Anthrax Enlist All-Star Writers and Artists for Among the Living Graphic Novel
Anthrax have announced that they’re teaming up with Z2 Comics for an Among the Living graphic novel… and the list of creators they’ve managed to wrangle is pretty mind-blowing.
Participants involved include not only metal and hard-rock friendly personalities like Corey Taylor, Rob Zombie, and Brian Posehn, but also some of the biggest names in modern comics, including Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), Rick Remender (Black Science), Jimmy Palmiotti (Harley Quinn), and GRANT FUCKING MORRISON, who is arguably the greatest author of comics and graphic novels in history, and has worked with pretty much every character you’ve ever heard of, as well as a bunch you haven’t.
Here’s the full list of writers as it currently stands (more will be added later)…
- Brian Azzarello
- Grant Morrison
- Jimmy Palmiotti
- Brian Posehn
- Rick Remender
- Corey Taylor (Slipknot)
- Joseph Trohman (Fall Out Boy)
- Gerard and Mikey Way (My Chemical Romance)
- Rob Zombie
…and here’s all the artists currently committed to participating.
- Roland Boschi
- Maan House
- Dave Johnson
- Scott Koblish
- Darrick Robertson
- Erik Rodriguez
There will also be covers by Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, JG Jones, and Eric Powell, and a story by Benante and Scott Ian “inspired by the fan favorite anthem ‘I Am the Law,’ featuring the legendary comic book antihero Judge Dredd, in partnership with 2000 AD.” (“I Am the Law” was originally inspired by Judge Dredd, in case you didn’t know — so this is really metal and comic history coming full circle).
The graphic novel will be an anthology collection narrated by Anthrax’s infamous mascot, Not Man, who has been newly redesigned by The Walking Dead‘s Greg Nicotero.
Says Benante of the project:
“Doing a comic book has always been a huge goal for me. I’ve tried for years, but something always comes up and sidetracks me. I was ecstatic when Josh Bernstein brought the idea to us to do a graphic novel based on our album Among the Living. I felt that it was the perfect time and opportunity to fulfill that dream. I am a lifelong artist and have been drawing during the pandemic more than ever, so I had the idea to bring my own artwork to this project. As a fan of the Judge Dredd series since the ’80s, it was an honor to create cover art based off of Dredd and Judge Death. The amount of talent that is going into this project is astounding, I scratch my head just thinking about it!”
Ian adds:
“Comics are one of the two things (the other thing being Horror) that I’ve been into longer than music” said the band’s Scott Ian. Comics were/are my constant. Music joined the party and became my constant as well. I started a band. I wrote lyrics about comics and horror and they connected with people all over the world. And now for the 40th (40!!!) anniversary of Anthrax, I get to cross the streams and merge my constants with a graphic novel (comic) celebrating the album that made such a mark on the planet – ‘Among the Living.’ Getting to be a part of this process – choosing writers and artists to express what these songs mean to them – has been incredible. I made a wish list of writers/artists/musicians that I would love to be a part of this, not really thinking we’d get them. I was aiming high, the list had Grant Morrison’s name at the top – and Grant said yes. Brian Azzarello said yes. Eric Powell, J.G. Jones, Greg Nicotero, Corey Taylor, Rob Zombie, Brian Posehn, Rick Remender, Joe Trohman, Gerard & Mikey Way – they all said yes. Holy crap!”
Ian also adds:
“I pitched a Judge Dredd story for ‘I Am The Law’ that I’d been thinking about for a while. It was an idea I actually talked to Grant about one night after an Anthrax show in Glasgow over a few drinks. This idea has stayed with me, I’d never written it down, it was one of those ideas that would smack me in the face every few months demanding to be recognized, I just didn’t have an outlet for it. And then I did have an outlet with this project but, we didn’t have the rights to use Dredd in our book. You have to ask right? So we sent my idea to the kind folks at Rebellion and they green-lit my story. And there, my friends, is the moment where everything came full circle for me as a life-long comic nerd and the as the guy in Anthrax. Thank you ‘Among the Living.’ for making it all happen.”
Unfortunately, the graphic novel won’t ship until the spring. Fortunately, you can already pre-order it here in a variety of editions with all kinds of extra bells and whistles. You can also peep the covers, as well as a trailer for the book, below.
