Viking-obsessed Swedish melodic death metal outfit Amon Amarth are adapting their latest album “The Great Heathen Army” into a new graphic novel and accompanying board game in collaboration with Z2 Comics. Dan Watters (‘King Diamond’s Abigail‘, ‘Lucifer‘) has been tapped to write the book, while Ario Murti, Montos (‘Death For Hire: The Origin of Tehk City‘) and Tom Thiel are among the artists involved.
Amon Amarth themselves commented:
“Heathens from shore to shore! We are thrilled to announce that we’ve partnered with Z2 to bring you ‘The Great Heathen Army‘ as a full-length graphic novel. It’s a brutal story of war, bloodshed, and glory during the time when the Viking raids brought terror to the shores of England. We’ve also produced an accompanying replica of ‘The Great Heathen Army‘ board game that you see in our music video of the album title track. We hope you enjoy it. Skål!”
Per an official press release, ‘the pages of ‘The Great Heathen Army‘ unspool throughout a ninth-century battle siege, in which a coalition of Viking warriors from Scandinavia invades England, wreaking unprecedented chaos. The tale dynamically pivots between large-scale dioramas of destruction to the lives of the men and women whose decisions leveled populations, capturing the devastating human cost to both sides of this legendary clash.’
A foreword from WWE wrestler and former ‘Vikings‘ cast member Adam “Edge” Copeland will also be featured in the book. Select editions of the book will also offer up a collector’s coin and an oversized battle map, along with signed art prints. You can pre-order here, with a June 2023 release date expected. See below for a gallery of what the band have in store.
