When anthropomorphic characters aren’t the star of the show, the most common place to find them is as a human character’s sidekick. Such is the case with two more pre-school animated TV series on their way to Netflix in the near future. First up there’s Kazoops (from Cheeky Little studio) in 2016, which “…follows the inquisitive young boy Monty and his best friend, a pig named Jimmy Jones, as they seek answers to the questions children routinely ask about everyday life.” There’s a teaser trailer over at Cartoon Brew. Then in 2017 look for True & the Rainbow Kingdom from Guru Studio: It stars a young girl who “…with the help of her best friend Bartleby the cat navigates the magical Rainbow Kingdom using her creativity and ingenuity in search of harmony and love for all.”
Pig
The Return of Pig and Fox
Besides the Oscar-winning animated short film Feast, one of the animated shorts that was making a whole lot of buzz during awards season was called The Dam Keeper. Here’s the description from Wikipedia: ” It tells the story of Pig, an introverted youth who lives in a windmill and keeps a dark fog from engulfing his town. Although socially rejected by his peers, he is befriended by the artistic Fox.” The Dam Keeper was directed by Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi, both art directors at Pixar (they worked together on Monsters University). Now comes this bit of news from Cartoon Brew: “Tonko House, the studio founded by former Pixar art directors Robert Kondo and Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi, is developing a feature film based on their Academy Award-nominated short The Dam Keeper. The announcement was made along with the news that Tonko House is partnering with First Second Books, an imprint of Macmillan, to expand their short into a graphic novel series. The first book in The Dam Keeper graphic novel series will be released in 2016, picking up the narrative some years after the original story of the orphaned Pig and his quest to maintain the town dam. It will address two questions unanswered in the film: what happened to Pig’s parents, and how did his world come to be at the mercy of a dark cloud? ” No more details yet about a release date for the feature film, but the animation community will be watching closely.
And Then MORE Monkeys in Space
Toonbox Entertainment (the folks who last year brought us The Nut Job) are starting to look as if they have a particular interest in furry characters. They’re hard at work on The Nut Job 2, but in the interim comes the announcement of Spark, a space adventure film currently in production and scheduled for release in 2016. Here’s what we got from ComingSoon.net: “Spark follows a teenage monkey Spark, voiced by Jace Norman (Nickelodeon’s Henry Danger), and his friends Vix, a battle-ready fox voiced by Jessica Biel, and Chunk, a tech-savvy warthog, as they embark on a mission to take back the besieged planet Bana from the power-mad General Zhong. Spark’s dangerous odyssey leads him to the farthest reaches of the universe, and to the secret of his true identity, with characters like the comically forgetful nanny robot Bananny, voiced by Susan Sarandon, and the noble, self-sacrificing Queen, voiced by Hilary Swank by his side.” Spark is being directed by Aaron Woodley. The film already has an official web site and also its own Facebook page.
The Girl, and Her Pig
We simply can’t describe Amity Blamity any better than the publishers do: “Meet Gretchen & Chester. Gretchen is a shy 4 year old and Chester is a potbellied pig. They live with Gretchen’s Grandma and listless Uncle Downey in rural America. Mistaking their afternoon activity of playing office for entrepreneurial gusto, Downey recruits the duo to assist in his deluded aspirations of running moonshine (echoing his boyhood heroes Bo & Luke Duke). Unbeknownst to the outlandish family and their activities, strange forest critters begin to lurk in the woods nearby, disrupting their quirky daily life and sending them on an adventure to save their degenerate Uncle from a strange genetic mutation!” Got that? Now Slave Labor Graphics have published Mike White’s black & white on-line comic strip story (so far) as a single soft-cover trade paperback. Check it out (including a YouTube trailer) at SLG’s web site, and see the comic itself (including more full-color “Sundays”) at the official Blogspot.
