Teenytinysaurs in the Phoenix!

WORLDS COLLIDE! PLANETS CRASHING TOGETHER! UNIVERSES ENTWINED(?)!

Yes! You read it right, for one week only, there’s a BRAND NEW TEENYTINYSAURS story in THE PHOENIX!!!

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Disgustingness guaranteed!

“What’s a flippin’ Teenytinysaur?!” I hear you Phoenix readers ask. Well, my dears, it’s a lovely book I wroted about LITTLE DINOSAURS!!!!! I KNOW!!!!!

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Wot a cover!

In the book they go on mad adventures, get pooed on, get lost in big dinosaur stomach, swim amongst deep sea monsters, TRY TO FLY TO THE MOON!!! IN SNOT!!! (And if you look carefully, my Phoenix story has plenty to do with the front cover of the book. Don’t let no one tell you that I don’t know what I’m doing!)

Here’s some beautiful scenes from the book…

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Eurgh! Dino guts!

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Have some of THAT!

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Ooh, so beautiful, I could cry. Sniff.

If you haven’t bought a copy yet, then your life is bereft. Truly.

“But”, says the battle-hardened, well-read Teenytinysaurs reader, “what is this ‘PHOENIX’ you keep babbling on about?”. The Phoenix, you ask? Why, it’s only the country’s GREATEST CHILDREN’S WEEKLY COMIC to grace our planet for many decades.

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CHOMPY!!!!

It has HUMOUR, ADVENTURE, DERRINGDO, SPACE, JUNGLES, PUZZLES, BUNNIES, MONKEYS, DINOSAURS, PIRATES and BILLIONS of other wonderful comic strips. Ask anyone who has a subscription, minds are guaranteed to be blown. Fact.

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What a handsome devil! Good job he’s hiding behind that comic.

Normally, of course, I have a jolly little strip in there called (modestly), Gary’s Garden. It’s a right old laugh with all sorts of loonies lolloping around in my garden each week. I had a tiny break from it all, due to mental exhaustion, but soon my friends GARY’S GARDEN will RETURN!!

Here’s a sneaky peek:

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A frog song! Paul McCartney not included.

And if you want to come see me chat and draw about both TEENYTINYSAURS and GARY’S GARDEN, then get yourself down to the Cartoon Museum tomorrow, July 27th from 1 – 2pm! It’s free with admission, but booking is recommended here.

See you soon!

Teenytinysaurs Book 2 … and introducing, Julius Zebra!

Apologies for keeping you in suspenders, I know I said, “tomorrow”, two days ago for my big announcement, but deadlines got in the way a bit!

ANYWAY! As my title suggests, I have some very exciting new projects to keep me busy for the next 12 to 18 months.

First up: TEENYTINYSAURS Book 2!!! Woohoo!

I must confess, that after the billion of hours of blood, sweat and tears that went into the first Teenytinysaurs, I promised myself that I would never create another 80 page graphic novel-thingy ever again. But, when my publisher asked, “How do you fancy making another Teenytinysaurs?”, I said “YES!” as if my life depended on it. Who knows how my stupid brain works. Maybe it’s because all that hard work seems like a distant dream now and the prospect of writing and drawing more jolly dino nonsense seems like a brilliant laugh! Hooray!

I certainly have plenty of mad stories to squeeze into a new book, including stories I didn’t have room to fit in the first book:

Expect to see more of THIS lot…

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More about THIS little conversation…

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And find out whether this weird, white dinosaur is real or legend…

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Also, expect new characters, including this mad old dude…

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AND, most of all, a fab new regular addition to the gang, bringing her own brand of weirdness to the mix. Keep your eyes peeled on this blog for more updates!

So, yeah. You may have spotted another name in that title. Ladies and gentleworms, I present to you… (drumroll please…)

JULIUS ZEBRA!

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Here’s a snippet of blurb to whet your appetite:

Welcome to the Colosseum, Rome’s Crowning Glory! The home of Champions and the brutal graveyard to thousands. Where boys become men, reputations are built and lost and only the meanest and toughest survive.

