Dark Horse Comics and Slayer have joined forces to deliver a new comic series this holiday season. Slayer: Repentless #1 (of 3) is on comic stands in December. Pre-order at your local comic shop today.

With full participation from the band and taking inspiration from Slayer’s recent Repentless music videos (filmed in support of their latest album, Repentless, on Nuclear Blast Records), disciple Jon Schnepp (Metalocalypse) will pen the three-issue comic series with interior bloodlines drawn by Guiu Vilanova (Twilight Zone, Conan the Avenger, Weird Detective). Glenn Fabry’s covers reign in blood while postmortem Eric Powell (The Goon, Hillbilly) will illustrate the variant cover for the first issue.

In a new interview with PREVIEWSworld.com writer Jon Schnepp discusses the upcoming comic. An excerpt follows:

PREVIEWSworld: What does Slayer mean to you as a brand, and how did you bring that brand to this comic book? And why will such butchery be a good thing for synergy between the comics and metal communities?

Jon Schnepp: “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.”

Read the full interview at PREVIEWSworld.com.

 

Pictured above: Repentless #1 Variant Cover by Eric Powell

 

Slayer bassist / vocalist Tom Araya and guitarist Gary Holt spoke with Big Rick of PREVIEWSworld.com at the San Diego Comic-Con International back in July. Asked if he was a fan of comic books when he was younger, Tom responded: "I was a big fan of Mad Magazine... that's the closest I got to comics... I used to read and buy those a lot."

Kristyn Clarke of PopCultureMadness.com conducted an interview with Slayer guitarists Kerry King and Gary Holt at the San Diego Comic-Con International.

When asked about how much input Slayer had in the upcoming comic book series from Dark Horse Comics that was inspired by the band's Repentless music videos, King said: "Just approval, really. I don't like taking power away from artists. It's like telling me or him [Holt] how to write a song: 'I think your song should be like this' [or] 'No. I think your artwork should be like this.' I like people to do what they do, ['cause] that's why they do it. And if I don't like it, then add some direction. But I love the artwork. It's just cool to be able to have people like this working for us."