In Praise of Untraditional Heroes

If you’re a fan of Disney’s 1964 Mary Poppins, you will remember the scene in which Jane and Michael Banks are watching their mysterious nanny (Julie Andrews) produce an astonishing number of items out of her magic carpet bag. Well, this summer, we’re all a lot like the wonderstruck Banks kids as we watch a dazzling number of animated movies, TV series and shorts appear in theaters, at festivals and on our home screens.

Among the many reasons we are in toon geek heaven this month are Sony Pictures Animation’s much-anticipated sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Our cover story, penned by our talented writer Devin Nealy, paints a great picture of how the film’s trio of unfairly super-gifted directors (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson) managed to raise both the technical and emotional quotient for Miles Morales’ second big screen adventure. I can’t wait until everyone discovers all the mind-boggling characters, worlds, Easter eggs and glorious visuals this movie is bringing to theaters this month.

Then, of course, we have Netflix and the team at DNEG unveiling their labor of love Nimona on June 30. Directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, this high-energy and very rebellious adaptation of ND Stevenson’s graphic novel is bound to have people talking with its take-no-prisoners attitude, unconventional heroine and its subtle depiction of an LGBTQ main character. You can learn all about the making of the pic in Jeff Spry’s insightful article. We’re sure Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis can’t wait to add the movie to his Netflix queue!

JUNE | JULY 2023 VOL. 37, ISSUE 6, NO. 331 info@animationmagazine.net

President & Publisher: Jean Thoren

Accounting: Jan Bayouth

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Editor in Chief: Ramin Zahed

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Tech Reviews Editor: Todd Sheridan Perry

Contributors: Christian Bermejo, Mary Bredin, Kévin Giraud, Trevor Hogg, Karen Idelson, Tom McLean, Jessie Nagel, Devin Nealy, Charles Solomon, Jeff Spry, Ellen Wolff

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Fab Four: (Clockwise from top left) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Nimona; Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken; Elemental

Any other month, we would have also put Pixar’s stunning Elemental and DreamWorks’ glorious Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken on the magazine cover. Sadly, there’s only so much editorial real estate to cover all these wonderful movies. Fortunately, you can read Karen Idelson and Tom McLean’s excellent stories about these two very imaginative films in this issue as well. And make sure you also check out the online versions of these pieces on our website, as they tend to be longer and feature more dazzling visuals to accompany the words. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, folks. This is also our big Annecy Festival edition, so you can find out more about all the fantastic screenings, movie and short premieres, panels and work-in-progress presentations. We also have two special territory spotlights on the exciting animation scenes in Mexico and Belgium in this issue. And don’t forget to check our website during the super busy festival week (June 11-17), because our roving reporters are planning to bring you the latest news, sneak peeks and image reveals every day.

We hope you enjoy our big summer preview issue. If you are lucky enough to be at Annecy, try and see as much as you can and enjoy all the great conversations about our favorite art form. And if someone gives you a hard time for liking a certain short or a movie that nobody else seems to find very special, remember the wise words of Mary Poppins (and author P. L. Travers), “Don’t you know that everybody’s got a Fairyland of their own?”

Ramin Zahed Editor in Chief ramin@animationmagazine.net

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