In case you haven’t gotten the word yet, it’s Mickey Mouse’s 90th birthday! The Disney superstar’s big celebration is bringing many special events to Disney parks around the globe. Meanwhile, over on the comic book side of things, IDW has a new full-color trade paperback, the Mickey Mouse: 90th Anniversary Collection. “Mickey’s celebrating the big Nine-Oh, and he’s joined by all of his best friends! Goofy, Minnie, Pegleg Pete, and Atomo Bleep-Bleep are all here to celebrate our modest mouse’s big day in style! Includes the thrilling ‘Sacred Spring of Seasons Past’ and ‘Return of the Phantom Blot!’ Celebrate Mickey’s big anniversary with this epic anthology featuring his most beloved creators and most exciting adventures!” Check it out over at Previews. It’s scheduled for release in early January. [And with that — Merry Christmas and a Blessed Solstice to you all!]
Comic Book News
Afternoon Delight
IDW has a new anthology comic sure to catch the interest of TV animation watchers — and furry fans: Disney Afternoon Giant. According to them, “It’s the first issue of a brand-new series featuring stories from your favorite Disney Afternoon shows! It’s a blast from the past in the present as we feature classic DuckTales, Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duck stories, all together in one place for the first time!” The first issue features stories by Warren Spector and Ian Brill, with art by Leonel Castellani, Jose Massaroli, James Silvani, Jake Myler, and Braden Lamb.
That’s A Lotta Bull, Lass
A classic folk tale comes to us in the form of a new full-color graphic novel series courtesy of Image Comics. “The sibling writer/artist duo of Cat Seaton and Kit Seaton (AFAR) team up for Norroway, Book 1: The Black Bull of Norroway, the first in an original graphic novel series based on the Scottish tale of the same name. Sibylla had always craved adventure, but she never guessed it would show up at her door in the form of a giant, magical bull. Who knew a prophecy could be so literal?” The first book is available in trade paperback.
Now the Warrior is Solo
More anthro-rats in a post-apocalyptic setting. This time it’s Solo: The Survivors of Chaos, new in full-color from Statix Press (an imprint of Titan Comics). “Road warrior, meet rat warrior! The perfect fusion of Zootopia and Mad Max: Fury Road! On an Earth ravaged by nuclear war, an array of mutant animals have repopulated the land. But these survivors of chaos are far from peaceful – when Solo’s family faces starvation, the young rat wanders the cannibal wastes to become a warrior. The Statix Press debut of Oscar Martin, Warner Bros Lifetime Achievement Award-winning writer-artist of Tom & Jerry.” There are preview pages over at News-A-Rama. Plus, look for the alternate cover version by Sean Galloway (the illustrator for Pearl of Pandaria).
Vermin on the Rise
From the publisher, Source Point Press: “It was written in blood by the rat kings, woven in silk by the spider sages, recited in verse by the ancient warlords of the centipedes: The Vermin shall inherit the Earth. A rich fantasy in the tradition of The Secret of NIMH tells the stories of great heroes who live in the margins of our world.” It’s Wretched Things, a new full-color graphic novel written by David Wong, with art by Ken Perry and John Hunt. Big Comic Page has a review that includes several sample pages.
Feline Foundations
New from First Second: “All Marmalade wants to do is build things. She is, after all, a trained architect. She’s also a distractingly adorable kitten. Fed up with not being taken seriously because she’s so cute, Marmalade bands together with a handful of other aspiring builders—all of them kittens. But in a world where humans call the shots, can the Kitten Construction Company prove their worth… without giving up the very things that make them kittens?” Meet The House Kittens is the first volume of the Kitten Construction Company, a new full-color graphic novel series for young readers written and illustrated by John Patrick Green (creator of Hippopotamister, which we’ve talked about before). It’s out now in hardcover, distributed by Macmillan & Company.
All the Cute Little Billionaires
Here’s an interesting art and comic project we came across at CTN Expo: Sillycan Vale, created by Lewei Wang. Current there’s a Kickstarter Campaign for the project, that explains it like this… “Sillycan Vale is a town where each animal villager is the personification of a tech company from the real world. The goal of this project is to develop the whole concept into a comic series. The characters & story-lines are inspired by what’s happening between the real tech communities especially in Silicon Valley, California.” Currently the plan is to release the comic in three separate volumes, introducing new characters and development art in each, and then release the actual complete comic in September of 2019. As of this writing they have already exceeded their initial funding goal, so go check them out and see what’s coming next.
He’s Unda Da Sea
Paptercutz brings us a new full-color mini-comic series for young readers: Gillbert the Little Merman, Volume 1 by Art Baltazar (writer and illustrator of Tiny Titans and Captain Action Cat). Here’s the preview over at their web site: “In the deepest part of the ocean, unexplored by man and too deep for humans to swim, lives a little sea creature named Gillbert. Gillbert the Sea Creature is the son of King Nauticus, king of all the oceans. One day, Gillbert will be king. But in the meantime, his playful curiosity takes him away from the kingdom on a journey of discovery.Gillbert meets an amphibious mermaid and follows her into unknown parts of the ocean. Where he meets many unknown and undiscovered species of underwater creatures. He didn’t know these things existed so close to home. Gillbert’s world just got a whole lot bigger!” It’s available at comic book stores in paperback and hardcover editions.