Margaret Atwood and Ken Steacy's historical graphic novel War Bears to become an animated TV series
The co-created graphic novel has been optioned by a Vancouver media company for an animated TV series
Margaret Atwood and Ken Steacy's graphic novel War Bears is being made into an animated television series by Vancouver-based WOW! Unlimited Media.
The news was reported by Deadline on March 4.
War Bears offers a fictional look at the little-known history of Canadian comics during the Second World War. It was inspired by a short story Atwood wrote and Ken Steacy illustrated in The Globe and Mail for the country's sesquicentennial in 2017.
The historical fiction comic follows a young man named Alain Zurakowski, whose health issues prevent him from joining his brothers in the war effort abroad. In Toronto, Alain invents a Nazi-fighting superheroine named Oursonette in hopes she will help with morale for Canadians at home.
"Ken Steacy illustrated War Bears given his World War II interests and high standards of visual accuracy. We collaborated — although the main work on the script is his — and the rest is history. Comics history. How delightful that Ken is now working with Michael Hirsh and WOW! Media to bring our beloved she-bear, Oursonette, to life," Atwood told Deadline.
"I did the illustrations for Margaret's story and the story absolutely took hold of me and would not let go. I was so entranced with Margaret's characters, the story, the wonderful, bittersweet nature of it all," Victoria-based comics artist and writer Steacy told CBC Books in 2019.
War Bears was published by Dark Horse Comics and distributed by Penguin Random House Canada in 2019.
‘War Bears’: Margaret Atwood, Ken Steacy Graphic Novel To Get Animated Series Treatment From Wow! Unlimited Media <a href="https://t.co/7Et3D0dDyW">https://t.co/7Et3D0dDyW</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/DEADLINE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Deadline</a>
—@MargaretAtwoodAtwood's latest book, Burning Questions, was released in March of this year. The collection of essays covers topics such as debt, tech and climate change, as Atwood ponders the many mysteries of our universe.
