JUDAS PRIEST HAS ANOTHER THING COMING

Judas Priest will be immortalized with a resin plastic statue called The Hellion that will be released in conjunction with the graphic novel version of the band’s classic album Screaming for Vengeance (Columbia), which turns 40 next year. Out in July, The Hellion is a first in a series of collectibles from Z2 Comics which will be overseen by industry vet Clint Weiler, founder of the punk collectible company Aggronautix. Weiler’s “Hellion” statue–aka a metallic bird–will feature battery-operated LED “electric eyes” as seen on the album’s original artwork. At Aggronautix, Weiler created his own collectibles called Throbbleheads featuring the likes of Rancid, DEVO, NOFX, Descendents, GWAR, Bad Religion, Dead Kennedys, among others.

Deluxe versions of the graphic novel will also include a limited vinyl edition of Screaming for Vengeance, the band's best-selling album of their career. Preorder here.

In other heavy metal comic book news, Iron Maiden's iconic mascot Eddie will join the line up of Marvel Comics characters (Thanos, Venom, Thor...you get the idea) for an upcoming line of apparel and merchandise.

We'd just like to remind our readers that we were all warned that if we spent our time reading comics and listening to heavy metal that we'd never amount to anything. Now look at us! Oh, wait... never mind.