Tim'rous Beastie

by Amanda Lafrenais (Editor)

Adventurous opossums, subway rats. Questing canines, hellbound sows, and sentimental spiders. Tim’rous Beastie is a collection unlike any other, inspired by the literary tradition of brave and imperiled critters defying their size and place in the natural order.

This anthology features stories from the adorable to the terrifying, from the fantastic to the apocalyptic, brought to you by a whole dream team of amazing cartoonists!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Anthologies, Animals, Science Fiction, Short Stories

300 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2017

Reviews

[Zedsdead · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Pig Being Lowered into Hell in a Bucket by KC Green
Animals in buckets descending slowly into hell lament the unfairness of their fate. A pig beseeches whatever Power might be listening as to their implicit value, if only as food and tools to humanity. And the buckets stop, and then reverse themselves.

Neat! The tone, the justifiable outrage, the clarity of thought...this is a tight, satisfying little package of a short story that ends in exactly the right place. Great start to the anthology. 5 stars
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Better Nature by Jemma Salume
A suicidal songbird who can't sing meets a monstrous cat. Instead of eating him, the cat offers words of wisdom about the value in not doing what one is "supposed" to do.

This one spoke to me. 5 stars
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Burrows by Abby Howard and Eli Church
A colony of bunnies enlarging a burrow, and a fungus-covered fox, and some kind of supernatural Borg-style assimilation.

Howard's illustration is phenomenal, as always. Rich, textured black-and-whites, interesting perspectives. But it's entirely unclear what is happening in this story. 3 stars
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Chosen Ones by Ryan Estrada and Rachel Dukes
An elderly otter enjoins a young wanderer to take a "magic" sword and slay the bear in its nearby burrow. The old otter lies.

It's a cute idea but the rhymes are tortured enough to sink the story. 2 stars
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Chimera by Aliza Layne and Natalie Riess
An ant queen is possessed by evil wasp parasites. A lowly worker ant uncovers the subterfuge, slays the evil larva-zombie masquerading as the queen, and assumes the crown.

Eh. Interesting idea but not particularly compelling. 3 stars
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The Flavour of the Sky by Ana Sabater
A mouse floating in a box in the sea is rescued by friendly animals. When the mouse awakens, it desperately, frantically searches for something that it is unable to communicate to its benefactors. Was a sibling left behind in the box? Some reminder of a guardian that sacrificed himself to save the little mouse?

Nope, it's searching for tea. Pointless and confusing. 1 star
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The Far Shore by Will Strode and Lindsey Lea
A pair of baby deer are exiled by their deer community. One is swallowed by a giant catfish, which gets sick. The catfish doesn't know about the curse, and apparently a child fell out of a tree or something.

Just...baffling. 2 stars
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A Long Way by Sarah O’Donnell
A rabbit, frog, and crab use their particular gifts to defeat a tyrannical bull that overtaxes the animal community. The story pits "keeping to the old ways" against using lessons from the old ways to create a new, better future. It's about progressivism that respects tradition.

Not bad but it's a bit cramped and the illustration is occasionally unclear. 3 stars
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Track by Evan Dahm
A troop of rats navigates the dangers of cats, subway trains, and food scarcity using simple emotives. The pencil sketchwork is beautiful and the story is brief and elegant. 4 stars
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The Long Bridge by Jessi Zabarsky
Frustrating story. A town is comprised of indistinguishable brown rabbits and indistinguishable white rabbits. And some things under their chins that may have been pies or possibly jewelry. I know there was a courtship but 90% of the story was unparseable. 1 star
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Rainmaker by Gavin Falcon, Anna Wieszczyk, and Claudia Cangini
Vicious mouse overlords force frog and toad champions to fight gladiator-style for their amusement, withholding water and extracting blood sacrifices from the losers' communities. A frog knight goes on an epic quest to locate the source of the mice's power.

