More and more through out the comic community we have seen musicians veering their talents towards a different outlet. Out of our stereos and into our hands have fallen some great names in music and hopefully soon to be big names in books. There has been a vast production of these books as of late. However, what most haven’t realized is that this trend has been going on for awhile.
Recently Dark Horse Comics has published Slipknot and Stone Sour lead singer Corey Taylor’s House of Gold & Bones. This comic is based off of the most recently released album that Stone Sour had released. This was not a coincidence. Taylor is an admitted life long fan of comics and through his love for the medium chose to produce his own spin on it. This spin delved deeper into characters that his dual part album merely mentioned creating a heightened experience for fans. This series follows the story of human pain and how to overcome it. And what a beautiful message it is. Comics aren’t the last stop for this franchise. Taylor is in speaks of a film deal as well. When does this man find time to sleep? Two bands, comic line, and potentially movie? Super impressive.


Corey isn’t the only one. Dark Horse has also produced Orchid put out by Rage Against the Machine’s, Tom Morello. Orchid is a rather dismal and tragic story about a self titled teen prostitute heroine, Orchid. The entire book is about coming to terms with her past in a post apocalyptic world and dealing with new terms of society. She comes across slave traders and dredges of the lack of society. Much like Morello’s music the main message of each panel is fighting the good fight and sticking it to the man. Hopefully this comic doesn’t decide it can’t tour with him because of his political stand points and discontinues.
Another frontman Max Bemis, the brainchild of Say Anything recently released a comic through BOOM! Studio‘s entitled Polarity. This book is based loosely on Bemis’ life and dealing with Bipolar disorder. It follows the life of Brooklyn artist Timothy Woods. Timothy finds himself in a near-fatal car accident, only to find out after that the medication he was taking for his bipolar disorder has been suppressing superhuman powers. Bemis’ message in doing this is showing a glimpse into what it is like to have this disorder. Personally I wish that I could have had a comic book that explained problems that I was encountering through out my life. This comic is set to release four issues. Bemis is the newest addition to BOOM! Studio’s musical talent publishing list following in suit to musicians before him such as Claudio Sanchez (“Kill Audio/Coheed and Cambria,” “Amory Wars”) and Sam Jackson (“Cold Space”).
Gene Simmons of KISS isn’t a stranger to the comic world either. He’s developed Simmons Comic Group releasing Simmons House of Horrors. Not only does he have his own comic line, he ha some pretty famous friends. The first issue of new press featured a cover done by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane. Even the Misfit’s Glen Danzig has something to say when it comes to the world of collaborated images. His company Verotik released some pretty raunchy erotica horror books, including Satanika featuring scantily clad demon women. I guess if that’s what you’re into Danzig… have at it man.
Probably one of the most successful musician comics to hit stands to date though would be recently dismantled My Chemical Romance’s singer Gerard Way and his Umbrella Academy. The members of the Umbrella Academy, a disbanded group of superheroes, reunite after the death of their adoptive father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a.k.a. “The Monocle.” Hargreeves, an alien disguised as a famous entrepreneur, who collected the members of the Umbrella Academy shortly after their same day of birth, training them to save the world from an unspecified threat. After his death, the members carry on his plan to save the world. Think Xmen meets music, however professor Xavier is ridiculously rich and dead. Also released by Dark Horse, this comic won the It won the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Finite Series/Limited Series.
With so many medium clashes hitting the scenes with video game comics and comic movies, it’s nice to see these two meet. Who doesn’t love music? I would have never expected some of these huge names in the musical world to have such a vast array of talent. I guess you should judge a book by it’s cover, or should I say an album by it’s comic.