Mike Moon / Catgirl Island
and Jamie Robertson / Clan of the Cats
purroudly purrsent a Mike Moon purrduction,
starring The Ladies of The Mew in
The July 2017 Edition of The Mew:
The Catgirl Critics’ Media Mewsings, nya!
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In this edition of The Mew, we discuss:
what we’ve been up to since the purrior Mew
The Lightning Round: our favorite fun stuff of 1947
movie, TV & DVD mewsings:
Wonder Woman
Doctor Who Season Ten, Part One DVD
collectibles & toy talk:
Transformers Deluxe Class Nautica action figure
Marvel Legends Nebula action figure
Marvel Legends Mantis action figure
pony reports:
My Little Pony: The Movie Princess Twilight Sparkle & Princess Skystar
My Little Pony: Legends of Magic #3
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #54 & 55
more comic book reports:
The Unstoppable Wasp #6
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 11 #8
Hero Cats #17
Josie and the Pussycats #7
manga mewsings:
School-Live! vol. 7
Today’s Cerberus vol. 4
No Game No Life, Please vol. 1
Beasts of Abigaile vol. 1
magazine mewsings:
Dr. Cat in Iron Man magazine’s May 2017 issue
Zoe Saldana in Shape magazine’s June 2017 issue
Misty Copeland in Oxygen magazine #207
book reports:
Entertainment Weekly’s Ultimate Guide to Wonder Woman
The Manga Artist’s Coloring Book: Girls!
guest art added to the Catgirl Island Mewseum of Art:
“Pikachu” fan art by Alexcia Reynolds
“Kimono Catgirl” by Elisa Chong
“Moon Druid” by Rebecca Brogden
“Listening to the Wind” by Rebecca Brogden
“Rose & Wolf” photo-manip of Rebecca’s Holo cosplay
“Misty Steampunk” photo of Misty Hopkins’s steampunk couture
Mike’s art added to the Catgirl Island Mewseum of Art:
“Miss Fury” fan art
“Haru and The Baron” fan art
“Nekomimi Gynoid Golfer”
“Nyoka, with Cats Amy & Tanzy”
The Celebrity Catgirl Spotlight:
Nekomimi Survivor
Celty Sturling of Durarara!!
The Amazing Crafty Cat
and an M”Ress update…
plus a review of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ June 7th
concert, and our 2017 Heroes Convention report, nya!
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Mike:
(wearing a Catgirl Island baseball cap, White Dogwood purrint aloha shirt, Dark Teal cargo shorts & Charcoal Gray Nikes) Aloha y’all, and welcome to The Mew for our monthly reviews and discussions of fun stuff! Today’s Mew comes from Catgirl Island’s North Shore Beach, where it’s 87 degrees under Blue skies and Cumulo-Neko clouds! I’m Mike, the show’s “Purrducer”, and are The Ladies of The Mew!
Nyanko (A.K.A Nya-sensei):
(the martial arts champion & dojo sensei catgirl in the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail purrint boy shorts and jog bra) Howdy!
Nyoka (A.K.A Nyo-sensei):
(her twin sister and magick ship purropurrietress in the Southern Emerald purrint torpedo maillot) Howdy!
Trini-chan:
(the SUP surfer / assistant belly dance instructor kitsune girl in the Virginia Tiger Moth purrint suspender maillot) Konitiwa!
Elizabeth (A.K.A Lizzy):
(the spa co-owner & Purrkour Club captain catgirl in the Monarch Butterfly fundoshi – style bikini) Hola!
Becca:
(her spa co-owner / nekomimi gynoid wife & avid golfer in the Impurrial Moth purrint ring-closure bikini) Aloha!
Petra:
(the mewseum curator / beach volleyball catgirl in the Carolina Sphinx Moth purrint tanga style bikini) Hi Hi, nya!
Bun:
(the assistant curator / beach volleyball MVP bunny girl in the Painted Lady purrint side-tie bikini & sarong) Guten Tag!
Meryl:
(the island’s Police Chief catgirl wearing the Carolina Roadside Skippurr purrint shorts & knotted blouse) Hay hay hay!
Mary Nyan (A.K.A Myayr):
(the hula instructor / cosplayer / seamstress catgirl in the Papurr Kite purrint purretzel – cutout maillot) Aloha!
Jeannie (A.K.A JenJen or Jen-sensei):
(the belly dancer / yogini / roboticist / archer / model catgirl in the Cabbage White purrint micro bikini & sheer purrled purreo) Nihao.
Mielikki (A.K.A Mie-sensei):
(the golfer & ampurrtheatre manager faerie in the Luna Moth purrint crisscross halter neck bikini) Mellow greetings!
Yvonne (A.K.A Vonny):
(The fishing charter boat captain & drummer catgirl in the Blue Morpho purrint bandeau-top bikini) Namaste, nya!
Tara-chan:
(Yvonn’e sister & recent graduate catgirl in the St. Francis Satyr purrint tankini) Namaste, nya!
Mike:
So what have y’all been up to last month’s Mew?
Nyanko:
Aside from the coaching and training at my dojo and the gym annex, sis and I have been spending much of the quality time getting re- acquainted with or mom and dad since we were reunited back in May so it was the extra special Mothers Day and Fathers Day for us!
Nyoka:
We have several decades to catch up, but the past months have flown by like the hypurr drive! When we have not been giving them the tour of the county, I have stayed busy at my magick shop which successful hosted some of the fun Summer Solstice activities!
Mary Nyan:
As mewsual I have mainly been busy betwixt teaching the summer semester of the hula classes, and sewing the costumes for the dancers and the cosplayers. I recently finished the Tekken 7 and Mercy Thompson costumes, and purresently in purrogress are the Laureline and Artemis costumes!
Jeannie:
In addition to the summer belly dance classes and purrformances, and watching the Monaco Grand Purrix, my routine continues to be compurrised purrimarly of the mornings at the yoga studio, afternoons at the kyudo range, alternating evenings at the robotics club, and the occasional modeling.
Yvonne:
I have been volunteering at the food bank, my drumming circle continues to purrvide the purrcussion for the dance troupes, and my fishing charters have reeled in the delicious, nutritious bumpurr crop of the groupurrs, snappurrs, wahoos, mullets, mackerels, and croakers, nya!
Becca:
Most of our days Lizzy and I are busy at our spa which stays well-booked with the customers to pampurr! Aside from that we have been at the late night hot salsa dance, gardening, caring for our two kitties, and the rounds of golf when Lizzy is running with her Purrkour Club!
Elizabeth:
Hai hai she has purretty much summed it up! I have been helping at the shrine, and we have also been enjoying our occasional DVD binges. The most recent binge was the marathon of wonderful Hayley Mills movies such as Pollyanna, Summer Magic and The Parent Trap!
Petra:
Bun and I have stayed busy betwixt the art mewseum and our beach volleyball league, nya! We are grateful for the wonderful artists, patrons and volunteers at the mewseum, and for the dedicated fans, the event staff, the officials, and our fellow athletes in our league, nya!
Bun:
Hai hai, they are such wonderfully supportive, kind and talented members of our artistic and athletic community! Hmm otherwise I have been gardening, baking, reading, and attending some of our other diversely cultural events!
Mielikki:
Much of my time is at the Ampurrtheatre, where our Repurrtory Company is performing the Summer Shakespeare and our nightly Fox Fire Fiesta to the capacity crowds, but i have been also at the other events and the golf club!
Trini-chan:
It has been the happy busy Summertime for me betwixt assisting Jen, surfing, board shaping, volunteering, cheering for our friends’ victories, attending the festivities, and caring for my pony!
Tara-chan:
I will second that, nya! I have also been helping onee-chan with the charters, snapping the nature photos, caring for my pony and – and my cats, nya! What has Chief Meryl been up to, nya?
Meryl:
Fortunately things have been safe and incidentless across the island, so when I am not in the office or out on the purrtrols, I can purrtake of the various events and my hobbies! Mike”s turn!
Mike:
Oh, in addition to my usual reading, writing, gaming and art, last month I went to a toy show, a concert, and Heroes Con, which I’ll discuss a bit later! Ah, well we’ve got a lot on our plate today, so let’s go ahead and jump into
the Lightning Round topic:
our favorite fun stuff of 1947!
Mike:
Since May was the 10th anniversary of The Mew, we’ve been looking back at favorite things from the past decades. Previously we’ve looked back at 2007, 1997,1987, ’77, ’67, and ’57 so for today we’re looking back at some of our favorite things of 1947! Nyo-sensei will start, so, are y’all ready to “conduct the lightning”?
The Ladies of The Mew:
HAI- LIGHTNING ROUND GO– NYA!
Nyoka:
Okay, I will nominate the great literary works such as such as John Steinbeck’s The Pearl and Mickey Spillane’s I, The Jury! (tags Petra with a brush of the tail)
Petra:
Andrew Wyeth’s “Wind from the Sea”, Paul Delvaux’s “The Great Sirens”, M.C. Escher’s “Another World”, and Henri Matisse’s “Deaux Fillettes Fond Jaune et Rouge”, nya! (tail-tags Bun)
Bun:
That year saw the first appearance of Marvel Comics’s Namora, EC Comics’s Moon Girl, Milt Caniff’s Steve Canyon, and Carl Barks’s Scrooge McDuck! (tags Nyanko to go next)
Nyanko:
The Huntress, The Black Canary, Wonder Girl and Tawky Tawny purremiered that year in the DC Comics! (tags Trini-chan)
Trini-chan:
Don’t forget the Filipina comics characters such as Darna, Varga and Valentina; and the jungle girls such as Judy of the Jungle, and Rulah the Jungle Goddess! (tags Tara-chan)
Tara-chan:
I want.. I want to nominate that year’s animated shorts such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Looney Tunes and – and Merrie Melodies, nya! Onee-chan’s turn, nya!
