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A Couple of Furry-interest Books
2 years ago
First one is a Watership Down graphic novel. It owes a lot to the movie, certain scenes even matching what was done on film. One advantage this new adaptation has over the movie, however, is they were able to include much more of the original book. It's been a while since I read the story, but it looks like they kept very close to the source material. Consequently this is a pretty hefty volume at 377 pages. The artwork has pros and cons. The pro is that's everything is clear and easy to follow. The rabbits and other animals are drawn reasonably well. I'm not sure what the actual technique used was--the result looks like watercolor and pencils, but it was probably done in ProCreate or a similar program. Cons: the layouts are very standard, nothing new or exciting. There's no use of dramatic lighting or spot blacks. Another big issue is one that plagued the movie--the rabbits pretty much all look alike. Other than Bigwig and Holly, it's a chore to tell everyone apart. I also didn't like how the sun-god Frith was portrayed. Rather than being awesome and mysterious, Frith came out like a goofy smile emoji.
Still, overall I'd recommend it. It's obvious a lot of work went into the book, and it's the most complete adaptation out there.
Earlier this year a furry author was offering free EBook copies of his work. I thought--why the hell not, if it's free? After the books had been sitting on my Kindle for quite a while, I finally got around to reading one. I started with the most recent volume (there were 3 books all together.) titled Oshea. At first it just seemed like a standard fantasy book set in a vague pre-industrial time with furry characters. The villagers are burdened by oppressive taxes from the corrupt officials. The taxes are so very burdensome that the protagonist's family dies because he can't afford medical treatment, then he can't afford the death taxes for them. He flees into the wilderness to keep from being arrested, and meets a very eccentric wandering prophet, who is spreading the word about a 'judge of judges' who is coming to set everything right.
As I read more, I got the suspicious feeling I knew this story. When the protagonist finally meets up with this Judge of Judges (Oshea) he's being confronted in the wilderness by a demonic unicorn who offers him the world if he'll only bow down to him. So yes, this book is simply a retelling of the story of Jesus using furry characters.
One thing that was weirdly obvious is that this author has no interest in female characters. Mary gets only a single mention, and doesn't appear at all. There's no Mary Magdalene, no woman taken in adulatory, no Salome. The only female characters who even get to talk is the wife and daughter of one of the apostles. It was like he wanted to tell the story of Jesus without any icky girls in it.
Most of Jesus's acts in the bible are in here-- the feeding of the masses, gathering the apostles (including a despised tax collector), curing the sick, driving demons out of the posessed, clearing out the money-changers, raising the dead, and absolute nonviolence. Some differences include no Roman empire or the equivalent, and combining several biblical bad guys into one character. One big difference is the Judas character's motive for betraying Jesus. In the bible (I'm pretty sure--correct me if I'm wrong) is was simple greed on Judas's part. In this story, the Judas equivalent is angry that Oshea didn't use his power to topple the corrupt government.
I'm not sure who this book is aimed at, except maybe furry fans who are so into Jesus they need to read a furry version of it. There are two other books in this series, but I assume they're also retellings of earlier biblical stories. Since I already know how the bible turns out, there's no need to read them. (Although I'd have to admit being curious to read a furry version of the Book of Revelations.)
Still, overall I'd recommend it. It's obvious a lot of work went into the book, and it's the most complete adaptation out there.
Earlier this year a furry author was offering free EBook copies of his work. I thought--why the hell not, if it's free? After the books had been sitting on my Kindle for quite a while, I finally got around to reading one. I started with the most recent volume (there were 3 books all together.) titled Oshea. At first it just seemed like a standard fantasy book set in a vague pre-industrial time with furry characters. The villagers are burdened by oppressive taxes from the corrupt officials. The taxes are so very burdensome that the protagonist's family dies because he can't afford medical treatment, then he can't afford the death taxes for them. He flees into the wilderness to keep from being arrested, and meets a very eccentric wandering prophet, who is spreading the word about a 'judge of judges' who is coming to set everything right.
As I read more, I got the suspicious feeling I knew this story. When the protagonist finally meets up with this Judge of Judges (Oshea) he's being confronted in the wilderness by a demonic unicorn who offers him the world if he'll only bow down to him. So yes, this book is simply a retelling of the story of Jesus using furry characters.
One thing that was weirdly obvious is that this author has no interest in female characters. Mary gets only a single mention, and doesn't appear at all. There's no Mary Magdalene, no woman taken in adulatory, no Salome. The only female characters who even get to talk is the wife and daughter of one of the apostles. It was like he wanted to tell the story of Jesus without any icky girls in it.
Most of Jesus's acts in the bible are in here-- the feeding of the masses, gathering the apostles (including a despised tax collector), curing the sick, driving demons out of the posessed, clearing out the money-changers, raising the dead, and absolute nonviolence. Some differences include no Roman empire or the equivalent, and combining several biblical bad guys into one character. One big difference is the Judas character's motive for betraying Jesus. In the bible (I'm pretty sure--correct me if I'm wrong) is was simple greed on Judas's part. In this story, the Judas equivalent is angry that Oshea didn't use his power to topple the corrupt government.
I'm not sure who this book is aimed at, except maybe furry fans who are so into Jesus they need to read a furry version of it. There are two other books in this series, but I assume they're also retellings of earlier biblical stories. Since I already know how the bible turns out, there's no need to read them. (Although I'd have to admit being curious to read a furry version of the Book of Revelations.)
BTW, I found something out rather neat: my uncle and his wife in Montreal are next-door neighbours to the young woman going by the moniker Robey who co-sang One Night In Bangkok with Murray Head for one of the first full recordings of Chess; apparently Aunt Gisele has informed her of my particular interest in Bjorn Ulveaus/Tim Rice's 'unpublished' legend of a musical, and that because you shared it with me in turn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE1CxIq0Bzs
-2Paw.
Thanks for the Chess link. I shall check it out.
And you're more than welcome; I had no idea until a while after I saw a reduced-resolution version of your 'chessboard' drawing with the American, the Russian and the former's gentlewoman associate that Chess wasn't a low-impact muse for a lot of folks in our fandom.
I managed to find the 2-disc Chess CD soundtrack after a short while of looking, and I lucked out at a contents sale in finding the 2-vinyl record sleeve for Chess in excellent condition a decade later, just crossing into the 2010's.
-2Paw.