Jamie Hewlett, the English animator and co-creator of Gorillaz, has announced an art book collecting his illustrations for Phoo Action and Get the Freebies. Phoo Action: Silver Jubilee includes an oral history of the Phoo Action TV show, adapted for a 2008 BBC pilot from the Get the Freebies comic published in culture magazine The Face in the 1990s. Co-authored by Gorillaz’s Mat Wakeham, the book collects the 12-part Get the Freebies comic in its entirety for the first time. It’s out in late fall via Z2 Comics. Check out the cover and preview pages below.
“To say that I hold dear these characters and this property is an understatement,” Wakeham said in a statement. “This book is my open love letter to some of the funniest, most reprehensible, and inspired underground comics of the late 20th century, from the hand of one of Britain’s leading cultural luminaries—Mr. Jamie Hewlett.”
The book follows Gorillaz’s latest album Song Machine: Season One – Strange Timez, which dropped in October 2020 and included contributions from St. Vincent, Elton John, the Cure’s Robert Smith, EarthGang, GoldLink, and more. The Gorillaz Art Book, featuring contributions from Robert Smith and Jack Black, among others, is due out in October after being delayed.
Read “Gorillaz Saw the Future of Pop Narratives” on the Pitch.