More interesting news from Cartoon Brew: Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, etc etc…!) has signed a two picture deal with Le Vision USA, the American wing of China’s Le Vision Pictures. The first is for a live-action comedy called Silkworms (which we know nothing about, so far). The second, of more interest here, is for an animated adaptation of Chinese author Lu Jiamin’s semi-autobiographical novel Wolf Totem. Earlier this year the book was adapted into a Chinese-language live-action film, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud from France. The story tells of “…a Chinese student who is sent to Inner Mongolia to teach shepherds and instead learns about the local wolf population, which is under threat by a government apparatchik”. (Shades of Never Cry Wolf, anyone?) At this point we do not know if Mr. Minkoff will simply be producing the animated version, or if he will direct. Nor have we gotten any word as to a projected release date. Guess we’ll find out!
Wolves
The Boy Who Fell to Earth
In 2012 John Claude Bemis (author of the Americana-Fantasy series The Clockwork Dark) brought us a new post-apocalypse novel for young readers called The Prince Who Fell From The Sky. “In Casseomae’s world, the wolves rule the Forest, and the Forest is everywhere. The animals tell stories of the Skinless Ones, whose cities and roads once covered the earth, but the Skinless disappeared long ago. Casseomae is content to live alone, apart from the other bears in her tribe, until one of the ancients’ sky vehicles crashes to the ground, and from it emerges a Skinless One, a child. Rather than turn him over to the wolves, Casseomae chooses to protect this human cub, to find someplace safe for him to live. But where among the animals will a human child be safe? And is Casseomae threatening the safety of the Forest and all its tribes by protecting him?” Published by Random House, check this out over at the author’s web site.
[And with that, of course, we wish you a Merry Christmas, a Blessed Solstice, and a Happy Holiday Season!]
Pups and Petrol
Author Tonton Jim appeared on the scene recently with a new series of books called Hound’s Glenn. The titular neighborhood is a place where families of dogs and wolves live and work — evidently, families of other species live in other neighborhoods — and the stories feature the daily adventures of a group of young canines growing up. Aimed at young readers and adults alike, each book features watercolor illustrations by the artist E. Felix Lyon. The first book, Max and the Lowrider Car, introduces us to Max. He’s a fifth-grader wolf cub with a simple-sounding assignment from school: Find something amazing in town to write about. He finds it in the local auto customizing shop, and soon Max and his friends (and family) are off on an adventure seeking old boring cars to bring back to shiny new life. The book is available on Amazon now, published by Dayton. The second book in the series, Harold and the Hot Rod, is coming soon. Hmm, are we sensing a theme here?
A Wolf, His Mate, and Their Cubs
Turns out that the original Alpha and Omega (from 2010) was successful enough to “spawn” a sequel — at least a 44-minute direct-to-video sequel, Alpha and Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure. According to Cartoon Brew (never very kind to standard Hollywood fare), the sequel is again directed by Richard Rich. It was animated in India. In this new film, the wolves Humphrey and Kate strive to bring their cubs — Stinky, Claudette, and Runt — a happy season at Christmas time. The preview trailer is up now on YouTube. Look for the DVD from Lionsgate, coming to your local store on October 8th.
Wolves After The Fall
Creative Mind Energy (CME) describe themselves as “a creative consortium of artists, designers, inventors, story-tellers and writers who pool their educations, talents and creative abilities to bring outstanding new products to all media markets and industries”. To that end they have several comic book series in various stages of development — and several of them are Furry in nature. First up is The Gifted, a largely black & white comic book with water-color style illustrations. According to the CME blog, “The Gifted is set in a dystopian future, in which humans have devastated the earth. What animals remain endure a barren, dangerous existence, constantly being hunted and exterminated by man. But some of the animals find themselves gifted with sophisticated intelligence and the power of speech, and rise up against man to protect their earth.” The first issue will be available at their on-line store soon. Visit their web site to find out more about this and other upcoming titles.
The Big Bad Wolf — or IS he…?
After literally years of struggling to find a publisher for their full-color graphic novel, writer Paul Jenkins and artists Humberto Ramos and Leonardo Olea decided to publish Fairy Quest: Outlaws themselves — and the result premiered at San Diego Comic Con this year. In the land of Fablewood, all the world’s favorite fairy tale characters re-live their famous stories over and over again, like puppets on a string. Then one day, Little Red and Mr. Woof decide they’ve grown tired of being enemies and decide to become friends — a little act of rebellion that turns all of Fablewood onto its ear, and brands these new friends as dangerous outlaws. The web site Comic Book Resources has an interview with Humberto Ramos talking about the Fairy Quest project up on line. It’s envisioned as a four-book series.
New CGI Wolves
Can you tell who’s been under the weather for a few days? Well now…
Stumbled across a new CGI film to be hitting our shores this September. A 3D feature from India no less, created by Crest Animation Studios. Alpha and Omega is in English though, produced by Richard Rich (The Swan Princess), directed by Anthony Bell (The Boondocks) and Ben Gluck (Brother Bear 2), and released by Lionsgate. The story revolves around a pair of wolves living in the wild in Canada. Kate (voiced by Hayden Panettiere) is a responsible pack leader, while Humphrey (voiced by Justin Long) lives just for fun, frolic, and friends — alpha and omega, get it? Kate’s father has arranged for her to be mated to the alpha male of another pack in order to prevent an inter-pack war. That plan is put in jeopardy, though, when both Kate and Humphrey are captured by humans and transferred to Idaho as part of a wolf re-introduction program. Can they make it back to their pack in time to prevent war? The trailer for this new film is up on YouTube.
Luuna Volume 1
Tokyo Pop takes a new step into full-color full-sized graphic novels with the premier of Luuna, Volume 1, from Europe (and available now in English). With a script by Nicolas Keramidas and art by Didier Crisse, Luuna tells the story of a young woman of the mystic Paumanok tribe, who enters the sacred forest to find her totem — her animal spirit that represents her inner self. Unfortunately for Luuna, the Evil One plays a trick on her. Now she’s cursed with not one but two totems: Wolves, white and black, representing her own good and evil sides… one capable of miracles, the other of great destruction. And so Luuna sets out to find the wise spirits of the Earth, hoping they can rid her of this curse… if the minions of the Evil One don’t get to her first!






