Anthrax Set To Publish Graphic Novel Inspired By ‘Among The Living’

Anthrax is teaming up with Z2 Comics to create a graphic novel adaptation of their landmark 1987 album, Among the Living. The anthology, which features contributions from a variety of musicians, writers, and artists, will be available in the spring of 2021, coinciding with the legendary metal band’s 40th-anniversary celebrations.

Anthrax’s best-selling third studio album, Among the Living was a breakthrough title for the New York band and has long been considered a benchmark in the world of thrash metal. With numerous references to Stephen King novels, comic book hero Judge Dredd, and a variety of films, Among the Living is also a fitting album to be translated into a graphic novel. Each track from the LP will be turned into an original story, while the anthology will be narrated by the band’s longtime mascot “The Not Man,” who gets a brand new design courtesy of Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead).

Introducing #AmongTheLiving: the official #Anthrax graphic novel adaptation of iconic album from @Z2Comics 🧟
Written by @CoreyTaylorRock , @RobZombie, Mikey Way, Gerard Way, @trohman & more with a new Not Man created by Greg Nicotero.
Pre-order now at https://t.co/X72MCUOwwu 💀 pic.twitter.com/1PaWBqKHdG

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— Anthrax (@Anthrax) November 19, 2020

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Among the Living will feature written contributions from the likes of Brian Azzarello, Grant Morrison, Jimmy Palmiotti, Brian Posehn, Rick Remender, Corey Taylor, Joseph Trohman, Gerard and Mikey Way, and Rob Zombie.

Designers involved with the project include Roland Boschi, Maan House, Dave Johnson, Scott Koblish, Darrick Robertson, and Erik Rodriguez, with covers by Charlie Benante, JG Jones, and Eric Powell.

Additionally, according to the band’s website, bandmembers Charlie Benante and Scott Ian “will collaborate on an original story inspired by the fan-favorite anthem ‘I Am the Law,’ featuring the legendary comic book antihero Judge Dredd, in partnership with 2000 AD. This will make official the decades-long connection between the character and the band.”

“Doing a comic book has always been a huge goal for me” said Benante in a statement. “I am a lifelong artist and have been drawing during the pandemic more than ever, so I had the idea to bring my own artwork to this project. As a fan of the Judge Dredd series since the 80s, it was an honor to create cover art based off of Dredd and Judge Death. The amount of talent that is going into this project is astounding, I scratch my head just thinking about it!”

Scott Ian added, “Comics are one of the two things (the other thing being horror) that I’ve been into longer than music. Comics were/are my constant. Music joined the party and became my constant as well. I started a band. I wrote lyrics about comics and horror and they connected with people all over the world. And now for the 40th (40!!!) anniversary of Anthrax, I get to cross the streams and merge my constants with a graphic novel (comic) celebrating the album that made such a mark on the planet – Among the Living. Getting to be a part of this process – choosing writers and artists to express what these songs mean to them has been incredible.”

He continues, “I pitched a Judge Dredd story for ‘I Am The Law’ that I’d been thinking about for a while. It was an idea I actually talked to Grant [Morrison] about one night after an Anthrax show in Glasgow over a few drinks. This idea has stayed with me, I’d never written it down, it was one of those ideas that would smack me in the face every few months demanding to be recognized, I just didn’t have an outlet for it. And then I did have an outlet with this project but, we didn’t have the rights to use Dredd in our book. You have to ask right? So we sent my idea to the kind folks at Rebellion and they green-lit my story. And there my friends is the moment where everything came full circle for me as a life-long comic nerd and the as the guy in Anthrax.”

Among the Living is currently available for preorder via Z2 Comics, with a variety of bundle options.

Explore Our Anthrax Artist Page.