Animorphs fever is back with new graphic novels, audiobooks, and a film

Anyone else notice that Animorphs are everywhere? It is all around these days. The ’90s sci-fi young adult books by K.A. Applegate is a story about teenagers fighting an alien invasion through transformation into different animals. This superpower was given by an uninvading alien to help them. It has been all over social media, including in a viral Twitter thread last week detailing “the wildest thing that happens in every Animorphs book.” Maybe there’s something in the air — but whatever it is, I’m on board, because I just started rereading the series, and I’ve found that it’s easier than ever to do just that.

Animorphs as they were originally known The Nickelodeon version of the novel, which aired between 1998 and 2000, was also published in 1996-2001. I’m not sure what the Animorphs fandom did for two decades after that (other than get shoutouts on nostalgic roundup lists written by and for millennials), but I do know that in 2020, Scholastic announced that an Animorphs Movie was already in production. Since that announcement, the movie has gone through a long and difficult journey. Applegate, her husband, and frequent coauthor Michael Grant were involved. However, they parted ways soon after the announcement. Applegate and Grant announced their departureFrom the project. News about the movie has been scant since then — but the original Animorphs Books are now more easily accessible than ever.

Scholastic, for its part, has released the series in many forms throughout the years including digital editions. You should buy every one of these masterpieces, but you can also try them out before buying. Animorphs members have posted copies of each book in digital format (PDF, EPUB, etc.). According to that subreddit, Applegate and Grant have OKed the distribution of these digital files, and Scholastic has not weighed in (and hopefully won’t intervene any time soon).

Image: Scholastic/Amazon

I’ve chosen to purchase the audiobook version for my reread, after having devoured the original paperbacks as a child. MacLeod Andrews, an award-winning audiobook narrationist reads the first entry. The InvasionThis book, which was first published in 2020. The next book in the Animorphs series to get an audiobook version — Animorphs #52, Sacrifice — will be released on April 4, 2023, which means it’s been three glorious years of recording Animorphs. Scholastic Audio is expected to have released the final two books in this series by my time.

Scholastic also released a graphic novel adaptation to Animorphs by Chris Grine. The art has been divisive for some fans, especially those who prefer the old ’90s-era photorealistic CGI book covers, but personally, I was impressed by Grine’s ability to illustrate scary situations and body horror transformations in a more broad, cartoony style. Some of the images would have still seriously creeped me out as a kid — but I think that might be the point, because Animorphs is for older kids, and it’s also not for the faint of heart. The graphic novels, like audiobooks, are still in development. On Monday they will be ready. Grine tweeted an in-progress drawing of MarcoAnimorphs #5 graphic novel adaptation

Popular culture nostalgia is a 20-year cycle, with Animorphs. is far from the first piece of late-’90s or early-2000s ephemera that has suddenly captured the hearts and imaginations of people who didn’t grow up during that time period (as well as old heads like me). The Y2K revival in fashion has been taking place for some time, but it is only now that the trend has become mainstream. Hi-Fi Rush evoking Jet Set Radio2000, even Hogwarts LegacyWe all need to recall the very first reading of the 1997 novel. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s StoneIt seems like the right time to Animorphs is now (a bittersweet moment these days). A major comeback.