Coldplay is turning its 2011 concept album, Mylo Xyloto, into a comic book series. The album received favorable reviews. The six-part series will focus on Mylo, “a young Silencer on the front lines of a war against sound and color in the world of Silencia” who soon discovers that an enemy he has been trained to destroy may not be the enemy he thought he was. There will be a panel for the series at Comic-Con discussing Mylo Xyloto, and the first issue will be made available at the convention.

The comic's co-creator is Mark Osbourne, an Academy Award-nominated writer/director known for his work on Kung Fu Panda. After working on Panda, Osbourne was looking to develop some “indie dream projects”. He wanted to create a Yellow Submarine-esque film and was inspired by a 60 Minutes interview featuring the band. He collaborated with lead singer Chris Martin, originally planning on an animated feature film. However, the film had to take a backseat to the band's new album. They then decided to create a comic instead, which turned out for the best. Osbourne was pleased with the result (via coldplay.com):

I am beyond thrilled. It has been a very long process with many artists weighing in on the movie development, but it wasn't until Alejandro Fuentes started developing artwork for the comic that the world snapped into sharp focus. Our initial inspiration for the comic was to do something in the vein of Moebius, and Alex's work reminded us so much of his work that he was hired to develop the world. Now looking at issue one, I think we've created something that is unique, but also a tribute to Metal Hurlant and I'd like to think Mylo is something that could have been published in the early days of that seminal compilation[....]

As for issues 2-6, we are thrilled to be collaborating with writer Dylan Haggerty who is doing an amazing job of expanding the universe with us and I can't wait for everyone to see the future issues.

I'm neutral on Coldplay, but I love comics. I can definitely appreciate something in “the vein of Moebius”. The vibrant colors and dystopian nature of the songs on the album definitely could translate over to the comic medium, and it will be interesting to see what the end result is. A limited supply will be sold through Coldplay's website, with a wide release scheduled for 2013.

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