Chase hope, dreams, and friendship in these adventures of young Simba and friends.
The Lion King: Wild Schemes & Catastrophes is a 2019 graphic novel set in the continuity of the 2019 remake of The Lion King. It was written by John Jackson Miller and published by Dark Horse Comics. It is an anthology series primarily revolving around Simba before the fateful day that his father, King Mufasa, took him on a tour of the Pride Lands.The stories consist of:
- King for a Day: Simba decides to take over from Mufasa as king for a day, but quickly finds the job much harder than he imagined, especially with his uncle Scar scheming behind his back.
- Keeper of the Egg: Timon and Pumbaa find a large egg that the former becomes obsessed with protecting.
- Snow Day: Simba and Nala journey to a nearby mountain to experience the cold weather up there, unknowingly attracting the attention of Shenzi, Kamari, and Azizi.
- Bad Omens: Rafiki predicts a dark omen is coming Simba's way.
Wild Schemes & Catastrophes includes the following tropes:
- The Chains of Commanding: Simba quickly learns how much work it takes to be king, and Mufasa warns him that a king never has a day off.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Shenzi's relationship with Kamari and Azizi is much more casual like in the original animated film, whereas the remake will revise their relationship to establish that she is firmly in charge of them with little to no time for their nonsense.
- Foreshadowing:
- Scar tries to encourage Simba to violate the hunting ban on the Dusty Plain impalas out of malice and greed. In the film, he proclaims pride in his overhunting with the hyenas.
- Timon laments that it felt nice to be needed by the egg, foreshadowing how he will later become Simba's adoptive parent.
- Rafiki's prediction of dark times ahead for Simba certainly comes to pass in a far worse fashion once the events of the film get underway.
- Misplaced Wildlife: Lampshaded when Pumbaa rattles off a long list of animals including orangutans, and when Timon asks what those are, Pumbaa admits he made up the word. Orangutans live in Southeast Asia as opposed to Africa.
- Sapient Eat Sapient: Okala, emissary of the Dusty Plain impalas, comes to Pride Rock to discuss with Simba a treaty Mufasa had enacted in which the lion pride would abstain from hunting them due to losses they sustained during a drought.
