GRAPHIC VIOLENCE: DEATH ANGEL’S DENNIS PEPA ON THE DEATH ANGEL COMIC BOOK

Dennis Pepa, bass player and original member of West Coast thrash icons Death Angel, is a busy man. Besides recording, releasing, and touring in support of his band’s latest album, Killing Season, Pepa is hard at work on a Death Angel comic book with notable artist Joshua Emerick, with plans to release it this fall via his and Emerick’s own Golden Lobster Press. In addition to that, he is also working with Destruckto on designing skateboard trucks and clothing. Pepa is usually one of the more low-key members of the band and doesn’t often give interviews, so it's great to get a chance to talk to him—and not about his band’s sound this time, as is usually the case with a musician, but about its vision.

Pepa (center) with Emerick (right) and Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda

REVOLVER So Dennis, Death Angel is coming out with a comic book. Can you give us the scoop on that?

PEPA I have always wanted to market the band outside of music even from the very beginnings of Death Angel. I always thought there was a market outside of the immediate metal scene that bands can take advantage of. Obviously, there are bigger bands that are doing this like Kiss, Metallica, and Slayer. Coming from a marketing and design background, it's in my nature and at times, I have paid more attention to that than the music.

REVOLVER So what do you do in your regular job?
PEPA I'm an art director.

REVOLVER So you have more of an “art eye,” so to speak.
PEPA Yes, but during the day it’s more corporate crap.

REVOLVER Tell me more about how the whole comic book thing came about for you.
PEPA Well, it stemmed from Gerardo [Martinez, label manager] at Nuclear Blast, our label. He said he had a comic-book artist who was interested in doing a Death Angel comic book, and of course, I was all over it from the first sentence.

REVOLVER What appealed to you about it?
PEPA Well, the artwork for one thing and just getting to work on it from that level. To see the band transform into characters was just one of those things I wanted to do in this bands career, and the opportunity finally came. Of course, being complete and loyal Kiss fans back in the day, and seeing how they had a comic book, I thought, Why wouldn't we want a comic book? Actually, we will be using Kiss blood in this comic.

REVOLVER For real? Kiss blood?
PEPA No, I'm just kidding [laughs].

Black-and-white version of page 1 of the comic book

REVOLVER What is your role in this project and whom are you collaborating with?
PEPA When the project was first introduced to me, my role was basically just to be a band member and help with the comic book. As we moved forward, we realized that there is a massive market out there in the comic-book world and weighed out several options. So we decided we pretty much just wanted to start our own publishing company.

REVOLVER So whom are you working with in this venture?
PEPA The main person I'm working with is Josh Emerick. He is very established in the Beatles camp. He did all the Beatles comic books and had work displayed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Beatles for his artwork in the comic.

REVOLVER How did you hook up with Josh?
PEPA He actually came to Nuclear Blast and wanted to work with us, which is how it all came together. He went to our label and we got introduced.

REVOLVER what specifically are you doing? Are you doing the artwork/story line?
PEPA I'm working really close with Josh as far as character development. He'll send me sketches like every other day and were refining each person's character. The weird thing is that Josh and I have not met in person yet so it's really up to me to relay all the details to him like the look, concept, and story line.

Black-and-white version of a frame from page 4

REVOLVER So what will be the story line for the comic?
PEPA The premise is the government has a secret weapon where they can brainwash people sonically and we will be the good guys who plan on stopping this whole movement. We will battle zombies, which is pretty cool. It's supposed to be taken lightheartedly but also riding on the premise of the new album having a lot of undertones with the themes of Killing Season like war, current affairs, and the government.

REVOLVER What other bands would you like to do a comic book on?
PEPA Hmmm, there's a whole list. Well, for one, Exodus would be a great band!

REVOLVER It would be kind of cool if maybe you could have some other bands “guest star” in your comic.
PEPA Yeah, like a cameo…of course!

REVOLVER Are you looking at this comic book as a one-time thing or a series?
PEPA I'm hoping that it turns into a series. I mean it may not be as frequent as a normal comic book would. Hopefully we’ll do at least one per album if things start rolling we could do more.

REVOLVER So where would your comics be available?
PEPA We're looking at getting them distributed to every comic-book store.

Interview by Darien Lomeli.
Coming soon to RevolverMag.com, comments from Emerick, colorist Eric Kochanski, and writers Dave Mowery and Lee Ebersole on the Death Angel comic book.