IDW Publishing have announced a new Care Bears comic book, “Care Bears: Unlock the Magic,” based on the new Boomerang series of the same name. Written by Matthew Erman and Nadia Shammas with art by Agnes Garbowska, the comic will continue the adventures of Good Luck, Funshine, Cheer, Grumpy, and Share Bear as they protect the land of Silver Lining from the villainous Bluster and his Bad Crowd.
The Care Bears were created by American Greetings card artist Elena Kucharik in 1981, and the characters went on to become a toy, TV and film franchise. While there have been many Care Bears books, this will mark the first Care Bears comic series since the tie-in published by Marvel’s Star Comics imprint during the 1980s. Sean Gorman, president of Care Bears owner Cloudco Entertainment (formerly American Greetings Entertainment), told The Hollywood Reporter, “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with IDW Publishing on a new comic book series that will appeal to Care Bears fans of all ages. ‘Care Bears’ #1 introduces fresh content to our heritage fans while creating a new and exciting world for young fans to explore.”
Artist Agnes Garbowska added, “I am extremely excited to be working on Care Bears since it was such a huge part of my childhood and impacted me greatly. I hope the series brings the same love and joy to new fans as it did for me.” Garbowska has previously illustrated “My Little Pony” and “Jem and the Holograms” for IDW, as well as both incarnations of “DC Super Hero Girls,” and Dynamite’s “Li’l Vampi.” Writers Matthew Erman and Nadia Shammas, who previously collaborated on the anthology “Corpus,” have more of a background in adult-aimed comics, although both have been working on young adult fare: Erman and Emily Pearson’s Vault/Myriad title “Bonding” comes out in 2020, while Shammas and Sara Alfageeh’s graphic novel “Squire” was recently acquired by HarperCollins.
“Care Bears: Unlock the Magic” #1 will be released in July.
