Black Metal

Written by Rick Spears
Art by Chuck BB

I had a feeling when this graphic novel came out back in 2007 that it wasn't really my thing, but I usually like Rick Spears's work, and I'm tired of waiting for Pirates of Coney Island to end (if it ever will - any news on this?), so I thought I'd give it a chance.

Black Metal is about the Stronghand twins - Shawn and Sam - a pair of orphaned junior high misfits who speak in long, faux-Elizabethan sentences and listen to black metal music.

After getting expelled from yet another school, they listen to a record by a band named Frost Axe, and learn that they are the resurrected spirit of a demon named the Roth, yet split into two bodies.  This means that they have to fight their enemy Von Char, another demon.  To do this, they have a giant sword called the Sword of Atoll.  So they fight.

That's about all there is to this story.  It approaches funny in places, but it just feels like stuff we've read before.  BB's art is suited to this type of story - his goth manga approach works for this kind of thing.  I see that there is supposed to be a second volume, but I guess it's in the same place that the final issues of Pirates of Coney Island (which is worth picking up even though it's not finished) are.