ORBIT: ALICE COOPER

ORBIT: ALICE COOPER

Pre-order: 9/10/2014

Writer: Michael L. Frizell

Artist: Jayfri Hashim & D.A Frizell

3 covers: Cover A: $3.99, Cover B $5.99 and cover C $9.99

Digital Price: $3.99

BIASAC: CGN008000, BIO022000,JNF007000, CGN007000, BIO005000,  BIO004001

Alice Cooper is a man, a band, and an idea that took on a life of its own, a voice for shock and glitter rockers whose influence created stars like Marilyn Manson and KISS. Behind the paint, the boa constrictors, and the staged executions is a man whose creative energies gave rise to a legend. Half truth, half fiction, Alice Cooper defines fame.

KISS may have entered my young consciousness first but Alice Cooper wasn't far behind. As much as I'll always be a member of the KISS Army (no matter how much of an ass Gene Simmons continues to make of himself) there's no doubt that Alice Cooper is indeed The Master. His headlining Theatre of Death tour in 2009/2010 was easily the best concert I've ever attended.

Mostly he's been doing opening shots on tours lately (with Iron Maiden in 2012 and currently with Motley Crue on their last tour) which is kind-of unfortunate...for the bands that have to follow him.

I had the great good fortune to catch him yet again just this last week, and the show was as fun as ever. I always say, if you only see one rock concert, it should be KISS, but don't you dare turn down a chance to see The Coop.

Next month, Dynamite should have the first issue of their new Alice Cooper comic out, along with a reprint of 1994's Neil Gaiman written adaption of Cooper's album The Last Temptation.

Along with that, we get Bluewater Comics's biographical comic and in one of the rare instances of fortune smiling on me, they've provided me with a preview PDF. It's part of their Orbit series of biographies. From their site: "Orbit is a line of biographies with a skew towards a more male demographic." Other celebs in the orbit line include Howard Stern, Stephen King, and Keith Richards.

On the surface, it reminds me of the old Rock N' Roll Comics of the early nineties, but with much better production values.

The story opens as a group of children, led by Rhiannon, gather at night around a Ouija board to summon Steven, Cooper's alter-ego from Welcome To My Nightmare (and Goes To Hell, The Last Temptation, and Welcome 2 My Nightmare, I suppose) to help protect her little brother, Drew, from a supernatural evil he's accidentally summoned. But in the group is Suze, a girl with a rather impressive knowledge of the real Vincent Furnier and his journey to become the character of Alice Cooper.

This framing story allows Suze to correct some of the incorrect info that's been spread about (and often by) Cooper over the years. Starting with how the original band didn't really use an Ouija board to conjure up, and eventually take the name of, a witch named Alice Cooper. Along the way, Suze recounts the stories of the band's first meeting with Frank Zappa, the infamous chicken incident, and we even get a bit of his views on family life (he's a romantic who still dates his wife) and religion (he is a minister's son, after all).

As it's just a short comic book, there's no way to get into the details of Cooper's life and career but it is a pretty good overview of the man who wanted to drive "a stake through the heart of the Love Generation."

If you're a fan, I'd say check it out....