The big secret has more than a few logical inconsistencies but this is a clever, engaging, well-constructed mini-epic. 4 stars
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Myths of the Wild Bassets by Graham Overby
In a harsh post-human world, a stalwart basset hound sets out to find answers. An AI hologram in a cave explains what happened to the world, where the "Allfathers" went, why bassets are the way they are, and what the future could hold.

Poignant, punchy, and thoughtful. 5 stars
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The Tadpole Twins versus Bureaucracy by David McGuire
A pair of tadpoles with a reputation for beating up fish for fun and profit are asked by the Frog Council to stop upsetting the local ecology. When they refuse, the frog council representative tries to feed them to an alligator.

Written like a mediocre sitcom, this is funnier than it has any right to be. 4 stars
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The Feasting Star by Sloane Leong and Lauren Henderson
A laboratory dog [Eric frowns] is pushed through some kind of portal to an alien landscape, where it encounters a variety of friendly and unfriendly extraterrestrial wildlife. A horrifying predator offers the dog a 'gift' before it returns through the portal.

Kind of confusing but the dog illustrations are gorgeous and the payout is completely worth it. 5 stars
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Lost and Found by Sam Davies
Textless. A mole jubilantly races across the pages putting earthworms in a backpack. It is harassed by some artfully abstract lines. A giant badger steps on the lines and puts a flower on the cowering mole's head. The end.

I have no idea how to interpret this. 2 stars instead of 1 because I liked the art.
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The Silk Crown by Kanesha C. Bryant
A spider follows the trail of her missing sister to a Blue Rock burrow. Inside are a host of bugs and some strange creatures that fog her mind. She snaps out of it, finds her dying sister, and barely escapes the things.

The illustration is a mess; it was several pages before I realized that the protagonist was supposed to be a spider. The mystery things are just a bunch of lumps.

But I loved the writing, the gentle, descriptive narration. "It put a feeling inside me that I think was supposed to be joy, but felt more like a wound healing too quickly." "I miss having someone who remembers my name." 4 stars
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A Tail of Trouble by Ash G.
Frog and snake adventurers visit their...alligator?...wizard comrade and help her clear her lair of an infestation of mischievous fuzzballs. They all wax enthusiastic about friendship.

Cute but there's not much meat here. 3 stars
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Pests by C. Spike Trotman and Amanda Lafrenais
When a fox is shot by humans, a panicked possum has to break the news to its kit.

Wonderful. Gorgeous line drawings, expressive body language, a perfectly paced and packaged short story. Love that the adult animals consider "skin ape" to be a terrible species-ist slur against humans even though humans are mean to animals. 5 stars

[Gillian Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

After losing site of the digital Kickstarter copy of this book in my inbox, I at last downloaded and read it. It’s amazing. Amanda Lafrenais isn’t just an accomplished artist but a skilled editor. My favorite stories range from sweetly endearing (Better Nature, The Flavor of the Sky, A Long Way, The Long Bridge, Rainmaker, and Pests) and the deeply unsettling (Burrows, Chimera, The Silk Crown, A Pig Being Lowered into Hell in a Bucket, The Feasting Star, and the wonderfully named Myths of the Wild Bassets). Not every story worked for me, but only because talking animals potentially covers such a wide swathe of genres and from tragedy to cutesy comedy. It can be more than a bit of whiplash between stories. But it’s wonderfully done, often beautifully illustrated, and I hope it finds its readership!

[Zoey MB · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 rating probably?
__
Bought at Thought Bubble back in 2019 this and been in on my shelves for a while.
I'm a sucker for anthropomorphised animals so this was for me.
The editing feels a bit all over the place and sometimes not very accessible for dyslexic self. I would have enjoyed maybe some separation between stories, like even just a blank page but I also get that this is a crowdfunded anthology!
Complete review to come? Maybe?
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A Pig Being Lowered into Hell in a Bucket
3/5
A vegan vegetarian tale, from a very VERY western centric and Christian approach to hell. Loved the art tho!

