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Fantasy

That Gryphon’s Turning Green!

More interesting new animated series on the horizon, according to Animation World Network: “Nickelodeon has announced the addition of HexVet to their 2023 preschool lineup. The new animated series is based on the eponymous BOOM! Studios graphic novels by Sam Davies. The CG and 2D-hybrid adventure-comedy follows unlikely best friends Nan and Clarion as they navigate life’s weird and wacky challenges, while apprenticing to be magical veterinarians for fantastical creatures… As HexVets in training, Nan and Clarion are ready to tackle medical maladies in beasts magical or mundane, find their familiars, and earn their wands and pointy hats — all while dodging covens of animal smugglers and dragons with heartburn. Under the tutelage of the talented Dr. Talon, these young HexVets in training will learn how to cure any animal, from a pygmy phoenix with bird flu to a unicorn with a broken horn.” Interesting to note: The series was developed by Nicole Dubuc, well-known among fans of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Look for HexVet to arrive in 2023.

image c. 2022 Nickelodeon

Do We Finally Get The Bunny?

For a long time, we’ve been talking about an animated TV series based on the award-winning comic series Usagi Yojimbo. For years. Nay, for decades! Well now, according to Netflix, it’s about to become a reality — and soon! “First announced in July 2020, the adaptation of Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo is coming to Netflix in April 2022 — specifically on April 28th, 2022… Candie Langdale and Doug Langdale are serving as the showrunners for the series. They’re best known for their work on Netflix’s Maya and the Three, [as well as] working on DreamWorks projects Puss in Boots and Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.” Now as to the plot: “Usagi is a young rabbit who doesn’t want much from life – just to be history’s greatest Samurai. When he comes to the futuristic city of Neo Edo to seek his destiny, he accidentally unleashes dozens of the bizarre, ancient monsters known as Yokai. Now, along with his new friends Chizu, Gen, and Kitsune, he must clean up the mess he’s made.” Stan Sakai himself is proudly involved with every step of the production.

image c. 2022 Gaumont Televison

Seuss Your Old Man

Word came out recently from Animation World Network that even more animation based on the stories of Dr. Seuss are in the works. “Netflix and Dr. Seuss Enterprises are teaming up to bring some of the most iconic and beloved stories and characters of the Dr. Seuss world to life with five new animated preschool series and specials. The projects are inspired by stories like Horton Hears a Who!; The Sneetches; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish; and Wacky Wednesday; [along with] characters like Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose. Executive producer Dustin Ferrer (Esme & Roy, Shimmer & Shine, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood) will serve as showrunner across all five, with additional showrunners revealed in the coming weeks. The announcement expands the partnership between Netflix and Dr. Seuss Enterprises following the launch of the critically acclaimed animated series Green Eggs and Ham in 2019, which will have its anticipated second season premiere April 8, 2022.” The various shows are a mixed bag of 2D and 3D animation. The article has more details!

image c. 2022 Netflix

Jack is Back in Black — and White

Animation World Network let us know: Dreamworks Animation have announced a new upcoming CGI animated TV series, Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight. And wouldn’t you know it, this new series features the return of none other than Jack Black as the voice of Po the panda. He’s been chatting about it on his socials. Here’s what Dreamworks says: “In the new series, when a mysterious pair of weasels set their sights on a collection of four powerful weapons, Po must leave his home to embark on a globe-trotting quest for redemption and justice that finds him partnered up with a no-nonsense English knight named Wandering Blade. Together, these two mismatched warriors set out on an epic adventure to find the magical weapons first and save the world from destruction — and they may even learn a thing or two from each other along the way.” No word yet from Dreamworks on a release date, but stay tooned.

image cl 2022 Dreamworks Animation

Of Course You Want That With Cream

It’s wonderful how straightforward manga titles can be. Witness: I Am A Cat Barista, written and illustrated by Hiro Maijima. “For some people, the daily grind of city life is exhausting. Yet somewhere between the busy streets there’s a mysterious cat café that can only be found by weary souls. What’s on the menu? A delicious drink, specially brewed for each customer…by a cat barista!” Sign us up! Two volumes (for now) are available from Penguin Random House.

