For years we’ve been seeing sample art from the Ultraduck project showing up at San Diego Comic Con and other fannish events. Now, it seems, Arcana Studios will finally be publishing the new Ultraduck graphic novel this October. It’s written by Edgar Delgado, with full-color art by Omar Lozano and Humberto Ramos. Here’s the basic description from Amazon: “Carlos, a regular duck living in the great city of Featherbay, just got dumped by his girlfriend, his life as a freelance do-it-all is going nowhere, and he must make some grown up decisions: to get a real job, get his girl back, and stop drinking. That is, until he gets super powers and becomes the only duck in the world who can stop a powerful creature who’s destroying the city on a vengeful rampage, and an evil weapons manufacturing corporation who wants his abilities.” Just how “anthro” is this project? Check out the promo art!
Birds
Miranda and the Tiger’s Eye
Recently stumbled across: Miranda and the Tiger’s Eye, by Sara Beacham. “Miranda’s adventure begins with a gift and a wish. The gift, from a collector’s shop in India, is a special stone that fell from a statue stolen long ago. The stone, called a tiger’s eye, is said to have magical powers. Follow Miranda as she literally falls into a journey beyond the mist. Along the way, she is joined by a talking Secretary Bird and Barn Owl. Together they search for the rightful owner of the tiger’s eye.” That rightful owner is a tiger named Raja, and Miranda’s journey to find him takes her, two talking birds, and numerous other animal characters on an adventure that critics have compared to both Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis. Miranda and the Tiger’s Eye is available from FOM Publishing. You can read more about it on Amazon.
Rio Takes On The World
In an unusual move, 20th Century Fox has released the next Blue Sky Studios move Rio in 72 countries outside of North America, a full week before releasing it in the U.S. on April 15th. According to reports the film is already doing quite well in Russia, and a few other countries as well. Like the Ice Age films from Blue Sky, this new film is directed by Carlos Saldanha. It tells the story of a blue macaw named (appropriately) Blu. Domesticated, it seems that Blu has never learned to fly. It also seems that he is the last mail blue macaw — and so begins his journey to the title city, where folks hope he will mate with the one remaining female blue (named Jewel) to save the species. Fox has released the first two minutes of the film as a video, and (in an only-these-days bit of tie-in) there is also a video advertising the Angry Birds/Rio game app for your I-Phone.