Children’s Classics

I already have a list of internationally up and coming Children’s Classics

For Madhouse, its own coproduced versions of Gamba, Treasure Island, Botchan and Nobody’s Boy Remi are the spiritual predecessors of what’s to come for what will be called the Madhouse Classics line. 

The Adventures of Grichka, based on a series consisting of four books, is quite popular in its native country of France, as well as Spain, Germany, Italy and Portugal. All four of the book based mini seasons will have about 13 episodes each. Its titular character is Grichka, a mixed Selkup-Russian boy. 

The Wild White Stallion, based on its eponymous source material by a Frenchman, is to be an up and coming adaptation to an internationally underrated gem of a novel, which already has a live action film adaptation released decades earlier. Its main focus is on a slowly growing relationship between a Hispano Romani boy called Falco and a Camargue stallion called White Mane. 

The other lines will compete with Madhouse Classics. 

The Pierrot Super Pulp Theatre and its companion Kids Classics have quite a lot of mostly sea, jungle and forest focused stories.

Although created by Rene Guillot, The Village Brave, based on Prince of the Jungle, is a considerably less violent story than its companion Junglee Manchhe. Its titular character is Raanji (Raani in the book), the nephew of two murdered spiritual advisors in a Karbi village of Assam. A filthy treacherous rival largely tries his best to out compete him, but let’s not be obvious about it until he gets attacked himself in a bloody manner. 

Coming up is a new take on the urban legend of Hunterwali, created by the late Wadia brothers from Surat in Gujarat, India. Unlike its rather more prejudiced previous sources, it is a mix of different sensibilities, Swahili mythology and East African girl power in general. It also has a possible sequel focusing on Hunterwali’s tomboy daughter, who is herself a heroine in her own right. 

I wonder if a new version of the Zimbo story is coming up in the future, but it’s way too unlikely because of how big the cultural and linguistic barriers between India and Japan are. First of all, there’s the increasing possibility of a radical Zimbo redesign, which not only takes cues from two films called Adavi Donga and other sources (in other words, the Zimbo ‘99 and Junglee Manchhe films), but also stands out from the older designs, which often veer a bit too much towards unintended retroactive plagiarism. 

The Tezuka Productions Jungle Stories has Ki-GOR and the starring Tezuka classics, Jungle Emperor Leo and the Jungle Kingdom. Although the latter predated both Tezuka classics by about eleven to twelve years, Jungle Emperor Leo is more popular in the long term than the other two.  

Ki-Gor, loosely compiled from short stories written by John M Reynolds and the Drummond Gang, focuses on the story of a streetwise Irish bandit in the Kibale corridor. Tralee born Robin Kildare, Aka Ki-Gor, lost his missionary parents to horrid amounts of corruption in the area where they studied. As he grew older, he steadily made friends with a crowd of jungle animals nearby. Later on, nouveau riche Helen crashed into the scene and had to flee away from a trio of fashion robbers, once they found out about her snappy fashion sense.

An interlude called the Jungle Kingdom, set between Jungle Emperor Leo and the former, will be about the corridor’s savannah and jungle animals embarking on various adventures throughout their lands. 

In the longer term, Ki-Gor can be a dynastic saga about a jungle-raised bandit, his tomboy wife and their offspring in a more continuity-driven (but still flexible) plot which involves the schemes of different villains. It is also an early modern feminist fantasy, since Ann is not only regarded as a true co-star of the whole book series, but also one of the more proactive pre-1960s jungle heroes by far. 

Let’s take a look at the impact of our ancestors

As a subtle take that to overtly fake depictions of both the past and the future, which are themselves considerably too unsubtle for even a majority of us humans to believe in nowadays, our Minority World’s constantly evolving current pandemic period will be just as complicated as our Minority World’s colonial period. Although for many humans of various kinds, Disneyfication isn’t all that bad, and so is Grimmification. 

Characters, copyrights, trademarks and the Public Domain

This is an easy to digest manual for fans of characters not yet in the international public domain or are obscure characters in said public domain. 

