In the Anthrax song "King Size," which also happens to mention the Hulk, the Devil lives in California. In November's "Lobo: Highway to Hell" miniseries, however, Anthrax lead guitarist Scott Ian has written a new version of Satan just outside of the DC Universe. For his cosmic horror/action tale, Ian wanted a villain as big and evil as he could make him—and that required building Satan from scratch.
"Totally new," Ian told MTV News when asked which version of the Devil he'll put DC's moviebound bounty hunter up against when the first issue hits shelves November 4. "[The story] has nothing to do with anything really from the DC Universe."
DC's Lucifer has long been established as the ruler of Hell for the DCU, but taking the story outside of continuity allowed Ian to develop a less dainty interpretation of the Prince of Darkness.
Ian initially pitched plans for a Batman tale, but when he found out what kinds of editorial reins the publisher places on its biggest characters, he opted to craft a tale for DC's other Main Man.
"My initial instinct was, 'OK DC, I want to write a Batman story,'" he said. "The thing with Batman as I was giving them some of the ideas that I had, was that there are a lot of do's and don'ts with a character like Batman. I then said to them, 'What characters are there were I wouldn't have so many rules and regulations and maybe I could stray outside the continuity of the DC Universe?"
It was then that DC suggested he use Lobo, their normally fringe character, who's now on the rise for mainstream entertainment eyes as Guy Ritchie preps a feature length Lobo film. And that's when Anthrax's guitarist turned comic book writer decided that Lobo would be fighting the Devil himself.
"It's a revenge story," Ian explained. "Lobo has to get revenge, and it turns out he has to get revenge against the Devil. He picks the most powerful being in the Universe and decides he has to kill him."
"Lobo: Highway To Hell" kicks off November 4 featuring a story by Scott Ian and art by Sam Kieth ("The Maxx"). Click on the pages below for an exclusive preview of "Lobo: Highway to Hell" #1.
Do you think setting Ian's Lobo story outside of DC continuity was the way to go? How do you like Sam Kieth's artwork from the new miniseries? Let us know what you think in the comment section or on Twitter!
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