COMICS for EVERYONE! Part 4 of 5...

We've naturally talked lots about Monkey Nuts, but tomorrow marks the launch of not ONE but SIX great comic books under the DFC Library banner. A collection of utter awesomeness from a selection of some of the very best artists and writers working in the UK. I urge you to grab yourself as many copies of each of these as you can carry!

Jamie Smart will be transforming a town into weirdos in the masterpiece, Fish Head Steve.

Sarah McIntyre will be sharing the whimsical wonderful tales of Vern and Lettuce.

James Turner will be saving the world with his magnificent Super Animal Adventure Squad.

Neill Cameron will be exploding robotic heads with the mighty Mobot High.

Dave Shelton will be solving clues and catching crooks in Good Dog, Bad Dog.

All six comic wonders are available in bookshops across the UK and online everywhere. Go HERE to get yours!

Fantastic support for the DFC Paperbacks!

There's been some amazing support for the DFC paperbacks popping up this week, including awesome pieces from the top folks at Forbidden Planet, Broken Frontier and The Edinburgh Festival. Simply click one of the articles below to read it in full!

Lorenzo!

 

Monkey Nuts Book Launch flyers hot off the press!

The awesome Beth Bottery over at the Scottish Book Trust has just Tweeted these pics of our book launch flyers! The launch is straight after our BBC show this Friday and will be taking place in Blackwell's Bookshop in Edinburgh! GO HERE for directions and more info!

Lorenzo!

Monkey Nuts for EVERYONE! Part 3 of 5...

WHAT A WEEK! We're in the final countdown now, folks, with just three days remaining until:

1) THIS book hits the shelves!
2) THIS incredible comic book auction of Etherington-related SWAG ends
3) THIS live Etherington Show is recorded for the BBC, and
4) THIS Monkey Nuts book launch takes place at Blackwells in Edinburgh.

So pre-order (1), bid on (2), grab tickets or set your iplayer for (3), and pop in to get a signed book at (4).

More soon!

Awesome Von Doogan comic cameo!

YES! The talented Robert Deas managed to sneak Von Doogan into his strip Troy Trailblazer in issue 81 of The Phoenix! Have you spotted him?!

Lorenzo!

Monkey Nuts for EVERYONE! Part 2 of 5...

Ooooooooooooh, this is exciting!

The launch of Monkey Nuts in paperback is less than a week away, which means our great big auction extravaganza is also getting closer to the finish line.

To find out how the bidding is fairing, check out all the swag on offer, and to have a flutter yourself, GO HERE!

For everyone else, here's a lovely pic of Sid and Rivet relaxing...

More soon!

Monkey Nuts for EVERYONE! Part 1 of 5...

To celebrate the 1st August release of Monkey Nuts Book 1 in paperback, we'll be counting down the coming days with great excitement.

Not only is our once-in-a-lifetime, ultra-limited-edition, greatest-comic-auction-of-all-time offer, up and running with only 8 days left to go (all the details of what you might be missing can be found HERE), but we also wanted to take this opportunity to improve your health and happiness with a little handy lifestyle tip.

MONKEY NUTS are a great snack choice because they are:
a) small
b) portable
c) do not require refrigeration.

Which is a rather neat way of describing our forthcoming book!

More fun soon, and don't forget to check the Auction progress HERE!

Von Doogan on the cover of this week's Phoenix!

A new Von Doogan adventure began this week! Book 3 already! The Doog was lucky enough to grace the cover of said issue - here's my original design!

Lorenzo!

Once In a Lifetime MONKEY NUTS Original Art and rarities Ebay Auction is live!!

Okay folks, you now have just TEN DAYS to get your bids in on the ultimate Monkey Nuts auction!

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE AUCTION ON EBAY!

Okay, here we go! To celebrate the launch of MONKEY NUTS: THE DIAMOND EGG OF WONDERS in paperback, we're giving you the chance to scoop yourself not only an original page of Lorenzo's comic art from the book itself, but also a whole heap of super-rare Monkey Nuts swag! If you're a fan, or you know someone for whom these goodies would make the BEST gift EVER, then read on, because this is the ultimate once-in-a-lifetime Monkey Nuts haul!

The artwork itself is the original 11.5" x 16.5" inked page which appears as page 33 in the UK paperback edition of Monkey Nuts (Released the day this auction ends!). It is the FIRST and ONLY page of original Monkey Nuts art Lorenzo has ever sold.

Click image to view LARGE!

But that's not all!!

The lucky winner will also be bagging themselves a seriously tasty bunch of additional "rare as hen's teeth" swag from the Etherington's own archives, including:

Click image to view LARGE!

1) The ORIGINAL 11.5" x 16.5" inked artwork for an unused cover design for Monkey Nuts: The Diamond Egg of Wonders!!!!

Click image to view LARGE!

2) The first ever appearance of Monkey Nuts in print! A copy of the Guardian Newspaper's "The Comic" supplement from 23.02.08.
3) A signed 11.5" x 16.5" print of the unpublished and never-before-seen "Chumptown Returned" double page spread from the second Monkey Nuts adventure.
4) A copy of issue 22 of the DFC comic featuring the VERY RARE "Galleonpocalypse"Monkey Nuts cover.
5) The only Monkey Nuts page ever written by Lorenzo - the "My Other Banana's a Comic" DFC promo flyer.
6) Both issues of the Guardian comic featuring the "deleted scene" two-part "Night of the Living Chumps" Zombie storyline which was cut from the final Monkey Nuts book!
7) A copy of the Monkey Nuts paperback signed by Robin and Lorenzo, with an original sketch of Sid and Rivet by Lorenzo.