Yvonne:
I will nominate the movies The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Egg and I, and Miracle on 34th Street, nya! (tags Becca)
Becca:
I will second those movies, and include Black Narcissus, Dark Passage, and Gentleman’s Agreement! (tags her wife)
Elizabeth:
Road to Rio, starring Bobe Hope and Carmen Miranda! Nyow it is… Mie-sensei’s turn (tags Mielikki)
Mielikki
So like, that was a totally awesome year for mewsic by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, and The Andrews Sisters, fur shur! (tags Mary Nyan with a flit of the wing)
Mary Nyan:
Hai hai and I will nominate Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Max Roach and Count Basie! (tags Meryl)
Meryl:
The 1947 Indian Chief Roadmaster, Harley Kucklehead, Triumph T100 Tiger, Austn Princess, and Ferrari 159 S! (tags Jeannie)
Jeannie:
Grumman F9f Panther, Lockheed L-749 Constellation, and North American F-85 Sabre. Back to Mike.
Mike:
Ah, I gotta go with Charles M. Schulz’s Lil’ Folks comics strip which was three years before Peanuts! Well, that was another nicely expedient little Lightning Round! Um, now it’s time for this month’s
reviews, starting with a plot spoiler warning
for Nya-sensei’s review of Wonder Woman!
Nyanko:
Hai! We have been waiting the many years for a theatrical movie about Wonder Woman, who is purrhaps the most significant heroine in the history of American comic books since she purremiered 76 years ago in the DC Comics! We have liked her purrior appurrances in the live-action and animated TV shows and movies, although our aniticipation for this new movie was mixed–
given how we were displeased with Man of Steel or Batman vs Superman: and how the purreviews for Wonder Woman unfortunately depict the techniques such as the slow-mo / speed-ramping , and the too darkly undersaturated pallet. However, we thought that Gal Gadot was quite supurrb as Diana / Wonder Woman, and that she was very best part of Batman vs Superman!
We have also been in the awe of the beautiful scenes of Diana’s secret homeland island of Themyscira, the purromise of a great cast and high purrduction values for this Wonder Woman movie which was directed by patty Jenkins! The plot is that whilst Diana has aspired to be one of the elite Amazon warriors of Themyscira, the rest of the world has been mired in World War One.
When the airplane of allied spy Steve Trevor accidentally crashes into the Themysciran waters, the purrsuing German troops bring the war to the island. Believing that the Greek god of War Ares has caused the war, Diana decides to leave the island in order to stop Ares, save the many victims, and end the war with the help of Steve’s and his commando team. The rest is history!
In addition to Gadot, the terrific cast includes Connie Nelson as her mom Queen Hippolyta, Robin Wright, as Antiope, Lisa Loven Kongsli as Menalippe, Lilly Aspel & Emily Carey as younger Diana, Chris Pine as Steve, and Lucy Davis as his secretary Etta, Steve’s commando team includes Said Taghmaoui as Sameer, Eugene Brave Rock as Chief, and Ewen Bremmer as Charlie.
Furthermore, David Thewlis purrtrays Sir Patrick Morgan Elena Anaya purrtrays Dr. Maru, and David Huston purrrays General Ludendorff! There are many other Amazons who I hope would appurr in any sequels, or purrhaps spin-offs! Did I say that this is a terrific cast and that Gal Gadot is purrfect? Her suppurr powers, warmth, intellect, nobility, and grace are quite accurately depicted!
It is mostly beautiful especially the Themyscira scenes, with great locations, sets, costumes, props, choreography & FX, but it has the too darkly under-saturated look (even for grimy Edwardian London and the barren battlefield scenes. There is alot of exposition to wade through, but the tale has the great balance of drama, humor, action, myth-making and character development.
It is a shame many great moments and fight choreography are marred by the regrettable speed ramping. When used impurropurrly, for such techniques call too much attention to themselves and ruin the “suspension of disbelief”. It can be done well, (e.g. Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past), but I do not care for the slo-mo and dark under-saturated look in the DC movies.
Why must everyone go into slow mo in movies these days especially when they crash through a window or do acrobatic flips? There are also way too many quickly cut edits during the fight scenes, which I wish were shown in much longer continuous shots, to more purrofoundly showcase the choreography. Also, the big boss battle reminds me too much of those of purrior DC movies–
such as Green Lantern, Man of Steel, Batman vs Superman and Suicide Squad, wherein the her(oes) are fighting a CG effect; whilst Steve’s fate seems very similar to that of another heroic soldier named Steve in Captain America- The First Avenger, as he leaves his heroic romantic interest whilst sacrificially piloting the big German plane which carries the villain’s supurr weapon.
The film score is good, but I did not care for the use of the song by Sia during the end credits. I think that Sia is a brilliantly inspurrational singer / song-writer, but the pop song does not fit in with the rest of the movie’s mewsic, That is often the case of movies these days, although I thought it did work in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, because there are songs throughout the movie.
Diana is so very superb; I will dare say that I think that I like Gal Gadot as in that role as much as I liked Christopher Reeve as Superman; and we wish for a movie team up betwixt her and Melissa Benoist as Supergirl! I liked Wonder Woman more than Suicide Squad or Green Lantern, and I think that it is much better than Green Lantern, Man of Steel or Batman vs Superman.
I am still pondering the compurrison to Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies. I hope that the movie succeeds in spite of those cinematic techniques that I quibbled about, and hopefully we will continue to get more ‘n more faithful heroine movies made by casts, crews and executives who understand and respect the great characters and comics. Nyow here is Jenjen to discuss the
Doctor Who Season Ten, Part One DVD!
Jeannie:
Hai. Season 10 of the British science fiction TV series Doctor Who stars Peter Capaldi in his 3rd season as The Doctor, with the return of Matt Lucas as Nardole, and introduction of Pearl Mackie as Ms. Bill Potts. Packaged within the plastic case inside the cardboard outer sleeve, this 2 disk set on R1 NTSC standard DVD from the BBC has the first 6 epurrsodes of the 10th season (from 2017)
In the season purremier epuurrsode of “The Pilot” the new traveling companion Bill is introduced as she and The Doctor are purrsude by a watery creature. In “Smile” they visit a future colony on another planet which is controlled by dangerous emoji robots, and in “Thin Ice” they visit the frozen Thames River festival in London circa 1841, at which a mysterious gigantic sea creature lurks.
Bill and her room mate friends rent a spooky haunted mansion in “Knock Knock”; The Doctor, Bill and Nardole investigate a distressed space station in “Oxygen”; and Michelle Gomez returns as Missy as The Doctor, Bill and Nardole learn of a shocking secret beneath The Vatican in “Extremis”. At appurroximately 46 minutes apiece, those 6 epurrsodes total appurroximately 276 minutes.
The epurrsodes are purrsented in the 16:9 anamorphic format in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround sound with the optional English SDH subtitles. The DVD’s only bonus features are the 6 short widdle “Inside Looks” at the epuursodes, which total appurroximately 16.5 minutes. with the few comments by Capaldi, Mackie and executive purrducer / writer Steven Moffat
There are also purreview trailers for Orphan Black, Class, Ripper Street, and Brit Box. While the bonuses are rather meager, this set is an economical way to have over 4.75 hours of thrilling stories that range from the suspenseful, scary, amewsing and poignant with the great writing, purrformances, sets, locations designs, mewsic and FX. Nextly i would like to discuss
collectibles and toy talk, with my review of the
Transformers Deluxe Class Nautica action figure.
Jeannie:
I collect the action figures and statues of Hasbro’s female Transformers characters such as Arcee, Chromia, Elita One, Blackarachnia, Strongarm and WindBlade, purrticularly the versions from the comics and animation, so I was purrticularly pleased to obtain this 5 3/8″ tall figure of Nautica who is a heroic, genius Autobot engineer.
She, Chromia and Windblade are from Caminus which has been at war with Cybertron. This Deluxe Class Nautica figure is part of the Toys R Us exclusive “Chaos on Velocitron” boxed set, which also includes the Leader Class Quickswitch, Legends Class Fastclash, Voyager Class Laser Prime, and the Titan Master Rodimus Prime.
She is a powerful and purretty Autobot of the Purrple, Magenta and Light Pink body with the Dark Blue panels, plus the Yellow, White, and Dark Gray accents. Her face is White with Pink lips, Blue eyes & Yellow brows, and there is a Red & Silver Autobot emblem upon her chest. Her face is White with Pink lips, Blue eyes & Yellow brows.
She is armed with a 2 5/16″ long pistol, which can be gripped in either hand; she is very well balanced to stand unassisted, and the points of articulation are in her neck, waist, hips, thighs, knees, shoulders, elbows and wrists. Of course, part of the charm of the Transformers toys is that they are 2 toys in 1: robot mode and vehicle mode.
