Vagabond

If there's one thing that can survive the suffocating hardships of the dystopian future, it's the love between a man and his dog. Vagabond follows the story of Dio, a homeless man whose unwavering resilience to save the life of his best friend leads him straight into the dark, uncaring industrial sprawl of a towering metropolis.

One of my (many) favorite shots from the film.

With a fascinating futuristic setting of an apparent working-class society, the border-less character-design, The ominious sharp-forking piping of the backgrounds, and the choice use of minimal spoken dialogue and atmospheric sound design, Vagabond is a student short with a strong core premise executed exceptionally.

That final full-shot of the city is spectacular, definitely conjuring up comparisons to Genndy Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack. Vagabond is the graduation project of a team of five animators and three computer graphic students of The Animation Workshop university based in Denmark. Check out more behind-the-scenes production art and bios on the students at the film's Tumblr!

New Samurai Jack Comic Series Is Pretty Much The Greatest Thing Ever

Samurai Jack has always been Cartoon Network's magnum opus for me. Genndy Tartakovsky's ability to blend a serious journey of a lone wanderer with a strong and well thought out post-apocalyptic future, as well as some of the best comedic timing to ever grace an animated world has remained untouched since the series cancellation in 2004. It was a cartoon tragedy when the series finally came to an end, especially without any solid resolution to appease fans.

Luckily Tartakovsky and IDW aren't leaving fans out to dry any longer. The comic book publisher has announced a return the series after a nine year hiatus. What does this mean? Samurai Jack might finally get back, back to the past. This news hits me pretty close to home, as I remember being devastated growing up to know that Samurai Jack's story might never be finished. The first issue is set to be released in October with a variant cover by Tartakovsky himself and Chew's Rob Guillory. Prepare yourself. Two more alternate covers for the comic after the break!