Comics’ Flashpoint. Several of your favorite superheroes find themselves zapped (in a flash, of course!) to another universe where things have not worked out the same at all as in the “normal” DC universe. Leading the battle to get these stranded heroes home is that super speedster The Flash. Several continuing titles are taking on the Flashpoint story-line, and there are also several one-shot titles involved — some of them of note to furry fans. First off in Grodd of War, Gorilla Grodd seems to have made good on his ambition to take over the world… or at least a good portion of it, as he now rules Africa! Then, there’s the mysterious, very British, very insectoid adventures of The Canterbury Cricket (“His Power is his Curse!”). All of this starts going down this June — and all in full color, of course.

image c. 2011 DC Comics

Now this is something different: A comic book written by a 6-year-old boy, professionally published. That boy would be young Malachai Nicolle, and the comic would be Axe Cop, currently available from Dark Horse Press — illustrated, no less, by Malachai’s 30-year-0ld brother Ethan Nicolle. Axe Cop has been a hit on line since its premier in January of 2010, and now Dark Horse is releasing it as a three-issue full-color miniseries. Fur fans should note: Several interesting anthro characters make their way in and out of the story, including Axe Cop’s reptilian partner, Dinosaur Soldier.

In case you haven’t got the word yet: Cartoon Network will be premiering a brand new Looney Tunes Show on Tuesday, May 3rd. They’ve set up a web site with lots of pictures, video clips, and even a fan discussion board. Needless to say there’s already a lot of discussion (to put it mildly) on places like Cartoon Brew about the ups and downs of the new show and the new character designs.

Recently DirecTV has been running a series of ads featuring a very, very rich gentleman from Russia, showing off his indulgences — including, of course, DirecTV. But the thing that has seemed to get the most attention in the ads is sort of in the background: A little, miniaturized giraffe the fellow has for a pet. Everyone seems to have noticed the little guy, and they’re talking about him on line. So much so that someone (presumably DirecTV) has given the “petite lap giraffe” his own web site!  “Welcome to world wide famous Sokoblovsky Farms. The best and only breeders of Petite Lap Giraffes” says the introduction. There are lots of funny pseudo-Russian-isms used, of course (“To be clicking here!”). In addition to historical backgrounds and information about purchasing your own lap giraffe, there is also a 24-hour “Giraffe-Cam” where you can watch the petite bull Vladamir in his enclosure. Yes really.

image c. 2011 petitelapgiraffe.com

Not long after announcing that the sequel to the wildly popular film How to Train Your Dragon will be released to theaters in 2013, Dreamworks Animation let it be known that a brand new How to Train Your Dragon weekly TV series will be premiering on Cartoon Network in 2012. IGN has a lot of information about the new series up on line. Although we’ve been told that the TV series will feature the same characters in the same world as the feature film, it’s not been announced if any of the cast or crew from the feature will be working on the new series. And speaking of television: Don’t forget that sometime this fall, the much-delayed Kung Fu Panda TV series Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness is set to premier on Nickelodeon.

Humans really do use anthropomorphic characters for everything… we mean everything! Recently in France there appeared this animated public service announcement, explaining the need for sexually active people to protect themselves from AIDS… which uses the medium of cartoon animals, animated to look like something out of the 1930′s. Seriously. Where on earth did they show this thing, we wonder? Well it’s viewable on YouTube, but take warning: There’s nothing terribly explicit in this, but it is most certainly for adults only! Need more proof? The production company that created it is called Passion Pictures.

