It might seem early in the year to think about it, but the publishers already are: Saturday May 4th is Free Comic Book Day, when various publishers put out special “sampler issues” to be given away at comic book shops across America. First up, IDW Publishing have announced a new full-color tie-in with the hit Ninja Turtles CGI series, featuring art and stories by various people and a color cover by Dario Brizuela. “Jumping from screen to page, it’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles New Animated Adventures! This unique series captures the heart of the smash Nickelodeon television show with brand-new stories. Full of action, excitement and laughs, this is the perfect all-ages comic to get you seeing green!!” Check out more of what’s coming on Free Comic Book Day by visiting the official web site.
CGI
Pi-Rats (and Others) in the Sky!
Pirate 101 (from Kings Isle, the same creators as Wizard 101) is an on-line multi-player role-playing system of pirate adventure and battle — in the sky, no less. Yep, flying pirate ships. It’s a decidedly family-friendly game throughout, though it has “adult” and “child” areas as part of it. The interesting thing is this: As you can see from the preview trailer, and in the picture below, there are plenty of anthropomorphic player characters to be had and played, as well as the more traditional human sort. Visit www.pirate101.com to find out how to get started with the game.
Flying from the TV to the Movie Screen
Disney and Pixar have announced an interesting change to their 2013 movie line-up. This is from Jerry Beck over at Cartoon Brew: “Disney has decided to chase after Dreamworks’ Turbo next summer with its new “Cars-inspired” movie: Planes. Disney has just announced it will release this film theatrically on August 9th, 2013. Originally designed to go direct-to-DVD, Planes will now play in theaters all over the U.S. Jon Cryer is voicing the lead plane, “Dusty”; Klay Hall (Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure), an aviator himself, is directing.” In the same article Cartoon Brew also re-posted the original trailer for Planes, in case you missed it before.
The Annie Awards Nominations for 2012
ASIFA Hollywood (part of the International Animated Film Society) announced the nominations for the 2012 Annie Awards this morning. These are the Oscars for animation, folks: Chosen and awarded by members of the animation industry, from writers and artists to animators and directors. As usual, there are a great selection of furry-oriented works among the nominees. This year the nominees for Best Animated Feature include Brave, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Rise of the Guardians, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Rabbi’s Cat, and Wreck-It Ralph. Interestingly, two of the “furriest” films of 2012, Madagascar 3 and Ice Age 4, were not nominated for Best Feature — though they were both nominated in other categories. Wreck-It Ralph seems to be the film to beat this year — though both it and Brave were nominated for 10 awards each, Brave was not nominated for Best Directing while Wreck-It Ralph was. For the television categories, furry-notable shows receiving multiple nominations included Adventure Time, Dragons: Riders of Berk, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, The Penguins of Madagascar, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, T.U.F.F. Puppy, and Doc McStuffins. Once again, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was absent from all categories. What is up with that? Anyway, the Annie Awards will be presented in a gala ceremony at UCLA’s Royce Hall on February 2nd of next year. The L.A. Times has a complete listing of the nominees, and tickets to the event can be purchased at the Annie Awards web site.
A Couple of Real Turkeys
They put it best, so we’re lifting this directly from Cartoon Brew: “Relativity Media and Reel FX have announced that they will jointly produce and finance the upcoming animated feature Turkeys. The film is being directed by Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears A Who!) and stars the voice talent of Owen Wilson (Cars) and Woody Harrelson (A Scanner Darkly). Relativity usually releases their films through a major U.S. distributor like Universal or Warner Bros. Expect one of them to pick it up.” What’s it about? This is from the Relativity Media press release: “Turkeys is an irreverent, hilarious, adventurous buddy comedy where two turkeys from opposite sides of the tracks must put aside their differences and team up to travel back in time to change the course of history – and get turkey off the menu for good.” Hmmm, is it at all significant that both of the lead actors are vegetarians in real life? Watch for this in 2014.
New from India
Delhi Safari is a new full-length CGI animated feature from India, directed by Nikhil Advani and animated by Krayon Pictures. It tells the story of a group of rainforest animals in India, who find their forest is being destroyed and paved over by human encroachment and construction. They take it upon themselves to travel to Delhi, with the intention of using a “bilingual” parrot (he speaks both human and non-human languages) to voice their complaints about the destruction of their home. The film has been picked up for international distribution by Fantastic Films, and it recently opened for a limited engagement in North America. Filmed in Hindi, the English version of the film features the voices of Jason Alexander, Cary Elwes, Christopher Lloyd, Jane Lynch, Vanessa Williams, and Brad Garrett. Watch the international trailer on YouTube, or visit the Delhi Safari Facebook page.
Monsters in Comics
Just in time for more Monsters, Inc, Marvel Comics brings us… Monsters, Inc! The full-color comic book adaptation, that is. The new 2-issue mini-series was adapted by Charles Bazaldua and illustrated by a team of artists from Italy. All of this in anticipation of the 3D re-release of Monsters, Inc — which is, of course, in anticipation of the new Pixar prequel film, Monsters University, which is due next year. (If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the Monsters University “Campus Brochure” that Disney/Pixar have created.) The comic book version of the original Mike and Sully movie, meanwhile, is due in stores this December.
Battle Bears Coming to a Bigger Screen
We’ve mentioned before about Battle Bears, the popular mobile-device video game created by Ben Vu of Sky Vu Entertainment. In case you need a refresher from the source: “Battle Bears is a tongue-and-cheek action comedy featuring Oliver Bear and his friends who are charged with saving the world from the Huggables, a possessed horde of enemy pink bears out to hug you to death, unless you fend them off with an arsenal of unusual artillery that includes anything from the Unicorn Horn Crossbow to the BearZooka.” Well now Sky Vu Entertainment have inked a deal with Wildbrain Entertainment to create a Battle Bears TV series as well as an extensive consumer product line. Wildbrain is a division of DHX Media Ltd, which is not only the home of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic but also “one of the world’s foremost producers of animation and family entertainment”. Read all about it at Cartoon Brew.








