“ I absolutely loved MAURICE AND THE METAL NO1! It brings the chaotic energy and power of 80s thrash metal to the comic Page like nothing I’ve read before! Tune in; drop out, and crank the volume to eleven because issue 1 left me with face melted and ears bleeding while chanting for more MAURICE AND THE METAL!!! ”
JARED XIII CONSUMES COMICS!
ISSUE #1
The Disposable Hero
Maurice & The Metal follows the journey of a young metalhead in the mid ‘80s who unwittingly discovers he has impossible strength whenever he listens to metal. Charged with a HEAVY burden and with nothing but his Walkman, which has been possessed by the spirit of a Black Sabbath roadie, Maurice is fighting to keep metal alive.
ISSUE #2
Seek & Destroy
ISSUE #3
THE SOLDIER OF METAL
The VERY EPIC electrifying trials of a teenage drummer turned unexpected hero continue in ISSUE 3 of Maurice & The Metal – “The Soldier of Metal”. Awakened by a nightmare of epic sacrifice, Maurice realizes that he will have to face the music: endless gloomy goth music! The venomous V reveals to his dark army of doom-lovers a depressing plan to impose his will (and music) on the masses to spread the sadness. Unwilling to be a bystander, Maurice is forced to enter a world of near-impossible choices that lead him to something he never saw coming: responsibility. Staring Into the Void, Maurice will ask himself a fateful question: “Do I have to?”
CHARACTERS
Lazy, immature, angry, hypocrite and unwilling. Regardless, this is our hero – a 17-year metalhead who has no ambitions beyond playing the drums.
The real hero of the story, a single mum doing her best considering the demons that she is fighting as she watches her son follow in his father’s footsteps.
Ex-roadie for bands like Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult and was once a drum-tech for Led Zeppelin. His strange disappearance became part of roadie folklore.
Michelle is the exact opposite of Maurice. Intelligent, pleasant and the proud president of pop singer Madison’s fan club. There is love but that doesn’t mean they have to like each other.
The roadie Verg, as he hates to be called, is a dark morose soul. Spiteful, sad, pretentious and has an absolute hatred for all things metal!
This sub-culture is all about sorrow. Usually, Goths turn that energy inward, but this group of punks have decided that no one deserves to be happy!
Kevin (guitar), “Lost” Carlos (bass) and Daniel (vocals, guitar) are Maurice’s bandmate slackers. The band isn’t going to make “it” because these guys think they are already “there”.
This Walkman has been through more than most people go through in a lifetime. There is plenty more (battery) life left!
CREATORS
AARON SAMMUT
WRITER
Aaron Sammut has worked in the music industry in Brisbane, Australia, as a performance photographer and magazine designer for the past 15 years. He has not worked on comics for Marvel, DC… He has read some though. He simply has an overactive imagination, an unhealthy reliance on music to get him through any situation, seemingly crazy amounts of naivety, mixed with an insatiable determination to see one of his crazy ideas make it all the way to print.
JESSE HAMM
ILLUSTRATOR
Jesse Hamm sadly passed away in 2021 but his contribution to comics and Maurice & The Metal lives on. He illustrated comics for such publishers as Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Boom!, and Dynamite, drawing the adventures of characters such as Batman, Hawkeye, Flash Gordon, and The Phantom. Jesse was an incredibly knowledgeable and supportive creative, a legend in sequential art and storytelling, you can still find his lessons on Twitter and Patreon. Jesse lived in Portland, Oregon with his wife, and was a member of Helioscope, America’s largest comic art studio.
NICOLA IZZO
ILLUSTRATOR
Nicola Izzo is a Turin-based artist. After graduating from the International School of Comics in 2020, he’s been drawing comics for several Italian and Canadian publishers. He’s been an omnivorous reader ever since he was 6. His debut comic will be published by Leviathan Labs (Italy) later this year, as well as a short story that will be included in the upcoming anthology “Doomsday Machine”. Nothing keeps Nicola from drawing, not even a broken wrist in a skateboarding accident. True story.
