Stephanie Gladden is a multi-talented artist and cartoonist, best known for her work on licensed properties like tie-in comics for The Simpsons, Ren & Stimpy, Looney Tunes, The Powerpuff Girls and Tom & Jerry. Furry fans, however, might know her best for her original creator-owned comic book series Hopster’s Tracks from the late 90′s. Well now, Stephanie has created her first on-line comic series, The Girls of Monster Paradise.  You know all those old Sci Fi and Horror movies where the monsters show up and grab a screaming pretty girl, then drag her off slung over their shoulder?  Just what do they do with those women? Do they eat them? Do they let them go? Neither! They take them to Monster Paradise, a tropical island where the party never ends — and where the girls stick around because they like their cool new monster friends! Find out all about it on-line here.

image c. 2013 by Stephanie Gladden

After the box-office success of Monsters vs. Aliens in 2009, Dreamworks Animation green-lit a spin-off TV series to be developed for Nickelodeon. Well, now it’s here! Monsters vs. Aliens premiered on cable TV March 23rd with a special pilot episode, “Welcome to Area Fifty-Something”. Regular episodes begin on Saturday mornings starting this weekend.  B.O.B. the blob, Link the fish-man, Dr. Cockroach the bug-man, and Susan (aka Ginormica) the giant-lady just want to live a quiet life on their secret government base, but that’s hard to do when hostile aliens keep showing up — and doing things like kidnapping the President! Nickelodeon has an official web site for the show as well.

image c. 2013 Dreamworks Animation

Here’s the first set of new discoveries we’ve made this year at WonderCon in Anaheim, California.

Christopher Lee (no, not that one) is a graduate from the California State University at Sacramento who majored in graphic design. After working for graphic magazines, toy companies, and special effects studios, he made the bold choice to go solo as a graphic-designer-for-hire. To that end he has created a series of prints, t-shirts, and other items which he sells on his web site, www.thebeastisback.com. Among the items he’s created is Kaiju Romance, “Twenty two of your favorite giant monsters from the Gamera and Godzilla franchises falling in love in unexpected ways.” Each of these 5 x 5″ cards was hand-finished, making each one unique, and they’re available now as a set.

image c. 2013 Christopher Lee

A Guy, a Girl, and Their Monster is a new puppet-based on-line video short series created by Jenn Daugherty. Here’s the description: “Henry is a monster, of the under-the-bed variety. Down on his luck he searches out the little girl he belonged to in the ’80s. He finds her in Los Angeles living with her fiancé. They take him in and the trio learns to live together in the big city.” The project is put together by students from the University of Southern California (USC) Graduate Film Program. The first episode is up on YouTube, and there’s also a Facebook page for the series.

image c. 2013 Jenn Daugherty

Next February Marvel Comics (with the help of Disney and Pixar, of course) presents a new Monsters Inc. one-shot full-color comic. In Monster’s Inc.: The Humanween Party, “It’s that time of year again: Humanween! Monstropolis’ version of Halloween – where monsters dress up as humans – comes but once a year, and this time the annual party is at Mike and Sulley’s home. Mike goes into panic mode when he learns of an unplanned visit from his mother the day after the big bash!” It’s written by Alessandro Ferrari and illustrated by Elisabetta Melaranci, Federica Salfo, Michela Frare, and Paco Desiato (whew!). Look for more Monsters Inc. tie-in items in 2013 as the new animated sequel, Monsters University, gets closer. In the meantime, check out Humanween at Things from Another World.

image c. 2012 Marvel Comics

I watched Hotel Transylvania because I have a weakness for Gothic archetypes, not because I was expecting it to be any good. It is a movie not only starring Adam Sandler, but even produced by him. Well, I can say this is the best thing Adam Sandler has done in years, but that still does not matter much on the good to bad scale.

I did not watch this movie because I intended to review it for Flayrah; about halfway through the climax, in which the movie’s protagonist takes the form of a talking bat and sticks that way until the denouement, I realized furries might want to know that. I mean, yeah, werewolf in the trailers and TV spots and all, but if you decide to see this movie, see it for the cute talking vampire bats.

Not much else reason.

