Carlos Morales
“Urban Legendz” release by Humanoids brings friendship and vigilantes when we need it the most
Nick Bruno an animator at Blue Sky Studios, whose directorial debut arrives later this year with December’s Spies in Disguise.“At first glance, Urban Legendz appears to be a supernatural trip into nostalgia. But when you read between the lines, you’ll discover a timeless message about how having a few good friends, can help us all overcome the ‘monsters’ we’ll face in our lives.”
In a touching graphic novel for all ages from Humanoids about lose, friendship, scary stories, and new beginnings “Urban Legendz” treats its readers with colorfully playful art and an adventure every kid wishes they could explore. This graphic novel is the debut work of seasoned animators from Blue Sky Studios authors Paul Downs ( Rio, Epic, Spies in Disguise), Nick Bruno ( Ice Age: The Meltdown), and illustrator Michael Yates (Cars 3, Toy Story 4, Trollhunters).
“Urban Legendz” tells the story of Dwayne who after his mother’s death is forced to uproot himself and move into the home where his mother grew up: a shabby apartment in Brooklyn. When your dad is a police officer and your brother’s too cool for school, what’s an insecure teen supposed to do? Dwayne’s personal problems are cast aside when he joins a new crew of young vigilantes, devoted to solving a series of sinister cases surrounding mysterious monsters that have been wreaking havoc throughout the city. What if all of the Urban Legends we all fear…were real?
“As a kid, I grew up on a steady diet of comics and animation. In middle school, I’d take some of my favorite animation worlds, like Akira and Dragonball Z and do my own comic spinoffs,” said Yates and continued to say “I’d take a stack of printer paper stapled together and lose hours drawing and telling stories. The biggest difference being my stories would include characters that looked like me. This has been a goal of mine since I’ve entered into the animation industry and now into comics. I just want that little black kid in rural Indiana to see himself in some of the stories he was lost in.”
Downs said about the graphic is “a supernatural story with meaning,” and “a nostalgic adventure, centered around a diverse group of friends who are dealing with present-day social issues like family dynamics, homelessness [and] gentrification.”
So be sure to pick up Humanoids “Urban Legendz” on June 11 and please take a gander at a few pages of the graphic novel below.
