Sky Turtle Nova Takes Middle Schoolers into the World of Ultraman
Tsuburaya Fields Media & Pictures Entertainment has named Oasis Family Media’s new Sky Turtle Nova imprint as the licensee for the first-ever U.S. children’s books based on the Ultraman franchise, with plans for a six-book middle grade series called Ultraman: Ultra Academy.
One of the first goals of Tsuburaya Fields, the new L.A.-based subsidiary of Japanese production company Tsuburaya that is charged with expanding consumer products licensing and content in North America and other territories, was to introduce Ultraman to children in North America, according to Jeff Gomez, a transmedia producer who is working with Tsuburaya Fields.
Based on the company’s understanding of the power of middle-grade reading experiences to create lifelong fans, Gomez said, “expansion into books for young readers, especially books that can be readily found in school libraries and bookstores, became a priority.” As the Tsuburaya team was busy researching the category, Steve Smith, president of Oasis Family Media, reached out, saying he was interested in developing Ultraman middle-grade print and audio books.
“Oasis quickly became interesting because of their distribution reach, which included big box stores, as well as the wholesome nature of many of its imprints,” Gomez said. “But just as strong a factor was the passion for the property exhibited by Steve and by Rebecca Reynolds, associate publisher of Oasis. That ardor and their willingness to dive deep into the lore and meaning of the Ultraman universe was moving to us and ultimately inspiring to the Tsuburaya executives in Tokyo.”
The novels are about students studying the weaknesses of the giant monsters (kaiju) that threaten Earth. They try to help the Special Science Search Party (SSSP), the defense force dealing with kaiju, and in the process they learn lessons of courage, hope, kindness, and creativity, all core themes of the Ultraman universe. This is the first time Tsuburaya has allowed an outpost of the SSSP to be located outside of Japan.
“There’s a reason this property resonates with people,” says Reynolds, who is also editorial director of Sky Turtle Nova. “It’s a sweet, substantial property that is almost sacred to the fans. It’s also a ton of fun.”
The kaiju genre got its start with Godzilla in the early 1950s—Tsuburaya founder Eiji Tsuburaya co-created both Godzilla and Ultraman—as a response to all the changes in Japanese society after World War II. “Kids in Japan had to rethink the universe their parents knew,” Reynolds explained, adding that, as a mother and former teacher, she feels for today’s middle school students as they face the aftermath of the pandemic and other disruptions. “American kids now are in the same place [as the 1950s kids in Japan] after all this upheaval they’ve been through. They live in a world where real monsters exist that seem too big and too scary to deal with. I hope these characters will help them find some hope, courage, and purpose.”
“In current American popular culture, there is a tendency to boil blockbuster properties down to their lowest common denominators,” Gomez said. “So we have giant monsters smashing each other to bits on the big screen, with little regard for why those characters were created or what they mean at a fundamental level. We weren’t interested in that for Ultraman. Steve and Rebecca recognized that Ultraman is about restoring a world that has fallen out of balance.”
Ultraman debuted in 1966 and fosters a nostalgic fondness among parents who want to share it with their kids. The books were recently previewed at G-Fest in Chicago, a convention focused on kaiju. “There were tons of people coming by the booth, and you could almost see the tears in some of their eyes when they heard new Ultraman stories were coming,” Reynolds said.
At the same time, the property is seeing a resurgence in the U.S., thanks to the Netflix film Ultraman: Rising, which became the number-two movie on the platform worldwide and spurred lots of social media chat, raising the property’s profile among younger fans.
The first book could be out as soon as spring 2025, with the remaining titles in the series releasing regularly after that. But the schedule is not set in stone. “We’re fine with it taking longer,” Reynolds said. “It’s a work of love for us”
Publishers selling Ultraman books for adults in the U.S. include Marvel Comics, Titan Publishing, and Printed in Blood, with other publishing projects expected to be announced soon. On the consumer products side, Bandai Namco was recently named as the master toy licensee in the U.S.; Tsuburaya announced a new Ultraman card game; and Mill Creek Entertainment renewed its agreement to release TV series from the Ultraman franchise on Blu-ray disks.
