Ozzy Osbourne has always been larger than life. From his legendary onstage antics to the myths and legends that have built up around him over his long and successful career, you could already argue that he seems more like a cartoon character than a living, breathing human being. Now he’s going to complete that transformation for real, and he’ll be joined by several of his friends and peers from the world of heavy metal. DC Comics, which rivals Marvel for the status of being the biggest comic book company in the world, has decided to reach out to the heavy metal community. They’re about to launch a brand new series called “The Dark Nights: Death Metal Band Edition,” and Ozzy Osbourne is in on the action.
This technically isn’t a new initiative from DC Comics. They ran a series called “Dark Nights: Death Metal” in 2020, which proved to be very popular with fans. It seems that they were happy enough with the results of that experiment to come back for more and hook up with some of the biggest names in the genre to make it a bigger and better series than last time. The “Band Edition” series will feature seven installments beginning in March 2021, each dedicated to a different legendary band save for Ozzy Osbourne who, for unknown reasons, is to be featured as a single performer rather than as part of Black Sabbath. Other artists who’ve been confirmed for the series thus far include Sepultura, Megadeth, Ghost, Lacuna Coil, and Dream Theater.
This is big news for all of the bands involved and gives them an opportunity to reach a new fanbase at a relatively late stage of their careers. It won’t be the first place that some of them have turned up in an unusual location, though, and doubly so for Megadeth. Following in the footsteps of Guns n’ Roses, Megadeth launched a branded online slots game two years ago and went on to have it featured on the Rose Slots website along with many more of the most respected sites in the casino industry. A surprising number of classic rock bands from the past have jumped aboard the same train in recent years, with Motorhead and Saxon also launching their own branded online slots. As lucrative as such an endeavor might prove to be, it’s likely that they’ll be making far more from a connection with a brand as well-known and popular as DC Comics.
The announcement caps a happy twelve months for Megadeth, who thought they could be facing the end of their career as recently as 2019 when iconic frontman Dave Mustaine was diagnosed with cancer. Fans were worried for the legendary performer, but Mustaine staged a remarkable comeback and declared himself to be cancer-free by December of that year despite only receiving his diagnosis in June. He was subsequently able to join fans and peers on a Megadeth boat cruise, which was supposed to be followed up by a second cruise in 2020, but the global pandemic put paid to that idea. They still hope to sail at some point in 2021 but are waiting for the current restrictions to be relaxed before they can recommence planning. In the meantime, this new comic book promotion will presumably go some way to making up for their lost earnings.
While the precise details of the contents of each issue are being kept (mostly) secret for the time being so as not to spoil them, we do know a little about what to expect. Aside from the artists appearing in illustrated form on the cover of their dedicated issue, it will also feature a written introduction from the members of each band and a detailed interview. While we don’t know for sure that we’ll see the famous faces go up against the established villains of the DC Universe in comic form, it’s highly likely that they’ll do so. DC has released a synopsis for the series as a whole, in which they confirm that Earth is in jeopardy due to a crisis that’s separated the members of the Justice League and left the planet open to invasion and attack by dark forces. Someone needs to step in and save the day in the absence of the usual heroes, and who better than rock stars for that task?
The first of the seven issues will be written by Juanjo Guarnido and will focus on Megadeth. Going forward in order from there, issue two will star Ghost and is written by Werther Dell’ Edera. The third issue is Lacuna Coil’s, jointly written by Antonio and Timpano Fuso, with the fourth featuring Opeth and handled by Mathieu Lauffray. In the fifth entry in the series, we’ll be following the adventures of Sepultura as imagined by Pedro Mauro, with Dream Theater in the sixth edition and handled by Santi Casas. That leaves Ozzy Ozbourne to handle the final installment, and his comic book is by Marco Mastrazzo. That’s a varied and highly competent team of comic book writers hired for the task and should result in some compelling comic book adventures. The precise details of the plot will be unknown until the first release in March, but we can probably assume that all seven entries will tell one connected tale.
We imagine this news will be of interest to both comic book collectors and fans of heavy metal and might lay the foundations for a whole new era of comic book crossovers for famous musicians. For all the star power in this series, there are still several huge names who aren’t involved, so there are more than enough options available should DC decide to revisit the idea a third time in 2022. Who wouldn’t want to see a comic book based on Guns n’ Roses, Metallica, or Alice Cooper? We’re surprised that KISS didn’t get invited to this party given the over-the-top nature of the characters in the band, so that’s a mistake that could be rectified by including them in a third season. Having the bands without the soundtrack they provide will be an unusual experience, but we’re confident that the writers will find a way to feature them without having them play a single note. This is an intriguing idea, and we’re excited to see how it plays out in print.