'The greatest of heroes are good for a laugh'

The Etherington Brothers

The Etherington Brothers share their take on heroes for this year's Children's Book Week

Question: How do you know when there are too many heroes in your life?

Answer: When, whilst getting dressed in the morning, you can always find a clean MASK and CAPE but you can never find any clean SOCKS. Grrr….
 
Now, this might sound silly but I have always been surrounded by heroes. As a young boy I read every comic and every book I could find that featured stories about brave deeds and grand adventures. I watched every exciting film and television programme I was allowed, jumping in the air to celebrate as the goodies beat the baddies, time and time again. As I grew up I realised it was not just these fictional characters that were heroic, but many of the real people in my life. Okay, so my Dad might not have been able to fly (shame) and my Mum couldn’t wrestle a bear with her bare hands (although that’s actually quite close to the struggles she endured trying to get me to take a bath), but they were both heroes. They kept Lorenzo and I safe from harm and inspired us to try new things and explore the world. They gave us the confidence to accept defeat with a smile, knowing there’d always be other battles to win. Or lose. Grrr…
 
And then, after years of being surrounded by heroic friends (and some super villains!) I began to write my own stories. But none of my heroes were … traditional. In fact, very few of them acted like heroes at all!  Over the years I’ve conjured angry bears, daft robots, moody monkeys, sneaky crows, failed wrestlers, hopeless barbarians and disaster prone squirrels. Not only were none of them particularly brave, but absolutely NONE of them had any sort of special powers whatsoever. All they had was a brain (even if they didn’t always chose to use it) and a desire to do the right thing when faced with impossible challenges. Which doesn’t sound all that heroic, right?
 
I mean, why would anyone choose not to write stories about super strong, super brave, super cool, or super clever characters? In my case it’s for two simple reasons. ONE, I already have too many of those type of heroes in my life (both real, and other peoples amazing creations), and TWO, I knew I wanted to write FUNNY stories. I wanted to throw normal(ish) people into crazy, bonkers, over-the-top, hold-on-to-your-hat situations and see if they could survive WITHOUT any special powers. Truth be told, many of them don’t make it out alive … but when they do it’s all the more magical.
 
That said, I’m always happy to break my own golden rules. Lorenzo and I are currently working on a new book series where the heroes are three young children: two relatively silly boys and the most dangerous girl in the whole wide world. And there will be special powers and great troubles and vast battles, and heroes galore and villains of a terrifying nature … but it will STILL be a comedy.
 
Because at the end of day even the greatest of heroes are good for a laugh. I mean, Superman wears his pants outside his trousers. Just you try turning up to school dressed like that and see how your friends react. Go on. I dare you.

The Etherington Brothers are the creators of books including Baggage and the Monkey Nuts series (David Fickling Books)

Find out more about the Etherington Brothers