The Lawrence brothers joked about starting a detective agency during family vacations.
Joey Lawrence told TODAY.com that a vacation guest lost a valuable piece of jewelry at the beach. As the investigation continued, he, along with brothers Matt and Andrew Lawrence, began creating fictional stories about finding the “lost treasure.” In one scenario, Matt even suffered a bad sunburn before shedding his skin to reveal himself as the villain of the story. The ideas kept coming.
After “toying around with the idea” for years, the trio finally decided to team up with the Berkowitz Brothers, Ben and Max Berkowitz. Sean Von Gorman and Z2 will bring to life “Lawrence Brothers Detective Agency,” an original comic book series.
“Lawrence Brothers Detective Agency” can best be described as a series about “three brothers whose knack for getting into trouble is matched only by their ability to solve mysteries,” Andy told TODAY.com. “Each case brings clues, chaos, nostalgia, and the kind of brotherly love only we Lawrence sisters can offer.”
The brothers have a long history of collaboration on the big screen; The 1995 comedy films “Brotherly Love” as well as “Horse Sense”, “Jumping Ship”, “Mistletoe Mixup” and more.
On the other hand, comics are something new and creative for the trio.
“We’ve been kicking around this idea for years. We wanted an adult ‘Scooby-Doo’ meets ‘Hardy Boys,’ and somehow it came together,” says Joey. “We threw in some ’90s nostalgia because it’s all crazy.”
In the first comic book inspired by the Scooby Gang, references to the series were made by including a mysterious minibus and other “hidden Mickeys” that would make millennials feel nostalgic.
The first episode published is the origin story of the detective agency.
“We love the fact that you can really take a lot of risks in this kind of format, and that’s what we’ve always loved about comics and animated series,” says Matt.
Andy says their decades-long working relationship has flowed because “they know each other so well.” Matt adds that when it comes to being creative, they all come at it from very different angles.
“I think the sum of the three parts will always be better than us individually,” he says.
Counting this comic among the most “unique” projects they had done together, they first hoped to create an animated series.
“It’s an adult ‘Scooby-Doo,'” says Joey, adding that they’ll “up the rating” for an older audience. “I think you could have a lot of fun with this.”
They aim to expand the universe with additional cases and, yes, one day create an animated series or perhaps a live-action show.
For now, Matt says, “Each novel we publish will be a different case that we take on. So, at the end of this, without going into too much detail, we can say: We’re open for business.”