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Review of "Black Metal: Book One" from Oni Press
By: Terry Bunch

Publisher: Oni Press
Year Published: 2007
Writer: Rick Spears
Art: Chuck BB
Genre: Adventure/Supernatural
Audience: T +13
Issue Reviewed: book one
Review Rating: 8/10

This 160 page comic tells the tale of twin brothers Shawn and Sam Stronghand, who are drawn to the darkest of things in life, including black metal. They deal with the normal issues that kids their age deal with such as school, their foster mother and their little brother. They buy the new album from black metal band "Frost Axe" and after playing it backwards, they journey on an aventure to their true black destiny, to rule the underworld.

The comic is written with a tongue-in-cheek style humor and any fan of black metal will immediately relate to the two main characters. The boys live for their music, they see the world as a continuous string of pain and suffering and they relish the idea that they are destined to do battle in the underworld.

This is a fun read and you can tell that Rick Spears and Chuck BB are familiar with the subject matter. This wasn't written by someone who listens to pop music who thought "I know, I'll write something about that stuff called black metal". This was written and drawn by people who know black metal. In fact, Chuck BB recommends listening to Ulver when asked for recommendations.

The story is centered around the twins listening to the new Frost Axe album paying homage to the fact that a lot of black metal albums are concept albums and that the music is known to "transport" the listener to a different world with it's power and dark energy.

I can't remember that last time I read a comic like this one that I enjoyed this much. Being a fan of black metal music certainly helped, but a fan of any genre of rock or metal should find this comic enjoyable and well worth checking out.

To summarize, if you like metal, buy this comic. You will love it, period.

Metal Life Magazine spoke with Rick Spears at San Diego Comic Con and he confirmed that they are working Book Two of the story.

Photo by E. Lacey, Metal Life Magazine