OBITS: As many of you know, on March 24, 2016, the world had lost talented actor/comedian Garry Shandling. He'd succumbed to a heart attack, at the age of 66. Shandling was best known for his two TV series "It's Garry Shandling Show" (a take-off of sitcoms) and "The Larry Sanders Show" (a talk show parody). But to 'furry folks' worldwide, he will be remembered for his voice work as two different animals: a nameless pigeon in "Dr. Doolittle" (1998) with Eddie Murphy, and as 'Verne' the turtle in "Over The Hedge" (2006) with the additional voices of Bruce Willis, Steve Carrell, William Shatner. Wanda Sykes, et al... And earlier this year, we'd lost a great multi-talented voice actor in Joe Alaskey, who passed away from cancer on February 3rd; He was 63. He will be remembered for the following cartoon characters he'd voiced: 'Plucky Duck' on "Tiny Toon Adventures", 'Sylvester' the cat in "The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries", and 'Daffy Duck' in the new "Duck Dodgers" series. He also provided the voice of 'Thomas Timberwolf' in the short-lived "TimberWolf" Internet series of shorts - the last project by Oscar-winning animation director Chuck Jones...

COMICS: Just to give all of you a one-month 'heads-up', May 7, 2016 is "Free Comic Book Day" at most participating comic emporiums throughout the USA. Among the free titles with anthropomorphic characters in them are "The Pink Panther" (from American Mythology), "Pokemon" (Viz Media), "Sonic Sampler" (Archie Comics), and "Spongebob Squarepants" (United Plankton Pictures)... Hot on the box office success of Disney's "Zootopia", Joe Books, Inc. - which already released a 'cinestory comic' version of the CGI film - will be coming out with an original 'graphic novelization', which will also include a 'prequel story' with characters 'Judy Hopps' and 'Nick Wilde'. Watch for it... One of the newest anthropomorphic comic titles, now available in stores, is the premiere issue of "The Mighty Zodiac" (Oni Press) - the story of a band of adventurous animals (based on the ones associated with the 'lunar calendar'). This eclectic group includes 'Tan' the rooster, 'Ko' the cat, 'Kane' the dog, 'Mal' the horse, and 'Ho' the tiger. J. Torres wrote the story, Corin Howell illustrated it, and Maarta Laiho colored it... Other anthropomorphic comic titles available include "Usagi Yojimbo" (Dark Horse), (all-new) "Darkwing Duck", "Madagascar" (both from Joe Books, Inc.), "Penguins of Madagascar", "The Adventures of Puss in Boots" (both from Titan Comics), "Regular Show" (Boom! Studios), "Looney Tunes" (DC), "Angry Birds Comics", "My Little Pony", "Mickey Mouse", "Donald Duck", "Uncle Scrooge", and "Walt Disney's Comics & Stories" (all from IDW)...

MOVIES: Upcoming Spring animated film releases with animal characters include "Storks" (Warner Bros.), "Ratchet and Clank" (Gramercy Pictures), "Finding Dory" (Disney/Pixar), "The Angry Birds Movie" (Sony Pictures) and "The Secret World of Pets" (Universal Pictures). Most of these films are rated PG... And, of course, April 15, 2016, marks the release of a rebooted version of Disney's "The Jungle Book", with a live-action 'Mowgli' (played by Neel Sethi ) interacting with CGI animals with celebrity voices - such as Ben Kingsley as 'Bagheera' the panther, Bill Murray as 'Baloo' the bear, Scarlett Johannson as 'Kaa' the snake, Christopher Walken as 'King Louie' the ape, and Idris Elba as 'Shere Khan' the tiger. (Rated PG) See you at the movies!