REVIEWS
“ For me, this Heavy Metal Comic hits every note and has unending metal references that will put a smile on metalheads young and old. ”
ANTHONY POLLOCK – SODAANDTELEPATHS.COM
“ This legend just wrote a heavy metal comic book… What a time to be alive, and indeed, what a way to try and immerse yourself in the epic-ness of 1980s metal. ”
“ There’s a world of amazing comics out there but every now and again there’s a title that seems to cover a host of things that you can connect with… ”
“ F%#KING YES! THIS IS A GREAT ISSUE ONE! A REAL FUN ENERGETIC SENSE OF CHARACTER… REALLY COOL! ”
“ For fans of the scene, this comic book is as authentic as it comes, oozing enthusiasm for metal music and heavy metal culture. ”
WHERE TO FIND MAURICE
AUSTRALIA
QUEENSLAND
Comics Etc – comicsetc.com.au
Comics n Pop – comicsnpop.com.au
HUGE THANKS GO TO THESE LEGENDS
Noah (the harshest critic), Helen, Amélie, Aubrey, Finley, Brett Wood, Cody Wood, Tracey Baillie, Tim Price, Peter Blakelock, Kaitlyn Gutzke, Matt Thrower, Sophie Blackshaw, Lauren Williams, Bianca Hines, Dan Hancock, Yasmin Naghavi, Alex Artlett, Russell Meyer, Hayley Groves, Lily, Jacob, Brian Yecies, Sam Grace, Constantine Kotsiras, Aengus McNeill, Tim Price, Chris Dixon, HeyDay on 4ZzZ, Music Industry College, Kristin Ferguson, Peter Ferguson, Devin Arscott, Kickstarter Reads, Don Cardenas, metheena, Laura Helsby, Soda & Telepaths, Anthony Pollock, Anthony LaFauci, We Have Issues Podcast, Comics Coffee Metal Podcast, Whack Comics, Lachlan Strachan, Ignacio Di Meglio, Elijah McNeill, Adam Nichols, Anna Wilson, Collision Course, Comics Etc – comicsetc.com.au, Comics n Pop – comicsnpop.com.au, Kings Comics – kingscomics.com, Polymer, Regular Radio, 4ZzZ, Branko Cosic, The Silver Cord, Alexandrea Earthling, Jesse Dracman, Happy Daze Podcast, The Awesome Comics Podcast, GMAN, Comics Anonymous, Simon Thornton, Sean Leersen, Sean Daly, Andy Dowling, Murdoch Stafford, Luke Brown, Gibson Quarter, Glenn Urieta, Shaun Craike, Leila del Duca, Aaron Conley, Jeff Myles, Red Octopus, Kickstarter, Sticker Mule, Es Kay, Badteeth Comics, Henry Goeldner, Matt Knowles, Sharon Smith, Corin Kelly, Comic Chat Authority, Kari Whitley, Cody Johnson, Benjamin Nichols, Mitch Wilkins, Netherworld, You Promised Me COmics, Bob Q, ComixBoost, ComX, Arion Cameron, Adam Marlow, Daniel A. Becker, Toxic Soup, Brett Wood, John Ninness, The Creative Fund by BackerKit, Tim PW, Joe, Jake Wood, Michael Johnstone, Adrian Larkin, Dave Baxter, Huy Lam, Corin Kelly, Lunaro, Arcturus Dobrica, Scott Farrell, Shane Syddall, Luke Geaghan, Charlie Willard, Alyssa, Shaun Craike, Jesse, Kristin Murray, Angela Sciberras, Hayley, Rishi, WHACK COMICS, shini333, Mickey Martinez, Sean Mcfallan, Gary Watson (G-Man), Metheena, Travis Skaines, Kevin Williams, Matt Dawson, George O’Connor, John Averette, Sean, Michael Pincott, Chris, Craig Hackl, Michelle, Fred Sammut, Cherie Stokes, Helen Douthit, Russell Meyer, Mark Lucy, Rob MacAndrew, Sylvia Ellul, Anto Lm, Nathaniel Adams Jr, Doug Wagner, Kieran Nunn, Aengus McNeill, Benny Sammut, Chadwick Torseth, Gary Dellar, Paul Sentas, AJ Rojek, Bianca Hines, Timmy Burden, John MacLeod, Klikke Sietel, Fred, Brian Lee, Juan Gonzalez, Angela Fussell, Kevin Zirn, Nicholas Stephenson, Anthony LaFauci, Ray Soo, Darren Close, John, octeau, Jeffrey Ryan Zambrano, Mike Clark, Dustin Schmidt, Stephen Kok, Emma Thatcher, Craig Burnett, Stefan Schneider, Create Your Monster/Conquer Your Monster, Mark Ampersand, shaun, Chris Sarda, Beau, Matthias Ackerl, Marc Riemer, Andrew Clemson, The Kodoja Project, Dat’s Comics, Rebecca Hall, Darren Roweth, Michele Abounader, Brent Fisher, J.J. López, Sam, Pao Xyo, Adam Nichols, Sarah, Matthew, Marta Todorovic, Thlosh, Simon Chung, Bart Tveskov, alex, Don Cardenas, Campbell Parminter, Ben Tilney, Jason Bragg, Malachi Douthit, Brian Keith Mason, Floyd Brigdon, Nathan Toby, Jasmine, Sarah C-M, Steve Krause, Brent T, Jeremy Sparks, Adri, Brandon Shields, Beth Culp, Tango, Ashleigh Vaughan, Tobey Zehr, Dan Hancock, Peter Wilson, Gary Phillips, Brandon Eaker, Aaron, Aaron Shanahan, Kenneth T. White III, Craig Curtis