This coming May, DC Comics and Eaglemoss Publications will be offering a brand new collectible figure of the other winged haunter of Gotham City nights, Dr. Kirk Langstrom — or, as he is known in his transformed state, the Man-Bat. What’s more, when you purchase this new figurine you also get a 20-page full-color mini-comic collection featuring some of Man-Bat’s best-known appearances in Batman and other DC titles.

image c. DC Comics

Well this sort of came out of nowhere… A brand new CGI show featuring Jim Davis’ inescapable cat Garfield was made in France in 2008. Then, in 2009, episodes of The Garfield Show began airing in North America on Cartoon Network, with all-around voice actor Frank Welker voicing Garfield in place of the late Lorenzo Music. One of the main writers and voice directors for the series is Mark Evanier, who was also lead writer for the original 2D series Garfield and Friends in the 1980′s. Now it seems that Papercutz (home of the Geronimo Stilton series) is creating a series of hardcover full-color comic collections based on The Garfield Show. The collections are titled Garfield & Co., and they come to stores this May.

And yet more interesting news on Cartoon Brew: The Ballad of Nessie is a brand new, 2-D animated short from Walt Disney Pictures. It’s scheduled to be released in front of the upcoming Winnie the Pooh movie this summer, which you may recall is also in 2-D. The film is directed by Stevie Wermers-Skelton and Kevin Deters, who both worked on How to Hook Up Your Home Theater and Prep and Landing. Several well-known animators worked on Nessie, including Andreas Deja, Mark Henn, Randy Haycock, Dale Baer, and Rubin Aquino. No video sneaks yet, but Cartoon Brew has pictures from the film, including the one you see below.

image c. 2011 Walt Disney Pictures

A Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all. And speaking of Irish things…

Thanks to Cartoon Brew we’ve seen a new teaser trailer for Song of the Sea, the next project coming to us from Tomm Moore, creator of The Secret of Kells. That film, you may recall, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature of 2009, as well as a slew of other awards around town. Now Mr. Moore’s new feature looks at another well-known Irish legend, that of the Selkies: Folk who look like human beings, but who can put on seal skins and magically transform into real live seals. Cartoon Saloon is currently animating the film, which is not due out until 2013.

The Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association (ALAA) has announced the nominees for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards, celebrating the best anthropomorphic offerings of 2010. “More formally known as the Annual Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Awards, the Ursa Major Awards are presented annually for excellence in the furry arts. They are intended as Anthropomorphic (a.k.a. Furry) Fandom’s equivalent of the Hugo Awards (presented by the World Science Fiction Society), mystery fandom’s Anthony Awards, horror fandom’s Bram Stoker Awards, and so forth” [from the Ursa Majors web site]. And so, the nominees in ten categories are:

Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture (Live-action or animated feature-length movies):
Alpha and Omega, from Lionsgate
How To Train Your Dragon, from Dreamworks Animation
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, from Village Roadshow Pictures and Warner Brothers
Toy Story 3, from Walt Disney Pictures and Dreamworks Animation
The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, from Walden Media and 20th Century Fox

Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short Work or Series (TV series, one-shots, advertisements, or short videos):
Adventure Time, from Pendleton Ward and Cartoon Network
Foxy Bingo, ad campaign produced for Foxy Bingo
Mongrels, from BBC Three
Orangina Naturally, ad campaign produced by Gorgeous Enterprises for Orangina
The Regular Show, from Cartoon Network
Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention, from Aardman Animations and BBC One

Best Anthropomorphic Novel (Written works of 40,000 words or more):
Basecraft Cirrostratus by Justin Lamar
Descent by Phil Geusz
Otters In Space by Mary Lowd
Save The Day by D. J. Fahl
The Seventh Chakra by Kevin Frane
Shadow of the Father by Kyell Gold

Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction (Stories less than 40,000 words, poetry, and other short written works):
Bridges by Kyell Gold
False Dawn by Kyell Gold
Felis Ex Machina by E. O. Costello
Gerty and the Doesn’t-Smell-Like-a-Melon by Mary E. Lowd
The Peculiar Quandary of Simon Canopus Artyle by Kevin Frane

Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work (Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and convention program books):
Furpiled #4 by Leo Magna
Different Worlds, Different Skins, edited by Will A. Sanborn
Iron Claw Bestiary by Chris Goodwin
i.s.o. #1 by Vince Suzukawa
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris

Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story (Comic books and serialised online stories):
Concession by Immelmann
Furthia High by QuetzaDrake
Cruelty by Rukis
Lackadaisy by Tracy J. Butler
Twokinds by Tom Fischbach

Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip (Newspaper-style strips, including those with ongoing arcs):
Broken Plot Device by Lis Boriss
Faux Pas by Robert and Margaret Carspecken
Little Tales by Genesis Eve Whitmore
Housepets! by Rick Griffin
Sandra and Woo by Powree and Oliver Knörzer

Best Anthropomorphic Magazine (Professional magazines, amateur zines, fanzines, internet-only magazines):
Anthropomorphic Dreams Podcast, by Will A. Sanborn
Heat, published by Sofawolf
New Fables, edited by Tim Susman
South Fur Lands, edited by Bernard Doove
Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe, edited by Gene Breshears

Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration (Illustrations and cover art for books, magazines, convention program books; coffee table portfolios):
Big Red: Lady Sings the Blues by Richard Bartrop (Midwest Fur Fest program book illo)
Cenotaph by Susan Rankin-Pollard (Spontoon Island fanzine illo)
The Seventh Chakra (cover) by Kamui
Shadow of the Father (cover) by Sara Palmer
New Fables Summer 2010 (cover) by Mary Mouse

Best Anthropomorphic Game (Computer or console games, role-playing games, board games):
Disney Epic Mickey, from Junction Point Studios and Disney Interactive Studios
Furry Basketball Association (on-line roleplaying game)
Rocket Knight, from Climax Studios and Konami
Sam & Max: Season 3, Episode 1: The Penal Zone, from Telltale Games
Sonic Colors, from Dimps and Sega

Voting for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards will be open until April 17th. To find out how to cast your vote, visit the web site at www.ursamajorawards.org. Also, check out the Ursa Major Awards Live Journal to see links to some great examples from each of the nominees.

Christopher Hart is a name well-known among those learning to draw: He’s put out several books of how to draw cartoon characters and characters for animation in the past. But now, he’s trying something pretty new.  His new book is called Drawing Fantastic Furries: The Ultimate Guide to Drawing Anthropomorphic Characters. That’s a pretty big claim, whot? Well here’s how the publishers describe it on Amazon: “What Is A Furry? A furry is an anthropomorphic being—an animal with human characteristics. Furries have fascinated artists going back thousands of years and as seen in the influx of animal/human characters into popular culture, interest today is at an all time high. And now for the first time all in one volume, you’ll be able to take the next step to the outer limits of your imagination with the ultimate guide to drawing your own furries—Christopher Hart’s Drawing Fantastic Furries. After a basic lesson in the fundamentals of comparative human and animal anatomies, you’ll learn how to draw an entire menagerie of furry species, ranging from the adorable and charming super-cute furries to the seductive and super-popular glamorous furries to the warriors, wizards, vampires, and demons of the furry occult and fantasy realms.” The book is available this week in paperback from Watson-Guptill. The cover certainly grabs attention!

image c. 2011 Christopher Hart

Hermes Press have announced they are now the new publishers of Mike Bullock and Michael Metcalf’s well-known (and well-loved) comic book series Lions, Tigers, and Bears. The long-awaited full-color Volume 3 graphic novel is available now in softcover.  This is from their press release: “Mike Bullock’s internationally acclaimed, best selling title has a new home with Hermes Press! The long awaited Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Volume 3 arrives in stores March, 2011. ‘Lions, Tigers, and Bears is a remarkable title, with memorable characters, an enchanting concept, and beautiful artwork,’ observed Hermes Press’ Publisher, Dan Herman. ‘We’re really excited about releasing all new adventures of Joey, Courtney, Ares, Venus, Pallo and Minerva as a graphic novel.’” For those who haven’t found it yet, Lions, Tigers, and Bears is the story of a group of kids who discover that their stuffed animal toys have the ability to come to life — as rather large animals — to protect the children in their care from an invasion of other-worldly demons.