Big 4: Comic Relief

If you’re a Decibel subscriber, issue #82 [Scott Ian cartoon cover] should be arriving via angry postman shortly. In this month’s cover, longtime dude’s dude Nick Green detailed in fantastic fashion the link between comics and extreme music. With a (spoiler alert!) fold-out cover illustrator by Henry and Glenn inklord Tom Neely, issue #82 boldly went where no publication of our variety has gone or will go.
We’re culture junkies at heart, so when it comes to fan art (the most underground of all art) we highlighted some of the bestest fan of Anthrax, Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer lovefests we could find. The Big 4, cartoonized. Lovingly, of course.

METALLICA’s Lars Ulrich:

We presume this piece was drawn from Ulrich’s Metallica days. Maybe it was …And Justice for All. The years blur together at this point. But we know it wasn’t for Load ’cause he got all short-aired art guru for the Load record.

METALLICA’s Lars Ulrich 2:

Cool, calm, and collected is how we like to describe this post-Metallica homage to everyone’s favorite Danish skinbasher. The slick-backed hair, the cooler-than-California shades, and, boy, those slacks! How chic!

MEGADETH’s Dave Mustaine:

Mustaine’s got mane! Those locks make White Lion’s Mike Tramp (another daring Dane) look like a wet kitten. Mustaine’s smoldering eyes have an air of mystery and frustration, while is pursed lips communicate anger with the establishment. Or his secret love of Super Lemon candies.

MUSTAINE’s Dave Mustaine 2:


Actually, this piece reminds us more of Dave Ellefson than Senior. That and Mustaine’s ginger/blonde hair is getting a little dark on top. But, damn!, those eyes. Heavy like Risk and dead like his relationship with Marty Friedman, this iteration of Mustaine’s elementarily awesome. And what shirt is that? Thundercats? We hope.

SLAYER’s Kerry King:

Minority? Since when to minorities and faux-German eagle emblems go hand-in-hand? Only in this rendition of Slayer’s bespiked, behead tattoo-ed Kerry King. There’s a little Rob Halford here, but that could just be the shape of Kerry King’s mouth. Ooooh! Rocka Rolla!

SLAYER’s Kerry King 2:

Heck yes! A manga-ized Kerry King! On lined, three-hold punch paper no less. We used to draw stuff like this during high school chemistry class, except we were much worse our proportions. We also had very little idea of Japanese comic art. But we did know one thing at the time… Kerry King’s pinky finger doesn’t bend that way.

ANTHRAX’s Charlie Benante:

Thrash zombie? Thrash metal guys don’t like zombies! When has a thrash metal band written songs about zombies? Leave real meat to death metal bands. They got songs like “Zombie Ritual”, “Zombie Ward”, “Sexy Zombie”, “Zombie Grinder”, “Zombie Fuck”, “Zombie Dismemberment”, “Zombie Conjuration”, “Sacrificial Zombie”, or… We could go on forever. Oh wait. Cerebral Fix wrote “Zombie”. Sorry, Charlie.

ANTHRAX’s Dan Spitz & MEGADETH’s Dave Mustaine:

We couldn’t find much–weird huh?–on bald beagle Scott Ian, so ex-Anthrax longhaired dwarf Dan Spitz sufficed. This one’s the best of the bunch, we think. Dan Spitz and Dave Mustaine look so happy together. Almost as if they both found God. Wait, they did.