Reading a graphic novel and listening to a favorite album may appear to be decidedly different experiences. But a new collaboration between Vault Comics and iconic recording artists proves that the two art forms aren’t mutually exclusive. Headshell graphic novels offer original stories inspired by the music and life stories of famed artists, including Metallica, Def Leppard, and the Beach Boys–with many more to come. Siblings Damian Wassel, CEO and publisher of Vault, and Adrian Wassel, editor in chief, spoke about the impetus behind Headshell and how the graphic novels provide artists “a chance to tell the stories they were never able to deliver through music alone.”
What inspired you to launch Headshell?
Damian Wassel: From day one at Vault, we’ve sought to bring fresh and varied perspectives, voices, and stories to the comics we publish. Sometimes that means working with established comics talent on books they just couldn’t make anywhere else. Other times that means stepping outside the confines of the comics business to connect with other kinds of storytellers. The thing is, great recording artists are all already storytellers. But some stories need to be told on the page. So, we built Headshell to bring the world graphic novels from music icons.
Graphic novels are highly visual and music, of course, is auditory. From your perspective, how do the art and music coalesce on the page and what is that experience like for readers?
Damian Wassel: In one way or another, music runs through every Headshell book. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re all books about music. The goal is to give these incredible artists a chance to tell the stories they were never able to deliver through music alone. For some Headshell titles, readers can expect official and unofficial playlists. For some Headshell titles, readers can expect music to be integrated more directly. For some Headshell titles, readers might even be treated to altogether original music.
As the idea for Headshell hatched, did you have particular recording artists and performers in mind?
Damian Wassel: Yes. And now we’re working with many of them. What we’re looking for, always, is artists or groups with distinctive voices, a legacy of creative excellence, and an excitement for this medium we all love. Naturally, there are more quantitative elements that go into this, but those aren’t any fun to talk about.
What more can you share about the collaboration between the recording artists, illustrators, and writers?
Adrian Wassel: Enormous care goes into bringing together our creative teams. The starting point is obvious: all the creators need to connect with their collaborators’ work. The writer needs to love the music. The musician needs to love the art. The artist needs to love the writer. And around and around we go. That part is fun and obvious. From there, it’s about building trust and rapport, as we work on a shared story. What we end up with, across all our Headshell titles, are teams that love working together. That love snowballs rapidly, and it’s rewarding to watch. We’ve already seen an artist produce a character design so inspired that the musician on the series began writing original music to fit the character’s visual identity on the page. You can’t ask for more synergy than that.
From The Beach Boys to Metallica, you have an amazing lineup of musicians so far! What has it been like to work with such iconic recording artists?
Adrian Wassel: A dream. Honestly, even as the conversations turned into contracts and the ideas turned into pages, I struggled to wrap my head around the scale of Headshell. Working across mediums with artists who have significantly impacted the lives of millions of people is staggering. When you’re in the thick of it, working all day and night on any given series, you forget that stuff. You get lost in the process. But once a week or so, I kind of stumble back and think about the fact that I’m making my favorite form of literature with artists who have birthed and shaped entire cultural movements.
Longtime fans of the featured recording artists will be a natural readership. Do you hope that readers who aren’t familiar with the music will be inspired to learn (and listen) more?
Adrian Wassel: Introducing the musicians of Headshell to new fandoms has been part and parcel of the plan from day one. When you’re working with iconic artists like Metallica and Def Leppard, whose music is forever preserved in high fidelity in your hippocampus, it’s easy to forget that there are always hungry readers and listeners out there who have not yet found them. What makes so many of these musicians truly enduring is that they’ve never lost sight of that simple fact. They’ve always wanted to evolve, to shape new stories and sounds, and speak to that one person who desperately needs to hear their music. We get to bring the rapidly growing global audience of comic readers to these musicians. When you start digging into the data, specifically how many young readers are devouring comics, graphic novels, and manga, you realize just how important the fandom flowing in that direction is. These are millions of new fans—a whole generation.
Going forward, how do you envision Headshell evolving?
Damian Wassel: We are already doing what we set out to do with this line. So, in the near term, the plan is to stay the course with an increasingly wide array of artists. I am especially excited to see Headshell hit the broader retail environment where we are able to catch fans of our iconic artists by surprise with new ways to connect with them.
