A playmobil collector has brought dozens of his toys to life in his own comic book.

Nick Foulger, 44, from Carshalton, gave up his job as a Government finance administrator to pursue his dream of getting his story The Green Man published.

The project combined his passion for comics, storytelling, photography and the toys, of which he has at least 1000.

He said: “I had always liked comics and I did an English degree so always wanted to write.

“It was after I had children and started buying Playmobil for them that I came up with the idea of doing a comic book and it started there.”

He said he had been inspired by other images involving Playmobil figures that were published online.

The father-of-three made the incredible looking comic book through a painstaking process of setting his figures up for each scene,taking a photo, then photoshopping it on to a separate photo backdrop.

He would then further manipulate the images – with each image taking days to perfect.

He built up much of his his vast array of characters and toys through buying them from Ebay.

But he struggled to get the comic published after Playmobil would not endorse it- because it was aimed at an older audience and involved figures that were no longer for sale.

But it was picked up recently by French publisher Ave Comics – who are publishing it as an ebook and as an Apple Iphone and Ipod application.

The whole book took some seven years from conception to its online publication.

He hopes it could become enough of a success for paper books to be published, and Playmobil to change their minds and endorse the book.

He already has plans for a sequel involving the Western – partly so he can travel to the United States to shoot the backdrops.

He described his story The Green Man, available in English, French, and German as an “adventure mystery involving time travel.”

It depicts the story of a university professor investigating the disappearance of a student.

Order the comic at avecomics.com