Warning: contains a preview of Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken: Macaroni & Bees!?!
Screen Rant is pleased to present an exclusive preview of Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken: Macaroni & Bees!?! This is the latest graphic novel from Top Shelf Productions, an imprint of IDW Publishing. It is the third Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken story.
Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken is a graphic novel series that features the fowl antics of a penguin and chicken who are frenemies. Each installment contains humorous episodes with both birds as they experience zany adventures while dealing with the standard quirks of friendship - with a little extra mayhem. The first graphic novel in this series from IDW Publishing, Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken: Troublems With Frenemies, was published in 2011. The second, Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken: Escape From Skull-Fragment Island, followed in 2016.
Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken: Macaroni & Bees!?! continues the story of the funniest friendship in young readers' comics. This series is created by Ray Friesen, whose work includes a graphic novel adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, Marmaduke Mousington, Fairy Tales I Just Made Up, and other assorted works. This newest graphic novel collects several webcomics starring the titular characters and will arrive late September. Check out the exclusive preview from IDW below, along with some special messages from Ray Friesen:
Hello! Welcome to a sample installment of Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken, a cartoon adventure series between two comedically mismatched flightless fighters, bouncing battle buddies. It's also an exploration of what it truly means to be a terrible roommate, and whether you're allowed to lick other people's sandwiches when they're not looking.
The title of this episode, 'Gravitude' is a word I made up by combining 'Gravity' with 'Attitude', or perhaps by combining 'Gravy' with 'Fortitude.' Just a regular entry in my long long line of award-winning Wordbinations TM (or portmanteaus as they are sometimes called). One thing remains perfectly clear, and that is I am VERY pretty good at cheating at Scrabble.
I would like to take this opportunity to speak directly to my many many fans who have written to ask me 'Why does Pirate Penguin wear a belt when he doesn't wear any pants?' Well, it's the same reason I wear a belt without any pants -- you just gotta accessorize!
In previous Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken stories, the flightless pals have taken on evil koalas, had sword fights, had ice cream smoothies, and faced the Pirate Queen. Now they'll be addressing things like werewolf shampoo (how do they get their hair so perfect?), time travel, and popcorn. The preview provides one of many adventures, which could be life-changing for Pirate Penguin considering he finally has a clean contact lens! Though, given his track record, he'll likely dirty it right back up in time for the next panel he stars in.
Regarding artistic choices with this particular story, Friesen states, "When Pirate Penguins gets his contact lenses cleaned, and the world appears in higher definition, this is using photographs as the background, photographs of my kitchen from several houses ago. Usually my backgrounds are just large swaths of color, or perhaps a drawing of a door or plant. This is due to an artistic sensibility I possess that others have sometimes referred to as laziness."
Whether it's laziness or an efficient way to move the story along, Friesen's previous stories from IDW featuring these frenemies have been amusing and energetic. Fans can expect the same things from the latest graphic novel. Screen Rant was provided with one more bit of secret information from the author regarding penguins that may not bode well for Ninja Chicken:
People say penguins can't fly. Nonsense. Of course, penguins can fly! I don't mean metaphorically either, like, 'Ooh, they're so graceful swimming under water, it almost looks as if they are flying' -- No. Penguins control the entire world's supply of gravity, and they can fling us off the planet without hesitation if we displease them. This whole comic series started out as a shocking exposé of penguins and their secret powers, but while drawing it, I stopped halfway through to make a sandwich, and that's when they got me. It was a tuna fish sandwich, you see. Long story short, I work for the penguins now, continually publishing pro-penguin propaganda, and this comic is what I believe will finally secure world domination for our penguin emperors to come. Enjoy!
With penguins pulling all the strings, Ninja Chicken may be in trouble and unable to gain any ground against his best frenemy. Fans can read the latest adventure when Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken: Macaroni & Bees!?! releases from IDW Publishing's Top Shelf Productions on September 21.