Your Guide to the World of Furry Fandom
More interesting stuff from the recent Walt Disney Company investors’ presentation. Turning Red is an upcoming Pixar animated feature being directed by Domee Shi, creator of the Oscar-winning animated short Bao. Here’s how Pixar describes the story: “Meet Mei. She experiences the awkwardness of being a teenager, with an added twist: When she gets too excited, she transforms into a giant red panda.” Oh! Turning Red is set to be released in the spring of 2022.
image c. 2020 Disney/Pixar
We were looking for something else, and we came across this completely by accident! Hidden Dragon is a new animated feature film that’s due this year, according to the IMDB page. We don’t know much about it, but the production crew names are mostly Chinese while the voice actor names are mostly western, so it’s an international production. “In a magical undersea world where dragons rule and humans are feared, a naive young dragon forms an uneasy alliance with the sea’s greatest enemy – a human girl.” We don’t know if they’ll successfully get it out this year, but it should be coming soon.
image c. 2020 Magic Hill Animation
Now and then you’re just going to stumble across a title that grabs your attention… something like Unicorns Aren’t Horny, a new black & white manga series by Semi Ikuta. “A hilarious inter-species comedy about a modern virgin and her roommate: A virgin-loving unicorn. Emuko is a twenty-something virgin – in fact, she’s never even had a boyfriend. Her roommate, a unicorn named Uni, adores her purity, but sometimes Emuko yearns for the romance she’s been missing. And does Uni love Emuko a little too much?” Okay, color us intrigued… Look for it now from Seven Seas Entertainment.
image c. 2020 Seven Seas Entertainment
The Cats of Ostia Antica sounds like quite an ordinary title perhaps, but this new full-color dialogue-free graphic novel is anything but ordinary. Scripted and illustrated by Julian Brier, this hardcover book is available now from Tinto Press. “The sun sets on a seemingly normal day over the ruins of the ancient roman city of Ostia Antica. The groundskeeper tends to his duties and is kept company by the cats that inhabit the nooks and shadows of the historical site. What was once a seemingly normal dinner after work for the groundskeeper takes a turn when he loses consciousness and finds himself in a slightly skewed reality. Led by one of his feline friends, he finds himself back at the gates of Ostia Antica and what lies beyond is a resurrected city full of ghosts and ghouls of every kind, beckoning for him to join the party.” Solrad.co has a preview of several pages, which should give you a better idea what you’re in for.
image c. 2020 Tinto Press
News from Animation World Network that Zodiac Kids (part of Banijay Studios in California) will be producing a new Mumfie animated series for markets in Europe. “Mumfie is a preschool comedy series based on Magic Adventures of Mumfie by Britt Allcroft (creator of Thomas & Friends and the film Thomas & The Magic Railroad). Told with heart and humor, the brand-new series features the optimistic young elephant Mumfie, who along with his best friends, Pinky the flying pig and Jelly Bean the color-changing jellyfish, are the helpful heroes of this whimsical series. As our trio embark on their daily adventures you’ll get to meet their eclectic bunch of animal friends: A cheeky crocodile who thinks he’s a king and his mischievous cat confidant; there’s a hermit crab mayor and a giraffe who runs a hotel on an iceberg; you’ll see a jolly yellow whale and a skateboarding zebra, as well as some pirate wolves and a Greek chorus of funny frogs. In this world, nothing is quite what it seems and no matter what challenges arise, no flop, failure or fiasco is unfixable for Mumfie and his friends.” As is typical for such properties, there’s no word on if this new series will be distributed in North America, but with the Internet anything is possible.
image c. 2020 Zodiac Kids
Whoops! With everything else going on, we kinda missed this recent Halloween offering. It’s still available though, and worth a look. Storm Kids: Stanley’s Ghost is the latest comic series from filmmaker John Carpenter’s Storm King Productions. “Oh no! Who’s been stealing fruit from all the gardens in Arbordale? Was it the prankster Chester Chipmunk? Or maybe Baby Fang? Accusations fly until someone suggests that maybe it was the Ghost of Bunnyburrow Manor! Neighbors have claimed to have seen it flying around, but are ghosts even real? And if they are, why would they be stealing fruit? Stanley Squirrel offers to lead an expedition into the house to see if it really is haunted and find out just what’s been going on. But as the gang creeps around the house looking for answers, what they find isn’t what any of them were expecting!” It’s written by Paul D. Storrie, with art by David Alvarez and a cover by Jeffe Balke.
image c. 2020 Storm King Productions
One of Sir Terry Pratchett’s lesser-known (and very furry) Discworld stories is in development as an animated feature. Here’s the latest news we found out from Animation World Network: “Bring on the Cat King of Rats! The Amazing Maurice, based on the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s 2001 novel, is in development at Ulysses Filmproduktion, Cantilever Media, Sky Cinema, Studio Rakete, and Red Star Animation (what a mouthful). Although we lost the beloved author in 2015, it is exciting to think we’ll soon get to admire his work on the big screen. Fingers crossed. Since the project’s announcement last year, it has gained quite the A-List voice cast. Hugh Laurie (House, Stuart Little) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Solo: A Star Wars Story) recently joined the impressive roster, which already includes David Thewlis (Wonder Woman), Himesh Patel (Yesterday), Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia, The Girl with All the Gifts), and Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey). A play on the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Amazing follows Maurice, a streetwise cat, that has the perfect money-making scam. He’s found a dumb-looking kid who plays a pipe, and his very own horde of rats – rats who are strangely educated, and literate. When Maurice and the rodents reach the stricken town of Bad Blintz, their little con goes down the drain. For someone there is playing a different tune. A dark, shadowy tune.” The film version of The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rats is coming in 2022.
image c. 2020 Sky Cinema
Another graphic novel for young folks, this one from Razorbill. Mellybean and the Giant Monster is written and illustrated by Mike White. “Melly loves to play games. All her feline friends want to do, though, is take a nap. So when she doesn’t leave them alone, the cats trick her into burying a shoe in the backyard. But the small prank turns into a big problem when Melly falls down the hole . . . and is magically transports her to another world! Melly lands smack-dab in the middle of a scuffle between a group of knights and a huge monster. But Melly soon befriends the grumpy giant, learning he isn’t as scary as he seems.” There’s also a sequel, Mellybean and the Wicked Wizard. Look for them both over at Barnes & Noble, in hardcover or trade paperback.
image c. 2020 Penguin Young Readers
Sad news: It seems that the next book in Katie O’Neill’s popular Tea Dragon series, The Tea Dragon Tapestry, has been delayed several months due to problems with the printing (??). It’s now set for the middle of 2021. In the meantime though, we’re hoping that Oni Press has an easier time with Autumn Harvest, a new card game based on the Tea Dragon series that’s been created by Renegade Game Studios. “Explore the secrets of Tea Dragon care-taking in this enchanting game of friendship and fantasy! Collect Growth tokens and cards to create memories with your Tea Dragon in this light deck-building card game.” This one’s scheduled to be released any day now.
image c. 2020 Oni Press
