Fans of the Twilight series and fans of animal transformation would do well to check out the novels of Colleen Houck. Her first book, Tiger’s Curse, introduces us to a teenage girl named Kelsey. She’s been given a very unusual assignment: Accompany a rare white tiger as he is shipped back to his native India. As soon as she lands though, things begin to get strange right away. Turns out that Ren, the former circus superstar, is not actually a tiger at all: He’s an Indian prince trapped under a bizarre magical curse which only allows him to assume his human form for 24 minutes a day. What’s more, Kelsey has been chosen by a powerful Indian goddess to be the girl who is destined to help Ren defeat the curse. Some assignment! Splinter released Tiger’s Curse in hardcover last January, and recently they released Tiger’s Quest, the second book in the series. In it, Kelsey must return to India to assist Ren’s less-than-savory brother Kishan, who has also fallen prey to the tiger’s curse. You can find out about these books and more in the series at Colleen Houck’s web site.
Transformation
Ani-Max: The One-Shot
Ani-Max is an animated TV series concept created by Sharad Devarajan and Gotham Chopra. With the series still in development, Dynamite Entertainment is releasing Ani-Max as a one-shot full-color comic book, written by Ron Marz and illustrated by Jeevan J. Kang and the artist collective known as Liquid Comics. “Lost and separated from his family during a vacation in the dense Amazon jungle, 12-year old Max Duncan is chosen by the Earth Spirits as the latest in a long lineage of planetary defenders. Entrusted with a mystical artifact known as the Animus Stone, Max gains the power to absorb the abilities of any animal he touches and transform himself into a human-animal hybrid for seven minutes at a time. Taking on the attributes of lizards, lions, tigers, elephants, spiders, dolphins, and more – sometimes the transformations are gross, weird and bizarre – Max has a power no one else in the world seems to have. Joined by his faithful friends, Chris and Jenny, the three young heroes gradually find a way to use Max’s abilities to protect the planet and all its many creatures.” Comic Book Bin has more information and preview pages to see. The one-shot is available now.
