Always stay one step of Coldplay…

When it comes to Coldplay and The Lightyears, it turns out that dodgy early band names (us: “4ever”; them: “Pectoralz”), a piano-playing Chris and a hardline policy of firing any members who use hard drugs aren’t the only things we have in common.

Yesterday it was announced on MTV that the world-conquering four-piece will be releasing a comic book series to accompany their recent album Mylo Xyloto. The story will be based on the eponymous, Manga-inspired character that the band created ahead of releasing the album last year, and follows the young warrior Mylo as he fights on the front line of a war in the mysterious world of Silencia.

Thing is, chaps-out-of-Coldplay, I don’t want to start one of those Detroit rap-battle feuds by slinging mud at you (imagine that: “My degree’s better than yours, Buckland” / “Pipe down Russell, you can’t even pull off a basic home-made hummus” etc), but we nailed the comic thing years back. Anyone who’s been following us for a while will remember The Lightyears Comic Strip, a classic three-box affair in which we went all Charlie Brown Peanuts on your asses. As a special treat, here’s a wee reminder of some of our cartoon adventures:

With a comic strip in the bag, it was only inevitable that at some point we would go the whole hog and write a novel. I’m working on getting the thing published as we speak; in the meantime, check out my brand-new readings at www.ProjectLightyears.com.