Just in time for holiday wish lists, Disney and Dark Horse Comics bring us the Deluxe Edition of The Art of DuckTales, edited by Ken Plume. “Scrooge McDuck and nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie are back in the 2017 remake of the classic series from Disney Television Animation, DuckTales! Now, find out about the making of DuckTales and read stories from the developers and cast covering every episode from all three seasons! The deluxe edition of the Art of DuckTales gives you all the content of the standard edition along with a slipcase that houses a gold-gilded version the book, an exclusive DuckTales Guidebook that contains expanded versions of the interviews with the crew and cast, and a finely-crafted replica of Scrooge’s Number One Dime!” Start wishing.
Disney
Birds Rising in the East
Look, we can’t make this stuff up. (We’d make more money if we could!) Disney Manga: Donald Duck Visits Japan! by Meru Okano. Here’s the description from Tokyo Pop: “Donald Duck works for the American furniture business, ‘Duck Furnishings’. It’s been two months since he and his employees, José Carioca and Panchito Pistoles, were reassigned to the Asian Culture and Distribution Department, and the phone hasn’t rung even once. Just as they’re starting to wonder why they were transferred in the first place, the CEO suddenly orders them to travel to Japan! The three Caballeros must learn all they can about Japanese customs, entertainment, culture, food, and clothing before they return to New York City. Assuming they don’t get into too much trouble first!”
Where Do Unicorns Go?
The description of The World of Yaxin: Day of the Unicorn sounds so simple… “On an island between dream and reality, a young faun named Gabriel is fascinated by the extraordinary new creatures called unicorns. ‘A magical thing born of nature,’ he muses… What mystery surrounds their birth? What place, what function do these mythical animals occupy in this imaginary world?” This hardly scratches the surface of how respected and sought-after this largely wordless book of illustration has become. Now, it’s finally released in North America thanks to Magnetic Press. Creator Manuel Arenas is well-known as an artist for Disney Animation, having worked on films like Zootopia and Big Hero 6.
King of… TV?
Interesting Disney news we got from Animation World Network: “Disney+ has begun development on a new live-action series based on the famous 1933 King Kong film, Deadline reports. Disney Branded Television is producing, with Paper Girls creator Stephany Folsom on board as writer and executive producer… According to Deadline, the series will be an ‘action-adventure drama that brings the classic monster story into the modern age, with a return to Skull Island and the dawn of a new Kong.’ The show will be based on Merian C. Cooper’s original films as well as the newer King Kong novelizations by Joe DeVito, digging deeper into Kong’s origin story and mysterious home.” Important side note: “This new King Kong series is not related to the Monsterverse movies from Legendary Entertainment, which, due to a complicated, tangled web of rights, could only use the name ‘Kong’ to refer to their giant ape in the films Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla vs. Kong. We’ll next see a Monsterverse Kong on the small screen with the animated series Skull Island via Netflix.” Big news on the big ape front.
They Call 911 FOR You!
Seems we’re never far away from more anthropomorphic vehicles. Got this from Animation World Network: “Disney Branded Television’s new musical animated comedy-adventure series, Firebuds, follows a team of young first responders who embark on adventures with their talking sidekick vehicles to help their community and learn what it truly means to be a hero… Set in a world where talking vehicles live, work, and play with the humans who drive them, Firebuds follows a boy named Bo and his fire engine best friend Flash as they team up with their first responder friends to help others in their community with problems, big and small.” Various episodes feature musical performances by the likes of Weird Al Yankovic, Lisa Loeb, and Patton Oswalt. Coming this fall to Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and various Disney streams on September 21st.
My Pet Be-Anything
We really need to get caught up on our YouTube phenoms. We found this at Animation World Network: “Guru Studio is ramping up production on Moonbug Entertainment’s newest CG animated series based on their popular YouTube hit, My Magic Pet Morphle… The show follows Mila and her stepbrother, Jordie, as they leap into a world of adventure with the help of Morphle, Mila’s magical and loyal pet, who has the power to change into whatever she needs.” Morphle is scheduled to hit Disney + and Disney Junior in 2024.
Look! Up in the Sky! He’s Cute!
Didn’t hear about this coming, but here it is: “Disney Channel has dropped the official trailer for its upcoming 2D animated sibling superhero comedy Hamster & Gretel. From Disney Branded Television and produced by Disney Television Animation, the series introduces Kevin and his younger sister Gretel, who are prepped and readied to become a superhero sibling duo. In the show, the super siblings are about to receive superpowers from space aliens. But alas, things do not go as planned, and Gretel’s pet hamster, who happens to be named ‘Hamster,’ suddenly has new abilities. So now Kevin must figure out how to work with Gretel and Hamster to protect their city from mysterious dangers.” Check out the trailer at Animation World Network. It hits the air (ha ha) on August 12th.
Little Mouse, Big Heart
Disney is always doing so much; it probably makes sense that some of it would slip by us. Include in that category Delphine and the Silver Needle, a fantasy novel for young readers written by Alyssa Moon. It came out last year in hardcover. “When Delphine, a young orphaned dressmaker mouse living in the walls of Cinderella’s château, stumbles upon an enormous secret, it upends everything she thought she knew: The magical tailor mice of legend really existed. Racing to stay ahead of King Midnight, the fearsome leader of the rats who is bent on harnessing age-old magic, Delphine embarks on an epic quest to uncover the truth about the past. Joined by Alexander, the most pompous noblemouse in the royal court, she travels a perilous route, encountering strange enemies and unlikely allies along the way.” Silver Needle is available now, and the sequel book Delphine and the Dark Thread comes our way this August.
Kids, Cooking, and Kookiness
Looks as if people are still thinking up odd and interesting new takes on things… old and new. Try this on for size: “Perhaps one of the most memorable moments in Disney’s 1951 Alice in Wonderland was the Mad Hatter’s Mad Tea Party… It was certainly a deliciously humorous spectacle, so it’s no surprise Disney Television Animation has decided to create a heritage project where Alice’s great-granddaughter – also named Alice – has her own Wonderland bakery. ‘I started thinking about all the whimsy, the comedy, and the peculiar characters that are in the original movie and thought, wow, preschoolers are going to love this,’ remembers Emmy Award-winning writer Chelsea Beyl, creator and executive producer of the all-new series, Alice’s Wonderland Bakery… The series follows a new generation Alice (Libby Rue) as she wields her whisk in Wonderland to create wild cakes, muffins, and more in her enchanted, teapot-shaped bakery. Each 3D-animated episode is comprised of two 11-minute stories where Alice uses her baking skills to solve problems and bring people together in Wonderland.” The article at Animation World Network has a lot more, and the series has already premiered on Disney Channel and Disney Junior.