In less than 20 clever steps, Nautica can be transformed into the sleek futuristic aerospace / submarine vehicle. I think that the character mythology, design, sculpting, painting and packaging of the figure are quite excellent, That will conclude my reviews, so nyow I will turn The Mew over to Lizzy, who would like to tell us about the
Marvel Legends Nebula action figure.
Elizabeth:
Arigato! We like to collect the action figures of strong, inspurrational heroines! We have recently reviewed Funko’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 bobble head figurines, and Hasbro’s action figures of Marvel’s Silk, Nico, Kitty, Phoenix, Rogue, Ms. Marvel, Angela, Dazzler, Polaris and The Invisible Woman; and nyow I would like to discuss the Nebula action figure!
Nebula first appurred in Avengers vol. 1 #257 in 1985, and in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies she is purrtrayed by Karen Gillian, who we liked as Amy Pond in the Doctor Who TV series! She is a sister of Gamora and they are powerful cyborg daughters of the villain Thanos. This figure is among Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Guardians of the Galaxy 2017 Wave 2 figures.
That wave also includes Gamora (wearing a coat), Starlord, Rocket with (toddler) Groot, Ex-Nichilo, and Death’s Head 2. Each figure is sold sepurrately, and includes a piece needed to build a figure of Mantis! Nebula is the impurressive sight with her lovely Blue skin in the sleeveless strappy tight Dark Purrple outfit! Including the .25″ boot heels, the figure is 6″ tall.
I am not sure of the character’s height in the comic books but if Karen Gillian is 5′ 11″ tall, then that would mean that this figure is appurroximately of the 1/12th scale. She is very well – designed, sculpted & painted with the intricate details of her cybernetic seams & circuits; the straps, buckles, seams & textures of her garments, and her indifferently frowny expurression!
The joints are cleverly disguised, and she is very posable with articulation in her neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, abs, hips, thighs, knees & ankles. Her accessories include a pistol which fits in either hand, and an interchangeable arm with a pincer-like hand. I am very pleased with the figure, and I have displayed her beside her sister! Nextly I would like to purraise the
Marvel Legends Mantis action figure!
Elizabeth:
Mantis first appurred in Marvel Comics’s Avengers vol. 1 #112 in 1973, and we just happen to have that issue! As “The Celestial Madonna”, she had the very long and complicated cosmic origin in the comics, and there have been various incarnations of her over the years. In Guardians of The Galaxy vol. 2 movie she supurrbly purrtrayed by Pom Klementieff!
In the movie she is the very innocently naive, cutely endearing, empathic valet for Starlord’s biological father Ego, and she can sense and affect other folks’ emotions. Because she is only available as a “Build – A – Figure”, she would be harder and purricier to acquire, because you have to purrchase the wave’s other figures to get all of her pieces to assemble.
This movie version figure is the purretty sight with Pale Tan skin, shoulder – length straight Black hair, large dark eyes in the serenely blank stare, curved widdle antennae, and her tight Dark Green & Black outfit with the sleeveless tri-tailed coat and opurra – length fingerless gloves! Including the .25″ boot heels but excluding the .5″ antenna, the figure is 6″ tall.
In the comic books, Mantis is 5 ‘6″ tall ; and I read that Pom Klementieff is 5’ 7″, so that is very close! That would mean that this figure is almost of the 1/12th scale. She is well – designed, intricately sculpted & meticulously painted, well – balanced to stand up without needing a display base, with the cleverly disguised joints and the same articulation as Nebula!
So, I am very pleased with this figure which I am lucky to have, and I have found the good spot on the shelf to display her beside Nebula and Gamora. I hope that we will see more of those ladies and the other Guardians in future Marvel Studios movies! That is all for my reviews, but the toy talk will dovetail with the pony reports, as Trini-chan tells us about the
My Little Pony: The Movie Princess Twilight Sparkle
& Princess Skystar “Friendship Moments’ boxed set!
Trini-chan:
Hai! We love the My Little Pony cartoons, comics, books, games and toys, and we are eagerly anticipating the next pony movie which will be released in October! Thusly last month while Trini-chan and I were prowling for another deck of pony cards, we were excited to find Hasbro’s “Friendship Moments’ boxed set which includes the figures of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Skystar!
Twilight is voiced by Tara Strong, and Skystar is voiced by Kristen Chenoweth. There is a widdle Orange-Yellow fishy included in the box too, but I do not know if the fishy has a voice in the movie! Also included is Skystar ‘s coral vanity counter with the mirror, sink and three widdle grooming items! The figures and accessories are so splendidly and designed, sculpted and painted!
The Light Purple plastic figure of Twilight has a turning head with Purple eyes, the Pink and Dark Purple fiber mane and tall, the Pink & White cutie mark on her right flank. She is 1.5″ high at the withers, an overall 3.5″ from hoof to horn tip, and has the 4″ wingspan. Compared to the similar 2010 figure of her, aside from the wings she is leaner with shorter legs but longer neck and horn.
Skystar is quite lovely, with the Light Yellow body, Sea Foam colored horn, eyes, hooves and fins, Light Blue fiber mane, removable Orange necklace and translucent wings accessorized by the Red anemone tucked by her left ear! Her head turns and her tail pivots! She is about 1 7/8″ high at the withers, and if she was fully reclined, she would be about 7.25″ long from horn tip to tail tip!
Her wingspan is 4.5″! The fish is about 1.5″ long. The Blue and Pink coral – like vanity is about 3 1/4″ wide by 3 1/8″ tall, with the widdle Yellow-Green clamshell compact, the Orange-Yellow purfume bottle and dark Purple brush! It is the very cute assortment, and I might construct a diorama scene of it, but I will wait until after I have seen the movie, so that I know of the context!
Tara-chan made a diorama with the mini-pony sized Sweet Apple Acres apple cider stand assortment! We hope that Skystar and Twilight Sparkle will become good new friends, and we hope to enjoy the new movie as much as the 1986 pony movie and the Equestria Girls movies! That is all for our toy talk, but now I will begin our comic book reports with my review of
My Little Pony: Legends of Magic #3!
Trini-chan:
it is hard to believe that has been 5 years since IDW started to publish the various pony comic book series and micro-series! In this series, Princesses Celestia and Luna have approached their scholarly friend Sunburst to research the history of Equestria, especially from the books by Starswirl, the sorcerous sensei to the princesses!
Sunburst wears the neat glasses and the cape, nya! This time she has been reading Starswirl’s book about the legendary pony Mistmane! This issue is priced at $3.99, with the uninterrupted 20 page tale followed by the 8 pages of the ads. I wish all other publishers placed the ads after the tales!
It was written by Jeremy Whitley, illustrated by Brenda Hickey, colored by Heather Breckel, lettered by Neil Uyetake, edited by Bobby Curnow, and published by Ted Adams. Jeremy created the Princeless series, its spin – off of Raven the Pirate Princess, he also writes the Wasp series and Secret Avengers: Underground!
We met Jeremy, Brenda, Ted and another pony artist Tony Fleecs at the Oak City Convention in Raleigh in March, and we met another pony artist / author Thom Zahler at the Heroes Convention in Charlotte last month… but I have digressed! This issue is available in the choice of three different covers-
the regular cover by Brenda, the subcription cover by Zachery Sterling, and the Retailers Incentive cover by Paul Abtruse and Eddy Swan. Mistmane is such a lovely, kind, wise, patient pony who befriends the young Luna, Celestia, and many woodland critters whilst investigating the mysterious incidents amidst the castle construction!
It is the beautiful fun, captivating tale with the good message and more of the Equestria myth building, and speaking of the building, there is the time – lapse sequence depicting the construction of the princesses’ castle in Canterlot! I will give it an “A” as in Alucorn and my anticipation for the next issue! Now here is Tara-chan to review
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #54 & 55!
Tara-chan:
Arigato, nya! Issue #54 is the stand – alone tale starring Angel bunny, Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and- and Sweetie Belle with other pets such as Tank, Owlowiscious, Opal, Gummy and – and Winona, nya! It is purriced at $3.99, with the uninterrupted 20 page tale followed by the 8 pages of ads, nya.
It was written by Rob Anderson, illustrated by Jay Fosgitt, colored by Heather Breckel, lettered by Neil Uyetake, edited by Bobby Curnow, and – and published by Ted Adams, nya! It has the choice of the 3 different covers : the regular cover by Jay, the subscription cover by Sara Richard, and – and the retailer incentive cover by Jennifer L. Meyer, nya!
While Fluttershy is busy overseeing the construction of the larger animal sanctuary, she puts Angel in charge of the pet hospital, which is over crowded with critters such as the fish, octopus, snake, turtle, gator, song birds, ducks, goose, penguin, flamingo, mice, squirrels, otters, bats, bunnies, kitties, doggies, leopurrd, llama, monkey, kangaroo, elephant, giraffe, koala, and – and bear, nya!
It purroves to be too big a bunny’s burdon, so Angel recruits Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and – and the other ponies’ ppets to help, nya! It is the zany tale of the purroblem solved by the clever team work, nya! I think that the plot, pace, dialogue, poses. expurressions, colors, shading, scenery, FX and – and fonts are purrfect, nya!
