Even in India, someone can read the book and understand the story. I’m talking about something very human, but using animals, so anyone can relate to that. I wanted to tell the story of a guy who was not feeling comfortable being what people are expecting him to be. The fact that they’re animals, you’re going to have prejudice about them like, the pig, he likes to eat the fox, he’s going to be cruel and mean, and very smart. What I like with those animals being heroes is that you can talk about a small society of humans, but using animals.

It’s something you read and learn, and I loved it. When you are a child, you are raised with those stories-I don’t know if you have them in the U.S.-like LaFontaine’s tale, The Wolf and the Fox. Renner: I guess it’s really based on childhood memories. Why do you think animals such timeless, universal subjects for storytelling? I added the other stories I made them previously, and had a producer that wanted to adapt them. I started drawing the story and that’s how I came up with The Big Bad Fox. I thought it was good comedic starting point. I had this idea of having the most unusual character who could raise a chick, and I thought of a fox not realizing that it’s going to be the mother, in a way, because it’s a predator. But the idea stayed in my mind, and I really wondered, what if it really happens? What do you have to do? Do you have to teach the chick to be chicken, or are they going to copy your own behavior? I was something like six or seven, and I was not ready to be a single mom, so I decided to just go away. These are chicks and they will think you’re the mom, so you will have to take care of them.” GKIDSĪs a child, I was green, naturally. My father was not passionate enough to see them, actually-he told me, “Ben, if you stay here, the eggs are going to hatch and you will be the first person they’re going to see. I saw an incubator with eggs, and they were ready to hatch. After Ernest & Celestine, I was a little bit tired of the process of a feature, so I decided, let’s make a graphic novel-it’s going to be faster. At some point, I wanted to do a big graphic novel, get that thing published. I used to draw those characters for my family as presents that I could give them at Christmas, or for birthdays.

Can you discuss your journey through several graphic novels, and eventually this feature?īenjamin Renner: Actually, all the characters that you see in the feature were characters I used when I was in middle school.

Benjamin, you have a long history with this material. Gkids Acquires Japanese Sci-Fi Fantasy 'Napping Princess' For Fall Release

The Big Bad Fox by Benjamin Renner