Worldwide Buddies Says Hola to Licensed Publishing with ‘Rosie’
Worldwide Buddies, a company specializing in diverse books and games that children can see themselves in and that teach about different cultures and languages, has secured its first licensing agreement. It holds the rights from 9 Story Media to publish tie-ins to the PBS Kids series Rosie’s Rules.
The show, with a core audience ages four to six, is about a five-year-old girl living in Texas with her bilingual, Mexican American family with close ties to her abuela in Mexico. She is inquisitive and adventurous and has questions about the world, which she figures out and then turns the answers into rules. The humorous stories bring in bilingual elements and early education topics such as social studies.
“[Licensing the property] felt natural to us because of the nature of the show,” said Evi Triantafyllides, founder and CEO of Worldwide Buddies. “Rosie has a very specific background, and she echoes the reality many kids are living today. Once we started learning about the show and watching it, we realized it fit perfectly with what we aspire to do as a publishing company. This was a unique opportunity since it touched on so many of our values.”
The inaugural list under the license, available now, includes a board book, Meet Rosie Fuentes!/¡Conoce a Rosie Fuentes!; a plush doll; and an activity book, Rosie’s Rules Letter Book! The last is based on an early episode where Rosie needs to figure out how the post office works so she can introduce her abuela to her cat by mail. It features 30 tear-out letters with fold-up envelopes and more than 30 stickers, allowing readers to practice writing and keep in touch with family. “It ties in with a lot of the elements of the show,” Triantafyllides said. Coming up in fall 2024 and spring 2025 are three paperback books, each based on a different episode: Lights Out Rosie, Abel’s Birthday, and Rosie Rocks Mariachi.
Worldwide Buddies, a young company that published its flagship title, The Book of Cultures, in 2020, had not previously considered licensing. “But when the opportunity came up and we looked at how it worked, we thought it was a good way to show what we do by bringing in other characters that are a good fit with our mission,” said Triantafyllides, who noted she would be open to other partnerships with properties that are diverse, fun, and educational, but not too didactic.
That describes the appeal of Rosie to the company. “It celebrates diversity in such a natural way, it has great music, and it has a lot of funny punch lines that stick with you,” Triantafyllides explained. “It teaches geography and civics lessons but in a delightful way.”
IDW Brings American Girl to Graphic Novels
Mattel and IDW have partnered for two new series of American Girl middle-grade graphic novels, representing the property’s first-ever foray into this format.
“I grew up with American Girl. It’s always been something I love that is very nostalgic for me,” said editor Riley Farmer, who read the magazines and devoured the catalog growing up and had three dolls. “When I started getting into the comics space, I noticed that nostalgia is a really big play. I was surrounded with people who grew up playing video games and watching these old superhero cartoons and it was great to see them getting to bring their nostalgia to life and work on those properties. So when my boss was asking for new ideas, I started thinking. I love American Girl and those characters would make fantastic graphic novels.” While the idea was percolating at IDW, Mattel approached the company, and the rest is history.
The American Girl program will include reimaginings of the introductory “Meet” books that come with the dolls and tell the stories of each character, as well as American Girl Mysteries Across Time, a series that pairs original modern girls with historical characters from the franchise. In a typical story, the modern girls find a letter or photograph that reveals a past mystery paralleling a mystery in their own time.
The books will coordinate with Mattel’s brand plans, with the two companies collaborating “to tell a story that represents American Girl but still has a unique stamp from each author,” Farmer said. This year, for example, Mattel is revamping and rereleasing the Julie Albright doll, so she became the star of the first mystery, Julie and the Blue Guitar, written by Casey Gilly and illustrated by Felia Hanakata, which was published last month. There will be at least two books, one in each series, per year; in 2025, titles will include Meet Josefina (February) and Isabel and Nicki versus the Bigfoot Bandit (July). The authors of each mystery were selected in part for their familiarity with the locations where the dual stories occur.
When Mattel came to IDW with American Girl, it was also pitching a YA comic book series based on Monster High. That deal was announced last year. IDW is set to publish the first title in its main monthly floppy series for the property, Monster High: New Scaremester, in August, after two special releases this year, one for Free Comic Book Day and the other for Pride.