Better Nature
5/5
Awww, I loved this so much, it's short, it's smart, it works and the art is great. It's brilliant super short story telling!!

Burrows
3/5
No the target audience for this one as I do NOT enjoy scary stories. It has a Watership Down vibe but make it Lovecraftesque? Not my jam but beautiful art.

Chosen Ones
4/5
So cute and yet so dark :D and wise! Loved it!

Chimera
2/5
Did not connect super well with the art and saw where the story went from the first page so kinda meh?

The Flavour of the Sky
5/5
I would like whole comics and novels about these characters and their worlds please and thank u.
The art for me hooked, but the characterization made me stay and the ending pushed it to a perfect score.

The Far Shore
4/5
A tale of weird laws and curse, of loyalty and guilt and grief and of unexpected betrayal.
The art really resonated with me!

A Long Way
4/5
Redwall quest vibe but make it Japanese. Loved the food, the different species and the tone. Could have done with maybe a less sketchbook art as it sometimes made it hard for me to follow but some really beautiful panels as well!

Track
2/5
Spooky and not my thing, but a beautiful exercise nonetheless.

The Long Bridge
4/5
Not usually into minimalist comic art style but this really work and it was very sweet!

Rainmaker
4/5
Nice to find the mice in the position of the oppressors for once! The art was lovely even if I'm no fan of frogs or toads. And lovely post apocalyptic plotwist!

Myths of the Wild Bassets
4/5
Again post apocalyptic but from the animals perspectives is now a trope I am a FAN of.
It's a story about myth building and any dog lover will sob their eyes out.

The Tadpole Twins VS the Bureaucracy
4/5
Hilariously cute and a bit absurd but would also not be out of place in a primary school class to learn about tadpoles, frogs and ecosystems..
Just in a very silly way!

The Feasting Star
3/5
Well told and drawn but again, spooky stories are not for me.

The Lost and Found
5/5
Brilliant visual storytelling, 10 of 10, cute and terrifying but also AWWWWW

The Silk Crown
4/5
As an arachnophobic mess I still found this story enjoyable which is in itself a small miracle

A Tale of Trouble
/5

Pests
5/5
Hilariously wholesome and so well drawn. I'm a sucker for the "our world but from an anthropomorphised animal's perspective" trope soooo

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really sort of a weak 3 1/2 rating.
I wish the editor had given the creators a tad more guidance, because this collection of stories runs perhaps too far a gamut, emotionally and artistically. There are some beautiful stories, and some very moving ones, and then there are some that are only okay, artistically or storywise. The one with the beagles may make you cry, others may make you laugh, but some may leave you with an oddly puzzled look on your face, wondering what you missed.
Still, the premise of examining graphic stories about smaller animals in mostly anthropomorphic form was very interesting, and mostly worked very well. I enjoyed most of the stories, and was exposed to interesting artists I had not previously encountered. That's a good thing, and a strong reason to at least look at the book and consider buying it.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Tim'rous Beastie' is a graphic novel edited by Amanda Lafrenais. The stories are about animals that must find bravery in strange circumstances. The title is taken from a poem by Robert Burns called 'To a Mouse, on Turning Up in Her Nest With the Plough.' This poem is used as an inspiration for the stories.

The stories range all over the place. Some are funny. Many are more frightening. There is a mouse in a tea tin in the ocean who is rescued by a seagull. There is a pig being lowered into hell. There is a society run by mice that forces frogs to fight against toads in the gladiator arena. Some stories take place after men are gone. Some are on the edges of societies with men.

