![]() ![]() The fierce title track off their debut album was largely inspired by one of my favourite comic book characters, The Punisher. Some fans might have hoped they included more variety or began with a more popular album like Rust In Peace or Countdown to Extinction, but starting from the beginning of it all was a pretty logical choice as well. This premier issue features three of their songs in illustrated form, “Skull Beneath The Skin”, “Rattlehead”, and “Looking Down The Cross”, all from their debut album Killing Is My Business (and Business Is Good). I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as the first Megadeth album you’d want to own, but it was in my case, and I did grow to become a fan of theirs. Radio-friendly rock songs like “Trust” and “Use the Man” are mixed with heavier material like “The Disintegrators” and “FFF”, and the combination has a more organic feel than you might expect. It rarely gets discussed these days, but I think it’s a better mix of material than the album that preceded it, Youthanasia. It’s important to state that the content of this issue has nothing to do with their Cryptic Writings album in spite of also being released in 1997 and sharing a title, but I will say as an aside that this particular album is deserving of a bit more love. Pulido got permission to base a comic off of Mustaine’s lyrics, and Mustaine granted the artists enough freedom to express their own interpretations of the songs. She helped arrange a meeting between Chaos! President (and a mega-Megadeth fan) Brian Pulido, Prager and Mustaine. So how did Chaos! Comics and Megadeth hook up? To paraphrase what was written about the collaboration in the comic, their office manager Cheryl Monti happened to know Bud Prager, who was Megadeth’s manager at the time. I think I prefer the one I have, but the others are also easily worthy of the Megadeth brand. The good news is that if you don’t really go for the leather cover, two other versions exist. If you wanted something more scarce, you could always order a copy autographed by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine that they capped at 999. I find the most laughable aspect that something that had 9,999 copies printed was considered to be limited, but this was also a time where bands were still able to move hundreds of thousands of physical albums in the States alone, so it does sound like a small run in comparison. Still, of all possible gimmicks, you could do a lot worse. It is rather amusing that on the first page of the comic, there are even some guidelines on how to maintain the book cover (they advise against leather cleaners and preservatives). While the idea may seem like a gimmick to some, I’ll take it over a cover made with a distracting foil pattern or one that requires 3D glasses to view properly. I don’t think I even have any leather-bound books in my collection at all other than this comic book. ![]() Take a look at the “limited” edition of the comic for yourself.īeing bound in leather, I can honestly say I don’t have another comic in my collection quite like it. The version of the comic I purchased was rather eye-catching, and not only because it was a) a Megadeth comic book, and b) it features their iconic mascot Vic Rattlehead front and center. When I found a copy at a nearby comic book shop as a teenager, I knew I had to leave the store with it. With Cryptic Writings of Megadeth, the band let the imaginations of comic book artists and writers run wild with their songs. What do you envision when you are listening to or reading the lyrics of a song? Do they conjure up your own personal experiences? Do you think of movies or shows that the content is reminiscent of? If you are on the artistic side, do the words ever inspire you to draw?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |