Owly, by Andy Runton.

Owly is a comic-book series by Andy Runton with a little owl as a cute main character and a little worm as an unlikely friend. Looking for interesting books at the Previews catalogue, I always look at Top Shelf Productions. And one day, in 2005, I found this little book about a little bird, written by Andy Runton.
I must say I fall in love with this little owl’s adventures. They are epic, moody and powerfully crafted. Runton is one of the most interesting creators that the new independent scene has to offer. I would like to present you the five books that has been published up to date. Enjoy!


01 The Way Home and The Bittersweet Summer.

This book, first printed in 2004 but with contents from 2003 and 2004 was the cool start of the series. Here we can see (because reading is taken to the next level without words) a little owl that would love to take care of some little birds that are afraid of him (being an owl could mean a dangerous menace to them, of course). Then, under a terrible rain, he found wormy, who is very ill and takes care of him. A long story involving this worm and his family funds the relationship of the two characters, making them inseparables. A new vision to the problem of feeding the birds resolves the bad feelings that Owly has.
The second part relates to a humming bird (trochilinae) that feeds on Owly’s flowers. Our two friends take care of him. First they rescue his mate and then they take care of their feeding. A quite difficult work, considering their delicate nature. But they succeeded and everything turns nicely.



02 Just a Little Blue.

The next book, from 2005 is an epic with a butterfly (Flutter) and a bird (Little Blue). Flutter is the confident of Owly and Wormy about the couple of birds that are having problems building their nest. Owly purchases a wooden made nest, but the birds are ungrateful. Owly feels miserable and Wormy tries to make Owly feel better. But our little hero is sure he can do more for the couple. Then problems with an unexpected rain that puts in danger the new born family of little birds makes the female bird ask for help to Owly and with his aid, all of them survive.










03 Flying Lessons.

This book is also from 2005 but from December. I didn’t have notice this, but Owly does not fly. We learn that he had problems at flying school and Owly is a non-flying bird. Wormy makes contact with a flying squirrel and the little mammal teaches Owly how to fly without being to hard on him. At last Owly is able to fly and loves to do it!














04 A Time To Be Brave.

Playing with a ball could be dangerous, at least to little growing trees, as we can see in this 2007 book. Wormy harms a little acorn tree and feels miserable. He is assisted by Owly to take care of it. More and more friends of Owly appear on the new adventure.
Things turn incredible when a little Opossum is caught while trying to grab Wormy’s ball. Everybody feels a terrible fear. Owly and Wormy fear that the animal could be dangerous and the Possey (the name of our new friend) fears that he could be in danger. After a little investigation, they care for each other and Possey recovers at Owly’s.









05 Tiny Tales.

The last Owly book published up to this date is a compilation of old Owly adventures, from to 2004 to 2008. We can see adventures before the character was really developed and the way Runton managed to remove all words from his tales. More and more funny animals are added to Owly’s family. I hope the next book would be amazing, with an intricate word were our hero will grow into an iconic and charismatic character.

Here are some basic links to visit.
Andy Runton’s Blog.

Oficial Top Shelf comics page.

Top Shelf’s shop for Owly.

Would you like to draw Owly? In this embed, Andy Runton teaches you how to do it.

[via Andy Runton]

And here is an embed of a laser show with Owly as the main character.

[via Andy Runton]