Pigs Take Wing
Next year, the pigs come to power! Or at least, they take a crack at it… again. “In a dark, oppressive future, pig-men work tirelessly as the slaves of human masters, feeding a society they cannot fathom. When Oink realizes that the dogma being forced on them is all lies, he undertakes a path of revenge and revelation.” Written and illustrated by John Mueller, OINK: Heaven’s Butcher is celebrating its 20th anniversary with new sequences and a new paint job in this new trade paperback from Dark Horse Press. Over at Comic Book Resources they have more: “Influenced by George Orwell, Pink Floyd, and Simon Bisley, among others, OINK debuted in 1995 from Kitchen Sink Press, telling the dystopian story of pig-men who work as slaves to feed their human masters. But when Oink witnesses the execution of one of his comrades, he violently rebels and sets out on a quest for the truth about the creation of his race and revenge against its oppressors.” Check out the preview images too — and look for the graphic novel in February.
Power Pig!
Brand new from Previews: “Tom Arvis’ legendary hero and indie favorite Mercenary Pig is now presented in one complete, full color volume! A walking, talking, thinking, humanoid pig takes on animal cruelty, genetically modified pigs, and, ultimately, an evil food conglomerate, in this pork-humor filled, action packed origin story! New material wraps up the entire Meatcutter story arc in these 48 pages, as Percy the pig begins his guerrilla fight for animal rights – with his fists!” We don’t make this stuff up folks — if we did, we’d get paid more! Mercenary Pig #1 is available this April from Aazurn Publishing. Check out the preview video on YouTube, too.
A Rat, a Pig, and a Lawyer Walk Into a Space Bar…
Pearls Before Swine is a full-color on-line comic strip written and illustrated by Stephan Pastis — who was formerly a lawyer in California. “At its heart, Pearls Before Swine is the comic strip tale of two friends: An arrogant Rat who thinks he knows it all and a slow-witted Pig who doesn’t know any better. Together, this pair offers caustic commentary on humanity’s quest for the unattainable. Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams says that Pearls is ‘one of the few comics that makes me laugh out loud.'” Well there you have it. There have been several paperback book collections of Pearls Before Swine comic strips; the latest one, Rat’s Wars, is coming from Andrews McMeel Publishing this October. Check it out over at Amazon. And check out the comic itself over at GoComics.
New Books for Young Readers
Stan Lee’s Kids Universe imprint continues to be a good source for new books aimed at kids — and kids at heart of course. Which, often enough, include furries! Dani Jones has been reviewed here previously for her book Monsters vs. Kittens (check it out here). Now her latest work is called Once Upon A Time, and it’s simple: A young pig is trying to tell a fanciful tale, but on each page his various animal friends keep cutting in with their own take on the story. Visit Dani’s web site to find out more about these and other current projects. Also from Kids Universe, look for Reggie the Veggie, written by Dale Mettam and illustrated by Ivan Escalante. It chronicles the adventures of a young, vegetarian crocodile trying to get through his first day at school — and, word is that Reggie might have a game in development as well. Look for both of these new books to come out this July.
Spider-Man: Animal Magnetism
Full-color funny animal silliness from Marvel Comics, collected together in one big trade paperback for your enjoyment. Spider-Man: Animal Magnetism hits the shelves this January, collecting Spider-Man: Back in Quack (a team-up with Howard the Duck which you may recall we talked about before), The Spider-Ham 25th Anniversary Special (a classic funny-animal spoof of the web slinger, complete with new material), The Ultimate Civil War Spider-Ham (don’t even ask!), and Top Dog #10 (about, you guessed it, a super-dog). Some of the guilty party include writers Stuart Moore, Tom Defalco, J. Michael Straczynski (!), Tom Peyer, and George Caragonne; along with artists Mark Brooks, Joe Suitor, Jacob Chabot, Adam Deraker, Agnes Garbowska, Joe Jusko, and Warren Kremer. The cover art was completed by the late Mike Wieringo of Tellos fame.