Rodents in Space: Of Mice and Madness presents Tails from Out There

The midsummer heat seems to have made the two big engines of the crowdfunding world run slow, not a lot of furry projects on KS or IGG–though I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention “Room Party,” a beer-and-pretzels card game about cons and party-crashers, but with the star-power of Blotch and Sofawolf Press behind it, it feels a little redundant! So a little quiet time this Sunday with a sweet little comic/graphic novel in the works, “Tails from Out There.”

And then a bunch of other stuff.

Of Mice and Madness: Tails from Out There!

We begin with a story of what might be the galaxy’s smallest bounty hunter, and his unlikely steed: the mouse Othello, and his trusty feline mount, Oliver, hopefully a little faster on his feet than, well, upstairs. The KS funds Of Mice and Madness‘s first major project, the five-issue comic adventure of this duo.

Othello falls squarely in the camp of “unlikely hero.” He’s dashing enough, for a mouse, about three inches of squeak in a cape, with a blaster at his hip that…well, I don’t know. Maybe they have really good batteries in the distant future. I can’t say Othello strikes terror, but that doesn’t seem to worry him that much. Looking at the art, I think the cat, Oliver, may well steal the show, his face is warm with a mix of warm loyalty and dim confusion.

I like where the team’s heart is. They’re ready to tell stories about character growth, of making choices that might be good, might be bad, of mice with big dreams that may not be cut out for the top 10 list in their quarter of the galaxy. I’m a comic buff, and even in the edgier mass-market series, characters tend to be larger than life. The indie comic world is where ambiguous characters, folk who aren’t predestined to great things or tragic failure, go. By and large, we aren’t going to be headliners in this life, not for more than a shining moment, and that makes a mouse like Othello more human than the cast of Fables  or the latest super-mutant X-title spinoff.

If I was to criticize this project (and I don’t particularly want to, it’s so damned cute), it’s got a bit of an amateur edge, in several senses of the word (it literally means “one who loves”…). The video tells the story–artist has a passion for art, and like Tolkien blowing 500,000 words to give his Elven languages a place to live, the creative team really liked drawing mice, and started a comic series to build a mouse house. Is that bad? No, not a bit, it certainly worked for Tolkien! But there’s a youth to the Kickstarter–the video that focuses more on the creator’s story than the product; a price tag that seems  too high for a comic series, compared to similar product; the graphic novel version only available at $250 (yeah, yeah, “Kickstarter isn’t a shopping site,” but really, it is…) and you can smell the “new code” smell on the website. If they don’t make goal, I hope the mice come back with a new coat of paint, because these are good mice, and they deserve to see print. Good luck, guys!

Books/Print

The Dragon Princess (Ends: 8/2/2013)
A princess cursed to be a half-dragon, half-human creature looks for love to lift her curse.

Talonridge: Book II (Ends: 8/5/2013)
Heavily-illustrated young adult series of mice on a mission in a fantasy world, very “Mousegard”
Part two of a planned 63-book series. That’s ambition!

Children’s Products

The Tales of Shakespuss (Ends: 8/3/2013)
Stripped-down, lightened up, and retold versions of Shakespeare for kids, live action, theatre, and animated.

Clothing/Costumes

Halo Mini Illuminated Pet Collars (Ends: 7/26/2013)
LED-illuminated pet collars with deep color and flash mode.
I know, these are for dogs. But they’d match one of my costumes!

Right to Bear Arms tees (Ends: 8/9/2013)
Tee shirts with long, furry sleeves
Cute tees, unfortunately the shirt slogans aren’t as funny as the concept.

Comics/Graphic Novels

Dreamkeepers: Prelude (Ends: 7/31/2013)
A bound edition of the Dreamkeepers “prelude” webcomic, with a cast of graceful, stylized and colorful critters.
More artsnstuff on the Dreamkeepers FA account.

The Legend of MonkeyRonin (Ends: 7/31/2013)
A comic series featuring a Monkey King sort of character, very nice illustrations!

Animal Inphantry: Hupsalupa Beginnings (Ends: 8/2/2013)
A team of five critters takes to the street in a war against bullying.

