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This is the first time I have been here in 52 days. I miss this place. I forgot that Reddit existed. Hello again.

Jakuia

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Hey all! I was curious how many of you based your 'sona's appearances off of your own :)

For me, Kofi shares a haircut similar to mine, and we share a very close taste in clothes. Our body type is pretty close, I'd say. But that's about it, honestly! So what about you?

Edit: Comparison pics --> http://m.imgur.com/a/FHc7d

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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Unnaturals [1]: The Battle Begins, by Devon Hughes. Illustrated by Owen Richardson.
NYC, HarperCollins Publishers/Katherine Tegen Books, October 2015, hardcover $16.99 ([5] + 335 [+ 4] pages), Kindle $9.99.

Unnaturals (the animals in the story are called “the Unnaturals”) is a fantasy-adventure series for 8- to 12-year-old readers; grades 3 to 7. The standard formula is to produce 4 or 5 annual serialized novels, each up to the last ending on a minor conclusion and cliffhanger leading to the next.

The futuristic city of Lion’s Head is populated by both humans and feral domestic animals; in this case, dogs. The story starts with two dogs of one alley pack, Castor and his brother Runt. The pack is led by the brutal Alpha. Castor and Runt have a German shepherd mother and a Mexican wolf father. Since this is a fantasy, the animals can converse intelligently in “animal talk”.

“The brothers ran together, matching step for step, breath for breath. The farther they went into the city, the taller and more packed together the black glass towers grew. The domed walkways that ran between them crisscrossed until they blocked out every last bit of sun. It was never dark, though – every side of every building flashed dozens of lifelike images each minute: political nonsense and Lion’s Head news. Pictures selling things that glittered and things that glowed and things that promised to change your life. Humans like you never saw them in real life – with faces three stories tall instead of tiny dots, sitting outside, grinning up at the sun with exposed pink and brown flesh, looking like they weren’t afraid of all the things crawling up their upturned noses through the air.

Over the years, Castor had taught himself to read by staring at those changing pictures. It was a useless hobby and one he never would’ve admitted to in front of Alpha, but Runt got a kick out of hearing about the strange human world, and he was constantly bugging Castor for updates.

[…]

‘If we run into Chauncy Chow, I’ve got your back like always,’ Castor promised, scanning the narrow alleyways between the factories for their territory rivals.

‘I don’t care about Chauncy or his wee weenies,’ Runt scoffed. ‘They’re just fancy rodents.’

Castor barked a laugh. It was true. Humans had bred miniature breeds when space was tight, but now that virtual pets were in fashion, the pampered minis were being dumped on the streets, too. The so-called ‘rival pack’ was a whiny group of dachshunds led by an entitled puffball.” (pgs. 6-8)

The older dogs, called Gray Whiskers, are wary of humans. The younger dogs scoff at them. The humans spend all their time “behind thick glass. They can’t handle dust or heat or raw food.”

The humans’ favorite sport is watching the currently top-popular Mega Monster Mash-up featuring “this season’s murderous mutants!!!” on their floor-to-ceiling warp screen walls. The humans hold gladiatorial battles between the mutated Unnaturals, who are stars to human and animal alike, in the huge Dome, the city’s arena. The feral animals of Lion’s Head also have their legends of the Greenplains where wild game like deer and rabbits lived. “The only prey these littered streets had in abundance were rats – small, sneaky things that would scrunch up their faces to taunt you, their beady eyes glowing red in the shadows.” (p. 11) Castor dismisses the Greenplains as only old nursery tales the Gray Whiskers tell, while Runt believes they are (or were) real.

The biggest danger in the alleys isn’t rival dog packs, or the rats or wily raccoons. It’s the Crusher Slushers; huge semi-robotic Waste Management machines that grab any animal they can catch and turn it into paste.

