Mad Cave Studios has made a deal with the animation company 41 Entertainment to publish graphic novels based on two of its 1990s animated properties, King Arthur & the Knights of Justice and Princess Gwenevere & the Jewel Riders, under its Maverick YA imprint. The first graphic novel will be released in January 2024.
King Arthur & the Knights of Justice ran for two seasons in 1992 and 1993 and is notable for being co-created by Avi Arad, who would go on to become CEO of Toy Biz and founder of Marvel Studios before leaving to start his own production company (see “Avi Arad Leaving Marvel”). Arad was the executive producer for the series together with co-creator Diane Eskenazi. In the cartoon, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are trapped in a cave of glass. Tasked with rescuing them, Merlin travels to the present day where he finds Arthur King, quarterback of the New York Knights football team, and brings the whole team back to Camelot where they are sent on a quest for magic keys that will free the king and his retinue. The series was adapted into a video game, miniatures, and a three-part Marvel Comics series written by Mike Lackey with art by Keith Wilson, Michael Golden, and Marie Severin. The series was released on DVD in 2010 (see “DVD Round Up”).
Princess Gwenevere & the Jewel Riders, which ran for two seasons in 1995 and 1996, is an adventure fantasy in which the eponymous princess and her two friends search for seven lost jewels in order to save their kingdom. The series was the basis for Rachel Roberts’ YA novels Avalon: Web of Magic, which were first published by Scholastic and later adapted into the graphic novel trilogy Avalon: The Warlock Diaries, which was published by Seven Seas.
“The King Arthur series, and its sequel Princess Gwenevere, as adapted by Mad Cave Studios to reflect a modern take of the Arthurian legends with a more dramatized version, will target an older audience that never tires of these great tales,” said Allen Bohbot, Managing Director of 41 Entertainment, adding that the new graphic novels “may well serve as a foundation of story and design content for potential new YA animated projects.”
Source: ICv2
