2024 marks Angry Birds’ 15th anniversary, and Rovio Entertainment is continuing the celebration, this time with Rocketship Entertainment. Just this morning, Rocketship announced via press release that Rovio and Rocketship have entered a multi-book publishing partnership to create new middle grade graphic novels and young readers comics for the Angry Birds franchise.
The graphic novels will be released under Rocketship’s Bottlerocket! imprint aimed at younger readers and will initially be offered through Kickstarter pre-order campaigns, and later through worldwide retail. Writer Paul Tobin and artist Thom Zahler–who has previously worked with Rocketship for a Kickstarter for his Cupid’s Arrows comic–will create the graphic novels, while author Katie Cook will write the young reader comic series.
For all of the details, check out the full press release below:
Rocketship Entertainment, the publishing innovator and 2021 Ringo Award winner for Favorite Publisher, and Rovio Entertainment have entered into a multi-book publishing agreement to bring all-new Angry Birds middle grade graphic novels and young readers comics to fans starting later this year. Facilitated by Angry Birds’ licensing agency, IMG, this collaboration is part of the 15th anniversary celebration of the beloved franchise.
The graphic novel series will be written by 3x Eisner Award-winner and New York Times bestselling author Paul Tobin (Plants vs Zombies, Adventure Time, Messenger) and illustrated by renowned artist Thom Zahler (My Little Pony, Cupid’s Arrows). The young readers comic series, which will release in comic shops in 2025, will be written by best-selling author Katie Cook (Star Wars, Nothing Special).
Three graphics novels – The Haunting of Hog House, Level Up, and Breaking the Bank are currently planned and will be offered in a Kickstarter pre-order campaign along with limited edition exclusive merchandise.
The first book, The Haunting of Hog House will release spring ’25 and is described as:
Chuck inherits a castle! It’s old and spooky and needs a serious amount of restoration, but…wow! A castle! Chuck’s not really sure who left him this castle in their will (it’s a mystery, even to the lawyers) but he’s eager to start living life as the lord of a castle. EXCEPT…he finds out that he’s only one of the people who inherited the castle…
Angry Birds hatched as a casual mobile game and exploded into one of the most beloved entertainment brands in the world, inspiring dozens of games, billions of consumer products, several animated series and two blockbuster movies. As an entertainment sensation that swept the globe, Angry Birds is already into its second decade, celebrating its 15th anniversary in December 2024. The world-famous Angry Birds mobile games continue to draw millions of active players, with the brand pushing new content constantly out also in other media. The most recent example of this is the long-form animated series Angry Birds Mystery Island that premiered on Amazon Prime and Kids+ in May 2024. In June 2024 Rovio announced that it is working on the third instalment of The Angry Birds Movie franchise, with the movie being already in production at DNEG Animation.
“Angry Birds is a household name that a generation of fans have grown up with.” said Rocketship CEO and publisher Tom Akel, “We are honored to celebrate its 15-year anniversary with Rovio and be a part of the next chapter of Red, Chuck, and the gang.”
The Angry Birds series of graphic novels expands Rocketship’s Bottlerocket! line for young readers, following the release of the all-new Felix the Cat in partnership with Dreamworks Animation and hit series Fox Fires by Emilia Ojala. The Angry Birds Kickstarter campaign will offer pre-orders for all 3 graphic novels along with premium exclusive merchandise. It will follow the model of Rocketship’s previous campaigns for the Eisner-nominated mega hit Let’s Play and the Dune and Monsterverse franchises done in partnership with Legendary Entertainment. Following the campaign the books will be released globally through retail.
About Rocketship Entertainment
Rocketship Entertainment, LLC, founded in 2019 by Tom Akel and Rob Feldman, is a publishing, consumer product, and entertainment company with multiple Eisner-nominated and Ringo award-winning series including Let’s Play, Fox Fires, The Croaking, Lars the Awkward Yeti, Adventures of God, Felix the Cat, Urban Animal, and Stan Lee’s Backchannel. Rocketship’s partnerships include Legendary Entertainment, Simon & Schuster, IMG, Rovio, The Gotham Group, Tapas Media, Substack, Dreamworks, and Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment. Rocketship is the 2021 Ringo Award Winner for Favorite Publisher.
Rocketship connects fans directly to the series they want, working hand-in-glove with creators to create definitive, premium editions of their work and a full array of consumer products. Rocketship is the 2021 Ringo Award winner for Favorite Publisher. For more information visit rocketshipent.com or follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
About Rovio Entertainment
Rovio Entertainment Corporation is a global mobile-first games company that creates, develops and publishes mobile games, which have been downloaded over 5 billion times. Rovio is best known for the global Angry Birds brand, which started as a popular mobile game in 2009, and has since evolved from games to various entertainment, animations and consumer products in brand licensing. Rovio has produced The Angry Birds Movie (2016), and its sequel, The Angry Birds Movie 2 was released in 2019. The company offers multiple mobile games and has seven game studios – one in Espoo (Finland), Stockholm (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark), Barcelona (Spain), Montreal and Toronto (Canada), as well as a subsidiary in Izmir (Turkey) called Ruby Games. Most of the employees are based in Finland where Rovio is headquartered. Rovio is owned by SEGA.
About IMG
IMG is a global sports, events and representation company. It is a leader in rights management, multi-channel content production and distribution, consultancy and fan engagement; owns, produces and commercially represents hundreds of live events and experiences; and manages licensing programs for the world’s best-known brands and trademarks. IMG is a subsidiary of Endeavor, a global sports and entertainment company.