The first human protagonist of Unnaturals is eleven-year-old Marcus, who lives in an apartment 247 stories up and is a rabid fan of the Mega Monster Mash-up battles on the simulink network. Marcus, and the rest of the public, believe that the “murderous mutants” shown – the star gladiators like the Invincible, a giant tiger with a scorpion’s tail; Pookie the Poisonous, a Chihuahua-spider; the Crunch, a cockroach-crocodile; the Hellion, a Komodo dragon-hippopotamus mix; the Fearless, a saber-toothed grizzly bear; the Enforcer, an octo-elephant; and others – are only virtual reality characters, the technological descendants of computer-generated animation, or maybe androids; in any case, not real.

Slightly older Leesa, in an underground slum apartment, knows the truth since one of the Unnaturals used to be Pookie, her pet Chihuahua, before he disappeared four years earlier and reemerged in the Dome as a Chihuahua’s head grafted onto a giant spider’s body.

When Castor is trapped by a Crusher Slusher while fighting a rival dog pack, its human drivers decide that he is too good a fighter to be reduced to slime. They sell him to NuFormz, the laboratory that mutates animals into the Unnaturals. There he meets Jazlyn the rabbit, Enza the tigress, Rainner the monitor lizard, Deja the snake, and other animals scheduled to become “monsters” designed for entertainment. NuFormz turns out to be secretly owned by Mayor Eva Eris, who realizes that the best way to remain at the top of Lion’s Head’s politicians is to give the voters plenty of bread & games: Mega Monster Mash-up’s “fantasy” animals’ gladiatorial contests. She quietly encourages the city’s Waste Management workers to bring likely-looking feral animals to NuFormz’s scientists and animal handlers who design ferocious-looking monsters. She also diverts exotic predators from the city’s zoo to the NuFormz labs.

The Unnaturals are mostly alpha predators bioengineered to fight more savagely, with an occasional prey Unnatural like Jazlyn, who becomes the Swift, a super-speedy panther-rabbit. Castor is turned into the Underdog, a handsome eagle-winged dog that is supposed to win the viewers’ sympathy.

The cover by Owen Richardson is representative of Unnaturals: The Battle Begins. Although several of the book’s 49 chapters feature Marcus, Leesa, and their associates, it is Castor and his animal friends and enemies in Lion’s Head’s secret labs and huge Dome who are the main cast, appearing most often. The two children, who know or learn The Truth, become determined to free the mutated monsters who are still alive. Castor becomes the leader of the Unnaturals in the NuFormz labs and in the Dome, or at least those Unnaturals who have not become kill-crazy. Several supporting characters emerge among the Unnaturals. Castor’s brother and original pack quickly fade out of The Battle Begins, though they will doubtlessly reappear in later volumes.

Owen Richardson’s illustrations consist of chapter-heading drawings, most repeated several times. The text descriptions and illustrations of Castor are curiously inconsistent, ranging from a German shepherd with large wings, to the glorified flying dog shown on the cover, to a traditional griffin. Possibly Castor evolves over the course of the series; in The Battle Begins, just the descriptions of a regular German shepherd with an eagle’s wings seems the most accurate. If you like talking exotic animals, you should enjoy this series.

Comics and animation fans should be familiar with the theme of characters turned into cyborgs or “monsters” against their will, who use their new powers to combat evil. There has especially been a lot of it in Japanese manga, going back to Shōtarō Ishinomori’s 1964 Cyborg 009 and Taiko Saito’s 1967 The Shadowman. This is the first time that I have seen it applied to talking animals.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

submitted by Ellen-Natalie
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New to readers of the Island anthology, but well known in the Furry subculture, is an artist usually featured in Hard Blush; a series releasing extensively gay furry comics, Onta. Whilst he’s associated more with pornographic and adult comics, his entry into Graham and Rios’ anthology series Badge of Pride will be a more slice of life offering, as the artist delves deeper into the lives of his cast of characters. Marty, Taylor, Jessie and Mu show their wildly different experiences and expressions of sexuality during a local gay pride parade. Showing that even now Pride is an important part of LGBT life, meaning different thing to each person, whether they love it or loathe it.

