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Funny Animal

A Questionable Storyteller?

Rocket Raccoon (even with Groot in tow) might not seem the most likely candidate for a young readers’ novel. But that’s just what Tom Angleberger brings us in his new hardcover book, Rocket and Groot: Stranded on Planet Strip Mall. “After battling deadly space piranhas in Sector 7 of the Cosmos, Rocket and Groot crash-land on a planet made up of strip malls, maniacal robots bent on customer service, and killer toilets – yes, killer toilets! Told through the eyes of Rocket, Rocket and Groot will feature simple black-and-white drawing throughout, as Rocket uses a space stylus to express his adventures, visually, while Veronica, their space recording companion, lays out the adventure in text! Granted, the drawings are done by a space raccoon with a bad attitude, but what would happen if he gave Groot a shot to draw an adventure they had been on? What would we get? We’ll find out in the final chapter!” You have been warned. The book is available now from Marvel Press.

image c. 2016 Marvel Press

image c. 2016 Marvel Press

Kitten? Stray No More!

Konami Kanata is well-known for her full-color manga series Fuku Fuku, dramatizing the adventures of her adopted stray kitten of the same name. Now Vertical Comics have brought together several adventures in a new graphic novel, Fuku Fuku: Kitten Tales. “From the author of the New York Times manga best seller Chi’s Sweet Home comes a delightful series of vignettes in the life of a kitten and her doting owner. To a young kitten, even the most mundane things appear fresh and exciting (and sometimes unpleasant or scary). Join FukuFuku on her journey and rediscover the world from a tiny cat’s point of view.” Visit the Vertical web site to see a preview.

image c. 2016 Vertical Comics

image c. 2016 Vertical Comics

The Mickey Mysteries

Papercutz (home, once again, of Geronimo Stilton and family) have a new series of three Disney Graphic Novels coming to bookshelves later this month. Volume 1 is based on the world of Disney’s Planes (which is based on the world of Pixar’s Cars, of course). Volume 3 is called Minnie and Daisy: Best Friends Forever, which probably speaks for itself. Most unusual perhaps is Volume 2, entitled X-Mickey. “It’s a supernatural Disney adventure as Mickey Mouse meets Pipwolf, a werewolf who bears more than a passing resemblance to Goofy! X-Mickey is a fun Disney series that introduces everyone’s favorite mouse to another dimension full of spooks, ghosts, goblins and more. Accompanied by Pipwolf and an albino mouse named Manny, Mickey must do everything he can to keep Mouseton safe and keep these creatures locked up where they belong.”

image c. 2016 Papercutz

image c. 2016 Papercutz

Try Everything: From Movies To Comics

As of this writing, Disney Animation’s Zootopia remains number one at the box office in the USA and several other countries, breaking records left and right for an animated film — Disney or otherwise. Now Joe Books (no, we don’t know who they are either) bring Zootopia to their Cinestory series of comic book adaptation. Telling the story of plucky bunny cop Judy Hopps and “articulate” fox Nick Wilde in the all-mammal city of Zootopia, using full-color stills from the movie in comic form. Diamond Distributors have more information about it.

image c. 2016 Joe Books, Inc.

image c. 2016 Joe Books, Inc.

We Wish You Wouldn’t Imagine That

Creature Entertainment (home of Bubba the Redneck Werewolf) has a new full-color comic book mini-series called Tommy: Cereal Killer. “What can you do when you find out your imaginary friend, who happens to also to be your pet rabbit, is a serial killer, and you’re the only one who knows? Oh, and you’re seven years-old… and nobody believes you? That’s Tommy’s reality – but now he means to change it! In the premiere issue of this 4-part mini-series, we are introduced to the cast of Tommy’s world, including the joyless Principal Crabtree, his woozy mother Sharon, and his ‘pet’ rabbit Jack, a mean-spirited and relentless taskmaster who is ruining the boy’s life while trying to ‘fix’ it.” Written by John Ulloa and Al Bondiga, with art by Juan Navarro, the first issue of Tommy is on the shelves now — and at Creature’s web site.

