Ani-Max is an animated TV series concept created by Sharad Devarajan and Gotham Chopra. With the series still in development, Dynamite Entertainment is releasing Ani-Max as a one-shot full-color comic book, written by Ron Marz and illustrated by Jeevan J. Kang and the artist collective known as Liquid Comics. “Lost and separated from his family during a vacation in the dense Amazon jungle, 12-year old Max Duncan is chosen by the Earth Spirits as the latest in a long lineage of planetary defenders. Entrusted with a mystical artifact known as the Animus Stone, Max gains the power to absorb the abilities of any animal he touches and transform himself into a human-animal hybrid for seven minutes at a time. Taking on the attributes of lizards, lions, tigers, elephants, spiders, dolphins, and more – sometimes the transformations are gross, weird and bizarre – Max has a power no one else in the world seems to have. Joined by his faithful friends, Chris and Jenny, the three young heroes gradually find a way to use Max’s abilities to protect the planet and all its many creatures.” Comic Book Bin has more information and preview pages to see. The one-shot is available now.
Fantasy
New from Jeff Smith
Fans of Jeff Smith’s award-winning Bone series are looking forward to Bone: Tall Tales, a brand-new full-color collection coming from (where else) Cartoon Books. Smiley Bone sits down at a campfire to tell a group of young bone scouts (and his rat creature friend) the story of Big Johnson Bone, the greatest Bone adventurer ever and the founder of Boneville. The stories originally published in the Stupid Stupid Rat Creatures mini-series are here, as well as new stories written by Tom Sniegoski. This new book is available now in hardcover and softcover editions. Check it out at Amazon.com.
Grandville is back for more badgering!
The second hardcover, full-color graphic novel in the Grandville series is due out this coming October 20th, once again written and illustrated by Bryan Talbot. We’ll let the publisher, Dark Horse Comics, describe it: “Convicted psychotic killer and extremist fanatic Edward ‘Mad Dog’ Mastock violently escapes the guillotine’s blade in the Tower of London to once again terrorize the Socialist Republic of Britain. But dogging Mastock’s bloody footsteps is his longtime adversary and nemesis, Detective Inspector Archie LeBrock, at odds with Scotland Yard and intent on bringing Mastock’s horrific murder spree to an end, once and for all. Aided by his friend and colleague Detective Roderick Ratzi, LeBrock follows the trail of carnage to Paris, otherwise known as Grandville, the largest city in a world dominated by the French Empire and the prime target of Mastock’s sadistic terrorism. Can LeBrock capture the Mad Dog before he can mete out his final vengeance, or will LeBrock’s own quest for redemption be dragged to ground by the demons of his past? The badger is back! Set three weeks after the finale of Grandville— Bryan Talbot’s critically acclaimed steampunk graphic novel–Grandville Mon Amour explores an alternate art-nouveau world populated by intelligent animals, a human underclass, robot automatons, and advanced steam technology that power everything from hansom cabs to iron flying machines.”
image c. 2010 Dark Horse Comics
Disney’s Gargoyles, the Movie… but not
Word has snuck out that the Walt Disney Company is working on a gargoyles-themed live-action movie. This is from Variety: “Zoe Green is in final negotiations with the Mouse House to pen a screenplay based on an original idea developed by Lauren Shuler Donner, who will produce the live-action film for Disney.” Unfortunately, much to the chagrin of many fans of the 1990’s animated TV series Gargoyles, the new project has nothing at all to do with that show. According to Variety, “Instead, it centers around a world and mythology of the menacing stone statues that the studio was keen to explore, sources said. Both Disney and Shuler Donner were circling separate gargoyle projects and ultimately paired up and hired Green to tackle an idea hatched with Disney exec LouAnne Brickhouse, who is shepherding the project at the studio. Shuler Donner will produce through the Donners’ Co., which she runs with husband Richard Donner.” None of which is sitting well with the many fans of the original TV series created by Greg Weisman. There’s a Facebook page dedicated to convincing Disney to re-think the whole idea. Stay tuned.
