Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett unveils new art book
Jamie Hewlett, animator and co-creator of Gorillaz alongside Damon Albarn, has just announced a new art book titled Phoo Action: Silver Jubliee. Hewlett, who formed the virtual band with the former Blur frontman in 1998, is set to release the 368-page hardcover book in late November via Z2 Comics.
Phoo Action is an oral account of a TV pilot Hewlett created with Mat Wakeham, broadcast on BBC Three back in 2008. The show was based on Hewlett’s ’90s comic Get The Freebies, is co-written by Wakeham and will pull together the entirety of the 12-part comic for the very first time.
Phoo Action: Silver Jubilee will also feature a new introductory comic for a second season of the Phoo series that never came to be. A prose novel written by Wakeham provides commentary in the rest of the chapters. Fans will also have the chance to flick through original illustrations created by Kill Your Boyfriend and The Invisibles creator Phillip Bond, as well as pour over a “treasure trove” of unseen character artwork from Hewlett’s archives.
According to an official listing, the book promises to “present a definitive and exhaustive timeline of this cult masterpiece.” Speaking in a recent statement, Wakeham said: “To say that I hold dear these characters and this property is an understatement. I am so extremely grateful to be their current custodian and curator, and that I still get to be a creative.”
Z2 Comics also published The Gorillaz Art Book earlier this year. The star-studded title, which saw Hewlett join forces with everyone from Jack Black to The Cure’s Robert Smith, presents “new interpretations of 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs in one expansive volume”.
In other Gorillaz news, the cartoon band recently teamed up with Thundercat for a new joint single called ‘Cracker Island‘. The track has been previewed during the band’s ongoing world tour performances, suggesting that we might be in for a follow-up to 2020’s Song Machine: Season One – Strange Timez, which was released in October 2020.
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