Deathgasm, the 2015 horror comedy directed by Jason Howden, has become a cult hit in the horror film scene, balancing gore and scares with a loveable sense of humour and compelling characters. Produced in New Zealand, it follows the heavy metal antics of the titular heavy metal band, who acquire a seemingly ancient piece of sheet music and accidentally summon a demonic entity known as ‘The Blind One.’ Premiering at South by Southwest Festival in 2015, the film stars Milo Cawthorne, James Blake, Kimberly Crossman, Sam Berkley and Daniel Cresswell. The film’s off beat blend of comedy and violence has garnered it a healthy, loving fanbase, and over the past decade Howden has extensively discussed making a sequel. After years, that sequel is finally coming to fruition, but ahead of the release of Deathgasm II: Goremageddon!, Bit Bot Media is continuing the Deathgasm story. In collaboration with director Jason Howden, Bit Bot is creating an all-new graphic novel, Deathgasm 1.5: Director’s Cut, which will serve as a prelude to the highly anticipated film. We at The Beat are delighted to reveal an exclusive preview of this graphic novel, which will is available to support now on Kickstarter.
In Deathgasm 1.5: Director’s Cut, our headbanging heroes Brodie and Medina hit the metal stage, shredding not just their guitars, but hordes of vampires, demons, and all manner of evil. Their deadliest battle awaits as they clash with a fanatical religious cult, and an old nemesis rises from the shadows in 80 pages of bloody carnage. In this prelude to the upcoming sequel, only true metalheads can fight to save the town of Greypoint. The 80-page graphic novel, based on a story from writer/creator/director Jason Howden (Deathgasm, Guns Akimbo) is written by Peter Bune (Squatch Watch), illusttated by Industrias Lamonicana (Fierro), featuring colors from Zac Atkinson (Farscape, Star Trek), and letters from Jeremiah Lambert (Masters of the Universe, Transformers). The book also features contributions from writers Michael Schwartz (Armored, Zombie Town) and Joshua Viola (True Believers, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver), various hardcover editions with cover art by Skinner (Skin Crawl Magazine), Preston Asevedo (The Exiled), and Matthew Therrien (The Wrath of Becky).
The graphic novel is available in four editions:
- Standard Digital Edition – 80 page graphic novel featuring the main cover art by Skinner.
- Standard Hardcover Edition – 80-page graphic novel featuring the main cover art by Skinner.
- Limited Hardcover Edition (250) – 80-page graphic novel featuring a variant cover by Matthew Therrien.
- Deluxe Signed Edition w/Slipcase – 80-page signed graphic novel featuring an exclusive NSFW variant cover by Preston Asevedo, and your name included in the book’s Kickstarter credit section.
Additional merchandise available from backing the Kickstarter includes a blu-ray of the 2015 film, copies of the brand-new Deathgasm video game, decorative masks and even signed guitars. Howden had this to say about the genesis of the graphic novel:
Between the events of Deathgasm 1 and Deathgasm 2 was a story that I needed to tell. The story was so visually epic, so gory, and so offensive that it could never be filmed without watering it down. Instead, we made it into a graphic novel: Deathgasm 1.5. We’re stoked for fans to witness Brodie and Medina slashing demons and thrashing metal riffs, meeting old mates and an ageless evil that lurks in the shadows of a heavy metal-hating church!
The exclusive preview of the graphic novel can be seen below, and the Kickstarter is available to back now.
