Funny Animals?

Bryan Stone · Post by **Bryan Stone** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 13:12 -0700

Does anyone know of any GOOD funny animal comics besides Usagi? I saw that they're re releasing the Bucky O'Hare graphic novel that came out in the 80s. Anyone know of anything else?

MikeM · Post by **MikeM** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 6:51 -0700

Uncle Scrooge
TMNT and Tales of the TMNT - although not really funny animal books are quite good.

Bryan Stone · Post by **Bryan Stone** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 10:22 -0700

thanks, I saw a book in Previews called furrlough. Does anyone know anything about it?

Thomas Froehling · Tue Feb 06, 2007 13:32 -0700

Hello,

it might not be something you're looking for, but one of the best comics in the field of anthropomorphics is the "Blacksad" graphic novels by Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (penciler). Not really funny, but very, very good; whether they are published in English escapes me completely, but believe me: they are worth looking for.

The same is true for "Inspector Canardo" by Benoit Sokal (writer and penciler), although these are a bit funnier (sometimes you can actually laugh while reading them).

And if you are looking for European comics already, then keep your eyes wide open for anything by Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim, especially the Donjon series; they are somewhat strange, but tremendously funny, plus they've got talking animals by the truckload.

Hoping to be of service

Thomas

Cosmo · Post by **Cosmo** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 13:50 -0700

By the way, Thomas, have you ever heard of Mit Mantel und Degen (De cape et de crocs) ? It's a wonderful comic too, though not all characters are "funny animals". Very nice drawing (quite close to Blacksad, in a way) and extremely well-written dialogues. I fear they lose a lot in translation.

Not translated in English yet, unfortunately. Revise your French.

Bryan Stone · Post by **Bryan Stone** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 14:04 -0700

great leads, thanks! Oh, and I didn't mean 'funny' funny animals. I was just making refrence to the genre. Mike M mentioned the Uncle Scrooge comics earlier so I went looking and found a book I think is going to be good, it's in the current Previews it's called Walt Disney treasures Volume 1: 75 years of Disney Comics. It has some stuff from Carl Barks and Don Rosa and a bunch of others that I hadn't heard of. Thanks for the great info guys if anyone knows of any thing else...especially the harder to find stuff like Mit Mantel und Degen or Black Sad please let me know. Oh and if anyone is interested the book Spiral Bound by Aaron Renier is really good.

Post by **Mayhem** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 15:36 -0700

Sabrina Online is quite the funny web based comic for anyone who's a geek at heart

Post by **Steve Hubbell** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 15:40 -0700

Blacksad has three english volumes, two of which are available through Amazon.

Furrlough is the longest running anthropomorphic anthology comic currently published, more serious than Critters (more like Albedo maybe), with both on-going series and one-shot stories by a wide range of creators. Some of the characters and stories which originally appeared in Furrlough went on to have their own series. Stan contributed a great cover to issue #50.

Some better known series...
Extinctioners
Katmandu
Tellos
Tall Tails
Shanda the Panda
Omaha the Cat Dancer
Mouse Guard

Check out the web-site for Rabbit Valley for some idea of what is out there in the way of current anthropomorphic titles....
http://www.rabbitvalley.com/

Cosmo · Post by **Cosmo** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 16:42 -0700

Bryan, I saw on your LiveJournal that you were interested in The Smurfs. For those who only know the TV animated series, let there be known that it is before all an excellent "funny animal" comic by Peyo, mostly for children, but with a sense of humourous social commentary I've rarely seen in children's comics. The books are much better the TV series, except the most recent ones - those released after Peyo's death.

If you're looking for some albums, I'd recommend : Book 2, "Le Schtroumphissime" (The King Smurf), which deals with democracy, elections, dictature and citizenship. A topical story today, though published in 1965.

I'd also recommend Book 9, "Le Cosmoschtroumpf" (The Astrosmurf). It was published in 1970 and deals with the conquest of space. It's perhaps my favourite album, and the second story of this book, "Le schtroumpfeur de pluie", which features an incredible cloudbusting machine going out of control, is very funny too.

Oh, just one thing : Mit Mantel und Degen is the German name of the series. In the original version (French), it is De Cape et de Crocs.

Post by **Todd Shogun** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 16:51 -0700

I don't read any of the currently published anthro comics, but some of my faves include:

Cutey Bunny
Albedo
Critters
Xanadu
Fusion
Cerebus
Fish Police
Hepcats
Captain Jack
Equine the Uncivilized
Panda Khan
Patrick Rabbit
Maus
Pogo

There's probably a few more that I can't think of off the top of my head.

Bryan Stone · Post by **Bryan Stone** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 19:08 -0700

Wow! Thanks so much guys! I've been looking for the Smurf's comics but they are really hard to find! I'm definitely going to check out Furlough and some of the others you guys mentioned. Thanks so much for your help!

Gaffey · Post by **Gaffey** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 19:12 -0700

If you're looking for an all ages book you could try Owly by Andy Runton.

http://www.andyrunton.com

Space Wolf · Post by **Space Wolf** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 19:21 -0700

I love the Uncle Scrooge books. Carl Barks is great but I am a huge fan of the Don Rosa ones. I loved the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck and the Companion book that came out with that as well.

I have a box of Uncle Scrooge books waiting for my one year old for when she learns to read.

MikeM · Post by **MikeM** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:37 -0700

Oh jeez. How did I forget Mouse Guard? Mouse Guard is amazing.
Im getting the collected Hard Cover when it comes out and I have all the individual issues.

I heard a rumour that Don Rosa was in negotiations with DC comics to do something, specifically Green Arrow. I can't imagine that, but damn that would be cool if ture.

MikeM

Thomas Froehling · Post by **Thomas Froehling** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:56 -0700

Cosmo wrote:By the way, Thomas, have you ever heard of Mit Mantel und Degen (De cape et de crocs) ? It's a wonderful comic too, though not all characters are "funny animals". Very nice drawing (quite close to Blacksad, in a way) and extremely well-written dialogues.

Yes, I have heard of the comic; there are as yet seven albums available (and you'll bet, I have them

). They keep getting better and better, and I almost laughed myself silly with the last one...But them again, I'm quite silly to start with....

Cosmo wrote:I fear they lose a lot in translation.

Not translated in English yet, unfortunately. Revise your French.

I don't know, the German translation seems pretty good, but I can't tell, being Frenchly illiterate

@Brian: Beware: This might come as a shock or a clash of cultures: European comics are often rather expensive, compared with American comics, but keep in mind that they are bigger (about 1.5 times), have more pages and come from far away...