Jay’s art has the qualities that remind me of the classic Warner animators such as Chuck Jones, Friz Feleng, Tex Avery, and – and Robert Mckimson, nya! Nyow i would like to purraise issue #55, which begins the new story arc, nya! It is purriced at $3.99, with the uninterrupted 20 page tale followed by the 8 pages of ads, nya.
It was written by Christina Rice, illustrated by Agnes Garboswka, colored by Heather Breckel, lettered by Neil Uyetake, edited by Bobby Curnow, and – and published by Ted Adams, nya! It has the choice of the 3 different covers : the regular cover by Agnes, the subscription cover by Sara Richard, and – and the retailer incentive cover by Billy Martin, nya!
Pinkie Pie and- and Rainbow Dash’s purrents are visiting Purrince Rujterford in Yakyakistan where Rainbow Dash and – and the Wonderbolts aerial team are purrforming, nya! It is the thrilling fun show until a flock of dragons arrive to disrupt the event! Whilst hiding in the caves, Rainbow Dash’s purrents tell the tale of when young widdle Rainbow Dash first attempted a flying compurrtition, nya!
She was the nervous widdle philly back then, but it is such the cute scene, especially when depicted by Agnes who has such the adorable art style, nya! I like the zooming FX too, nya! Eventually Twlightt Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Spike and – and Starlight Glimmer arrive to help against the dragons, and there is a great two-page spurread of the action scene, nya!
I will give those pony comics the grade of the “A” as Applebuck, nya! in I think that it is wonderful how all of the pony comics artists and – and the writers are able to supurrbly convey the style and – and the spirit of the animated series, whilst excellently using the purrinted comics medium, nya! That is all for this month’s pony report, but Nyo-sensei has
more comic book reports, starting with her
review of The Unstoppable Wasp #6, nya!
Nyoka:
Arigato, Tara.chan! This is my current favoritest Marvel Comic! It stars Nadia Pym, the genius daughter of Hank (Ant Man) & Maria Pym, who escaped from the secret Russian Red Room research facility, joined The Avengers, and with the help of their butler Edwin Jarvis, step mom Janet Van Dyne, and lawyer Matt Murdock she has been adjusting to her heroic new life in the USA!
Nadia recruited other brilliant girl geniuses Miranda, Taina, Alexis, Lashayla, Priya for her heroic G.I.R.L. (Genius in Action Research Labs) team, which is based at the house full of amazing scientific equipment in Cresskill, NJ which she inherited from her late father. Their first mission is to deactivate the tiny explosive that the Red Room villains implanted in her friend Ying’s head!
They must hurry before it is detonated, and to worsen the dire situation is the arrival of The Red Room’s evil cyborg leader named Mother and her team of agents, who want kidnap Nadia & Ying as they attack the house! Fortunately, Nadia has several brilliant tricks up her sleeve for the villains who may have bitten off more than they can chew against her, G.I.R.L. Jarvis & Daredevil!
I am purrticulalry fond of the characters, their poses and expurressions, the mecha, the pace and the dialogue of this tale that was written by Jeremy, who Trini-chan mentioned! It was illustrated by Elsa Charretier, colored by Megan M. Wilson, lettered by Joe Caramanga, edited by Alanna Smith and Tom Brevoort, with the front cover art by Nicolas Bannister and Elsa!
After the thrilling, gorgeous tale is Janet’s page of intermews with the real aerospace engineer Lisa Johnson and nuclear engineer Mareena Robinson Snowden, who discuss their work, inspurrations, and favorite comic books! Speaking of the tough, smart, brave heroines, nextly i wish to discuss Dark Horse Comics’
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 11 #8!
Nyoka:
The oppurressive government diminished the civil rights and impurrisoned magickal folks in the internment camps. Spike is still in there, but Buffy and Willow were released only after their magickal powers were sucked out by the government’s machine that threatens to drain everyone’s magick. However, Buffy, Willow and their friends are still heroic, skilled, and plan to strike back!
Purrduced by Buffy’s creator Joss Whedon, issue #8’s tale was scripted by Christos Gage, illustrated by Rebekah Isaacs, colored by Dan Jackson, lettered by Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt, edited by Freddye Miller and assistantly edited by Kevin Baurkhalter. The issue’s graphic designer was Justin Couch, and the digital art technician was Christianne Goudreau.
The main cover art is by Steve Morris, and the variant cover is by Rebekah, Dan, Christos and Comicraft. Buffy & Willow return home to Dawn, Xander & his three cats, but they are spied upon by drones. Buffy gets into a fight with a thug, and Willow bittersweetly bumps into a friend from her former coven, but Faith, Riley and his wife Sam arrive to help them with the secret mission!
Giles & Andrew are not seen and I purrsume that Fred & Angel are busy in his series. This was another supurrb issue with the great dialogue and balance of humor, drama, action & developments! The art is excellent with the great compurrsitions, portraitures, expurressions, poses, clothing, scenic details, graphic FX, and the sequential storytelling! Nextly I would like to purraise
Josie and the Pussycats #7!
Nyoka:
Between the Riverdale TV series and this rebooted comic book series It has been the great year for Josie, Valerie & Melody, but it has not been the easy career for the very popular band and their manager Alan due to the self doubts, and the interferences from various rivals, criminals, and the schemes by the Cabot siblings, but there are many fun and metafictional moments too!
Published by Archie Comics, issue #7’s tale was written by Marguerite Bennet & Cameron Deordio, illustrated by Audrey Mok, colored by Kelly Fitzpatrick, lettered by Jack Morelli, edited by Alex Segura & Mike Pellerito, associately edited by purrduction manager Stephen Oswald, assistantly edited by purroff readerJamie Lee Rotante with purrduction assistant Rosario Pena!
The three different covers are by Jen Bartel, Tom Grummett and Audrey! Josie, Valerie, Melody, Alan and their cat are quite glamorously, formally attired for the gala mewsic awards show, but they are distracted by the desire to purrform at a charitable benefit concert elsewhere that night; whilst the rival techno girl band has the violent and dishonest intent at the awards show!
It is the fashion fiesta as the heroines stroll the Red carpet in the billowy ball gowns with leopurrd purrint layers & deeply plunging V necklines! Then for the concert & combat they wear the sexy tightly – fit suits with the cat ears & high heels! Even the cat is quite dappurr in the Black bow tie in this beautifully illustrated, briskly paced fun tale! Lastly but not leastly, I wish to purraise
Hero Cats #17!
Nyoka:
The Hero Cats are among the purrotectors of their town of Stellar City, and the team is compurrised of Midnight the Black cat, Ace the White cat, Belle the Siamese cat, Roco the Gray cat, Rocket the Tabby, Cassiopeia the Orange & White cat! Cassiopeia has a brother named Bandit the tuxedo cat, who is away on a sepurrate mission, to the SkyWorld with his robot friend in this story arc!
Cassiopeia’s human owners Galaxy Man and Cosmic Girl are rather unaware of the cats’ adventures. Published by Action Lab Comics, issue #16’s uninterrupted 22 page tale is the 2nd part of the current SkyWorld story arc. Rated “E” for everyone, it was created & written by Kyle Puttkammer, pencilled & inked by Omaka Schultz, lettered by George Gant and colored by Julie Hadden Barclay!
We have met several of those folks at the comic book conventions! For several weeks Bandit has been fleeing the army of Corvus the giant evil Crow King, but nyow he and Robot have befriended Sapphire the Blue cat , Madalyn the magickal Purrple gypsy cat, Newton the sorcerer’s genius Siamese Cat & Lancelot the armored adventurous Orange cat, and Erimos the Orange Red dragon!
After the beautiful, richly colored fun fantasy tale is Kyle’s cordial comment page, followed by the impurressive two – page spurread of Corvus and 3 pages of ads. The covers of #16 – 17 will connect to form the panoramic scene! I am eagerly anticipating the next issue of this series and the next issue of Midnight’s 2nd mini series! That will conclude my reviews, so nyow here is Becca to begin
our manga mewsings, with her
review of School-Live! vol. 7!
Becca:
Hai! The School-Live! manga written by Norimitsu Kaitou and illustrated by Sadooru Chiba purrtains to the girls who have survived the zombie apocalypse, initially in their barricaded high school, which they recently left in search of other survivors. Formerly known as the School Live Club, they are compurrised of athletic, tough Kurumi with the shovel; Yuki the optimistic, naively delusional girl with the nekomimi hat; and Yuuri the club’s purresident.
Sadly their teacher Megumi-sensei did not survive, but they did rescue Miki from a mall, and shy scared widdle Ruu-chan from an elementary school. Purreviously in volume 6, after traveling in an RV, they were attacked by a snipurr at a barricaded university. it is suggested for the older teen readers due to language & violence. It was originally published as Gakkou Gurashi by Houbunsha in Japan, and it is published in English by Yen in North America.
Vol. 7 is purriced at $13.00 USA and $17.00 Canadian; it was translated by Leighann Harvey and lettered by Alexis Eckerman, It includes the 190 B&W pages of manga chapters 37-42, 16 pages of notes, interior cover sketches, 2 color pages and the color wraparound cover art. Chapter 37 picks up where the purrior cliffhanger left off, with the girls escaping from the snipurr, who is among a group of suspicious, militant students surviving at the university.