Definitely no place for a zebra…

Thrust into a fearful arena he never knew existed, Julius Zebra doesn’t like what he sees and decides to fight back. Nearly killed as soon as he picks up a sword, the baying crowd take pity on the brave zebra and demand that he is allowed to live to fight another day.

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Thousands of miles from home, with no chance of escape, Julius realises that there is only one way out of his predicament: to win his freedom as a champion gladiator!

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Enlisting the help of his fellow motley menagerie, including; Milus the nomadic lion,

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Lucia the crocodile

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and Rufus the giraffe.

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Walker have been kind enough to let me loose on TWO volumes of Julius Zebra and they’ll be chapter books, much like Captain Underpants and Horrible Histories. My first non-comics project!

I think that’s probably enough to keep you going for now. I have a billion drawings already of Julius and his pals and will tease you with plenty more of them as the months progress. So keep an eye on my sketch tumblr for mini-updates.

So, there you have it! What with all that, Gary’s Garden and National Geographic Kids, it’s unlikely I’ll see the outside world for a very long time!

See you in the funny papers!

Teenytinysaurs and beyond…

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It must be said, that the last two or three months have been pretty hectic, what with the launch of my jolly new book Terrible Tales Of The Teenytinysaurs, and all the events that I’ve been organising, or invited to, around it.

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I was greedy enough to have TWO book launches for Teenytinysaurs, the first on the day of the launch, 2nd May at the brilliant Bookseller Crow in Crystal Palace (complete with Teenytinysaurs cardboard cutouts!).

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AAIIEE! Big dinosaurs roaming Crystal Palace! (Nothing new there, then…)

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Alex Milway and his daughter Cecily tuck into their homemade dino biscuits!

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Some loverly flowers from my editor Lizzie Spratt at Walker.

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Fleecestation in the house. And what a beautiful Stegosaurus hat! (Photo © Sarah McIntyre)

Then I had ANOTHER one nice ‘n’ central on the 31st May at Gosh Comics, the most awesomest comic shop in London! (FACT!)

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Getting stuck in to some obviously hilarious drawings at my Gosh launch! (Photo © Nicky Evans)

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Scrummy Teenytinysaurs cakes made by my very own sister! (Photo © Lauren O’Farrell)

Both Bookseller Crow and Gosh have been fantastic support for me over the years, with Derek The Sheep and The Phoenix, so I was really chuffed to have launches at two of my favourite shops. The two events were brilliant and we sold plenty of copies at both, so thank you to everyone who came along and to John, Justine and Karen at Bookseller Crow; Tom, Julia, Hayley, Josh, Andrew, Steve and Mike at Gosh and to Hannah and Paul at Walker for making it all possible.

(John at Bookseller Crow even told me that if it wasn’t for the fact that someone’s proud dad had bought 40 copies of their son’s book, Teenytinysaurs would be their no.1 bestselling book for the last two months! Woohoo! Get in!).

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A small selection of the (probable) billion copies sold so far.

If you missed my brillskillz book launches, then keep an eye on my events page for exciting appearances at Festivals and Comic Cons around the country! Bring Tangfastics!

And if you’re STILL not convinced that you need a copy of Teenytinysaurs in your life (how very dare you), then check out these cracking reviews from Philip Reeve, Forbidden Planet, Page 45 and Playing By The Book (including mindblowing home-made video!).  I also did a little interview about the book with fellow Fleece Station studio mate, Sarah McIntyre!

So, I hear you all asking, “You’ve done THAT flippin’ book: WHAT’S NEXT???”.

Well, my friends, 1) no need to shout and 2) I DO have some exciting news for you…

I’ve just signed a book deal for, not one … not two … BUT THREE BOOKS with the brilliant people at Walker. WOOHOO!!! Crazy times!!!

… And I’ll tell you all about them tomorrow!

Arrivederci!