No, it’s not a big budget re-make of Night of the Lepus. You wish. No, in 2013 the well-known card game Killer Bunnies (created by Jeff Bellinger and published by Playroom Entertainment) marked its 10th anniversary. In celebration, Playroom have recently released a new game, Killer Bunnies: Heroes vs. Villains. Here’s there description: “Drawing and playing cards from a shared deck, players may choose to be a defender of goodness, courageousness and virtue by playing the Hero Super Bunnies or a generator of chaos, evilness and deceit by playing the Villain Super Bunnies. Whoever they are, the players use their bunnies’ powers to build cities, attack opponents, and protect themselves. The first player who has a predetermined number of bunnies in the Bunny Circle and cities in the City Circle wins!” Playroom’s Killer Bunnies web site has more, including sample artwork from the game.
Rabbit
New Disney Animals… with Clothes!
Still working our way through San Diego Comic Con discoveries, but now we have this BIG news from Disney’s D23 Expo to talk about. During the opening day presentation on upcoming animated movies (including Disney’s Frozen and Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur), Disney made an announcement about a new animated film called Zootopia, which is scheduled for release in 2016. Check out this summary from Slash Film: “Tangled director Byron Howard will direct the film from a script by Jared Bush. They’ve been working for the last year and a half on the project, spurred in in part by a love of the Disney Robin Hood feature. Howard wanted to do a film with animals in clothing. They hope to continue ‘Disney’s amazing legacy of animal-based animated films’… We’ve seen movies featuring animals in the natural world, and in the human world, but we’ve never seen animals in a modern world designed by animals. What would animals do differently than humans would? So the filmmakers talked to experts, from anthropologists to safari guides to imagineers as they began to design an animal civilization which is ‘distinctly animal’.” Are you excited yet? We are! Here’s the plot: “In the animal city of Zootopia, a fast-talking fox who’s trying to make it big goes on the run when he’s framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Zootopia’s top cop, a self-righteous rabbit, is hot on his tail, but when both become targets of a conspiracy, they’re forced to team up and discover even natural enemies can become best friends.” Check out the rest at Slash Film. And see you in 2016!
That New Rabbit is Strange…
Cantrip The Magic Rabbit is an on-line “anthropomorphic comedy” black & white comic created by “the popular Furrlough duo of Shon Howell and Phil Gibson” (according to the publishers). Here’s the description: “Strange things are happening in Templarsville, Oklahoma. The students at Julius Schwartz Memorial High are abuzz about the new girl, Candice Tripp. They say there’s something unusual about her, possibly unnatural. Of course, the fact that she was discovered in an abandoned house outside of town with complete amnesia lends itself well to these types of fanciful imagination. With her new friends, Candice will learn what it’s like to live in a normal town, until her very un-normal past comes back to haunt her!” Now Radio Comix are releasing the collected Cantrip The Magic Rabbit as a softcover graphic novel next month. You can find out more about it at Second Ed.
The Kingdom of Big Bunnies
It’s called Fat Rabbit Farm — and that explains it pretty well. “Fat Rabbit Farm is a magical, floating kingdom inhabited by spontaneous and adventurous friends, including a fluffy bunny who loves ice cream, a lone pirate bunny who sailed from beyond the skies, a quiet little turtle, and a bad tempered mushroom.” Created by Jason Ponggasam and Patty Variboa, two independent artists and designers, Fat Rabbit Farm is a showcase for their posters, t-shirts, original toys, and storybooks. Find it all at www.fatrabbitfarm.com.
A Curious Little Rabbit
Adam Henry is a an animator, storyboard artist, and animation director. Over the years he’s worked for Disney, Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon, Klasky-Csupo, and most recently Dreamworks — where he is a director on the hit TV series Dragons: Riders of Berk. On a more personal level, Mr. Henry has created Bibby the Bunny, a young rabbit with a positive attitude, a lucky streak, and a curiosity that older bunnies find downright dangerous. The first book in this new illustrated children’s book series, Bibby: A Bunny’s Journey, is available now at Mr. Henry’s Bibby the Bunny web site. It’s also available on iTunes, and will soon be coming out in other digital formats.
New Game from the Geeks
We found this, once again, thanks to our friends over at CartoonBrew.com: An independent game development crew from Australia known as The League of Geeks have announced their first game, Armello. Described as a “natively-digital card and board game set in a fairy-tale animal kingdom”, it’s scheduled to be released for tablet devices in 2013. In the meantime though, the League of Geeks collaborated with the Melbourne-based animation house known as 12 Field to create an animated teaser trailer for the game. Check this thing out on Cartoon Brew, or visit the Armello web site to get updates about the game’s development and release.
Secret of the Stone Frog
David Nytra is a relative newcomer to the world of fantasy graphic novels. Still The Secret of the Stone Frog, his first work as a writer and illustrator, is drawing a lot of interest from fantasy collectors just prior to its release. “When Leah and Alan awaken in an enchanted forest, they have only each other and their wits to guide them. In a world of pet bees and giant rabbits, they befriend foppish lions and stone frogs, learning to confront danger as they find both their own independence and the way home. Newcomer David Nytra’s breathtaking pictures break the boundaries of imagination, sending the reader on a wild flight of fantasy while experiencing the most universal of stories: Growing up.” According to the pre-order site at Amazon, Toon Books will publish this hardcover black & white graphic novel in early September.
It’s Spring! Here Come the Rabbits!
We’re pleased to announce that we’ve just gotten word that the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic live-action feature film has been green-lighted! We’re also pleased to announce that today is April 1st…
Speaking of April, our thoughts turn to … the Easter Bunny!
Dreamworks Animation have just released the first official trailer for Rise of the Guardians, which is coming to movie theaters this November. Based on the novel by William Joyce (who also helped to create the script), this 3D CGI movie tells what happens when The Boogieman — known as “Pitch” — threatens to cover the world in a veil of fear. The guardians of children everywhere — Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, Jack Frost, and (yes!) the Easter Bunny — join up to defeat him. The Easter Bunny — here known as “Bunnymund” — is voiced by none other than Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman (whom, you might recall, was also the voice of the hero’s father in the original Happy Feet). Other voices on hand include Alec Baldwin, Chris Pine, Isla Fisher, and Jude Law. Rise of the Guardians is directed by Peter Ramsey, who previously served as head of story on Dreamworks’ Monsters vs. Aliens.
Rabbit Samurai vs. Rabid Zombies
In the latest collection of Usagi Yojimbo comics coming from Dark Horse, the rabbit ronin faces an army of the undead! Here’s the publisher’s description of Usagi Yojimbo Volume 26: Traitors of the Earth — “With hundreds of zombies and an evil wizard to contend with, Usagi finds himself far out of his depth! Fortunately, he has the aid of fan-favorite character Sasuké the Demon Queller, most recently seen in the Yokai graphic novel. This volume also features several action-packed short stories, including the Eisner-nominated “Death of Lord Hikiji”! This volume collects Usagi Yojimbo #117–#123 and stories from Dark Horse Maverick 2001 and MySpace Dark Horse Presents #35.” When it arrives in stores it’ll be available in softcover, and also in a special signed hardcover edition that will be limited to 350 copies. The introduction is by well-known comic book great Walter Simonson (Thor, Orion). All of this brought to you by the multi-award-winning writer and artist Stan Sakai, of course.