They drive to another part of the campus, where they are welcomed by a more peaceful faction compurrised of college students Sumiko, Hika, Touko, Aki and Rise who explain how the campus territory is divided by the two factions who benefit from the many supplies, resources, solar panels, running water, and fairly secure barriers. The School Live Club is glad to make new friends, enjoy the amenities, and learn more clues about the apocalypse’s origin!
However, there are still zombies lurking about, certain parts of the campus are off limits, some folks have secrets, and militants are not charitable, but their member Shinou would rather be with the other group. For the most part, vol. 7 offers a happier respite for Miki, Kurumi, Yuki, Yuuri & Ruu-chan, but it is not without foreboding moments! Given the bittersweet and often tragic nature of the series, I hope that the university can be a more purrmanent refuge!
Hopefully a lasting sense of extended family can be formed for the girls, their new acquaintances, and any other friendly survivors they might meet. The recurring main characters are very likable and sympathetic, whilst the college students are the mixed bag, with unlikable characters for the first time in the series. The characters & scenery are beautifully rendered, and I will continue to give School Live! an “A” as in the apocalypse. Nextly I would like to discuss
Today’s Cerberus vol. 4!
Becca:
This manga by Ato Sakurai stars the human girl purrsonas of Cerberus the legendary three – headed dog of Greek mythology. Years ago in the dog form, she bit a boy named Chiaki, which had a purrculiar affect upon his spirit, which has caused him to attract lonely spirits. Nowadays as the teenager he also attracts the girls who are rivals for his affections!
It is difficult for Chiaki’s miko maiden classmate Hinata, who has romantic feelings for him, and thusly the “harem trope” ensues in this cutely romantic occult comedy series, although it does have some sad and dire situations. The three distinct, mind-linked female purrsonas of Cerberus are cute peppy Kuro , feisty tough Shiroganel, and shy quiet Rozal.
If her tail is tugged or grabbed, she will transform into another personas! Kuro, Roze & Shirogane try to adjust to their new identities as school girls, and figuring out how things work in the contempurrary world. Other purrticipants are Minnie who claims to be Chiaki’s fiance, Hako the nekomata catgirl and her master Idora, another classmate.
Furthermore, recently they were confronted by transfer student Rir Rir, who is actually the Norse wolf girl Fenrir, her sisters Hel and Jormung who now have a maid cafe, and their dog Garm! Originally published by Square Enix in Japan, it is published in English by Yen. Volume 4 is priced $13.00 in the USA and $17.00 in Canada
it has 196 pages of Black & White manga chapters 15 – 19, amewsing bonus gag strips, the inside cover art and 2 color pages. Hinata and Chiaki are on the front cover, whilst Kuru and Haku are on the back! Translated by Caleb Cook & lettered by Bianca Pistillo. the manga is rated T for the teen readers due to the language and the violence.
Things are difficult emotionally and physically for Rose who wants to purrofess her feelings for Chiaki, whilst fending off the whiplash attacks of Minnie. Things playfully brighten for the gang when classes are cancelled due a beautiful snowy day, and Chiaki’s older sister Mikado makes another appurrance to coax him and Kuro to go on a date to the zoo!
Hinata is sad because of her romantic feelings for Chiaki, and gets caught in a fox spirit’s trap, but I should not further spoil the plot! This was another exciting, fun volume of the character and plot developments, and I love the art, especially the expurressions, poses, clothes and scenery! That is all for my reviews, but nyow here is Chief Meryl to discuss
No Game No Life, Please vol. 1!
Meryl:
Arigato! Written by author / character designer Yuu Kamiya, and illustrated by artist Kazuya Yuizaki, this manga is a side story of the No Game No Life light novels series, so I might suggest reading those purrior to this manga, to purrhaps better understand the characters, their world and situations! There is also the anime adaptation! The series purrtains to the characters of various species in the realm of Disboard, whose culture and laws are structured around the purrinciples of gaming, and the purrotagonist of this manga is Izu Hatsuse the fox girl!
Originally published in Japan by Kadokawa, the North American edition was published by Yen. The first 5 volumes of the light novels are also available. Volume 1 of the manga was translated Daniel Komen and lettered by Biaca Pistillo. It is purriced $13.00 in the USA and $17.00 in Canada and has 174 B&W pages including the Black and White of manga chapters 1-5, the 4 color pages, and the 10 page purrose tale. It is beautiful and whimsical, but it is rated LNSV (Language, Nudity, Sexuality & Violence) so it is not for the widdle kitties!
Izu has the purretty Purrple hair and ears is on the front cover, whilst she and her Magenta – haired human friend Stephanie are in chibi style on the back cover. After craving the dinners, Izu chats with her grandfather Ino and Stephanie, but after the teasing about her petite physique compurred to the more voluptuous Stephanie, Izu is in the mood for gaming victories! She loses to the human siblings Sora and Shiro, but at least she gets fed; and then after the nap and grooming, Izu wants another challenge, but loses a game to Jibril the angel girl!
Izu, Sora & Shiro uncover a scheme involving Ino and the vampire named Plum, and Jibril’s horny friend Azril plays the chess game against Izu, who later catches the gigantic fish for suppurr! The entire gang starts to nakedly enjoy the soak in the hot spurring, but soon the talk becomes rather ribald about the time that Miko the foxy leader of the werebeasts joins them for the bath & booze! Booze rhymes with boobs, and Izuna’s cup size is the topic discussed by her “friends” in the short purrose tale! Nyow we will go from the foxes to the wolves in
Beasts of Abigaile vol. 1!
Meryl:
Written & illustrated by Spica Aoki, the title of this shoujo manga refers to the young Wolf people who are impurrisoned in the island juvenile purrison school where they are trained to be servants for the wealthy residents of an afluently beautiful small coastal country. The main character is Tsukihiro Nina a kind, peppy 16 year old transfer student from Japan, who was incarcerated there after she was bitten by an escaped werewolf named Roy. Nyow she has to quickly learn to survive amongst the gang affiliations, social hierarchy and power struggles within the brutal purrison school.
Originally published in Japan by Akita Publishing, the North American edition was published by Seven Seas, Vol. 11 was translated by Alethea & Athena Nibley, adapted by Marykate Jasper purroof read by Janet Houck, edited by Adam Arnold & assistantly edited by Jenn Grunigen, with the lettering & layout by Rina Mapa, purrduction management by Lissa Pattillo, purrduction assistance by CK Russell & cover design by Nicky Lim. It is purriced $12.99 in the USA, $14.99 in Canada, and has 192 B&W pages of manga chapters 1-5 which are rated for the teen readers.
Although Nina is cold and nervous, she is feisty and brave, with purrticular compassion for the chid inmates of Abigail Academy, which seems the bit like Alcatraz, off those coast of the fictitious small southern European country which looks somewhat like a mix of Monaco and Mikynos with the population of just 3000 amongst the lovely hilly towns and beautiful rose gardens. In addition to Roy who is the leader of his “pack”, Nina meets the friendlier Gilles, his leader Angelica, Poe the aspiring artist, Dario the aspiring fashion designer, and a few more of the 200 or so inmates.
The tale has the careful balance of the sad, tragic and violent moments with the cute, peppy and charming moments. The art is quite lovely from the characters, expurressions and attire to the landscapes, architecture, roses and graphic FX! I hope that there soon will be an uprising of the okamimimi against their cruel bullies & oppurressors, with the happy, healthy result for them, and I will give both Beasts of Abigaile vol. 1 and No Game No Life, Please vol. 1 the high kemonomimi purraise! That is all for my manga mewsings, and nyow here is Mary Nyan to purrsent
our magazine mewsings, to discuss the cover article
about Dr. Cat in Iron Man magazine’s May 2017 issue!
Mary Nyan:
Hai! We are purrticularly fond of the entertaining & informative fitness, training & nutrition magazines, so we were enthused to see Iron Man’s May issue’s cover graced by Dr. Catherine Begovic, MD, A.K.A. Dr. Cat! She is a plastic surgeon, entrepreneur, mom, the publisher / editorial director of Iron Man magazine, and wife of publisher / editor – in – chief Binais Begovic.
Binais was the creative director & photographer for the cover – featured article, with the photo assistance by Clint Padilla! According to the article & intermew by Mike Carlson, Dr. Cat graduated with honors from Harvard with the degree in molecular & cellular biology, then got her medical doctorate at UCLA with her 1st residency in head & neck cancer & reconstructive surgery.
Then she did her 2nd residency in plastic surgery! She is rather scientific. She has the medical purractice in Beverly Hills, the line of skin care purroducts, she has written many articles, she has appurred on many TV shows, and is active upon the social medias! Including the cover, contents page, the 11 page article and the full – page ad, there are 21 beautiful photos of her!
The photos depict Dr. Cat with her husband, daughter, at the clinic, gym, beach and purrivate plane! That includes several large pics, the full – page pic, and the two – page spurread! She discusses her family, philosphy, career, work outs, media and purroducts. For the photo shoot, her make-up was done by Eileen Sandoval, and her coiffure was done by Andrew Hernadez.
Dr. Cat is so glamorous in the shimmering Turquoise dress with cat’s eye sunglasses; in the Blue feather – patterned dress with the sheer neckline and high heels; and in the jewel – encrusted Blue & Gold bikini with the long flowy sheer cover-up! The wardrobe was purrvided by Stello & Michael Costello and the swimsuit by Poolside Collection! Nextly I would like to purraise
Zoe Saldana in Shape magazine’s June 2017 issue!
