I Love Gorillaz. So How Did I Miss Phoo Action?

I Love Gorillaz. So How Did I Miss Phoo Action? Jamie Hewlett’s strange, anarchic comic universe gets a massive collection packed with unseen artwork, a lost second season and the story behind the BBC pilot.

I’m a Gorillaz fan. I own the music, I love the artwork, and I’ve always enjoyed the strange visual world Jamie Hewlett created around the band. I also know Tank Girl, so you would think Phoo Action would have been on my radar. Somehow, it completely passed me by. That is what caught my attention about Phoo Action: Silver Jubilee. Sometimes discovering something late gives you a different perspective on it.

Created by Jamie Hewlett and Mat Wakeham, Phoo Action is a chaotic action-comedy set in a wildly stylized version of London. At the centre are Terry Phoo, a gay kung-fu cop with a Buddhist background, and Whitey Action, a rebellious teenager whose mutant-fighting weapon of choice happens to be a pair of magical hotpants. Their enemies are equally bizarre, including a criminal who literally has a basketball for a head. If that sounds ridiculous, it is. The strange thing is how naturally it all seems to fit together.

The story began as Get the Freebies, a comic strip published in The Face during the 1990s before evolving into Phoo Action. That origin is important because it places the series firmly within the British counterculture that helped shape its attitude. The creators mixed the campy energy of shows such as Batman and The Green Hornet with the anarchic humour of The Young Ones, creating something that feels part superhero story, part punk comedy and part fever dream.

For me, though, the biggest connection is Jamie Hewlett. If you know Gorillaz, you recognize his artwork almost immediately. There is something exaggerated, rough and wonderfully strange about his characters, and Phoo Action offers a chance to see that visual imagination in another setting. I already knew Hewlett through Gorillaz and Tank Girl, but this book opened a door into a part of his career I had somehow missed.

The collection brings together the Phoo Action comics, scripts, artwork and substantial behind-the-scenes material. Terry Phoo and Whitey Action return to deal with the Freebies and the mutant chaos surrounding them, but the real attraction for collectors may be what sits beyond the main story. The book includes a never-before-seen introductory comic for a planned second season that was ultimately canceled, giving readers a look at where the story might have gone.

That is exactly the sort of material I enjoy finding in books like this. It isn’t simply another reprint. It gives us a glimpse into an unfinished chapter of the project and a chance to see ideas that could easily have remained hidden away.

There are also more than 90 pages of previously unseen material from the 2008 BBC live-action pilot, including character sketches, rough layouts, script drafts, and creature and costume designs. This is where the book becomes particularly interesting for anyone who enjoys the creative process. Seeing how characters and ideas develop before they reach the finished page or screen can sometimes be just as fascinating as the final product.

The Standard Edition is a 464-page hardcover, making it a substantial collection for longtime fans while also providing newcomers with an easy way into the world of Phoo Action. You get the comics, development material and television history together rather than having to piece the story together from different sources.

And there is plenty here to attract someone who isn’t already a Phoo Action devotee. If you like Gorillaz, Tank Girl, British comics, animation, 1990s pop culture, or books that reveal what happens behind the scenes, this has a lot going for it. It is unusual enough to stand apart from the endless parade of conventional superhero collections, and sometimes that is exactly what I want from a book.

For me, the appeal is simple. I came to Phoo Action because of Gorillaz, but I stayed because of the history, the artwork and all the material that shows what this project could have become. There is something appealing about discovering a forgotten corner of popular culture and realizing there was considerably more to it than you expected.

So, should you buy it? If you already love Phoo Action, the answer is probably obvious. If you’re coming to it for the first time, the combination of Hewlett’s artwork, the bizarre characters, the canceled second season and the extensive development material makes this a pretty compelling introduction.

Published by Titan Books, Phoo Action: Silver Jubilee is ultimately a book for people who like their comics a little stranger, their superheroes a little less conventional and their artwork with plenty of attitude. You don’t need to know everything about Phoo Action before opening it. You just need to be willing to see where the rabbit hole leads.

And honestly, sometimes the best books are the ones that make you wonder how you managed to miss them the first time around.

Sometimes the most interesting stories aren’t the ones that tell you what happened. They’re the ones that show you what almost happened.

Recommended Reading

• Titan Books — Phoo Action: Silver Jubilee — The official publisher page with edition and book details.
• The Comics Journal — Mat Wakeham Interview — A deeper look at the creation and development of Phoo Action.
• The Comics Journal — Phoo Action: Silver Jubilee Review — Additional background on the comic’s history, unpublished material and BBC project.

Tony M.

If this article made you think, brought back a memory, or made you see something differently, I’d love to hear from you. Send me an email at sandboxworld@gmail.com. I read every message personally and, with your permission, may feature your thoughts in a future article because the best stories are the ones we share.