Z2 Comics And Swedish Metal Band Amon Amarth Announce New Graphic Novel And Board Game – ‘The Great Heathen Army’
by Richard Bruton
More metal comics coming from Z2 Comics, this time in collaboration with Swedish metal band Amon Amarth, with a combination of graphic novel and board game…
The graphic novel The Great Heathen Army sees Amon Amarth join writer Dan Watters and artist Ario Murti to, as Z2 put it, “unleash a mighty war yawp” where Viking armies and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms clash in the 9th-Century.
The Great Heathen Army follows the epic poem that ran through Amon Amarth’s last album of the same name, and in the pages of the graphic novel the Vikings invade England, bringing destruction and chaos to the land.
“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!” – Amon Amarth
“Getting to work with Amon Amarth on The Great Heathen Army means diving into myth, history, and heavy metal, which sounds like a perfect date night to me. Our aim with this book is to make the reader feel like they’re truly there, facing the terror of the invaders in that old world where monsters and gods lurk beneath every stone and in every bloodthirsty eye. And also to show some Vikings doing some terrible things with some very big axes.” – Dan Watters
Amon Amarth have been making their particular brand of Swedish metal since 1992, bringing the ancient Viking ways to modern metal… or something like that. The last album, The Great Heathen Army, was a concept album of historical epics and mythology
Z2 and Amon Amarth present The Great Heathen Army will be available in both standard hardcover and deluxe hardcover editions with an expected release date of Fall 2023. The deluxe hardcover will come signed with three art prints illustrated by Tom Thiel, a Silver Pennigar Viking Collector’s Coin, and a limited edition board game with an oversized battle map.
The Great Heathen Army board game will also be available separately. In the deck-building war game, players assume the role of the Vikings on the attacker’s side or that of the Anglo-Saxons on the defender’s side; each side will strategize their own goal to defeat or repel the other in absorbing, hours-long campaigns.
