Wednesday 12 May 2010

henry and glenn



Henry & Glenn Forever comic by Tom Neely looks so totally great.

Buy Via: Microcosm

Starring super-notorious musclebound punk/metaldudes Glenn Danzig and Henry Rollins (with a little help from super-notorious soft-rockdudes Hall and Oates) Henry & Glenn Forever is a love story to end all love stories! The premise of this Cantankerous Titles-released comic is explained at the front of the zine: “Henry and Glenn are very good 'friends.' They are also 'room mates.' Daryl and John live next door. They are satanists.” What follows is ultra-metal violence and cryfest diary entries, cringing self-doubt and mega-hilarious emo-meltdowns. Who knew Danzig was such a vulnerable, self-conscious sweety-pie? Who knew Rollins was such a caring spouse? Who knew Hall and Oates were so infernally evil—yet so considerate? Well, illustrating/writing team Igloo Tornado (featuring super-awesome comixdude Tom Neely) did and they kicked down 64 fully-illustrated pages with it. Genius on all fronts. Terrifyingly cute. Cutely terrifying. As the real-life Rollins says, quoted on the back cover, “Has Glenn seen this? Trust me, he would not be impressed.”


EDIT: I just read a rad interview with the creator, Tom Nealy, who was asked:
Personally, I see the comic as a brilliant commentary on the fact that metal and hardcore scenes are incredibly homoerotic. Agree, disagree?
Yeah, I think that’s definitely part of it. But there’s also a lot of homophobia in the metal scene that we’re making fun of. Henry and Glenn are easy targets because they are both such strong personalities who take themselves very seriously. They’re also beefy attractive dudes, so the strips almost write themselves.
For my own part of the book, I drew a lot of inspiration from past relationships and my own neuroses. There's a little bit of me in both Henry and Glenn. And there’s a little bit of my ex-girlfriends in both of them, too. There’s even a few in jokes about me and my wife as well. I’m making fun of myself as much as either of them.
There’s another side to the book for me, though. With all that’s gone on with the Prop 8 out here in California in recent years, I really wanted to just present them as a normal couple (although kinda neurotic). So, I actually hoped that it would come across as more of a pro-gay comic rather than making fun of anyone.

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