With "The Beatles: Rock Band" hitting shelves Tuesday, September 9, everyone's been talking about the Fab Four these days. That means it's the perfect time to bring you some exclusive news involving John, Paul, George and Ringo—as well as a host of other music icons.
Bluewater Productions, who previously published "Tribute: Michael Jackson, King of Pop," has revealed to Splash Page that the early-'90s biography comic book series "Rock 'N Roll Comics" will be collected in a new line of graphic novels published by Bluewater. As part of the partnership with the publishers of "Rock 'N Roll Comics," Revolutionary Comics, the line will be released as 10 bi-monthly graphic novels (150-300 pages), each focusing on a particular band, musical era or style.
The first volume, "Hard Rock Heroes," will arrive in December and feature bios of Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, AC/DC, Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Poison, Van Halen, Black Crowes, Motorhead, Pantera, Megadeth, Sammy Hagar, Anthrax, Joan Jett/Lita Ford and Skid Row. The second volume will focus on The Beatles, and Bluewater has offered Splash Page readers the first, exclusive look at the cover to the graphic novel.
From Bluewater Productions:
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL COMICS GETS AN ENCORE AS GRAPHIC NOVELS THROUGH BLUEWATER PRODUCTIONS
Throughout the 90’s, “Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics”, was a popular staple on the newsstands. Now the title will be receiving an encore as newly-packaged graphic novels through Bluewater Productions in partnership with the original creators Revolutionary Comics.
More than seventy biographies of notable bands and rock legends will be published in ten bi-monthly volumes starting in December 2009. They include The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who and dozens of others.
"Great ideas, like the marriage of rock 'n' roll and comics, have the half-life of uranium and will always be popular," says Jay Allen Sanford of Revolutionary Comics. "The folks at Bluewater clearly have their fingers on the same pop culture pulse that enabled the original Rock 'N' Roll Comics to become one of the top-selling indie comics of the '90s. Truth is often stranger than fiction...and certainly much more interesting!"
According to Bluewater the issues will be packaged into ten graphic novels ranging from 150 to 300 pages. Each graphic novel, which covers a particular band, era, or style, will sport new covers. Bluewater who is known best for their biographical comics, such as Female Force and Political Power, will create forewords and epilogues written by music journalists, and industry insiders.
“In some cases we will add an epilogue for groups that experienced notable milestones after the issues original publishing,” Bluewater president Darren Davis said. “Like Pink Floyd’s reunion concert at Live8, or the passing of the Who’s John Entwistle or even the release of the long delayed Guns N’ Roses album ‘Chinese Democracy.’”
Volume 1: Hard Rock Heroes
Guns N’ Roses; Metallica; AC/DC; Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne; Motley Crue; Poison; Van Halen; Black Crowes; Motorhead; Pantera; Megadeth; Sammy Hagar; Anthrax; Joan Jett/Lita Ford; Skid Row (unpublished RnR Comics #8)
Volume 2: The Beatles (8 issues)
Volume 3: The Spirit of the '60s
Doors; Grateful Dead; Bob Dylan; Jimi Hendrix; Spirit; Janis Joplin; 60s San Francisco Scene (Bill Graham, Jefferson Airplane, etc); British Invasion (Herman’s Hermits, the Animals, Yardbirds, Zombies, Small Faces, etc.)
Volume 4: Led Zeppelin Experience (5 issues)
Volume 5: A Rock Pantheon
Eric Clapton; Rolling Stones; Elton John; Bruce Springsteen; Aerosmith, Alice Cooper; ZZ Top; The Jackson 5; Rod Stewart; Def Leppard
Volume 6: Pink Floyd Experience (5 issues)
Volume 7: The Art of Rock
The Who; Queen; Rush; Genesis; David Bowie, Frank Zappa; Kate Bush; ELO; The Cure
Volume 8: The King: Elvis Presley (7 issues)
Volume 9: SMASH! A Punk/Alternative Retrospective
Sex Pistols; REM; Jane’s Addiction; Nirvana; Red Hot Chili Peppers; Soundgarden; Alice in Chains; Pearl Jam; Dead Kennedys; Ramones; The Runaways; Iggy Pop/Stooges; MC5; New York Dolls; U2
Volume 10: Hip-Hop and Funk Heroes
Public Enemy, 2 Live Crew, NWA. Ice Cube, Ice-T, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, MC Hammer, Janet Jackson
The original series published by Revolutionary Comics ran from 1989 to 1994. At it’s height in the early 1990’s sources report that Revolutionary Comics was the largest independent comic publisher in the industry. Circulation for each issue regularly surpassed 50,000. During its run, the company won several high profile First Amendment cases securing the right to publish the unauthorized biographies as “illustrated articles.”
The suggested retail price (SRP) for each upcoming graphic novel release is $17.99.
Original article here.
