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Stellar Foxes A sampling of interplanetary vulpines
by John Cawley

Nintendo'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.
 Star Fox
StarFox (©1993 Nintendo)

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

Cindy and Randy
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, is also a
noted author and expert on the history
and production of animation as well as a
writer. He has been collecting fox art
and books since the early seventies.
John is also the co-winner of ConFurence
IV's (1993) costume contest, the Blue
Fox.

Illustration from 'Space Ark'
Captain Stone from "Space Ark"
(©1985 Ken Mitchroney)

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