By Beth Franklin

The sickest minds in comic books and heavy metal are dishing up a slice of pure evil this January, as Terminal Press and Exodus frontman Rob Dukes combine forces on a raw and brutal new comic – “I Am Become God.”

Adapted from an unpublished novel by Dukes, the comic takes its title from Hindu scripture – and its content from the underside of Hell. The infamous quote from which the book is named (“I am become death, destroyer of worlds”) is often associated with the testing of the United States’ first atomic bomb. In actuality, it originally comes from the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu text on the ethics of war. With “I Am Become God,” these themes of violence, death and morality have been twisted and distilled into the life of a lone man; a nameless serial killer who leads us through his own dark journey from youth to adulthood.

Told in excruciating detail and without regret, “I Am Become God” is an autobiographical coming-of-age story for the damned. Structured around the cliché rites of passage for modern youth – first love, school rivalries, higher education – here each event is wrapped in blood and gristle, darkness and rage. Dukes and the creative team behind him have tapped into something primal, exploring a man who lives for nothing but his own thirst for death; a thirst that has no origin, no respite, and no boundaries.

Fans of extreme horror should prepare themselves for one of the most unrelenting visions of a serial killer yet seen in modern fiction, from the mind of one of metal’s most savage frontmen.

“I Am Become God” is written by Rob Dukes with scripting by Keith McCleary (Killing Tree Quarterly, Deep Throat, Exodus: Death Begets Death), art by Garrett Adderley (Candy Stripers) and colors by Adam Street (Candy Stripers, Spider-Man, Hulk).

“I Am Become God” will be available early 2010 from Terminal Press and on Exodus’ upcoming Tyrants Of Evil tour with Arch Enemy.

Visit www.terminalpress.com for updates.