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August, 2015:

Return of the Roar

More news regarding Disney TV Animation’s upcoming new Lion King spin-off series The Lion Guard, thanks to a recent article in Variety: “Disney will launch The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, a short prime-time movie focused on the son of Simba, the hero of the original film, in November on Disney Channel. The program will follow Kion, Simba’s second-born cub, as he and a team of animals known as ‘The Lion Guard’ try to keep the peace in the surrounding terrain. Disney intends to launch a Lion Guard TV series on Disney Channel and Disney Junior outlets around the world in early 2016.” In this new series, “Kion breaks tradition by forming ‘The Lion Guard’ out of a varied group of animal friends he thinks are heroic. Typically, only the bravest, strongest lions in the African savanna can be members.  In the movie and the TV episodes that follow, the crew will learn how to use unique abilities to solve problems while introducing young viewers to new kinds of fauna.” The article includes a short video clip from Return of the Roar as well. See you in November!

image c. 2015 Walt Disney TV Animation

image c. 2015 Walt Disney TV Animation

Planet of the Big Cats

Flesk Publications have a novel way of taking pre-orders for the newly-completed graphic novel Tribes of Kai: A Kickstarter campaign. Here’s what they say: “The Tribes of Kai is a multi-layered graphic novel about honor, integrity and the trappings of war in which extreme circumstances call for unbridled decisions and finding the strength to cope with them. This is a barbaric and primitive world where the survival of the fittest is put to the test. Artist Daren Bader and writer Lance HaunRogue bring this world to life with lush detail and an incredible sense of pace, color and lighting. They introduce the Mantakai (Man of Kai), a race of six-limbed, feline/humanoid, anthropomorphic creatures. The dominance of the five individual tribes of Mantakai are threatened by a highly evolved race of reptilian creatures called the Tobognai. Tribes of Kai is an oversized, full-color hardbound book boasting sixty exciting pages of story and pinups by top creators.” Since the goal of printing the book has long since been met, now they’re adding more goodies as each new goal-level is reached.

image c. 2015 Flesk Publications

image c. 2015 Flesk Publications

Fraggles in a Frenzy

Got this right from publisher, thanks to Barnes & Noble: “Return to Jim Henson’s world of Fraggles, Doozers, and Gorgs with an all new story set in beloved Fraggle Rock! When the water supply of Fraggle Rock mysteriously runs dry, the Fraggles will have to journey deep in the caves of Fraggle Rock to find the fabled Everspring where adventure awaits and no Fraggle has ever gone before! Written by New York Times bestselling comic writer Kate Leth (Adventure Time: Seeing Red), this brand new Fraggle Rock graphic novel collects Fraggle Rock: Journey to the Everspring #1-#4.” With art by Jake Myler, it’s available in hardcover from Archaia later this month.

image c. 2015 Archaia

image c. 2015 Archaia

White Bear in a Golden Cage

According to Cartoon Brew, Lionsgate Features is set to release their next animated feature, Norm of the North, on January 15th, 2016 — which would put it in direct competition with the planned release of The Nut Job 2. Lionsgate, of course, is best known in animation circles for the Alpha & Omega films as well as (shiver!) the infamous Food Fight! movie. This time around they present the story of Norm, a polar bear who travels to New York City to try and save his arctic home from development… but winds up distracted by the glamour and glitz all around him. (Sort of “The Bear Who Fell To Earth”.) Directed by Trevor Wall, Norm of the North stars the voice of Rob Schneider (Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo). The article at Cartoon Brew includes the first trailer.

image c. 2015 Liongsgate

image c. 2015 Liongsgate

Mutants On The March!

This past spring, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe saw the return of one of the famous four’s most-popular and perhaps strangest friends: The Mutanimals, appearing in their own five-issue full-color mini-series by Paul Allor, Andy Kuhn, and Ben Bates. Well now IDW are about to release the series as a Mutanimals trade paperback collection. “Old Hob, Slash, Herman the Hermit Crab, Mondo Gecko, and Pigeon Pete have become a force to be reckoned with. When someone close to the group is kidnapped, the Mutanimals end up on an adventure more wild and dangerous than they could have imagined! What mysteries lurk at…The Null Group?” Look for it on the shelves August 19th, or you can pre-order it over at Things From Another World.

image c. 2015 IDW Publishing

image c. 2015 IDW Publishing

The Rabbit Gets Bigger

It’s no news to anyone by now that Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai is not only one of the most celebrated anthropomorphic comics ever, but one of the most celebrated comics, period! Well now Dark Horse Press have announced that the ronin rabbit’s adventures will soon be presented as they deserve: Bigger, and in full color! No, not a Usagi animated film (yet), but use this to tide you over: The Usagi Yojimbo Gallery Edition, Volume 1. This large format hardcover (12 by 17 inches) features the Usagi origin story Samurai as well as the very first Usagi comic, plus never-before-seen artwork and a new introduction by Stan Sakai. Check it out over at Barnes & Noble.

image c. 2015 Dark Horse Press

image c. 2015 Dark Horse Press

Island of Adventure

Dark Horse Comics have announced a new 5-issue mini-series written and illustrated by Scott Kolins (Flash, Avengers). In Adam.3 we meet Adam, a super-heroic young man who lives with his family on a tropical island. A most unusual island: Animals of nearly every species live there. They all talk, and they’re all Adam’s best friends. Well, that is until a mysterious and evil alien presence crash-lands on the island. It has the power to mutate Adam’s animal friends into very, very bad things. Check out the interview with the creator over at Comics Bulletin. Issue #1 of this new full-color comic arrives later this month.

image c. 2015 Dark Horse Comics

image c. 2015 Dark Horse Comics

Fuzzy Things from the UK

Clangers was a much-loved children’s TV series from the United Kingdom that originally ran from 1969 to 1974. It starred a set of little pink fuzzy creatures who most resemble elephants crossed with mice. They live on an alien world and speak only in swooping whistles — which were usually translated for the young audience by the narrator. Well now the BBC have brought back The Clangers for a much newer generation as part of Sprout, their programming line-up for children. Just like the old version, the new Clangers is created through stop-motion animation of actual fuzzy figures, and now the new episodes are narrated by Michael Palin (of Monty Python) in the UK and none other than William Shatner (!) for release in North America. Sprout has a special web site just for The Clangers so take a look to find out more.

image c. 2015 Sprout

image c. 2015 Sprout

It Always Comes Back to the Cat…

Rachel Dukes is a busy comic book illustrator who works for Boom! Studios on titles like Garfield. But in her “free time” she’s also busy being the best human friend of her own cat named Frankie. She’s spun off Frankie’s adventures around the house into her award-winning on-line comic strip, Frankie Comics. You can see the latest at her web site.  There you’ll also find a link to her publishing company, MixTape Comics, where she sells not only paper collections of Frankie Comics but also posters, buttons, stickers, and other Frankie goodies.

image c. 2015 by Rachel Duke

image c. 2015 by Rachel Dukes