The Animorphs craze is back with new graphic novels, audiobooks and movies

Has anyone else noticed that cartoon is everywhere these days? KA Applegate’s ’90s sci-fi teen book is about a group of teenagers who fend off an alien invasion by transforming into various animals (superpowers given by a friendly, non-aggressive aliens given them) have popped up all over social media lately, most notably in a viral Twitter thread last week detailed “the craziest thing that happened in all the Animorphs book.” Maybe something’s not clear — but whatever it is, I agree, because I’ve just started re-reading the series and I’ve found it’s getting easier to do so. ever.

Original Animorph The novel, published between 1996 and 2001, also had a contemporary TV adaptation on Nickelodeon that aired from 1998 to 2000. I’m not sure what the Animorphs fandom did in the following two decades (aside from that received thanks for the nostalgic compilation written by and for millennials), but I know that in 2020, Scholastic announced that animorphs the movie was made. That movie has had a somewhat tortured journey since that announcement; originally, KA Applegate joined her husband and frequent co-author Michael Grant, but shortly after the announcement, Applegate and Grant announced their departures from the project. News of the movie has been scant since then — but the original Animorphs Books have become more accessible than ever.

For its part, Scholastic has re-released the series in various forms over the years, including digital versions. I think you should buy each of these masterpieces, but if you want to try before you buy, you have a good choice. Members of the Animorphs subreddit posted copies of all books in various digital formats (PDF, epub, etc.). According to that subreddit, Applegate and Grant have agreed to distribute these digital files, and Scholastic has not considered (and hopes not to intervene anytime soon).

Image: Academy/Amazon

I chose to buy the audiobook version to read again after devouring the original paperbacks as a child. Award-winning audiobook narrator MacLeod Andrews reads the first entry, The invasionreleased in 2020. The next book in the Animorphs series with an audio version — Animorphs #52, Sacrifice — will be released on April 4, 2023, which means three glorious years of Animorphs shooting. The last two in the series are yet to be released, but hopefully Scholastic Audio will have completed the collection by the time I get there.

Last but not least, Scholastic has launched a Animorphs . graphic novel adaptation, illustrated by Chris Grine. This art has been divisive for some fans, especially those who like old optical CGI book covers from the 90s, but I was personally impressed by Grine’s ability to illustrate situations. Scary situations and wider cartoon-style horror body transformations. Some images will still terrify me as a kid — but I think that could be the problem, because Animorphs It’s for the older kids and it’s not for the faint of heart either. Either way, like audiobooks, graphic novels are still a work in progress; in Monday, Grine tweeted a drawing in progress by Marco for the graphic novel adaptation of Animorphs #5.

Nostalgia for pop culture tends to work on 20-year cycles and Animorphs far from the first work of the late 90s or early 2000s that has suddenly captured the hearts and imaginations of people who didn’t grow up during that period (as well as old heads like me). ). The revive Y2K happened in the fashion world, but with Hi-Fi Rush evoked jet radio (2000)and even Hogwarts legacy forcing us all to remember the first time we read the novel in 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (a bittersweet memory these days), looks like now is the perfect time for Animorphs to prepare for a big comeback.