“Monster High is just a very fun playground to play in,” Farmer said. “It’s so diverse and focused on telling stories about being odd and uniquely yourself. There are so many really great characters, and the fashion is really fun.”
Monster High: New Scaremester is based on the novel Once Bitten Twice Dead by Tiffany Schmidt (Abrams, July), which is a modern reintroduction of the original Monster High series, known as Generation 1. The series stars the four main characters—Frankie Stein, Cleo De Nile, Clawdine Wolf, and Draculaura—and the publishing schedule will mirror the school year, supplemented by four additional one-shots focused on school events like the Halloween carnival and the winter dance.
Firefly Expands Gumboot Kids Series of Mindful Nature Mysteries
In September, Firefly Books is publishing the two latest additions, The Case of the Noisy Neighbor and The Case of the Disappearing Castle, to its licensed Gumboot Kids Nature Mysteries, for readers ages five to nine.
The paperbacks are based on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation stop-motion TV series Scout & the Gumboot Kids, which premiered in fall 2015. Firefly’s series started in September 2019, with two books coming out each fall in most years since then, making the new titles the ninth and 10th in the series.
The main characters in the books, the mice Scout and Daisy, follow clues that help them unravel a case involving nature. They then visit the library to verify the evidence they’ve found in the field and to solve the mystery. Backmatter includes two pages of field notes and a related nature craft for readers to make. Mindfulness is also a key element of the series, with an emphasis on paying attention to the senses and what is happening in the moment. The characters follow each solution of a mystery by reflecting on the journey they’ve taken.
Husband and wife Eric Hogan and Tara Hungerford are the principles of Imagine Create Media, the creators of the Gumboot Kids, and the authors of the books. They and their agent initially queried Firefly, attracted by the company’s history of releasing environmentally aware titles for kids and adults, according to Mary Sheldon, director of publicity at Firefly. “Firefly has been publishing books on the natural world for decades, so a storybook series that encourages kids to get outside and appreciate nature was and continues to be a great fit for us,” she said.
Each book is based on an episode. The authors adapt the story for the books and, following a back-and-forth with the publisher to finalize the text, they create and photograph sets to illustrate the story. The images take their cues from the detailed visual style of the show, which relies on a combination of stop-motion and computer-generated animation along with live action.
No new episodes of the show are being made, but it continues to air on multiple streaming platforms and remains popular with young audiences, according to Sheldon. The book series itself is available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., and China. There is also a complementary curriculum guide, and the authors have participated in many school visits over the years. Plush toys of the main characters were released in 2021.
Firefly does not do much licensed publishing but would be open to the right property. “When the content and message make sense for our brand, we relish the opportunity,” Sheldon said.
The Moomins Expand with B&N, Prep for 80th Anniversary
In 2023, Barnes & Noble launched its collection of Moomin books and products in 20 stores, representing the characters’ first major push into the U.S., according to parent company Moomin Characters. It has now paired with the licensor through 2024 to expand the program to more than 260 stores, as well as adding new merchandise ranging from Fishers Arabia mugs to Nordicbuddies socks.
The assortment of Moomin books at the retailer includes nearly a dozen children’s titles from Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Union Square Kids, and comic strip compilations from Drawn & Quarterly. The latter include Moomin Adventures, first in a new five-volume series packaging Tove and Lars Jansson’s comic strips in a new format, published July 9. Adult titles are also in the mix, including a new biography, Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words by Noel Westin, translated by Sylvester Mazzarella, published by University of Minnesota Press in April.
More picture and board books are in development with Penguin Random House for this year and next, including original Moomin-inspired titles for preschoolers, with more details to follow shortly. The publisher also released the craft book Knitted Moomin Socks by Linda Permanto in June. Global publishing rights are handled by Moomin licensing agent Rights & Brands, in association with Moomin Characters.