The art styles as well as the writing vary. There are stories I didn't like that much, but with 18 stories, it's easy enough to find something likeable.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Iron Circus Comics in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really strong anthology of short comics. Everything is in black and white, but there's huge variety in the stories' visual styles. I also liked the disparate tones: a cheerful and wholesome comic about a brave mouse, an existential story with a bunch of different animals, and bleak, incisive science fiction starring some long-suffering dogs. I'm really happy that I backed this book's crowdfunding campaign. A few of the plots are hard a bit to follow, especially the ones that deliberately eschew dialogue for most or all of the comic, but overall this is well-written, -drawn, and -edited.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really glad to have read this, it was definitely worth it just for the stories that ended up being my faves alone, but there's a lot of other good stories aside from those in here! They range from horror to more lighthearted and I was glad for that in the end, there's a few stories right at the beginning that are more dark and I wasn't sure if *all* the stories would be like that.

My favorite stories were Rainmaker, Myths of the Wild Bassets, The Flavor of the Sky, The Silk Crown, A Tail of Trouble, and Pests. Those first two I especially enjoyed, I teared up at the end of both of them.

[Desiree · Rating 5 out of 5]

I backed the Kickstarter campaign for this anthology, and it delivers on the high quality I expect from Iron Circus Comics! The stories span a variety of lengths, themes, moods, and art styles. I felt all but one of the entries were 4 or 5 stars individually. My personal favorites were "Rainmaker" with its cute art and fun twist, and "Myths of the Wild Bassets" for its overall beauty.

There's fun romps, flights of fancy, and even horror in the mix, so there's really something for every fan of animal adventures here. I regret not getting to reading it sooner! Highly recommend checking out ICC's books and projects.

[Louel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nice hefty anthology with a good diversity of stories. There's ones that are sweet and romantic and others that are skin prickling horror. The art ranges from adorable to eerie. There's a decent amount that aren't just based around mice and I'm really enjoying it. Each short story feels like it is given its due and doesn't feel cut short (which happens often in anthologies). One of my favorites is Rainmaker! I also love the art for The Long Bridge, which is one of the sweeter stories.

[Fiore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible anthology, never really thought about the particular sense of horror and sadness that can be involved when other creatures are tossed into one of those tales of terror. Those were the stories that stuck out to me the most, but there's also an excellent variety of sweet and adventurous stories.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked reading this quite a bit! Just like with any anthology some of the stories are great and some are kinda eh. I do love the focus it had on just animals being the main protagonists and the variety of different characters. I just feel like something was missing from it.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good writing and art--I'd like to see more of many of these characters. My only problem is that the stories swing between cute and horrifying, which wasn't what I expected.

[Kendal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

If love anthropomorphic animal stories you owe it to yourself to check out this amazing anthology from Iron Circus Comics and edited by Amanda Lafrenais, it's equal parts scary, fun and sad.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent anthology of little animal stories. I think KC Green's is my favorite, but The Silk Cannon by Kanesha Bryant was amazing too. Really solid anthology, highly recommended

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent anthology, but I am less into the content than some.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this at Emerald City Comic Con. My copy is signed by the editor, who was very sweet and friendly!

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

like any collection, this one had hits and misses, but the charm carried it for me. and FROGS!!

[Katharama · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Linseedling]

I loved this anthology and found it really inspiring for the kind of stories I’d like to tell someday! My favorites were The Feasting Star and Myths of the Wild Bassets.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, I didn't reread the whole anthology just now--I only wanted to reread the first story, KC Green's "A Pig Being Lowered Into Hell in a Bucket". Still amazing!

[Ifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, if not what I expected! I especially liked the spiders & cicadas one, though like a few of the stories it might not be for the squeamish of faint of heart. Also the Beagles made me cry p hard. They should all go visit regularly to keep the cat company.

[Kathryn Kania · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't read Redwall so I think this just wasn't for me.

[Andie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a thousand imaginings of the apocalypse, but somehow reading it from the perspective of basset hounds broke my heart. That is, of course, only one of the weird little stories of adventures close to the ground, of mice and moles, dogs and rats. Kind of a lot of them are definitely leaning towards horror.

[Mollie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better comics anthologies I've read! A mixed bag, but a lot more enjoyable stories than not.
If I re-read, maybe I'll do a more thorough story-by-story review.