image c. 2016 Creature Entertainment

image c. 2016 Creature Entertainment

Meanwhile, He Followed HER Home…

Another animator, another graphic novel: Bob Scott is well-known for having worked on projects as wide-ranging as Warner Brothers Bugs Bunny cartoons to Pixar films like The Incredibles and Ratatouille. Meanwhile, he’s been writing and illustrating an on-line comic strip, Molly and the Bear. “It can be tough on a family when someone new has moved in, especially if it’s a 900-pound scaredy-bear so terrified of wilderness life that he’s fled to the burbs. Fortunately Bear was found by Molly, a fearlessly optimistic 11-year-old can-doer who has taken him firmly in hand, devoted to seeing her hirsute BFF cope with modern life. Molly’s Mom is happy with the new sibling — Bear’s an excellent conversationalist and loves her homemade cookies. But Dad is having a harder time, his role as center of the universe now shared with an ursine behemoth who, unfortunately, adores him.” Now Cameron & Company have released the first collection of full-color Molly and the Bear comics in hardcover. It’s available over at Barnes & Noble.

image c. 2016 Cameron & Company

image c. 2016 Cameron & Company

When Logos Come To Life

Here’s what they say: “For five years, readers have looked at the Action Lab Entertainment logo and wondered, “Who is that dog with the jet pack?” Wonder no more! The story you never thought would be told is now an ongoing monthly title as Action Lab: Dog of Wonder comes to comic book shelves everywhere! With art by the Princeless: Raven, The Pirate Princess team of Rosy Higgins and Ted Brandt and a story by Stray co-creator Vito Delsante and newcomer Scott Fogg, this is the title for young and old alike!” We see the pitch now: “It’s a dog! With a jet pack!” See the variant covers and several sample pages over at First Comics News.

image c. 2016 Action Lab

image c. 2016 Action Lab

Bird, You Are Goin’ DOWN!

Out of nowhere department: Thanks to the folks over at Cartoonbrew we learn that Sony Pictures Animation are hard at work on a direct-to-video sequel to the 2007 surfing penguin epic, Surf’s Up.  (Gad, did it really come out that long ago??) Only this time it’s surfing… wrestling… penguins. Got that? “Cody Maverick, hungry for a new challenge, convinces an infamous big wave riding crew known as The Hang 5, voiced by WWE stars John Cena, The Undertaker, Triple H, WWE Diva Paige, and Mr. McMahon, to let him join them on their journey to a mysterious surf spot known as The Trenches, where legend has it, they’ll find the biggest waves in the world.” Okay then. “Abdul Williams (writer of the urban-comedy Lottery Ticket) will script Surf’s Up 2, and story artist Henry Yu will make his directorial debut. Yu’s previous credits include Sym-Bionic Titan and both Hotel Transylvania movies… Animation will be provided by Rainmaker Entertainment, the studio behind the upcoming Ratchet & Clank feature, as well as Sony’s Open Season: Scared Silly.” Check out the Cartoonbrew article for lots of preliminary artwork and an interview with the director. Look for Surf’s Up 2: Wave Mania cresting in the spring of 2017.

image c. 2016 Sony Pictures Animation

image c. 2016 Sony Pictures Animation

She Sings, She Travels Between Worlds

Jonathan St. Amant is the creator of Shelby and the Blooms, a series of black & white mini-comics. Shelby is a lonely young slug, rejected by most of her hard-shelled insectoid peers in school. So what else to do but form a rock band with other misfits, with herself as lead singer of course! Well that’s how things start, anyway. Not long after Shelby discovers that he has the power to travel into a magical parallel world, filled with wizards both good and evil. And strange creatures, like a friendly little thing that is part unicorn, part narwal, and part water balloon. Yes. You can find out more about all of this at his Jonathan’s new personal web site. It includes a link to his Etsy store where you’ll find his comics.

image c. 2016 by Jon St. Amant

image c. 2016 by Jon St. Amant