Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
Janice Rostenthal is an illustrator and character designer whom we met at the CTN Animation Expo. She describes herself as a “Disney Imagineer, Ringling College of Art and Design illustration & visual development alumna, dog-person.” As you can see from her web site, that seems to cover all the bases! [And with that, we wish you all Happy Holidays and a Blessed Solstice!]
image c. 2016 by Janice Rosenthal
There’s a new full-color trade paperback on its way from IDW publishing, one that brings together comics from several celebrated Disney comic artists — all of them presenting stories set at the Disney Parks! Here’s what they say: “Sixty years of Disney Parks—who knew? Now IDW is celebrating with decades of Disney’s classic Park-themed adventure comics! Carl Barks‘ Scrooge McDuck and Donald travel from the Mark Twain Riverboat to the top of the Matterhorn… then Mickey investigates the strange disappearance of the Country Bear Jamboree. And is that the real Pegleg Pete standing in for the Cast Member who plays him?” Featuring stories and art from Carl Barks, Giorgio Cavazzano, Massimo Fecchi, and Victor “Vicar” Arriagada Rios, Donald and Mickey: The Magic Kingdom Collection comes to comic book stores this January.
image c. 2016 IDW Publishing
This is from a couple of years ago, but we just found it recently at Comic Con in San Diego. Mouseheart is a fantasy adventure series for young readers, written by Lisa Fiedler and illustrated by Vivienne To. “Hopper is just an ordinary pet-shop mouse—until he escapes. Soon he finds himself below the bustling streets of Brooklyn, deep within the untamed tangles of transit tunnels, and in Atlantia, a glorious utopian rat civilization. But all is not as it seems. Hopper misses Pinkie and Pup, the siblings he lost in the escape attempt. Atlantia is constantly threatened by roving rebels who wish to bring the city to its knees. And there are cats everywhere, cats who would normally eat a rodent in a second, but leave the rats unharmed . . . and no one can seem to answer why. Soon Hopper is caught in the cross-hairs of an epic battle, one that spans generations and species. As the clashes rage, Hopper learns terrible, extraordinary secrets.” Mouseheart was published in 2014 by Margaret K. McElderry Books. Since then there have been two more, Hopper’s Destiny and Return of the Forgotten. There’s lots more at the official Mouseheart web site.
image c. 2016 Margaret K. McElderry Books
We missed this one earlier this year, but it’s worth mentioning: For a few years now Disney has been distributing Animasia Studio’s 2D animated series Chuck Chicken on their channels in Southeast Asia. Now Animation Magazine has announced that Animasia have teamed up with Zero One Animation in China to create Chuck Chicken — The Movie. Animasia’s official web site lays it out pretty clear: “Chuck Chicken takes place on an island called Rocky Perch, a land filled with chaos, mayhem and birds…… lots and lots of birds. Welcome to Golden Egg Securities, the number one security service on Rocky Perch. Chuck, who runs the company with his two friends, Flick and Wing. They provide Kung Fu style security to the citizens of Rocky Perch and their valuables, as they travel across the island. Chuck also inherited a very special talisman in the shape of a golden egg, an object that bestows amazing powers on whomever possesses it, and turns Chuck into Kung Fu Chicken. Unfortunately for Chuck, the talisman doesn’t come with any instructions, so he doesn’t know how to properly control his new abilities.” Got all that? Given the interest that many Chinese animation studios have shown in creating product intended for American markets, there’s a good chance we may have an English version of Chuck Chicken waiting in the wings.
image c. 2016 Animasia Studios
And on to Italy for Pio Rocks, a new show inspired by a popular YouTube series called Pulchino Pio. According to the review from Animation Magazine, “Pio Rocks! – The Series revolves around Pio’s life at school at Highnote High, a school like any other, except every class is about music! With plenty of challenges, betrayals, friendships forged forever and ex-friends you swear you’ll never speak to again… Pio Rocks! is a comedy about friendship, growing up, achieving goals and acceptance. Being a kid, in other words.” Produced by Planeta Junior, the series is set to hit the air in Europe this January.
image c. 2016 Planeta Junior
Now back to France for Paprika, an animated series about a rambunctious pair of cats. “Olivia and Stan are about as close as a brother and sister can get because…they’re twins! They share pretty much everything and though they’re totally different, they balance out to perfection! Stan is a brave little daredevil who puts faith in his instinct and his motorized wheelchair. Olivia is creative, efficient and brainy. But when it comes to having a ton of fun they’re both world champions!” Paprika is unusual among TV shows for kids in that it features a lead character who is wheelchair-bound. Currently the show has been airing around the Mediterranean, but Xilam Animation is looking to break it out internationally.
image c. 2016 Xilam Animation
Limon and Oli is a CGI animated TV series for young children, created by Salih Memecan. It’s based on a long-running newspaper strip in Turkey, Sizinkiler (“Your Kind of Family”). The cartoon show follows that adventures of two young birds who are best friends — both of them teaming with curiosity about the world. Since 2015 the show has been airing on Disney Junior in Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Now thanks to a deal with Netflix the two little birds are set to make their premier in North America and beyond.
image c. 2016 Mart Agency
Grizzy and the Lemmings is the perfectly descriptive title of a new CGI animated TV series created by Antoine Rodelet and Josseline Charlier. “He is big as a bear, strong as a bear, smart… as a bear. Naturally, no other animal dares to contest his ‘bear’s privilege’. That is no other animal except one: A tribe that belongs to the most inoffensive, stupid, and ridiculous mammal family that exists – the lemmings. Even for a bear who weighs 500 pounds and stands seven feet tall, it’s not that easy to get rid of these unrefined balls of fur who have the I.Q. of a pea. For the balls of fur in question are quite numerous. And they really know how to work as a team!” The idea of the show is to bring the art of slapstick back to TV animation for young viewers — hence why the show is created without dialogue, to be shown in any part of the world. Studio Hari has a page dedicated to Grizzy and his friends (?) that includes a video trailer.
image c. 2016 Studio Hari
Komixx Media Group have a new 2D animated TV series called Dog Loves Books, based on the best-selling books for young readers by Louise Yates. “Dog runs a bookshop and he loves books. Whenever he or his best friend Pug have a problem or a question, Dog knows the answer will lie in one of his books. When Dog opens the book and begins to read, he and Pug are swept away into a world of adventure and imagination where anything is possible. Dog and Pug often get completely lost in the books they read… but they are always back in time for tea and biscuits.” The show is slowly making its way into international markets.
image c. 2016 Komixx Media Group