Rabbit (Ends: 8/3/2013)
The graphic novel story of a rabbit working as a bar bouncer (among other things) in a city of carnivores

Sam & Fuzzy – Two Volume Omnibus (Ends: 8/7/2013)
The story of a man and a bear, in a crazy absurdist comic universe, a 1500-page epic comic collection.

World War Kaiju graphic novel (Ends: 8/12/2013)
What if the ultimate weapon that ended World War II didn’t usher in the atomic age, but the Kaiju (giant city-crushing monster) age? Excellent video, great retro propaganda visuals, and bizarre immersive stretch goal toys.
“Furry” is a stretch, but there’s a lot to like here for fans of giant, Tokyo-crushing armadillos.

Bulletproof Chicken (Ends: 8/13/2013)
Comic about “The most bad-ass fowl to ever wear a badge.” Cleaning up the streets with the cock with a glock.

Of Mice and Madness: Tails from Out There! (Ends: 8/15/2013)
The adventures of the mouse bounty hunter Othello and his trusted if dim cat steed as they travel the galaxy in search of riches.
More galleries and info at ofmiceandmadness.com.

Birdland (Ends: 8/22/2013)
A comic set in New York City, thick with jazz, noir, murder, and anthropomorphic birds

Events

CANterlot, Ontario MLP Con (Ends: 8/9/2013)
Funding campaign for Ontario’s MLP convention in November

DerpyCon South (Ends: 8/14/2013)
Fundraising for Year 1 of DerpyCon South: the New Orleans Brony convention!

Film/Animation/Theater

The Walking Tedd (Ends: 7/25/2013)
A young 20-something juggles her life, job, romance, and the sudden appearance of a zombie version of her favorite stuffed animal.
Finally, one zombie project reaches out from underneath the pile of hundreds…

“I Was Loved by a Rat” (Ends: 7/29/2013)
A twisted off-broadway fairy tale of a lonely woman, a chivalrous rat shut behind walls all his life, and their ill-fated love.
This theater group has launched some amazing dark comedies, I’m curious to learn more about this one, not a lot of information though…

24 Frames Animated Halloween Special (Ends: 7/29/2013)
A man faces off against an evil rabbit in this scary halloween short.
Animations, reviews, and shorts on 24Frames on YouTube.

Fursona Non Grata (Ends: 7/30/2013)
A play written for the fandom by the creator of American Dragon: Jake Long. What happens when a young woman brings her fiancée home to meet her all-furry family?
“This will be awesome if you can make it to California” seems to be a running joke in the fandom.

Solrac Ventures (Ends: 7/30/2013)
Animated short series for the bronies. Ponies: you can make it happen.
The art on this one’s pretty high quality. Pony fans should definitely take a look!

Cat’s View Feature Film (Ends: 8/21/2013)
A crime thriller filmed from a cat witness’s point of view, along with information about the life of a feral cat, trap/neuter/return projects, etc.

Anthro: Animating the Soul (Ends: 8/27/2013)
A documentary look at beloved anthro characters and their creators.
Stitchfan has broken this project up into a series of small-goal IGGs, interesting model and I hope to see it succeed!

BiPolar Bears (Ends: 9/1/2013)
Animated series about manic and depressive polar bear twins Manny and Preston (orderilies in a psych institute), the Post-Traumatic Puffins, Randolf the Alcoholic Reindeer, and other friends.
Bleah. The promo vid is “join me in my philosophy” rather than “here’s this cool product idea.” That plus very high goal/60-day campaign is a bad sign.

Tabletop Games

Pelted Primacy (Ends: 8/12/2013)
A Bicycle style card deck with anthro court cards and paw-print pips.
More of the artist’s work on DeviantArt.

Room Party: The Game (Ends: 8/15/2013)
A card game about building the MOST AWESOME room party at the con. Concept by the artists of BLOTCH (and stretch goal Furry Con expansion to be drawn by Blotch.)
Reminds me a bit of “Chez Geek,” silly people, silly situations, accumulating cool points.

Zoo Fu: Path of the Samurai Zookeeper (Ends: 8/17/2013)
A silly card game of fighting zoo animals, martial arts, and shouting.
I really want to play a game where you get points by shouting “Crouching Gecko Kick of DOOOOOOM!”

