One of the first anthroartists I got acquainted with - back in the early 1980s - was Chuck Melville. At the time, he was living in upstate New York (while I was still residing on Long Island), and he came out with an independent comic book entitled "The Champion of Katara" (the story about two modern-day felines - a slightly cowardly lion and a cigar-chomping cat - who wind up in a medieval world), which introduced readers to his magical vixen 'Felicia'.

Melville would eventually become a member of the APAzine "Rowrbrazzle", be a semi-regular contributor to MU Press comic book "ZU", and become an ongoing artist/writer for the sci-fi/fantasy 'zine "Tales from the Tai-Pan Universe".

The only time I got to meet Chuck in person was back in October, 1995, when he was one of the many guests of "ConFurence East" in Elizabeth, NJ. And he drew a lovely image of 'Felicia' in my sketch book, to boot!

(Currently, you can see one of his stories - with 'Felicia'! - in Issue #184 of Radio Comix' "Furrlough".)

When Chuck contributed to "Rowrbrazzle", his column was called "FA!" Not to cause any confusion, his "F.A." stood for "Funny Animals". And the column's mascot was a sarcastic lion cub named 'Gus', who would always go "FA!" (pronounced 'fah'), whenever something upsets him.

While I was a 'waiting lister' in the APAzine during the 1990s, I'd rendered an image of 'Gus', leafing through a self-help book. I thought I'd share this gag (as I spoof L. Ron Hubbard, the man behind 'scientology' and other dribble). Enjoy!