Just in time for more Monsters, Inc, Marvel Comics brings us… Monsters, Inc! The full-color comic book adaptation, that is. The new 2-issue mini-series was adapted by Charles Bazaldua and illustrated by a team of artists from Italy. All of this in anticipation of the 3D re-release of Monsters, Inc — which is, of course, in anticipation of the new Pixar prequel film, Monsters University, which is due next year. (If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the Monsters University “Campus Brochure” that Disney/Pixar have created.) The comic book version of the original Mike and Sully movie, meanwhile, is due in stores this December.

image c. 2012 Disney/Pixar

If you haven’t seen it so far, Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters is the latest “re-imagining” of a classic product line to premier on The Hub network — in this case back in June. Kaijudo is a new version of the Duel Masters series by Wizards of the Coast (which, like The Hub, is a division of Hasbro Toys). This time around, the creators of this new show (specifically Andrew Robinson and Henry Gilroy from The Hub) wanted to have a different take on the “young kids and their fighting pet monsters” genre. The creatures of Kaijudo come to Earth from another dimension, and they can’t just be called up or sent back by the flip of a card. What’s more, our hero — a young boy named Ray, voiced by Scott Wolf) — has a special power of empathy with the monsters, and so he is very connected when they are hurt or made to suffer.  According to the creators, they wanted a show where the heroes, the villains, and even the companion monsters show much more personality than shows like these have seen in the past.  Have they succeeded? Find out for yourself. New episodes of Kaijudo currently air on The Hub on Saturdays at 8 pm Eastern, 5 pm Pacific. Check out the official Kaijudo web page from The Hub as well.

Shut Up Cartoons is a YouTube channel of original animated series put together by the Smosh Channel, which claims to be the third largest Channel on YouTube.  In amongst titles like Oishi High School Battle and Zombies vs. Ninja are a couple of shows that furry fans might want to take notice of. Krogzilla is one of the newest. “Born as an unknown mutation of aquatic lizard, Krogzilla was a 200-foot tall fire-breathing sea monster that terrorized coastal cities all over the world, until a team of scientists defeated him by shrinking. Now reduced to only six feet in height, Krogzilla has to figure out how to become a functioning member of society. First thing Krog needs to do is find a job”. The series updates every Thursday, and you can find it on YouTube here. While you’re there you might also want to check out the preview trailer for Weasel Town, which premiers next week.

image c. 2012 Smosh Channel

The Cartoon Brew presents a trailer for Saving Sally, a Filipino feature-in-progress by Avid Liongoren. The two-years-in-progress feature combines live-action footage, cartoon animation, matte paintings, and motion graphics.

As far as the plot can be made out from this one-minute trailer (three Vimeo trailers, in fact), Sally is a live-action college student whose boyfriend is a nerdy amateur comic-book artist. The comic-book drawings come to life, and the anthropomorphic monster falls in love with Sally and won’t stop following her around. As the feature progresses, Sally herself starts switching back and forth between live-action and very surrealistic animation in which she identifies more and more with the monsters.

It’s a very original take on anthropomorphism. Saving Sally may or may not get finished, and it may or may not get to the U.S., so don’t miss this trailer. The Cartoon Brew is chock-full of animation, which is all fascinating even when it is not about anthropomorphic animation.

A werebat. A werewolf. Anthropomorphic monsters galore. Sony Animation's Hotel Transvlvania, due out in the U.S. on September 28 (a considerably different trailer was released in Russia in March), seems like a feature that Flayrah's readers should enjoy.

The Cartoon Brew has the first teaser-trailer for Pixar's 2013 Monsters University, a prequel showing Sulley and Mike as college students before they met Boo. No humans; it's all anthropomorphic "things".

Don't fail to read the Cartoon Brew commentary focusing on the lighting, and on how Pixar's advance trailers are usually much more crudely CGI-rendered than the finished movies.

Disney plans to release a Monsters, Inc. sequel on 16 November 2012, the BBC reports.

A new Muppets movie is also in the works, and will introduce a new character called Walter.

A Japanese museum is pulling in double the visitors after its Since Godzilla art exhibit opened. The organizer points out that Japanese woodcuts from the feudal era which were simply cheap tourist items are now works of art. He hopes Godzilla, the 50 year old campy nuclear lizard, will be seen in that light as well.