Look, we didn’t come up with that, they did! Please don’t hurt us… Max Meow is a new full-color graphic novel series from Random House, written and illustrated by John Gallagher. The first volume is called Max Meow: Cat Crusader. “Max is just a regular cat in Kittyopolis, trying to make it big as a podcaster, until he accidentally takes a bite of a Radioactive Space Meatball at his best friend Mindy the Scientist’s Secret Lab. Then before you can say meowza, Max becomes… (drum roll!)… The Cat Crusader! Being a super hero is fun (Super strength? Check! Flying? YES!!!) – but not if you get so cocky, you forget your best friend! Will Max learn to listen? Will he and Mindy make up? And together, can Max and Mindy save Kittyopolis from the evil Agent M and Big Boss?!” Also be on the lookout for volume 2, Donuts and Danger. Fun side note: John Gallagher is currently the art director of Ranger Rick magazine.
Comedy
Maybe Not ALL Unicorns Want Friendship
Joey Spiotto certainly has an interesting sense of humor. Among his creations is one Grumpy Unicorn, who put out a book of philosophy and observations called Why Me? Well now the grumpy one has returned with his first graphic novel, Grumpy Unicorn Hits The Road. “Everyone’s favorite magical grouch returns in a graphic novel all about adventure! In this collection of laugh-out-loud stories, Grumpy introduces us to his friends like Sassy the Sasquatch and Jack the Jackelope, takes us camping and on road trips, causes a major dust-up at a museum, and more!” It’s available now in paperback from Scholastic.
Beauty and the Cryptoid
Okay so, we found this in Previews: Sasquatch In Love. “Meet Holden: he’s well-read, caring, and single. He’s also the world’s last Sasquatch. When Holden falls for Grace, the filmmaker who’s come to rural Oregon to make a Bigfoot documentary, he enlists the aid of his best friend – local veterinarian Felix – to find out more about her.” Written by Jason Nutt and illustrated by Alexis Vivallo, this new full-color comic is due in early November from Action Lab.
This Pig Gets His… Animal
A recent article at Animation World Network let us know about Hit Pig, a new animated feature based on the book Pete and Pickles by Bloom County creator Berkeley Breathed. The film version stars the voices of Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) and Lilly Singh (A Little Late With Lilly Singh). “Set in a futuristic cyberpunk world, the film stars Hitpig (Dinklage) as a grizzled porcine bounty hunter who accepts his next hit: Pickles (Singh), a naive, ebullient elephant who has escaped the clutches of an evil trillionaire. Though Hitpig initially sets out to capture the perky pachyderm, the unlikely pair find themselves on an unexpected adventure criss-crossing the globe that brings out the best in both of them.” And hey, if all goes well it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more interesting anthro features coming out of the production company, Aniventure. “The London-based animation production studio is in production on Riverdance: The Animated Adventure based on the stage show phenomenon of the same name, and Blazing Samurai, based on Mel Brooks’ classic Blazing Saddles and directed by Mark Koetsier (The Grinch) and overseen and produced by Rob Minkoff (The Lion King). Riverdance: The Animated Adventure, Blazing Samurai and Hitpig will be delivered in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.” Here’s hoping.
Wild Animals… in a Mall
So we found out about Wild Life, a new animated TV series coming to SYFY’s TZGZ lineup on September 26th. Animation Scoop put it like this: “It’s an adult, post-apocalyptic, talking animal, animated comedy… or as it’s been called by the creative team, “It’s like if The Walking Dead smoked a bunch of Adventure Time and binge-watched Friends.”” Wow, that’s a lot to take in. AS has an interview with series creator Adam Davies and his mates.
Cold Reception
Arctic Dogs (2019) didn’t exactly blow up the box office or impress the critics much. (Ye EdOtter is still trying to figure out how the planned action-adventure film Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad morphed into this silly comedy…) Apparently though, Arctic Dogs has been very popular on Netflix — enough so that a spin-off series of animated shorts called Arctic Friends has been created. According to Animation Magazine: “Arctic Friends follows the exciting adventures of Swifty, the arctic fox who has finally achieved his dream job: Be the best delivery dog at Arctic Blast Delivery Service. With the help of his best friend PB the polar bear, Jade the red fox, and the ABDS team, this crew is ready to deliver at any cost! Constantly thwarted by the nefarious mastermind Otto Van Walrus and his mischievous puffins, Swifty must outsmart these villains to ensure that all packages are delivered to their rightful recipients.” The series recently premiered on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.
Birds and Bubbles Go Boom
They’re still a thing, and they just keep getting stranger. This we got from Animation World Network: “Rovio Entertainment has released the first season of Angry Birds Bubble Trouble, a bite-sized 3D-animated series where the young Angry Birds flock – Red, Bomb, Chuck, Stella and Silver – let their imaginations ‘go wild’ in their bubble garden. They play games and solve problems together, while getting into all kinds of trouble.” The first season of 1-minute animated shorts is up now on Amazon FreeTime Unlimited. The AWN article includes an introductory video, which shows just how odd this series can be!
Bears Go Big
There is much excitement over at Animation World Network about the upcoming We Bare Bears: The Movie. “Cartoon Network will stage its biggest multi-platform movie premiere ever on September 12, debuting We Bare Bears: The Movie across eight WarnerMedia channels and apps in Asia Pacific, including Cartoon Network, Boomerang, HBO, HBO Family, Warner TV, as well as Korean channel Oh!K, which is also screening last year’s famous K-pop episode starring boy-band MONSTA X… In the run-up to the movie release, a three-week on-channel stunt with We Bare Bears episodes will see the spotlight fall on one bear a week; specially-curated episodes will celebrate the unique story, origin, and qualities of the furry trio.” As for the movie itself, it goes like this: “Life is good for this lovable trio. But when their love of food trucks and viral videos get out of hand, it catches the attention of the menacing Agent Trout from the National Wildlife Control, who pledges to restore the “natural order” by separating them forever. Chased from their home, Grizz decides there’s only one thing they can do to find refuge: move to Canada! The Bears embark on an epic road-trip filled with new friends, dangerous obstacles, and massive parties. But most importantly, the perilous journey will force the Bears to face how they first met and became brothers, to keep their family from splitting apart.” There’s a trailer at AWN, too.
The Zoo Crew When They Were New
More out-of-nowhere projects we’ve learned about — in this case from Dreamworks. It’s Madagascar: A Little Wild, a new animated series coming to Hulu and Peacock on September 7th. Everyone’s favorite zoo animal quartet return for new adventures… as youngsters. Animation Scoop had this to say: “Filled with original music and dance worthy songs, the lovable foursome Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe, and Gloria the Hippo steal the show in Madagascar: A Little Wild. Capturing the iconic personalities of the four dynamos, Madagascar: A Little Wild showcases the team as kids residing in their rescue habitat at the Central Park Zoo. They might be small, but like everybody who lands in New York City, these little guys have big dreams.” There’s more information and a trailer at Animation Scoop too.