Toys

Little Moon God Plush (Ends: 7/24/2013)
“A soft huggable little moon god to call your very own!” A tiny little Miyazaki-esque plush.

Gothitropolis Raven Action Figure (Ends: 8/12/2013)
Six action figures of 6-inch anthro birds in gothic fantasy inspired armor, with stretch goals for several more within reach.

Video Games

Laika Believes: The Sun at Night (Ends: 8/9/2013)
A 2d action platformer featuring Laika, the Soviet space dog. Check the trailer.
Laika’s such a tragic story, I can’t blaim anyone for creating an alternate reality to give her a happy ending…

Questria: Princess Destiny (Ends: 8/18/2013)
A life simulation game with very familiar characters, human versions of the “mane six” from My Little Pony.

Fable Kart (Ends: 9/1/2013)
Multiplayer kart game in which the hare, turtle, and lots of animal friends crash and zoom around as they try to rescue the pages from Aesop’s storybook.

Web

The Travelling Unicorn (Ends: 7/29/2013)
“A blog and vlog series about a girl who travels the world in a unicorn onesie.” Travel, interviews, a bit of randomness.

The Pandas Show (Ends: 8/9/2013)
Multimedia web/print/video game featuring…well, various pandas, and parodies involving pandas. It’s a lot of panda.
Trailer slide show here…I’m not sure it helps!

The World of Pokemon (Ends: 8/11/2013)
A rich look at the Pokemon universe, with artistic, scientific, architectural studies. Fascinating stuff! More images on DeviantArt

Adult

Neko Adventures: Real Cat Girl Porn (Ends: 7/29/2013)
DVD/web release of cat girls, free from their imprisonment on DeviantArt and sexing it up IRL. Not just for manga anymore.

Pocket Pussies: The Legend of Seven Purity Seals (Ends: 8/9/2013)
Zelda/Pokemon hybrid exploration/battling seizure monsters game, loaded with cheesecake pokemon, cat girls, and assorted anime-esque hotness.

A Petgirl’s Story (Ends: 8/11/2013)
Petplay meets the children’s book format in a VERY adult and yet charmingly innocent story of a catgirl and her owner.
Okay, “charmingly innocent” is a stretch. Half the illustrations are online already. NSFW seriously. There’s a leather dogboy for canine fans.

Chimera Labs (Ends: 8/27/2013)
Lovingly–that’s the word–detailed adult toys by Kharnak
I would like to meet the fennec fox that had one of those. They don’t usually grow that big…

Erotic Werebeast (Offbeatr voting period)
For transformation/female bodybuilder fans: a group of women test a formula that turns them into monstrous werebeasts (and soft-core stars).

…Meh.

“Meet the Mascots!” Animation (Ends: 8/18/2013): Relaunch of the “Mascots” project, teen angst with anthro sports mascots. No change to business plan, which already failed once…
Amazon Rage: Curse of the She-Wolf (Ends: 9/6/2013): A Buffy-esque miniseries featuring a female werewolf, possibly from outer space. Mmm, mediocre CGI werewolves are so hot right now.

…Causes

Wildcast of the World (Ends: 8/25/2013): A web-based interactive resource to spread awareness of the remaining sildcat species.
Save Virachey Park (Ends: 9/10/2013): Campaign to install motion-trigger cameras in Virachey park, Cambodia, to show it’s a worthwhile preserve of endangerd species. Do it for the dholes!

…Just For Fun

Meme Plus Cats (Ends: 8/17/2013): Stuffed and cartoon anthro versions of a hoste of meme cats (a plush grumpy cat and friends…)
Stories of Bappa (Ends: 8/22/2013): Children’s graphic novel series featuring Bappa and Mushakkraj, an anthro elephant and his mouse steed.
Mahou Shounen FIGHT! (Ends: 8/17/2013): A colorful, humorous, LGBT-friendly graphic novel and webcomic breaking open the Mahou Shounen–crime-fighting magical BOY–genre.
The Wonderful Musical Animals Book and Print (Ends: 8/19/2013): Charming, rhyming book filled with vampire mandolins, rinoccordians, and tuba squid, cobbled together from Victorian illustrations.