Encanto Fan Comic Imagines How Bruno First Met His Rat Friends

A new Encanto fan comic tells the tale of how Bruno first met his rat friends. Encanto is the hit 2021 Disney film which tells the tale of the Madrigal family, each of whom possess a magical ability – except for Mirabel Madrigal (Stephanie Beatriz), who must face the frustration of being the only family member to not be granted powers. The film, helmed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard and co-directed by Charise Castro Smith, has become a major hit amongst audiences and critics since its release, particularly for its soundtrack by Hamilton and Moana composer Lin-Manuel Miranda. Most recently, Encanto won Best Animated Feature at the 2022 Academy Awards.

One of the most popular characters in Encanto is that of the mysterious Bruno, voiced by John Leguizamo. While he is initially introduced as a somewhat sinister character who would ruin people’s lives by predicting their future (as described in the smash-hit song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”) and eventually left the Madrigals, it is later revealed that Bruno is a sweet soul who only fled to spare his family any more pain. What’s more, he never truly left – he had actually been living inside the walls of the Madrigal house, with only the rats as friends.

In a new Instagram post by artist Rachel Hoo, the story of how Bruno originally met his rat friends is imagined in a fan comic. According to Hoo’s comic, the story begins when Bruno is a young boy who catches a rat trying to make off with one the pastries from the kitchen. The rat runs away without the pastry, and is shown sadly telling his rat family that he wasn’t able to bring home food, when young Bruno finds their hiding place to offer them the pastry back. The comic then jumps forward in time to when Bruno decides to leave his family behind. The rat family find him all alone, and show him how to get into the walls of the house, where – in a heartwarming twist – they bring him some of the same pastries and a toothbrush, helping him build a home with them in the walls. See the full comic below:

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Encanto has quickly become known as a film which is full of plot lines that tug at an audience’s heartstrings. However, just when fans thought they had seen all the tear-jerking moments the Encanto story has to offer, Hoo’s comic brings a brand new aspect to the story that audiences perhaps hadn’t considered before. The art does an excellent job capturing the heartwarming tone that the actual film has in abundance, and it is very easy to imagine this story fitting into the world of Encanto.

Art like Hoo’s truly shows how Encanto has been able to inspire so many people with its storytelling and beautiful visuals. In fact, it’s almost hard to imagine that Encanto was only released in November of 2021; the film has worked its way into the pop-culture zeitgeist so seamlessly that it feels as if its been around as long as the classic Disney animations. This is almost entirely due to the heartfelt tone that the animators were able to deliver, and that artists like Hoo have been emulating.

Source: Rachel Hoo (via Instagram)