I have been a fan of Bill Willingham as a writer (his art is good but not spectacular) ever since he wrote and drew the Elementals comic book in the 1980s. I still think that Elementals vol. 2 #15, July 1990, is one of the most perfect superhero comics ever written, and I have been reading his Fables for DC Comics/Vertigo since it started in 2002. (The second story arc of Fables, “Animal Farm”, was on the ALAA’s Recommended Anthropomorphic Reading List in 2002.)

But I’ll admit that I totally missed his first novel, Down the Mysterly River (Austin, TX, Clockwork Storybook, April 2001, 230 pages, 100 copies), when it came out ten years ago. Now Willingham has heavily revised it and it is published as a major children’s fantasy under Tor Books’ juvenile Starscape imprint, with twenty-five chapter heading illustrations and an endpaper map by his Fables partner, Mark Buckingham.

Starscape describes it as a “children’s book”. It is, but of the sort that has reviewers comparing it to the Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, the Oz books, The Wind in the Willows, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, and others with lots of talking animals and/or are dramatic fantasy adventures – books that most Furry fans will have read. While I wouldn’t rate it quite as high as a classic, this is an adventure that readers of all ages will enjoy.

Tor/Starscape, Sept. 2011, hardcover $15.99 (333 + 1 pages); Kindle $9.99; audiobook $24.99.

A third book in the Grandville series of graphic novels by Bryan Talbot has been confirmed.

Talbot revealed on his Twitter account that the new book, set in a steampunk world with an alternate history and with a population mostly of anthropomorphic animals, will be called Grandville: Bete Noire. There are plans for a total of five books in the series.

Norweigian magazine Fredag (in today's issue of Dagbladet) has an article about furry fans, with a followup entitled Snakk medd en grevling (Talk to a badger).

The badger concerned is Kal; he and Sayh will be answering readers' questions on Monday.

The full story is in the magazine, but a brief summary [translation] is posted online.

Update: The summary has morphed into the full story, to which Sayh offers some context.

A young, hand-raised Badger bit a number of people and terrorised policemen in England before, sadly, being captured and put down.

It's bad enough when you're an English badger who's now flat at the side of a road. But when the construction crew paints the road line right over you, well, that's just sad. Brought to the attention of the local council by pictures in the newspaper, they're 'investigating' and say that the road work was done by contractors.