Furtean Times 7: Changes » Newshounds Review

Thomas K. Dye’s satirical strip has been one of the comics to have recently been honoured in this year’s Ursa Major Awards, winning the award for “Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work” after a stream of campaigning by Dye himself. It was also nominated for “Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip”, only losing out to Ozy and Millie.

I have a fondness for this strip because it was one of the first strips that I got into as a furry. I mainly got into it because of its satirical content, even though it was mostly:

A. American and;
B. Several years old.

For those unaware of this strip, the first version of the strip, Newshounds I (1997-2006) concerns the television news channel KPET. The station is run by Lorna Dilbrook, a human who combined her love of journalism with her previous job, working at an animal pound. The staff includes anchors Wolfram Blitzen, who is vain beyond belief, and Renata Fayre, whose ambitions and jealously often leader her into trouble. There is also Sam Shepherd, a right-wing sports commentator; Alistair Katt, a homosexual feline weather reporter who acts more as a liberal commentator and Kevin J. Dog, who is in charge of the technical side of KEPT. When they arrive at their studio, they discover a celebrity obsessed rat, Ferris, who quickly gains a job as KPET’s janitor.

The original strip covered a wide range of subjects of the day, including the Clinton-Lewinski affair, the “election” of George W. Bush and the War on Terror. The strip however also had its own plots, which included more surreal stories. Examples include terrorist mountain men, the legally enforced brainwashing of KPET’s staff and a literal armed take over of Starbucks by AOL Time Warner. These stories later resulted in the introduction of other permanent characters, these being Kevin’s technophile girlfriend Della, Alistair’s on-and-off boyfriend Nigel, and danger-addicted news reporter Rochelle O’Shea, who Wolfram fell in love, married and had two children, Malcolm and Emma.

With the birth of the puppies, the original Newshounds died with the selling of KPET and its staff moving to better paid jobs at another broadcaster, MegaNewsWest. Newshounds II (2007-present) has recently moved into some darker plots, with Ferris being poisoned by canteen staff, then later stopping a murder himself by acting as a Good Samaritan (or as Ferris claims, a “Good Sumerian”). Renata has also had problems, trying to avoid almost every member of staff who is trying to get gossip out of her, and Rochelle experiencing terrible flashbacks involving coffee.

Newshounds, in both of its forms, is a well written and illustrated strip which has dealt with some controversial and at times down right weird scenarios. It is a strip which should be read due to its humorous satirical bite, which any furry satirical strip should have. Personally, my favourite character is Rochelle. She is well written with an unusual back-story which involves all kinds of political intrigue, which has resulted in her becoming addicted to all kinds of dangerous activities, and making such activities more dangerous than they need to be, such as skiing.

Overall, I would say that such a strip should be read by all coercers’ of the furry fandom. This strip was one of those which triggered my love of this fandom and therefore it should be one that should be read and loved.

Newshounds II is published every Monday and Friday at newshounds.com. Books can be brought from Plan 9 Publishing and Lulu. Dye also writes a surreal non-furry strip called Something Happens, published every Wednesday at somethinghappens.net.