I found myself drawn to, and feeling sympathetic towards, the quiet and retiring lion, Jess portrayed as finding it particularly difficult to identify with the more flamboyant carnival atmosphere he finds himself caught up in. He bemoans “I can’t relate to any of this shit” and finds himself “sulking like an idiot” while others throw themselves into the party with more ease and gusto.

With Island issue 6 out next week I finally got a chance to ask Onta a few questions about his newest comic.

Marfed: How did you first discover the furry subculture and were you already drawing by this point? What lead you to want to draw comics, especially furry ones?

Onta: I discovered it as many do, through erotica. Specifically Japanese gay kemono artist. There where many inspiration but Aoi Takayuki and Poju’s entry where a really big deal for my entry into furry.

I had slacked around for a while trying to commit to various projects but could never fully commit to something. I felt if I created a persona and boxed myself into a small limited area my mind would do better. I had been trying to make comics for years and had failed quite often. Miu asking me to do a page for the first edition of Cocktails was really my first major completed comic’s work which was pretty late in my career as an artist. I didn’t have fully formed characters and story, even if only porn prior so it gave me a big boost. I felt very weird after completing it as it was a new sensation.

M: How did working on Brandon and Emma’s Island anthology come about? Were you a fan of either of their work before hand and have you been following the issues of Island up to now?

Onta: Brandon approached me a year and some change ago. I believe he was introduce to my work through Fangdangler (Adriel Forsythe). I used to be pretty big into indie comics back in the day following Derek Kirk Kim and similar artists and I gradually fell out of that sort of thing as work in animation industry and later games industry took over. I have become a fan of both Brandon and Emma since my involvement.

M: Can you tell us a little bit behind the story you have in Island and what lead you to write it? What was the best part of working on this story for Island? How did you tackle including characters from your previous work that readers might be unfamiliar with?

The creation of this story was not simple and actually require a lot of outside help including reviews and feedback cycles. Understand that although I’ve made quite a few comics they all heavily rely on adult scenes to fill out the whole thing. Having to make a story that relies nearly 100% on interactions is new territory for me. , I’m having to introduce my characters to new readers meaning I couldn’t rely on previously established character elements. I wrote the story and somewhat over emphasized their characters as to catch everyone up with this entry hopefully it pays off and people get the archetypes. As for the story itself I wanted something that would both satisfy furry fans and attempt to mirror gay acceptance with furry acceptance. Hopefully the irony of hating furries but enjoying the message of gay tolerance isn’t lost on most readers. I also had to work on facial construction on Jessee as his face has always been a loose cannon as far as structures go.

The best part was honestly getting it done. It was very, very hard work. I think this is the most professional I’ve even been on a project because I feel these characters are on the end of their lifecycle with me so a lot of pushing was needed to get the story out.

 

M: Not only are you in the issue, you drew the cover too. How did that come about and how does it feel that in January Marty and company will be rubbing shoulders with the likes Spider-man and Batman on comic shelves?

Once again that came out of the blue when I was asked. To be frank again, it was just a “do the work and make it nice” scenario. I think 21 year old me would be handling all of this a lot differently. As an older feller I feel It’s more of a “do a good job and don’t fuck up” feeling.

M: Are there any other furry artists’ work you could see fitting into Island in future issues?

Onta: I definitely think Miu (creator of duo Peaches and Cream), Seel and Rikose would do great in Island.

M: Were you at all worried about the perception of your work with a non furry audience with a lot of it being very adult in its art and themes?

I’m only worried about Brandon book doing well or not and I’ll be working hard to get furry fans to purchase and offset sales slump from those uninterested. I’m in too deep to worry if people will respect me or my art or the adult themes. I never anticipated any serious published work ever so it showing up out of the blue is a nice treat but it’s so far off from my mind I’m in it to do the work and hopefully make Brandon happy. If it does well and people like I’m excited but I have zero expectations from my work in Island beyond doing a good job for my employer.