Since Emilio Salgari passed away over a century ago, the first eleven instalments in the Sandokan series entered the international public domain in 1962 (for most nations other than the EU) and 1982 (for the EU). 

Nadir Salgari’s contributions to the Mythos were amongst the first (other than Emilio Salgari himself) to enter the public domain for most nations in 1987, but did not become public domain in the EU until 2007. 

Giovanni Bertinetti’s contributions to the Mythos were added into the international public domain in 2001 (for most nations other than the EU) and 2021 (for the EU). Luigi Motta’s contributions to the series have already entered the public domains of most African nations in 2006, but aren’t yet in the EU and Australian public domain until 2026. Omar Salgari’s contributions to the Mythos already entered the public domains of most developing African nations in 2014, but aren’t yet in the EU public domain until 2034. For Emilio Fancelli’s contributions to such a Mythos, they’ve become public domain worthy for most nations in 2022, but aren’t yet in the Indian and EU/Australian public domains until 2032 and 2042. 

Alexander Grin’s own Grinlandia universe got added into the international public domain in 1983 (for most nations other than the EU) and 2003 (for the EU).  

Dhan Gopal Mukherji’s Hari The Jungle Lad and Kari The Elephant novels became public domain works in 1986 (for most nations other than the EU) and 2006 (for the EU). 

The Jukan series by Niels Meyn is technically public domain material in most African nations since 2008. But it’s not yet in the Australian and EU public domains until 2028. His stablemate Anjani The Mighty decidedly entered the South African public domain in 2011, but becomes public domain in Australia in 2031. 

Both of Mehboob Khan’s Mother India films have casting auditions which entered the public domains of most nations other than India, the EU and Australia in 2015, but are not yet entering the other public domains until 2025 (for India) and 2035 (for the EU and Australia). 

Rene Guillot’s countless characters have entered the public domains of most African nations in 2020, but are not yet in the other public domains until 2030 (for India) and 2040 (for the EU and Australia). 

As the story around Sheena Queen of the Jungle was most likely created by Jerry Iger, it’s very likely that Mort Meskin and Will Eisner were amongst the other first artist-writers for both the character and her eponymous comic strip. Thus, the comic strip version of the character is not in the international public domain until 2041 (for most nations other than India, the EU and Australia), 2051 (for India), and 2061 (for the EU and Australia). 

For Meskin’s contributions to the Sheena Mythos, they have to wait until 2046 (for most nations other than India, the EU and Australia), 2056 (for India) and 2066 (for the EU and Australia). But as for Eisner’s contributions to the same Mythos, they aren’t in the international public domain until 2056 (for most developing nations other than India, the EU and Australia), 2066 (for India) and 2076 (for the EU and Australia). 

Ironically, the first tv version of the character herself is also, in a celebratory twist, the first of her many incarnations to have become a fully fledged public domain character, as she already has been such since at least 2014 for most African nations rather than for India, the EU and Australia. However, she may not fully enter the public domain until 2024 (for India) and 2034 (for the EU and Australia). 

Since Leslie Stevens passed away in 1998, the screenplay to the 1984 film incarnation may not enter the public domain until 2049 (for most African nations, other than India, the EU and Australia), 2059 (for India) and 2069 (for the EU and Australia). As for David Newman’s contributions to the film, they do not enter the public domain until 2054 (for most nations other than India, the EU and Australia), 2064 (for India) and 2074 (for the EU and Australia). 

Something similar can be said for Souji Yamakawa’s countless characters, as they aren’t yet in the public domain up until 2043 (for most developing African nations rather than India, the EU and Australia), 2053 (for India), and 2063 (for the EU and Australia). 

Since Hansrudi Wäscher passed away in 2016, Tibor and Nizar aren’t even in the international public domain up until 2067 (for most African nations rather than India, the EU and Australia), 2077 (for India) and 2087 (for the EU and Australia).