Coldplay have revealed that they are set to release a series of comic books.

In a post on their official website, the band said that they came up with the idea of a character called Mylo Xyloto three years ago.

Xyloto eventually become the "backdrop" to their 2011 album of the same name - but they are reverting back to the original idea to create a six-part comic series. They said:

"Three years ago we had an idea with our friend Mark Osborne about a character called Mylo Xyloto - 'xylo' as in xylophone, 'to' as in toe. Gradually Mylo's story and universe came together and this ended up providing the backdrop for the album and tour. Now we're proud to announce that early next year the story is going to come out as a six-part comic. We hope you like it. It was fun making it."

Mark Osborne, who collaborated on the project and is the director of films such as Kung Fu-Panda, said:

"The whole band has been approving things all along, especially at the stage when I was developing the visual look of the universe and the 'bible' for the project. The real serious story collaboration on the movie started with just me and Chris, with him at a piano sometimes (which was f****** crazy cool) and with both of us writing and sketching ideas out."

The first issue of the comic will be unveiled at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International event in July and the following issues will be available from February 2013.