Slayer and its label Nuclear Blast have teamed with comics publisher Dark Horse (Sin City, Hellboy) for a three-part title, the first of which, Slayer: Repentless, Vol. 1, will come out later this year. This is the thrash metal group's first foray into comic books. The plot takes inspiration from the revenge-themed videos they've made for "Repentless" and "You Against You," both of which share a story arc devised by director BJ McDonnell (Hatchet III).

The comics, however, are written by Jon Schnepp - a former Metalocalypse director who has penned comics based on that series - and interior art by Guiu Vilanova (Twilight Zone, Conan the Avenger). The debut issue sports two covers: a standard cover by Glenn Fabry (Hellblazer, Preacher) with the videos' blood-spattered eyepatch guy and a variant by Eric Powell (The Goon, Hillbilly) depicting a skeleton pierced with stakes.




King has been mostly hands-off with the project, other than approving concepts. "My philosophy as far as anybody working on anything regarding Slayer, be it the album cover art or video concepts, is to let the people who do that for a living do it," he says. "That's how we started working with [cover artist] Larry Carroll for Reign In Blood, South Of Heaven and Seasons In The Abyss. We gave him song titles, lyrics, just things to put ideas in his head."

When it came to looking over the proposed cover art, the guitarist had few changes. "I changed the logo on the skeleton cover because it had a traditional logo and I said we needed a scratchy one," he says. "It looks awesome."

"I'm busting my ass on these because I want to honor the legacy," Schnepp says. "It can't be corny or jokey. It has to be harsh, violent and very gritty."

The storymaster has been working on the script without input from McDonnell but he appreciates the arc the video director concocted. Schnepp, who's currently writing the dialogue for the comics, says the plot is more expansive than the videos but just as gory. "It's a road journey - like a road movie of horror - and it goes across many states," he says. "It isn't a mystical or supernatural story. It's a straight-up human story of terror, like brother against brother, people feeding off hatred, the stupidity and horror of humanity.

"It's really strange writing this comic, since I came up with the storyline three-and-a-half months ago, and then the news items that are tearing up our country right now share the same spotlight as to what I'm writing about," he continues. "It's definitely a lot of sensitive subjects that need to be explored and addressed. What's the best way to explore those? With the chaos of metal."

One thing King and Schnepp are both excited for is Comic-Con, where Slayer will be signing posters and playing a show at the San Diego House of Blues. "The set list will be a little different from what we did on our last U.S. run," King says. "We've been playing three off our new album and definitely historic stuff all the way back to the first record."

"I'm just excited," Schnepp says. "For me, it's the best of both worlds. I've been a metalhead my whole life, and I've always been a comic nerd. To be at Comic-Con with Slayer and doing Slayer's comic book is kind of a dream come true for a nerd like me."

Source:	slayer.net
Band profile:	Slayer