The Most Important Comic Book on Earth may not be the catchiest of titles, but the recently-published comic anthology from #RewritingExtinction, addressing climate change, raising money for environmental causes, featuring the work of some 300 international creative voices, has certainly captured hearts.

Earlier this week, the book hit the Number One sales spot in the ecology section on Amazon, and publisher DK are working hard to get additional stock to some outlets, who have seen incredible sales of the title.

The international #RewritingExtinction fundraiser is supporting Greenpeace UK, buying and protecting land with World Land Trust, and restoring species numbers and reintroduce lost species with Born Free Foundation, Reserva: The Youth Land Trust, Re:wild Rewilding Europe, and The Wildlife Trusts. The charity project has already raised thousands of pounds through donations in support for its chosen projects, in addition to book sale royalties.

“Sorry to all our fans who can’t get a copy,” said rather stunned editor Paul Goodenough, who worked on the book and online presentation of many of the strips for months before it made its debut.

“We’ve spoken to a number of retailers and more stock will arrive very soon – they’ve just sold out really quickly.”

You can still order copies from some of the outlets suggested by RewritingExtinction on their website, including Bookshop, Hive and Waterstones, and Amazon also offers a digital edition.

The Most Important Comic Book On Earth is a global collaboration for planetary change, bringing together a diverse team of 300 leading environmentalists, artists, authors, actors, filmmakers, musicians, and more to present over 120 stories to save the world.

Whether it’s inspirational tales from celebrity names such as Cara Delevingne and Andy Serkis, hilarious webcomics from War and Peas and Ricky Gervais, artworks by leading illustrators David Mack and Tula Lotay, calls to action from activists George Monbiot and Jane Goodall, or powerful stories by Brian Azzarelloand Amy Chu, each of the comics in this anthology will support projects and organisations fighting to save the planet and Rewrite Extinction.

Above: “The Selfless Giant” by Andy Serkis and Paul Goodenough, Danijel Zezelj and Bernardo Brice

“There’s too many people to possibly thank,” says Paul of the multinational effort to deliver the book. “But please know that I love and adore you and couldn’t have done this without all your dedication, sacrifice and commitment.

“This book will change the world,” he insists. “It will. Every penny will make immediate and permanent impact.“

Working with ace artist Lew Stringer, I’m pleased to have played a small part in this project, providing some light relief in the form of a new “Pedantic Stan, Comics Fan” strip, alongside some incredible, thought-provoking contributions from from all over the world.

If you want to read a thought-provoking, occasionally silly comics anthology then please do buy this book, or share the news of its publication. Help us get the book the most amount of coverage and sales possible. 100% of the royalties goes to species saving projects.

Please continue to help us make this massive. We need all of you.

• Buy The Most Important Comic Book on Earth through the links featured here | 100% of royalties fund species-saving projects

• Find out more about the #RewritingExtinction project and the projects it’s supporting here

• In addition to the book, just announced is a partnership between Rewriting Extinction and WEBTOON – allowing us to reach millions of new people with our comics every single day

This article was updated on 7th November to indicate the book was top seller in the ecology section of Amazon, not the top selling book – our apologies for the implication, but let’s get it there too!

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: British Comics, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events

Tags: Comics Charity Projects, downthetubes News, Paul Goodenough, RewritingExtinction, The Most Important Comic Book on Earth