MEGADETH AND HEAVY METAL ANNOUNCE GRAPHIC NOVEL AND ALBUM RELEASE
EXCLUSIVE COLLABORATION TO COINCIDE
WITH RELEASE OF MEGADETH’S 35th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION, ‘WARHEADS ON FOREHEADS’
LOS ANGELES CA, March 8, 2019 – This year marks the 35th anniversary of MEGADETH, to which the band is set to release their ultimate greatest hits compilation, WARHEADS ON FOREHEADS, on March 22. To further celebrate this, MEGADETH has partnered with premiere comics publisher, HEAVY METAL, to create the ultimate fan experience with a 350-page anthology of comic stories inspired by all the songs on the album. The collaboration, titled DEATH BY DESIGN, features stories written and illustrated by top talent from comics, film, television and music and will be available worldwide at retailers everywhere on June 5, 2019.
The project, carefully curated by DAVE MUSTAINE and HEAVY METAL, is a powerful book that gives both insight and understanding into the universe of MEGADETH and its harrowed mascot, VIC RATTLEHEAD.
MEGADETH, working in close collaboration with HEAVY METAL, has collected an unprecedented pool of talent for MEGADETH: DEATH BY DESIGN – making it any comic book or MEGADETH fan’s dream. Brendan Small (creator of Metalocalypse) teams with Belen Ortega (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) for Hangar 18. Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts And Where To find Them) writes an apocalyptic tale insanely drawn by Andy Belanger (Southern Cross) for Rattlehead. An A-list talent pool rounds out the roster featuring Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash), Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night), Brian Wood (DMZ), Justin Jordan & John Bivens (Spread), Leah Moore & John Reppion (Judge Dredd), Joe Keatingue (Popgun), Christine Larsen (Holy Diver), Frazier Irving (Annihilator) and more than 50 other talented creators.
Says Dave Mustaine: “I have always fantasized about MEGADETH doing something this gloriously electrifying and gruesome. I hope everyone will enjoy the graphic novel as much as I enjoyed working with HEAVY METAL to put it together for you.”
Jeff Krelitz, CEO of HEAVY METAL said “Since I was old enough to buy records, MEGADETH has been one of my favorite bands, not only for the great storytelling in the music, but the world building imagery on the album covers. This opportunity to meld the two world together and tell stories inspired by their songs is a privilege that we are excited to present to the fans.”
The MEGADETH: DEATH BY DESIGN 350-page graphic novel will be presented in a 12.25”x12.25” prestige “album” format and comes in 4 different collector’s editions:
- Leather bound slipcase edition with 4-clear vinyl set of WARHEADS ON FOREHEADS and DEATH BY DESIGN graphic novel signed by Dave Mustaine.
Pre-order here: https://shop.heavymetal.com
- FYE Exclusive Leather bound slipcase edition with 4-clear vinyl set of WARHEADS ON FOREHEADS and DEATH BY DESIGN graphic novel signed by Dave Mustaine.
Will be available at FYE retail outlets
- Leather bound slipcase edition with 4-clear vinyl set of WARHEADS ON FOREHEADS and DEATH BY DESIGN graphic novel.
Pre-order here: https://megadethshop.com/collections/graphic-novels
- Standard hardcover edition of DEATH BY DESIGN graphic novel.
Pre-order here: https://megadethshop.com/collections/graphic-novels
Megadeth: Twitter – Facebook – Instagram
Heavy Metal: Twitter – Facebook – Instagram
MEGADETH began In 1984, when Dave Mustaine was determined to start a new band that would be heavier and faster than his peers. Mustaine’s songwriting was rapidly maturing, and he set about combining the attitude and energy of punk, with the power and intricate riffing of metal, along with direct, sociopolitical lyrical content. With David Ellefson on bass and Gar Samuelson on drums, the band recorded their infamous 3-song demo which quickly circulated through the underground tape-trading circuit and became an underground hit leading to a deal with Combat Records.
MEGADETH was quickly signed by Capitol Records and released their 1986 major label debut Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?, which became the band’s first certified gold record and would go on to become MEGADETH’s first platinum selling release. Featured on Warheads On Foreheads are “The Conjuring” and the track “Good Mourning/Black Friday” which Pitchfork describes as “everything great about hardcore, plus a dose of the kind of show-off skill that makes lesser musicians’ fingers bleed.” Other songs included are “In My Darkest Hour” from their platinum selling So Far, So Good, So What! (1988), “Hanger 18” and “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due” from their GRAMMY® nominated, platinum album Rust In Peace (1990), and “Symphony of Destruction” and “Sweating Bullets” from their 1992 GRAMMY® nominated, double platinum release Countdown To Extinction. Also featured are “A Tout Le Monde” and “Reckoning Day” from their 1994 platinum selling release Youthanasia, “Kingmaker” from their 2013 Top Ten release Super Collider, which hit No. 3 on both the Hard Rock Albums and Top Rock Albums charts, “She-Wolf” from the GRAMMY® nominated, Top Ten release Cryptic Writings (1997) and the title track from the band’s last album Dystopia.
Upon its release in 2016, Dystopia reasserted MEGADETH’s place at the top of the metal world, equaling the chart impact of their early nineties output, earning the band their first GRAMMY®, as well as rave reviews (The Guardian gave it five out of five stars and stated “Dystopia is an absolutely blistering return to the state-of-the-art bombast and refined technicality.”)
Warheads On Foreheads starts at that beginning with the early thrashers “Rattlehead” and “Mechanix” from the band’s 1985 debut Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good, an album that would lay down the blueprint and establish MEGADETH as forerunners of what would later be called Thrash Metal (and recently hailed by VH1 as the Greatest Thrash Metal Debut of All Time).
MEGADETH burst onto the scene thirty five years ago, virtually inventing a genre and selling more than 38 million albums worldwide, earning numerous accolades including a 2017 GRAMMY® Award for “Best Metal Performance” for the title track “Dystopia,” 12 GRAMMY® nominations, and scoring five consecutive platinum albums. With sheer determination and a relentless recording and touring schedule, MEGADETH worked their way up from headlining clubs to headlining arenas, festival and stadiums, cementing a legacy that continues to grow and spread throughout the world.
////
Heavy Metal began as an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known for its iconic blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and horror. Now in it’s 42nd year of publication, Heavy Metal is the fourth oldest American comics publisher, and some of the greatest European and American comic book writers and artists in history have appeared in this legendary publication’s pages, Since the magazine’s inception in 1977, the Heavy Metal banner has been seen in video games, television, and two animated feature films. In 2015, the brand established acclaimed comic book writer Grant Morrison as it’s Editor-in-Chief, and launched it’s first-ever line of traditional monthly American comics. Shortly after, Heavy Metal began partnerships with top bands in the space, publishing the highly successful, Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast and the graphic novel adaption on Nikki Sixx’s autobiographical journey, The Heroin Diaries. Since then, the band has worked with Ozzy Osborne, Marylin Manson, Rob Zombie, Five Finger Death Punch, Motley Crue and many more. The brand is overseen by Publisher Kevin Eastman, COO Paul Reder and CEO Jeff Krelitz.