thePULSE
By Jillian Locke, Music Editor
“Without the wit or will to end this journey, we continue traveling towards our faith” reads the introductory line of Nuclear Blast’s and Terminal Press’s malevolent creation: feast your hungry eyes and starving imagination upon “Dark Fortress,” a graphic novel influenced by the musical and stylistic endeavors of one of the world’s most maniacal and inherently cartoonish metal bands around, Dimmu Borgir.
Terminal Press has undertaken the most awesome task of converting Nuclear Blast’s most impressive and pummeling band into life through the art of the graphic novel. Their first task: morph Dimmu Borgir into comic form. The creative forces over at Terminal Press (who are responsible for such titles as Silent Assassin and Debbie Does Dallas), publisher/writer Brian Ferrera and art director Narek Gevorgian, have met this supremely radical project head on with their first installment of metal-inspired comic debauchery.
“We ended up working with Nuclear Blast because they have an amazing roster of bands and I have a tremendous amount of respect for an independent label that operates at such a high level,” says Ferrera. “On top of that, their label manager, Gerardo Martinez, is a huge comic fan who really knows his stuff. I do not think that comic and metal fans are an uncommon crossover and everyone involved is obviously both. We worked on putting something together that we as fans would have wanted to see.”
A 13 page preview book was released at the July 2009 San Diego Comic Con, featuring the beginning of the gruesome tale that documents the harrowing journey of three men ~ the knight (the “non” hero), the blasphemer, and the priest ~ who embark on a perilous trek through harsh and raucous terrain which could very well be a portal to Hell, all in the name of defending their homeland against the forces of evil. Along their path towards unearthing the legend of the Dark Fortress, they encounter grueling, nefarious forces which they must overcome or suffer a most depraved death whilst battling.
The preview book also contains select covers and posters from artists Adam Street, Garrett Adderley, and Adam Miller. Miller, a Massachusetts native, illustrator (see my November 2008 culture piece, Fighting the Good Fight, at thepulsemag.com), and Comic Con patron, lent his unique talent for combining photography with his illustrations to create a most haunting image.
Stay tuned for the complete version of “Dark Fortress” to hit bookshelves this winter, and in the meantime, MAY THE POWER OF METAL AND COMICS COMPEL YOU!
