Adam's Fox Box: Stellar Foxes

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A sampling of interplanetary vulpines
by John Cawley

N	intendo's	1993	StarFox	video	game,	with

its	aggressive	advertising	campaign,

finally	brought	interstellar	vulpines	to

mass	attention.		But	foxes	have	traveled

among	the	stars	for	at	least	three

decades	before	this	joystick	space

jockey.

(©1983) Batman's Bruce Timm,
from the APA "Foxhole"

The	fox	has	been	a	popular	character	in

literature	and	art	since	both	began.		He

has	generally	been	a	creature	of	the

Earth,	found	in	fables,	medieval	tales

and	tales	set	in	medieval	time	focusing

on	the	Earth,	its	inhabitants	and	its

history.		Planet	hopping	does	not	seen

to	come	naturally	to	them.

Interplanetary	foxes	started	off	slowly.

One	of	the	first	appearances	were	the

Aleriona,	the	interstellar	fox	race	in

Poul	Anderson's	The	Star	Fox	(1964,

1965).		Like	most	of	their	more	modern

counterparts,	these	foxes	stood	upright.

The	plot	concerned	their	attempt	to

conquer	the	planet	of	New	Europe.

Galactic	vulpines	were	the	key	in	the

fox	explosion	of	the	early	Eighties.

This	was	mostly	due	to	a	new	crop	of

artists	inspired,	in	youth,	by	the

Disney	animated	feature	Robin	Hood

(1973).		The	fox's	rise	to	cosmic

character	occured	in	the	world	of	APAs

and	alternative	comics.

1984	found	the	start	of	the	APA

Rowrbrazzle,	co-created	by	Marc

Schirmeister	and	myself.		Within	the

first	few	issues,	stellar	foxes	began	to

flourish.		Most	were	mere	illustrations.

Two	of	the	earliest	creations,	both

named	"Star	Fox",	offered	actual

characters	and	stories.

One	was	a	graphic	version,	created	by

Tim	Fay.		His	Star	Fox	was	a	female

space	pirate	in	the	Captain	Hatlock

mold.		She	appeared	in	several	short

stories	in	a	variety	of	publications.

Competing	with	her	were	Randy	and	Cindy,

created	by	Robert	Carspecken.		A	mostly

text	feature,	this	pair	of	normal	Earth

foxes	were	transformed	into	bipedal,

anthropomorphic	creatures	as	part	of	a

plan	to	establish	contact	with	other

races.

Tim Fay's Star Fox on R&R from a 1986 APA
(©1986 Timothy Fay)

Cindy and Randy in Earth form.
(©1986 Robert Carspecken)

1985	found	Ken	Mitchroney's	Space	Ark

debut.		Its	star	was	Captain	Stone,	a

fox.		The	series	sadly	only	ran	five

issues.		That	same	year	found	the

Japanese	adult	manga	Galaxy	Fox	appear.

The	star	was	a	very	human	female	with

some	fox	appendages	(tail,	etc.).

With	the	creation	of	Albedo	and	other

anthropomorphic	comics,	many	featuring

space	and/or	military	themes,	a

population	of	fox	characters	was	born.

Often	these	characters	were	merely

secondary	or	background	figures,	like

Rusty	in	Dan	Flahive's	Space	Wolf.

There	have	also	been	a	variety	of

alternate	universe	series,	such	as	The

Furkindred,	in	which	space	travel	is	not

generally	discussed,	but	foxes	appear.

The	literate	and	graphic	stellar	fox	may

not	have	as	much	visibility	as	the

videogame	version.		But	his	history,

slight	as	it	is,	is	there	for	those

wishing	to	take	a	journey	where	few

other	furries	have	gone	before...	Where

else,	but	on	a	Star	Fox	Trek.

John

Cawley,

currently

studio

production

manager

for

Marvel

Animation,

also

noted

author

and

expert

the

history

and

production

animation

well

writer.

has

been

collecting

fox

art

and

books

since

the

early

seventies.

John

also

the

co-winner

ConFurence

IV's

(1993)

costume

contest,

the

Blue

Fox.

Article originally published in the ConFurence 5 book, January 1994. HTML by Adam Moss.