M: Do you feel that furry is slowly becoming more mainstream and the public more accepting of works like yours that would at one time have been considered exclusively for a furry audience?

Onta: I think as time goes by and people deal with the fact that everything is up for grabs as far as sexualizing stuff, people will learn to deal with furry as two distinct things. The Disney movie coming out won’t hurt and will probably spawn a huge new group of furries.

M: I found myself identifying with Jess a lot and his feeling of not fitting in with the rest of the Pride attendees or the typical Gay identity. Is this something you that comes from direct experience yourself or from other people you have met? Which character, if any do you feel you identify with the most?

Onta: I think the majority of gay people are completely underrepresented. I also believe there is a strong “Full gay or get out” sort of mentality from both the gay scene and in general. No one wants anything but very clear sexual labels and it just doesn’t work that way. I think Jess’s position is the first baby steps for a lot of people. Someone who doesn’t aggressively hide their sexuality but also doesn’t reveal or revel in it.

Each character represents a part of me. Not equally or even in the same way. Some characters represent desire or wishful thinking others are more mirroring my personality or thoughts.

M: The idea of Jess coming to terms with his own sexuality has been subtly hinted at in your adult work, what made you want to pick up on this thread again? What interests you about it?
Onta: I think the furry fandom has a unique appeal to people who are taking their first steps into exploring the sexuality as gay males. Furry’s and furry conventions are sort of a microcosm. A lot of niches, interest and kinks sort of converge under this one major theme and since Anthro fans are pretty much used to being social pariahs, grouping with similar folk sort of soften how much you stick out from normal everyday life.

Since my work is directed at the furry fandom to some extent I felt I should include a swathe of personality types with varying levels of sexual and emotional maturity. Jess, although my least popular character and more popular with woman was the best angle to allow new readers and furry fans in general entry into the story I wanted to present without alienating them.

M: Do you still think Pride is important even in 2016 and why?
Onta: I’m not sure. The internet is doing a lot of good (and some bad) where visibility is concerned. I think pride is more of an event for many people then a social cause at this point as it’s often presented with some level of showmanship over any real attempt to present or solve issues that non-hetero folks deal with. I wanted to present something a bit more realistic with the way I’ve noticed the crowds interact with the parade without getting too catty/snide about it.

M: Badge of Pride raises some interesting points as well as being fun, could you see yourself doing more works of this type for a mainstream audience that deal with topics like sexuality and identity as well as your adult work?
Onta: This comic took a lot out of me. I don’t know. I didn’t want to indulge in a dark, self-hatred, depressive style slice of life comic though was my first kneejerk response when asked to make a story. I felt I should focus on entertaining the people first and get my messages across somewhat subtly. I have people who have read the script and given feedback to thank for that. If the reception is good and people genuinely like it and Image doesn’t get mad and numbers are good on sales it would be a good serious consideration.

Island issue 6 featuring the ‘Badge of Pride” by Onta is released on January 27th while his adult works can be found in pages of Hard Blush available here.

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For whatever reason I dropped out from the furry community. I stayed on the yiff side of things for like the past year, but then remembered this place existed. Scrolling through looking at the sweet artwork (a lot of which is OC) and friendly approachable people has brought a smile to my face. I started doodling a bit so who knows, maybe I'll post something from myself. In the meantime I hope to be active in the comments. Hope you all have a wonderfully wacky Wednesday!

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One of the artists (one of many!) we ran into at Further Confusion goes by the name of Ishaway Friestad. “I am an visual illustrator, working in a variety of medias, both traditional and digital. I have shown my work at fantasy conventions and a couple of art shows.” She works on a wide variety of colorful products, too! She has an Etsy store for those items she makes entirely herself, and a Redbubble store for other items that she decorates and puts up for sale. And look up her personal web page too, where she displays her latest art projects.

image c. 2016 by Ishaway Friestad

 

submitted by KawaiiKauwi
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