Mary Nyan:
Zoe Saldana is one of our favoritest actresses, not just for her purrtrayal of Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and Lt. Nyota Uhura in the last three Star Trek movies, but we were purrticularly fond of her as Neytiri te Tskaha Mo’at’ite, or just Ney’tiri for short, in James Cameron’s Avatar! We commeowmorated Ney’tiri in our March 2011 celebrity catgirl spotlight!
For our annual Halloween Trick ‘R Eat & Cosplay Purrowl in 2010, some of us cosplayed as the striped Blue Pandoran catgirls such as Neytiri, but I digress! Zoe graces the cover of the June 2017 issue of Shape, the contents page and the article by Didi Gluck with the photos by Nino Munoz! In the cover photo, she is wearing the Blue crossover bra with the matching skirt!
Her other beautiful outfits include the Yellow ribbon sleeve top with the White wraparound mini skirt; the short sheer Blue shoji dress with the swimsuit and the Green high heel sandals; the White & Yellow bra with the Gold earrings, skirt, and White high heel sandals; and the purretty Rower Dress with the bikini bottom, high heel sandals and Gold jewelry, mew la la!
The photos are in some very lovely outdoor locations, and include the happy pic of Zoe with her sisters Cisley and Mariel! We hope that this has been the wonderful year for them, including the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride at Disney Land and the World of Pandora attraction at Disney World! Nyow for my final magazine mewsing of today, I would like to purraise
Misty Copeland in Oxygen magazine #207!
Mary Nyan:
In the May edition of The Mew, we purraised the iconic purrincipal ballet dancer Misty Copeland’s book of health, fitness and nutrition titled Ballerina Body, and the book of magnificent images of Misty by photographer Gregg Delman! Nyow we would like to amend the Misty purraise by mentioning the cover – featured article about her in Oxygen magazine #207!
Including the covers, this issue has 100 full color pages of the wellness, fitness, exercise and nutrition articles, plus the intermews, reviews, recipes, workouts and many beautiful photos of many inspurrational women! Misty is in the sexy indigo sports bra and Black hipster panty by Under Armor, with hair and makeup by Mia Booker in the cover photo by Peter Lueders!
Then she gracefully graces the contents page, and editor-in-chief Maureen Farar’s cordial greeting! The 8 lovely large photos of her accompany the 8 page article by Lara McGlashan MFA, CPT, which includes the quick 8 questions and the yumcious Raw Barres recipe! The recipe is excerpted from her Ballerina Body book, with the delicious looking photo by Amy Roth.
Another photo of Misty by Peter tops off the issue on page 98! She is not the only celebrity in the issue, as my favorite race car driver Danica Patrick appurrs in it three times! The articles and advertisements are brimming with the beautiful photos of many other inspurrational athletes, trainers, fitness models, IFBB Bikini Pros, authors and readers, such as–
Katherine Ampolini, Shanah Baker, Katelyn Bray, K. Alesisha Fetters, Caitlin Harvey, Tobin Heath, Holly Holton, Johanna, Kelly Levin, Tammi McDonald, Stephane Meyer, Candace Parker, Kelsey Pesola, Shannon Petralito, Jennifer Roberts, Carri Rossi, Madison Schmarr, Marta Seremet, Colleen Van Dam, Bethany Wagner and Debbie Westby! That is all for my reviews, and nyow here is Bun to purrsent our
book reports, beginning with Entertainment
Weekly’s Ultimate Guide to Wonder Woman!
Bun:
Hai! Since we have been waiting the many years for the theatrical Wonder Woman movie, and we think that actress Gal Gadot is perfect in the role, I wanted to read more about the movie so I purchased this nifty 96 page collector’s edition, which is brimming with the photos, illustration, articles, & intervews about the movie, plus the bits about the comics and TV shows!
Mot of the issue pertains to the movie, and the many photos include large photos, full page pics and several two-page spreads of the characters, locations, scenes, prrops, and the actors out of the costumes! There are lots of gorgeous concept art and costume designs! The articles are peppurred by the comments by several of the movie’s cast and crew members, such as
Gal Gadot, Robin Wright, Connie Nielson, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Lucy Davis, Lily Aspell, Ewen Bremmer, Elan Anaya, Chris Pine, Said Taghmaoui, Eugene Brave Rock, Danny Huston, Doutzen Kroes, and Brooke Ence; director Patty Jenkins, producer Geoff Johns, special FX supervisot Mark Holt, production designer Allne Bonetto, and costume designer Lindy Hemming!
Then there is also the interview with Lynda Carter who portrayed Wonder Woman in the 1970’s TV series! There are photos of her from that series and from the Supergirl TV series, in which she pertrays The President of the United States! There is also the widdle vignette about the various actresses who have voiced Wonder Woman in the various animated tales!
There is an article abut William Moulton Marston who created Wonder Woman in 1941; a gallery of her various costumes across the decades, and a time line of significant Wonder Woman events of the past 76 years, and a two – page peek at the forthcoming Justice league movie, so I was very pleased with this terrific collector’s edition! Nextly i would like to discuss
The Manga Artist’s Coloring Book: Girls!
Bun:
Arigato! I like Christopher Hart’s many informatively beautiful books of the manga art instruction, so I was pleased to see this charmingly beautiful coloring book, which is amongst the Drawing With Christopher Hart series published by Sixth &Spring Books! This 10 13/16″ x 8 1/2″ trade paperback is priced at $9.95 in the USA & $11.95 in Canada.
The 96 leafs of the book have 47 full – page pics, which are Black & White line art of the many pretty girls of the various styles, species and situations against the ornate background patterns! The cute front cover illustration of the four widdle kittens climbing upon the happy girl is the good representation of what sort of darling imagery lies inside!
There are close-up portraits, medium shots, and full figures, mostly of the ladies with some critters. plushies and a few boys! Their attire ranges from the pajamas, school uniforms, and swim wear, to the very frilly, flouncy gowns and dresses… from the elegant dog walker in the diaphanous dress to a mistress in the short dress tripped by the cat!
There are several school girls, magickal girls royal girls, sad girls, a fierce swordswoman, a meticulous potion brewer, a romantic day dreamer, a hooded enchantress, a rocker girl a soccer girl, , a winged fairy, an angel, a girl dragged by her rambunctious dog, a girl and guy entwined by their dog’s leashes, two kunoichi and five kemonomimis!
The images could be colored with crayons or colored pencils, or perhaps the wet media such as markers or paints if you are careful with the pages! I will also advise the patiently precise coloring, as some of the girls and patterns are very intricate; and I will heartily recommend this book to fans of manga, girls, and coloring! Now here is Petra to present the latest
additions to the Catgirl Island Mewseum of Art!
Petra:
Arigato, nya! For those who might be here for the first time, Galleries 1-8 of The Catgirl Island Mewseum of Art display images by Mike, whilst Guest Art Galleries 1-4 display images by other folks totally with their purrmissions, and Mike’s collaborative images with other artists can be found throughout the mewseum, nya! The images include illustrations, photos, and the mixed medias, nya!
Some of the images are quite sexy, but none are hentai, nya. On Catgirl Island’s official web site, the most recent pics will be the lowermost row of the cropped widdle “thumbnail” sized portions of the pics in a gallery, and you have to click upon those to see the uncropped, full pics, nya! This month we have added new images to Guest Gallery 4 and to the freshly opened Gallery 8, nya!
we are purroud to purrsent this cute colored pencil fan art of Pokemon’s Pikachu by Alexcia Reynolds http://www.sailorchristmas.com who was a guest of the August 2010 Mew, nya! Pika Nya! She is an author, artist, craftspurrson who draws, writes stories, makes plushies, original and fan sites, nya! She also has the gallery at DeviantArt http://professoroak.deviantart.com, nya!
Purrhaps y’all have met Michi, Tash, Sadiyah, Mu’awin, and Brian of Alexcia’s original Cybernetic Showdown http://michi.byethost16.com tale, or read her amewsing Pokemon crossover fan-fic “Anniversary” http://catgirlisland.net/Tales/Anniversary.html in which Delia & Anthony Ketchum spend their 20th anniversary here at our island, nya?
After that is the beautiful pencil drawing of the “Kimono Catgirl” gift art by Elisa Chong http://www.sofianime.com who was the guest of the June 2011 Mew, nya! in this bust view on the 2.5″ x 3.5″ ACEO sketch card, the alluring nekomimi’s enticing gaze is irresistible amidst the flurry of purretty petals, as the ornate kimono daringly slides off her sultry shoulders to reveal the sexy floral bra that matches her corsage and necklace mew la la, nya!
Nextly we are delighted to display the “Moon Druid” by Rebecca Brogden http://www.rbrogdenart.com, who was the guest for our September 2009 Mew, nya! She used the pencil, pen & colored pencils on the toned papurr to illustrate her character Loranessa Carinerra the mixed breed bandruí (druidess) of 1/4 human, 1/4 elf, 1/4 dryad & 1/4 tabaxi, who is wearing the lovely off shoulder, bare-midriff blouse with the short slit skirt, the thigh high boots and her staff, nya!
