Rocketship Entertainment, which has brought many webcomics and other projects to print, has announced a new imprint aimed at younger readers — Bottlerocket. And one of their first projects will be Felix the Cat, which was previously announced to be coming from Source Point Press.
The project is already up on Kickstarter, and based on the preview artwork and creative team, it does look like this is the same project that was first revealed last year. The book itself is being created by Studio Stario, which is headed up by the comic’s writer, Mike Federali, who I spoke to last year about the project. He’s joined by Bob Frantz and artist Tracy Yardley.
For the Kickstarter, Bottlerocket is raising funds to publish Felix as hardcover and softcover collections, rather than as single issues, with other tiers offering prints by Thom Zahler and Art Baltazar.
“We’ve put a lot of love and time into this story, and I’m so grateful that it’s making its way to the fans,” said writer and Studio Stario president Mike Federali in the press release. “Felix has always been a favorite of mine, so it was very important to take the time with NBCUniversal to get it right. Being able to bring new Felix stories to life is a dream come true, and I hope the fans enjoy the ride as much as we did.”
Felix the Cat isn’t the only Studio Stario title that’ll be published by Bottlerocket; the publisher also announced plans to release Go Beezerk! and Cosmic Fox. Bottlerocket will also publish the second volume of Emilia Ojala’s graphic novel series Fox Fires, the Webtoon series Spirits: The Soul Collector by Colin Lawler and Joseph Grabowski, and Rob Feldman’s Cyko KO.
“With Bottlerocket, our goal is to bring the magic we had growing up on a steady diet of comics to readers of all ages today, so when we got the chance to partner with Studio Stario and DreamWorks Animation on Felix the Cat as the imprint’s first title, it felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity that we simply couldn’t pass up,” said Tom Akel, CEO of Rocketship Entertainment.