Meanwhile, King Features, the property’s North American licensing agent, has been building the broader consumer products program. The Barnes & Noble collaboration has given U.S. consumers more opportunities to discover the Moomins, which has helped boost the property, said Christina Nix Lynch, King Features’ senior director of licensing. “We’re seeing proof of this increased brand awareness and interest as, following the Barnes & Noble expansion and increased activity on social media, multiple retailers and licensees have committed to licensing the brand.”
Recent consumer products licensees debuting this year, mostly in specialty and higher-end stores, include Good Smile Company (vinyl toys), Hamee U.S. (mobile phone accessories), and Pie International (stationery kits), while beauty items from dearcloud will be introduced in January 2025. In addition, coffee shop Clöud Café is planning a Moomin-inspired beverage, while the cozy multiplayer game Sky: Children of the Light is featuring Ninny from the Moomin book The Invisible Child. Both will take place in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The property celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2025, backed by a global campaign celebrating inclusiveness, kindness, family, and community, with the theme “The door is always open.” Highlights will include a global touring exhibition debuting at the Helsinki Art Museum; an anniversary edition of the first Moomin book, The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945), with a new essay about the property’s origins and the themes of refugees and home; and new style guides for licensees, centered on the Moominhouse and its feeling of security and belonging. New content, charitable initiatives, and fan contests are among the other components planned.
In Brief
Sesame Workshop has launched a global, nine-month-long Gift of Giggles campaign to celebrate and share humor and joy, as part of its ongoing initiative to support mental health awareness and emotional health. Among a variety of elements, three new book titles will be part of the campaign: Elmo’s Favorite Jokes and Riddles, a lift-the-flap board book from Random House Books for Young Readers (July 30); 100 Words from the Street: Worlds to Grow Smarter, Stronger, & Kinder from Sourcebooks Wonderland (Oct. 3); and Let’s Have Some Fun storytelling cards from audio device maker Yoto (Mar. 2025).... Trustbridge Global Media, parent of Candlewick Press, Walker Books, and other publishers, signed Licensing Street to manage consumer products for its literary properties. The company has been developing entertainment vehicles based on Judy Moody, Dasher, and others.... The Joester Loria Group has licensed Dog Man to BioWorld for children’s apparel, sleepwear, bags, backpacks, and lunch bags and to Franco for bedding, blankets, drapes, rugs, bath textiles, and beach accessories.... Wildbrain CPLG collaborated with Adidas on a new Dr. Seuss sneaker sold through Foot Locker and Champs, marking the third partnership for the two companies. Commonwealth Mint is a new licensee, meanwhile, making collectible coins in the U.S. and other English-speaking regions. Several new manufacturers have been signed in the U.K. and EMEA markets as well.... POMP, SNOW & CIRQUEumstance partnered with Haaseline Entertainment to create retail entertainment experiences based on the property’s books and characters.... In the U.K., HarperCollins Children’s Books and its licensing agent The Point.1888 signed Poetic Brands as the apparel licensee for Judith Kerr’s classic Mog the Forgetful Cat.
Lots of comic book licensing news to report: Fanhome has paired with DC Comics to launch a subscription-based, full-color, hardcover graphic novel collection, The Legends of Batman, outlining the character’s adventures from the moment he becomes the Caped Crusader in the volume labeled Year Zero to his final days in Year 100. Each package includes a 120-page deluxe graphic novel with bonus content such as concept art and commentary.... Marvel licensed Dark Horse to publish video game art books, artist monographs, typography and graphic arts books, and collectibles retrospectives based on Marvel characters and heritage. A new line called Bullpen Books will feature art books based on legendary characters and creators.... BOOM! Studios, just acquired by Penguin Random House, licensed its BRZRKR comic book series to McFarlane Toys for collectibles to be launched at the end of this year. Separately, BOOM! is introducing a new origin story for the character Malcolm Reynolds from the 20th Century Studios film Firefly. Firefly: Malcolm Reynolds Year One comes out in September and follows a one-shot special called Firefly: ‘Verses #1, released in July. The company also paired with the Jim Henson Company for the first comic book adaptation of the A.C.H. Smith novelization of the film Labyrinth, for release in September.... AWA released Expecting the Unexpected, a superhero story written by martial arts and wrestling star Rhonda Rousey, in July, that weaves in details from her career.
