This year’s issue of Almost Real: A Speculative Biology Zine is mythology themed, so I wanted
This year’s issue of Almost Real: A Speculative Biology Zine is mythology themed, so I wanted the cover critter to be a weird take on an extremely recognizable legendary beast.
The marsupial griffin is my shot at that, a large flying carnivore with a rear-facing pouch like a thylacine. Its unusual front incisors are continuously growing like rodent teeth, but exposed like a beak— nursing young have a gap in between them, but as they wean into sub-adults the gap closes and the teeth grow to a sharp hook for tearing into meat and carrion. Their thumbed hind feet somewhat resemble a primate’s, but with a set of sharp talons for capturing and gripping prey.
Our cover for this volume was illustrated by @ibenkrutt, who really knocked this design out of the park. If you’d like to support our contributing artists and acquire the zine, you can check out the campaign over here!