image c. 2022 Penguin Random House

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Getting ahead of the curve with a new fantasy/horror/mystery novel coming later this year from writer Tim Susman: Unfinished Business. “Private Investigator Jae Kim doesn’t have a werewolf problem – at least not as long as he can keep clear of his ex-boyfriend Czoltan. But when a suspicious police report hits the streets of Wolftown, Jae suddenly finds himself hunted on the streets he used to freely roam. Dodging bullets from Wolftown vigilantes, he’s stuck hiding out with Czoltan while he and his were-bear ghost Sergei search out whoever set him up – and his life isn’t the only one at stake.” Look for it this July from Argyll.

image c. 2022 Argyll Productions

Kids, Cooking, and Kookiness

Looks as if people are still thinking up odd and interesting new takes on things… old and new. Try this on for size: “Perhaps one of the most memorable moments in Disney’s 1951 Alice in Wonderland was the Mad Hatter’s Mad Tea Party… It was certainly a deliciously humorous spectacle, so it’s no surprise Disney Television Animation has decided to create a heritage project where Alice’s great-granddaughter – also named Alice – has her own Wonderland bakery. ‘I started thinking about all the whimsy, the comedy, and the peculiar characters that are in the original movie and thought, wow, preschoolers are going to love this,’ remembers Emmy Award-winning writer Chelsea Beyl, creator and executive producer of the all-new series, Alice’s Wonderland Bakery… The series follows a new generation Alice (Libby Rue) as she wields her whisk in Wonderland to create wild cakes, muffins, and more in her enchanted, teapot-shaped bakery. Each 3D-animated episode is comprised of two 11-minute stories where Alice uses her baking skills to solve problems and bring people together in Wonderland.” The article at Animation World Network has a lot more, and the series has already premiered on Disney Channel and Disney Junior.

image c. 2022 Disney Television Animation

Dreaming of a Furry Life

Jess E. Owen is an author who has written several fantasy novels for young readers. Her series The Summer King Chronicles features a whole new world of gryphon and wolf characters. But now, writing under the name of Jessica Kara, she is taking on a whole new kind of fantasy with her new young adult novel, A Furry Faux Paw. The story goes like this: “Online, MauveCat (a cool, confident, glittering pixie cat) has friends and a whole supportive furry community that appreciates her art. At home, Maeve Stephens has to tiptoe around her hoarder mother’s mood and mess. When her life is at its hardest, Maeve can always slip into Mauve, her fursona, and be ‘the happy one’, the bubbliest, friendliest artist in her community ― it’s even how she made her best friend, Jade. With graduation around the corner, Maeve is ready to put her lonely school days behind her and move on with her life. And while her father hasn’t been home since the divorce, he does offer her a dream come true: an all-expenses paid trip to the regional furry convention. Furlympia will have everything Maeve’s been missing ―  friends, art mentors, and other furries! So when her mother forbids her from going, Maeve decides to sneak out on her own.” And what happens then? Find out when A Furry Faux Paw comes out in hardcover this May.

image c. 2022 Page Street Kids

The Furries Called For Help…

Years ago, author Jane Lindskold wrote The Marks Of Our Brothers, an interesting science fiction novel with some neat anthropomorphic aliens in it. Now, she is moving into the realm of fantasy — and even more anthropomorphics — with her new series called Over Where. From her web site: “The Over Where duology is the tale of how three young adults decide to use a shrine to summon supernatural guidance.  Except, instead of getting what they expected, they summon three monstrous creatures from another world. Wait…   Let me try again… Maybe it’s the story of three women past the first blush of youth (or even older) from our Earth who are summoned to a land where magic is real, and all the people are therianthropic (that is, they have a mixture of human and animal traits).  Everyone, including the three summoners, figure this is a huge mistake but, when the humans learn that the summoners can’t get any other help, they decide to stay. According to a mysterious cryptic verse, the first thing they must do is find the Library of the Sapphire Wind.  There’s just one problem.  The Library was destroyed some twenty-five years before.” Library of the Sapphire Wind and Aurora Borealis Bridge are both available now.

image c. 2022 Simon & Schuster