RIP, Frank Frazetta
Folks who consider the art of the fantastic to be true art were saddened when world-renowned fantasy artist and painter Frank Frazetta passed away from a stroke on Sunday (May 9th) at the age of 82. Never a “furry artist” so to speak, he nevertheless managed to sneak a few anthropomorphic characters into his works. No, what gave Mr. Frazetta his fame were his book-covers featuring big, muscle-bound heroes defending scantily-clad (but often well-armed) women from terrible monsters and barbarian hordes. Perhaps more-so than even the writers themselves, Frazetta’s painted covers came to define the image of such characters as Conan the Barbarian (from Robert E. Howard), Tarzan, and John Carter of Mars (both from Edgar Rice Burroughs). Since the 1960’s, Frazetta painted hundreds of well-known book covers, as well as album covers for groups as diverse as Molly Hatchet, Nazareth, and (most recently) Wolfmother. More than anyone else, Frazetta was the one who came to define fantasy heroes and heroines as sexy. He was an inspiration to an entire generation of artists, the most obvious being Boris Vallejo, Richard Corben, Rowina, and The Dark One.
Legends of the Guard… Mice, this time
David Petersen’s award-winning comic and story-book series Mouse Guard gets a new twist, as some of the most creative minds in the world of comic books join him to tell all-new tales in Legends of the Guard, a new 4-issue full-color mini-series (coming this May from Archaia Entertainment). “Inside the June Alley Inn, located in the western mouse city of Barkstone, mice gather to tell tales, each trying to out-do the other. A competition, of sort, begins. The rules: Every story must contain one truth, one lie, and have never been told in that tavern before.” Story-tellers this time around include Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl), Ted Naifeh (Courtney Crumrin), and Alex Sheikman (Robotika). In future issues we’ll see contributions by Katie Cook, Guy Davis, Gene Ha, Sean Rubin, Mark Smylie, and many more.
Training Dragons
Anticipations are running high for Dreamworks Animation’s How To Train Your Dragon, which hits movie screens this Friday, March 26th. As of this writing the film has a 100% “fresh” / 0% “rotten” rating at Rotten Tomatoes.com — likely to go down as more reviews come in, of course, but still one heck of a high to be starting from. Many critics have noted the flying sequences in this 3D CGI film to be especially exciting. If you’ve not heard, the story follows the adventures of Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel), a young viking in a land constantly at war with various species of fire-breathing dragon. When Hiccup’s new invention — a sort of bolo-catapult — injures a young dragon, the human is surprised to find himself befriending the beast (he names it “Toothless”). In the process, Hiccup finds out far more about dragons and his own people than he ever expected. Of course, getting humans together with unusual non-human friends is nothing new for directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders: They’re the team that gave us Disney’s Lilo and Stitch.
Surprise Furry Extras
Folks running out to pick up the new DVD/Blue Ray of Spike Jonze’s live-action Where the Wild Things Are will find an interesting extra included: A brand-new short (24 minute) film based on Higglety Pigglety Pop, another book by Maurice Sendak. Using a combination of live action, puppetry, stop-motion animation and more, the film tells the story of Jennie, a fluffy white terrier dog (voiced by Meryl Streep). When she finds that she is bored and thinks “There must be more to life”, Jennie sets out to become leading lady of the World Mother Goose Theater. Unfortunately, she’s informed that the leading lady has to have experience. And Jennie has no idea what “experience” even is, let alone where to find it! Setting out on a quest for it, Jennie winds up as a nurse-maid for a very strange baby who refuses to eat. And nurse-maids who fail to convince the baby to eat are fed to the ravenous lion living in the basement! Only Maurice Sendak comes up with plots like this, folks… The production company for Higglety Pigglety Pop also created the Oscar-Nominated short film Madame Tutli-Putli. Clips from the former and the latter are up on YouTube.
The Stuff of Legend
Love that title! Here’s part of the description from the publisher, Del Rey: “When a child is taken by the fearsome Boogeyman, his loyal toys (including The General, Max the bear, Percy the pig, and others) must rally to stage a daring rescue operation.” This trade paperback graphic novel was written by Mike Raicht and Brian Smith, and illustrated in black & white by Charles Paul Wilson III. It comes to stores this April.
Stuff of Legend cover, c. Del Rey Publishing
