SLAYER Comic Series Will Stay True To Band's Reputation As Godfathers Of Thrash Metal

PREVIEWSworld.com recently conducted an interview with writer Jon Schnepp (“Metalocalypse”), who penned the three-issue Slayer: Repentless comic series that was inspired by the band’s “Repentless” music videos.

Asked how he got involved with Slayer: Repentless, Schnepp said: “A few years back, while I was directing and producing the cult hit Adult Swim animated series ‘Metalocalypse’ (for which I also designed the DETHKLOK band and edited, storyboarded, and composited most of the first two seasons), I teamed up with Brendon Small to make these DETHKLOK comics published by Dark Horse. Eric Powell (‘The Goon’) had already done a one-shot crossover, and the team knew what a sweaty comic book nerd I’ve always been, so the chance to write up stories for DETHKLOK in comic form was a natural fit. I went ahead and plotted out all three books, Small approved them, and then they went off to get scripted by Jeremy Barlow and drawn by Lucas Marangon. The series was a hit: it sold out, was done as a hardcover, and then that sold out! Now it’s seriously OOP and impossible to find! Chris Warner, the editor on the Dark Horse series (and a true metalhead), remembered one of my gory stories that I told him about a music video idea I wanted to do for CANNIBAL CORPSE, as well as some other pretty violent stories of serious retribution, and I guess that stuck with him. He contacted me to see if I was interested in going full dark and writing a SLAYER comic, with none of the humor that I added into the DETHKLOK comics, but all of the brutal blood and gory violence.”

Regarding what SLAYER means to him as a brand, and how he brought that brand to this comic book, Schnepp said: “SLAYER are the godfathers of thrash metal, and staying true to that in the comic world is very important to me. Their music has always pushed boundaries, fearlessly talking about issues that have plagued all humankind across every culture since the dawn of man. To scrape away at the veneer that covers life’s surface and stare into its void — that is what SLAYER has always done. I did my best to go into the darkness with that same fearlessness. I think metal and comics go hand-in-hand, especially in the realms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Album covers that open up the mind’s eye to other worlds and showcase that creativity are just like comic book covers — a tease and a dare to come along and go on the journey. I feel that both comic book readers and metal music listeners have always operated and embraced that which exists outside of the norm, and in this rebellion found a certain unity to the ideas that are covered in both music and the printed page. This synergy has always been there, and we’ve seen this symbiotic relationship grow from Heavy Metal magazine to my show ‘Metalocalypse’, and we have really just begun to scratch the surface.”

Slayer: Repentless features interior bloodlines drawn by Guiu Vilanova (“Twilight Zone”, “Conan The Avenger”, “Weird Detective”). Glenn Fabry‘s covers reign in blood while Antichrist Eric Powell (“The Goon”, “Hillbilly”) illustrated the variant cover for the first issue.

Schnepp previously helmed AVENGED SEVENFOLD‘s animated series based around “Hail To The King” and EXODUS‘ “Downfall” video.

SLAYER guitarist Kerry King admitted that he has never been much of a comics fan. “I’ve got a handful from when I was super young and then a handful from the early nineties when I got back into collecting sports stuff, but certainly not a ton of them,” he told Rolling Stone. “I love comic-book movies, be it ‘X-Men’, ‘The Avengers’, ‘Iron Man’, ‘Thor’, since those are always killer.”

Slayer: Repentless #1 (of 3) will be on comic stands in December 2016. Preorder at your local comic shop today.