Title: Metalocalypse: Dethklok
Author: Brendon Small, Jon Schnepp, Jeremy Barlow, Eric Powell, Lucas Marangon
Publisher: Dark Horse
Release Date: 07/19/2011
ISBN: 9781595827388
Doctor Rockzo. That's why I liked this collection so much. Granted he's not in it as much as some of the other characters, but he's still pretty heavily featured here, to the delight of rock & roll clown fans everywhere. (I still LOL every time I hear him do his "I do cocaine" line.)
From the depths of Mordhaus comes Dethklok, the most brutal black metal band on the planet, cutting a ferocious swath through the world's economies and playing massive shows that leave their unwaveringly loyal fans literally in pieces - they are five men prophesied to bring about the Metalocalypse! Dethklok is based on the wildly popular Adult Swim series! With stories conjured by series creator Brendon Small and series director/designer Jon Schnepp, this most brutal of all mini-series is scripted by Jeremy Barlow (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Supersized) and illustrated by Lucas Marangon (Star Wars: Tag and Bink Are Dead). Includes the never-before-collected Dethklok Versus The Goon, by Eric Powell, Brendon Small, and Dave Stewart.
I'm going to rate this on story & art separately since well, the art is sort of one of the things I had a bit of an issue with. First off, the story. As Small was involved with the making of this comic, these stories easily fit in with the feel of the series. All of the stuff we love is in here: clueless antics by our anti-heroes, metal songs, & Doctor Rockzo. There's a few different stories in here, one of which is the Dethklok Versus The Goon storyline, which is actually pretty good despite my not knowing who The Goon is. I could easily see these being lifted from the pages into the cartoon, so if you're worried that the humor won't translate into the comic then rest easy- it works.
Unfortunately the part I sort of had an issue with was the artwork quality. Excluding the artwork for DVTG since that was obviously drawn by several different people, the artwork here sort of varies in quality. It's well done for the most part & the characters are instantly recognizable, but occasionally it just seemed like the artist got a little bored & as such, some of the panels felt a little sloppily done. I probably wouldn't have noticed if not for the higher quality artwork that was done earlier on in the volume, but the fact remains that I did notice it.
Overall this was still a fun read & for die-hard fans of the series it's a definite must have. For the people in the middle it's still not a bad investment for the most part. Despite the occasional artwork mishap this is still one of the stronger "tv show/movie into comic book" transitions out there. Metal.
Art: 3 out of 5 stars
Story: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars
(ARC provided by Netgalley)