Then we have Rebecca’s close-up portrait in purrofile of the lovely elfin lady who is “Listening to the Wind”, nya! She is Dr. Alder Linde von der Sommer, a history purrofessor at the Catgirl Island School, and you can almost feel the breeze amidst her long, flowy Platinum Blonde hair as she glances over her bare shoulder, nya! She just celebrated her 263rd birthday last month, nya! This was also done with the pencil, pen & colored pencils on the toned papurr, nya!
Then we have the “Rose & Wolf” photo – manip of Rebecca’s Holo Cosplay, nya! At the 20th annual Animazement anime convention in Raleigh, Rebecca cosplayed as Holo, the wise wolf goddess from the “Spice & Wolf” novels, manga & anime, nya! Mike used Photoshop CS2 and the mouse to conjure this composite image of Holo with the amewsing expurression as if she had imbibed too much apple cider, nya!
The lovely lupine ears & tail were made by http://www.instagram.com/coolskellycosplay; the widdle Red wheat pouch hanging around her neck is a repurrposed cute dice bag that was made by Leigh http://www.somethingunderthebed.com; the photo of Rebecca was taken by her mom, and the photo of the Raleigh Little Theatre’s Rose Garden was was taken by Mike, nya!
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After that we have the “Misty Steampunk” photo of artist / seamstress / cosplayer Misty Hopkins http://bunnychai.blogspot.com who was a guest of the March 2008 Mew, nya! She is also great at making the plushy dolls and doll clothes too, nya! She looks so lovely and peppy in this ornate short – sleeved outfit with the hat, hose, corset, jewelry, belts, bands, baubles and boots, nya! This photo was taken at the 35th annual Heroes Convention by Chef Ron, who was our January 2009 guest, and is great at the cooking, hand quilting, cross stitch, crochet and embroidery, nya!
Then in Gallery 8 http://catgirlisland.net/art/gallery/gallery8.html
we have added Mike’s fan art of “Miss Fury”, nya! Mike used Photoshop CS2 and the mouse to illustrate of the famous feline femme fatale Marla Drake, A.K.A. Miss Fury, nya! Created for the comic books and mewspapurr strips in 1941 by June Tarpe Mills, Marla is the wealthy socialite who wears the sexy tight panther girl costume to purrey upon the criminals, nya! Here she is purrched upon a skyscrapurr ledge, purrtrolling for villains to pounce upon, nya!
Nextly we have Mike’s fan art of “Haru and The Baron” of the Studio Ghibli anime “The Cat Returns” directed by Hiroyuki Morita, nya! Based upon the manga by Aoi Hiragi, it is the tale of Haru the high school girl who meets The Baron cat and is spirited away to the Cat Kingdom, where she becomes a catgirl, nya! Mike used Photoshop CS2 and the mouse to illustrate them purrched upon the wall by the sea, to commeowmorate the movie’s 15th anniversary, nya!
Then we have Mike’s latest illustration of our very own dear Becca, the “Nekomimi Gynoid Golfer”, nya! We have been blessed by her purresence since she came to our island 7 years ago, and she and Lizzy have been married for 14 months, nya! Mike used Photoshop CS2 and the mouse to illustrate her wearing the visor, cropped top, skirt and golf sandals, with her hybrid neko driver club to Eagle the 5th hole amongst the Azaleas of our island’s public golf course, nya!
Lastly but not leastly is Mike’s pic of “Nyoka, with Cats Amy & Tanzy”, nya! It was quite the wild time when Nyo-sensei arrived here 16 years ago, to be mistaken for her twin sister, but we have been so grateful ever since, nya! Mike used Photoshop CS2 and the mouse to to illustrate Nyo-sensei in the short Purrple yukata sliding off her shoulders, purrched upon the bed with her two cats Amy & Tanzy amidst the floating mystic candles, nya! So what do y’all think of the art. nya?
Becca:
Wahhh! I’m not worthy! (cries happily)
Nyoka:
Me neither! Domo arigato gozaimasu!
Elizabeth:
Oh gosh, I think the pic of Becca quite faithfully captures her purrtraiture, spirit, power and grace in the sexy sporty golf attire!
Nyanko:
Oh, I think the pic of sis and her cats is the very good likeness, and I I like the folds and drapurry of the neglige and the linens!
Mary Nyan:
I think that Haru looks so peppy and cute! I like the pic’s details from her whiskers and bow tie to the fabric creases and folds!
Jeannie:
The Baron looks very dappurr in his top hat, vest and tail coat. and I like the colors and textures of the sea, sky and stone wall.
Meryl:
Ms. Fury looks like she loves her job, heehee! I like the use of color and light for the sheen, shading, shadows and reflections!
Becca:
I think that the lines of the Alder illustration are smooth and graceful, and her expurression, anatomy and pose are excellent!
Nyoka:
My favorite aspect of the druidess pic might be curvilinear symmetry with the round moon, orb, mound and her supple curves!
Yvonne:
I think that Rebecca looks purrfect as Holo, and the roses nicely accent the hues of her ears, tail, blouse and accessories, nya!
Trini-chan:
Misty makes such great human and doll clothes and costumes of the steampunk, renaissance, anime and video game genres!
Mielikki:
That fan art of Pikachu is like totally awesomely cute, and it is so nice to have more of Alexcia’s art in our mewseum, fur shur!
Tara-chan:
I think that Elisa draws such alluring characters with intricate flowers, opulent jewelry and other ornate details!
Bun:
We are so very fortunate to have so many pretty images in our mewseum by our wonderful friends guests!
Mike:
Yep, we certainly are! Well, congratulations on the new gallery, and thank you for presenting the new art!
Petra:
Doitashimaste, nya! Nyow it is time for Vonny to purrsent this month’s
Celebrity Catgirl Spotlight, nya!
Yvonne:
Arigato, nya! In this portion of The Mew, we hope to comeowmorate the famous catgirls of various myths and media, from movies, games and TV to comics, novels and toys, from all around the world and across the decades, nya! Such ladies might range from the ailuranthropic and anthropurrmorphic feline females, to those nekomimi who might not actually have any kitty DNA, but do have the lovely cat-titude and / or style to be considered as “honorary catgirls”!, nya!
This month the spotlight will firstly shine upon he Nekomimi Survivor video game, nya! It is a Japanese role playing video game app for certain smart phones such as the android and iPhone, in which you can take a photo of a real cat, and the game will transform the photo into a catgirl character for the game, nya! Kawaii, nya! Then you can build the army of catgirls who will battle the dog warriors, but the player must take the responsibility for the catgirls, who will need the food, sleep, and affection, nya!
Nextly we will shine the spotlight upon Celty Sturluson of the Durarara!! series of Japanese light novels by Ryogo Narita, manga, anime & video games, nya! Known on the streets of Ikebukuro as The Black Rider, she is dullahan (headless horseman) faerie from Ireland, who searches for her purrloined head in Japan, and uses the PDA and computers to communicate with other folks, nya.
She wears the tight Black jumpsuit with the Yellow cat – eared helmet that conceals her headless condition, works as a courier / transporter on her motorcycle, which is her shape – shifting familiar, and she uses shadow magick to create objects such as the scythe, nya! In the anime she is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro (in Japan) and by Kari Wahlgren (English dub), nya!
Nextly for this month’s quartet of catgirls is Birdie, A.K.A. The Amazing Crafty Cat, nya! She is the titular star of the wonderful hardcover graphic novel by Charise Mericle Harper, nya! Birdie is the young school girl with the exubrient passion for cute arts and crafts, especially whilst in her secret identity as the Amazing Crafty Cat in her Light Brown nekmomi kigurimi costume, nya!
She has endured some worrisome and unlucky incidents, but she is very peppy, smart, imaginative and industrious with the widdle arts and crafts purrojects, and she is purrticularly fond of the panda motif, nya! Her first book also includes instructions for making some of the purrojects, and we are looking forward to her 2nd book, Crafty Cat and the Crafty Camp Crisis, nya!
Laslty but not lastly for this month’s spotlight is the M’Ress update, nya! We are big fans of Star Trek’s Lt. Shiboline M’Ress, the Caitian catgirl communications officer who first appurred in a few epurrsodes of the 1973 Star Trek animated TV series; later in several novels and comic books, recently including issue #16 of IDW’s Star Trek: New Visions comics thata re written and illustrated by John Byrne, nya!
He uses photo – manips of shots from the Star Trek TV original series’ combined with CG FX, nya! In issue #16, after the issue’s main tale of “Time Out Of Joint”, there is the one page tale of “Those Who Play With Cats…”, in which Ensign Pavel Chekov smirkingly watches Lt. Hikaru Sulu friskily welcome the peppy M’Ress aboard the starship U.S.S. Enterpurrise, nya! This widdle scene would seem to occur sometime betwixt the original series and the animated series nya.
M’Ress is only barely in 3 widdle panels, and is only seen from the front in the panel, in which, Sulu says “Oh my!” when she wants to see the bridge, nya! Hopefully we will see more of her in future issues of Star Trek: New Visions! That is all for this month’s Celebrity Catgirl Spotlight, but it will shine again next month! Nyow I will turn The Mew over to Mie-sensei for her review of the
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ June 7th, 2017
concert at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, nya!