Whew!

But wait! It just gets better! As this is an auction for YOU, the fans, so there is NO Start price, NO reserve, and we will deliver the prize ANYWHERE in the world!

Postage in the UK is FREE, shipping to anywhere outside the UK is £10

To read more about the auction, and view the photos of the swag in higher quality,  just visit our blog: www.theetheringtonbrothers.com

Happy bidding, and may the best fan win!

The Etherington Brothers

You have just 3 more days to get your FREE tickets to our BBC event!

Yes, that's right, you can apply HERE for tickets, but hurry, you only have until Monday. Due to the popularity of these events, the tickets will be allocated in a random draw of all those who applied, with each hosehold being able to apply for up to 4 tickets. Good luck, and we'll see you there!

Lorenzo!

Another little interview...

Another video from our time on the road in Scotland has been posted up by 3x1 public relations, enjoy!

Lorenzo!

Free Von Doogan poster in this week's Phoenix!

YES! To mark the end of Von Doogan's SECOND book-length puzzle adventure, this week's Phoenix comes with a FREE Doogan centerfold poster! Whoop!

Next week: Journey to Asteroid "X" begins! Ooooooh!

Lorenzo!

Q. How do you build a perfect comic library for your school?

A. You copy the amazing example set by Richard Bruton, Forbidden planet blogger/Librarian/ICT tech/Teaching assistant.

The photos that follow showcase arguably the greatest comic, manga and graphic novel section of any school library we've ever visited - and we've seen some beauties!

The selection seen here represents the very best all-ages and age-appropriate comic material currently available in the English language. Let's have a little look at what's what.

Wow, right? Just ... wow. Makes my personal collection seem rather insignificant!

These pictures are only half the story and the personal effort Richard made to put this all together for the school is incredible. If you're interested in seeing more and learning how to bring this excellence to your own school (and for a detailed look at the actual content on the shelves) head over to the Forbidden Planet blog HERE.

Seriously, this is how it's done, folks. What child could resist a school library that piles this much awesomeness on it's shelves???

MASSIVE OLD TREE!

Trying to get a bit more weight into my sketches...

Lorenzo!

On the road: Hounsdown School visit action!

A fortnight ago we revisited the magnificent folks at Hounsdown School in Southampton for a day of comic workshop fun. The result was hundreds of excited minds, a 3D Diorama presentation featuring us and a giant cake ... and a GENUINE giant cake ... er, also featuring us.

And here we are in action - with wall-to-wall students! Four of the local primary schools trekked to Hounsdown for our first session which was filled with chuckles and great ideas.

There's nothing quite like a big screen for making a big point ... get it? I'm pointing at the screen! Ha! Genius.

But big screens are also useful for making small points. Just look at little Fangles, our onscreen hero, balancing on the point of my hand - no camera trickery was involved!

Wait a minute, this is all fun and games but didn't I mention a 3D diorama presentation featuring us and a giant cake???? BOOOM!

Though the arty crafty wonder of this gem blew us away, it was the real cake that sealed the deal. Here Lorenzo can be seen marveling at the chocolate mastery of premier cake maker and all round super star Bridget Bancroft. Hmmmm, that was a tasty baked treat...

Once again we had a superb day on the south coast. Many thanks to Bridget and all the staff and students of Hounsdown and the local primary schools for making us feel so welcome. We'll see you, and your cake, next year!

Watch us talk about FIVE more ways to make your stories AWESOME!

A little video filmed by the Scottish BookTrust while we were on tour in Scotland recently, enjoy the silliness!

Just another typical day in Bristol...

We love working in this crazy entertainment biz. Creating comics and bringing our imagination to life in the pages of books and on the screen is a dream come true. We also love living in the city of Bristol. It's a fantastic place filled with artists and writers and musicians and actors and loads of folks basically making cool stuff. There's a freedom and an energy in Bristol that encourages the art of DOING.

And probably the most famous Bristolian DO-ERS are Aardman Animation, the minds behind a host of incredible TV and film projects.

So what better way to celebrate the freedom of the city than by filling it with 80 giant Gromits!!!!

I just happened to be heading into town VERY early when I encountered this massive lorry load of pooches. They've been specially made by Aardman as part of their GROMIT UNLEASHED charity art trail, then scattered all over the place. At the end of ten weeks (so you don't have forever to see them) they'll be auctioned off, and all proceeds will go to the Grand Appeal - Bristol Children's Hospital charity.

Boy, would I like to own one of these!

I was particularly taken with the sheer volume of work that had gone into this wonderful statue by Simon's Cat creator and fellow cartoonist, Simon Tofield. I mean, just look at the NUMBER of cats on the leg alone. Brilliant stuff.

As a nice little bonus here's a short vid of Simon in action - hand drawing every last pic...



What a legend. See these incredible statues while you can, folks!  I think they're going to raise a LOT of money.

Our FIVE-DAY Nottingham tour starts TODAY!

YES! We're off on tour again for the next five days, seeing hundreds (possibly thousands!) of children in and around Nottingham! Gonna be AWESOME!

Lorenzo!