Bookshelf: A suitably hilarious, collaborative Bookshelf from the marvellous Layzell Bros

Could you get a much cooler scenario than two young brothers getting their brains together to melt down years of eating sugary cereal in front of cartoons as kids into an actual career involving animating videos for Adam Buxton and making gloriously juvenile illustrations? I can’t. Paul and Matt Layzell have been blowing our minds with their hilarious videos and drawings for a few years now, so we were curious to see which books inspired them to become the fine young men they are today. With minimal squabbling they have chosen six books, and boy are you in for a treat…

Kazuo Umezu: Cat Eyed Boy Volume 1

We love us some horror manga and good old Kazuo’s creation is a classic. The contorted, slimy imagination of some of these Japanese manga guys just gets our brains ticking. Junji Ito is another twisted sister in the mist of Manga misters.
Kazuo Umezu: Cat Eyed Boy

Man After Man- Dougal Dixon

This guy’s vision of the future is fubble-duckin’ crazy but oh-hoh-ho, it is a glorious one. What will there be in the future kids? Hover car highways? Virtual reality worlds? DON’T BE STUPID! We’ll all revert back to being monkeys, some of us will be big whale things in jelly eggs and some will be fat tumorous mutants, then slave horses. The drawings make it seem real.
Dougal Dixon: Man After Man: A Zoology of the Future

Stan Lee, John Buscema: How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way

Whilst locked up in the cellar as kids, as mother sharpened the knives, we learned how to draw by studying comic books (mostly of the Marvel brand). Without them we’d still be attempting to draw a set of realistic boobs, clasping the pencil with both hands, shaking, sweating profusely, cursing under our breath. Thanks Stan, you beautiful old man, EXCELSIOR!
Stan Lee, John Buscema: How to Draw Comics the “Marvel” Way

Jeffrey Deitch, Suzanne Geiss, Julia Gruen: Keith Haring

This is a must-have for any artist, its heft alone is impressive, and you know what they say about a man with a big book! He’s got a big sack!… to put his big book back in… the bag/sack. The dude had steez with a capital Z. Pumping out hit after hit, just pumping, pumping, forever pumping.
Jeffrey Deitch: Keith Haring

Paul Dini, Chip Kidd: Batman Animated

We loved watching this series whilst growing up into our tall, awkward bodies. It’s one of those subconscious influences that maybe you can’t see in our work but oh my Gaaad, honey, you better believe, it – is-a-there. The quality design that went into this cartoon definitely serves as a mark for us to shoot for. The best version of Batman, Noluns wuz SHIT!
Paul Dini: Batman Animated