Book Review: The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice; or, Herman Munster drew furry art?

[eric_hinkle]

That's right, he did. Sort of.

One of several rather old an hard to find books at my local library is THE BATTLE OF THE FROGS AND THE MICE: An Homeric Fable by George Martin and illustrated by Fred Gwynne. The latter, in case you didn't know, is the name of the man who played (among many other roles) Herman Munster on that old classic 'The

Comments

[roycalbeck]

Wow, what a find! That is just WEIRD. Herman Munster?!

[eric_hinkle]

Yeah, I was pretty stunned when I realized who 'Fred Gwynne' was myself!

The older I get, the more I'm surprised at what i find in the older books at the local libraries. Especially the kid's books. It can be enlightening to see what was once considered "kid stuff".

[jairus_greywolf]

Sounds like a Grimm fairy tail on steroids. And who knew Herman Munster could draw? :)

[eric_hinkle]

It can also be described as 'a furry version of 300 with mice and frogs'. And really, for the art, just look at the link I posted. Isn't that some fine work?

[jairus_greywolf]

It is very good. Obviously Fred Gwynne was a man of many talents. I should Google about and try to find more artwork of his.

[eric_hinkle]

If you look at post below you'll find some titles as a starting point.

[stauros]

Oh yes, it's the good old Batrachomyomachia (Lewis mentions it in his poem "Impenitence").

The artwork is impressive. All I knew of Fred Gwynne's art were things like The King Who Rained and A Chocolate Moose for Dinner, which are more cartoony.

[eric_hinkle]

They mention that poem in that book as serving as the inspiration. It was apparently translated again and again through Roman, post-Roman Alexandrine Greek, and Byzantine times, as well as into the Renaissance and beyond.

So who ever knew that a furry parody of the Illiad had such staying power? I think it even got mentioned in one of David Drake's books, the one about Roman Legionnaires IN SPACE! as a sort of holographic game the soldiers could play.

And thanks for mentioning the other Fred Gwynne books. I only knew about this one.

[eric_hinkle]

BTW, something I'll probably review tomorrow and that I just fount in the local library: a furry Danish folktale as written by Poul Anderson. How did I ever forget all these books?

[stokerbramwell]

I never, ever knew that Fred Gwynne was an artist. And a pretty dang good one at that! Wow.

[eric_hinkle]

Yeah, I know. The things you learn!

[cloewen]

A fascinating story.

[eric_hinkle]

That it is. This really deserved to be redone as a graphic novel back when furrydom was still doing actual print comics.