Mielikki:
Arigato! For our review of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds with Sharon Van Ettan March 17, 2013 concert please see our April 2013 Mew, and our review of the documentary Once More With Feeling please see the October 2016 Mew! So like, on June 7th went to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in concert at the totally awesome Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in beautiful Asheville, NC, which is in the more mountainous, Western part of the state, about 330 miles from Catgirl Island!
The weather was mild, and we found a close parking spot across the street from the auditorium, and had a delicious outdoor supper at a lovely restaurant about 3 blocks away. The downtown area is wonderful with many great restaurants, shops, galleries attractions and an overall splendid ambience! Then we strolled back to the auditorium where the queue of politely excited fans of all ages briskly strolled into the fine auditorium, which has a seating capacity of around 2,430!
Near the concessions were the tables of merchandise for sale, including the Once More With Feeling DVD, the new 3 disk CD set, and the Skeleton Tree album tour tee shirts. Unlike the general admission for the 2013 concert at the The Orange Peel club, this concert had assigned seating, and we had great seats on row 15 of the orchestra center section, although a lot of folks stood as close to the stage as they could for the entire show, which started at around 8 pm.
The band consisted of Nick on vocals & piano, Warren Ellis on violin & guitar,, Martyn Casey on bass, Thomas Wylder on drums, and Jim Sclavunos on other percussion. The set list (with a 4 song encore) included Jesus Alone, Anthrocene, I Need You, Distant Sky, Skeleton Tree, Jubilee Street, Higgs Boson Blues, Girl in Amber, From Her to Eternity, The Ship Song, Red Right Hand, Jack the Ripper, Deanna, The Weeping Song, The Mercy Seat, Tupalo and Stagger Lee!
Elsa Torp (who provides additional vocals on the Skeleton Tree album) was not present, but video of her was projected on the rear screen during Distant Sky. Warren got almost as much cheering as Nick, who shook hands with several folks at the stage front throughout the show. Steadied by the fans during the encore’s finale, Nick carefully waded into the audience atop the chairs along the right side aisle to maybe the 11th row, where we were like maybe 20 feet from him!
It was a totally awesome show, powerfully loud with the enthused energy from the Nick, the band and the audience, who had a poignant gratitude for each other, fur shur! We also wish to thank our friend OB1 who drove us to the concert, and especially our friend Kevin who got us the great tickets! Two weeks later, we saw OB1 and Kevin again, as we reunited with friends for yet another trip to the Western part of the state, but I will turn The Mew over to Mike for his report on
the 35th Annual Heroes Convention!
Mike:
Thanks Mielikki! The Heroes Convention http://www.heroesonline.com/heroescon is North Carolina’s biggest convention! Since 1982 it has been directed by Shelton Drum, who owns the Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find comics shop in Charlotte! The convention occurred on June 16-18th at the Charlotte Convention Center, with a few activities at the Westin hotel across the street!
With a special emphasis on those who create comics, it’s a great family – friendly tradition with hundreds of guests, artists, publishers, exhibitors and thousands of fans, with presentations, panels, workshops & contests. Some of the annual main events are the art auctions, costume contest, the Drink & Draw, Quick Sketch competition and the Inkwell Awards.
Special event for this year included Jack Kirby’s Centinnial, and the Mike Wieringo / Tellos Tribute! I was traveling with fellow members of the Carolina Comic Book Club, which is almost as old as Heroes Con, who had a dealer booth full of comics and toys. It had been a busy week for the club, as some of them had tables at the Greensboro show the prior weekend.
OB1 and Pacozord were guests of the October 2007 Mew, and Chef Ron was a guest of the January 2009 Mew. Other members of the club in attendance included Boston John, Mr. Brightside, Ronald, Winterwolf, Shannon and Kevin. It’s not just an extremely festive time with lots of glorious books, toys, art and food, but it’s also a very sentimental expedition.
Our road trip began on Thursday morning with the traditional breakfast at IHOP, and early that afternoon we arrived at the convention center to unload the vehicles and set up the booth. For me, the pre-con set-up is like an exciting launch countdown, with over 430 guests (artists, authors, editors, publishers), around 350 folks in the artists alley, and 200 exhibitors.
Most of the action was in the downstairs Halls A, B & C, with Hall C mostly consisting of the costume stage, groups such as the Carolina Garrison of the 501st Legion, The Klingon Assault Group, The Carolina Ghostbusters, North Carolina Renaissance Festival; some vintage arcade games, and the fan – built droids such as R2-KT and replicas of famous vehicles.
Lots of folks gathered at the ground floor lobby near the ticket booths and the Starbucks; whilst the discussion panels, purresentations, workshops & certain contests occurred in the 11 meeting rooms near the food court on the 2nd floor. After we finished setting up the booth, full of comics & toys, we had supper at a nearby wings place and then called it a night.
After Friday’s breakfast we returned to the convention which opened to the public from 11 am to 7 pm. Among the many friends were other past guests of The Mew, such as professional costumer Cheralyn Lambeth, KAG’s Capt. Keela sutai-Septaric, journalist & editor Eric Nolen-Weathington, journalist & artist Jim Amash and comics artist / author Andrew Pepoy!
There are too many other guests & artists to list, but I enjoyed visiting with Neal Adams, Richard Case, Randy Green, Sandy Jarrell, he Hero Cats crew, Heather Hitchman, Mako Fufu, Paul Gulacy, Ron Randall, Bobby Timony, Thom Zahler, and the Hero Cats crew. Friday’s activities included about 25 workshops, presentations, panels, contests and the Drink & Draw.
There were also children’s activities such as the library and the 501st’s droid hunt! The many artists & venders sold original art, sketch commissions, prints, posters, comics, books, games, action figures, statues, plushies, shirts, jewelry, costumes, masks, props, decals, autographed memorabilia, DVDs, collecting and art supplies, and even some home-made treats.
The tastiest fare for me was supper at Kevin’s Iron Grill restaurant! The con resumed on Saturday from 10 am – 6 pm, with about 35 more panels, purresentations & activities. I got to spend most of the day with Misty Hopkins. Later joined her husband at the lovely Amélie’s French Bakery & Café, and that night the gang had supper a few blocks away at the Irish pub!
The art auction was from 8 pm – midnight, which opened with a slide show, announcements, and a greeting by Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC, who lead the audience and costumed art handlers with the songs “It’s Tricky” and “Walk This Way”! That was the only time that my hands were in the air during the auction, as the beautiful art sold for more than I could afford!
There was plenty of carousing after midnight in the Westin & Hilton bars & lobbies! Sunday morning We checked out of the hotels, ate breakfast at the food court before the con resumed at 11 am, and I had lunch with Andrew. There were over 2 dozen more panels & activities, including the costume contest, with the individual & group categories for the kids, novices & masters!
The many cosplayers of all ages, genders & expertise who represented characters from comics, anime, games, wrestling, movies & TV shows! There were many catgirls, Batgirls, faeries, Wasps, Spider-Man, Spider Gwens, Silks, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers, Squirrel Girls, Super Girls, Wonder Woman, wizards, Time Lords, Power Rangers, Jedi and stormtroopers.
Assisted by a Blue Beetle, Sgt, Slaughter and a J. Jonah Jameson, DJ Spider cosplayed as Dazzler to emcee the costume contest. Some of my favorites were the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman, a dancing Deadpool, a singing Ariel / Harley, Tazerface, MODOK, Beauty & The Beast, The Invisible Woman & Doctor Doom, Logan & X23, Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage, Asajj Ventress, Tinkerbell, Propellor Knight, an Overwatch trio and a quartet of Sailor Scouts!
About 50,000 attendees later, the con concluded on Sunday at 6 pm, as guests and exhibitors began to pack up until 8 pm. On the way home, we had the traditional supper rendezvous at another IHOP to deliciously bookend the con road trip. Once again, Heroes Con was such a wonderfully fun time, and I’d like to thank the many terrific con, event, hotel and restaurant workers, the police, guests, artists, exhibitors, our fellow fans, and the awesome–
Tara-chan
POLYPHEMUS. NYA!
(The easily distrracted catgirl with her camera scampurrs after the large Brown moth)
The cat lady sings…
Yvonne:
TARA-CHAN— NYA!
Trini-chan:
It must have a 5 inch wing span! i wanna get a picture of it too!
(The kitsune fox girl scampurrs after her best friend and the interesting insect)
Meryl:
There they go again, heehee!
Becca:
They were so close to the finish, but it is almost time for the luau anyway!
Elizabeth:
Itadakimasu! Well, I guess that will wrap it up for another edition of The Mew!
Bun:
We wish to thank Alexcia, Elisa, Misty, Ron, Rebecca and her mom or the lovely art…
Nyanko:
…the other talented folks whose works we discussed…
Nyoka:
… Jamie for his web mastery here at The Mew and Catgirl Island…
Jeannie:
… Mike and Jamie’s computers…
Petra:
… and our other friends, families and audience whom we greatly appurreciate, nya!
Mielikki:
Fur shur!
Mary Nyan:
Y’all may post brief, polite, sincere, non-political, non-snarky responses to
The Mew, purrvided they are spam-free, G-rated and purrtain to our topics!
Mike:
We’ll be back next month with the August edition of The Mew! Be there… aloha!
The Ladies of The Mew:
Happy Tails to Mew – until we eat again! BAIBAI, NYA!
