Q: Henry and Glenn is totally pee-your-pants hilarious but I get the feeling that there's a steady current of love and respect for those dudes' work in it. Tell us about your own Rollins and Danzig fandom. What do you love about their music?
I've been a huge fan of The Misfits since I first heard Last Caress in the 6th grade. Being a small town kid who was mostly listening to Mötley Crüe at the time, Glenn's lyrics were the most evil thing I'd ever heard, so I immediately had to seek out more. The Misfits were my introduction to punk rock and dark themed music. Considering now that most of my music buying is in the black metal section, it kinda set the course for my future listening pleasure. Black Flag came to me much later. I became a fan of Henry Rollins after seeing his spoken word performance at my college in '94. Not long after that I got into their music as well. I made a lot of my strips riff on some of their well known lyrics because I just love those songs so much.
"... check out a new comic book out from Micocrosm, Henry and Glenn Forever, a comic book featuring one panel gags in a universe where Glenn Danzig (of the punk band Danzig) and Henry Rollins (of the punk band Black Flag) are the kind of "roommates" that have "scare quotes" around the word "roommates." More than a political statement, this looks like a fun fantasy where Danzig and Rollins are an out and proud--but hardcore--Burt and Ernie. One reader described their comix companionship as "a loving, committed relationship. Henry loves Glenn dearly, even if occasionally his anger issues get in the way. Glenn keeps a journal about his ambitions and projects, like being in a band wearing corpse-like makeup ('Just be yourself!' recommends Henry)."
"We can't believe it -- there's finally an object in the world that CARRIE BROWNSTEIN and J. BENNETT agree on! The last time someone drew an unauthorized Danzig character in a comic book, Glenn threatened to settle the score -- not with a lawsuit, but with a pine box (alas, to source that anecdote, see here and scroll halfway down the page). Then again, that was 15 years ago, before everyone remembered Danzig as that guy who got punched in the face on YouTube. So, although we're sure Glenn won't think so, maybe Henry & Glenn will lead to a career resurgence. Maybe, just maybe, Danzig's new album DETH RED SABOTH -- take that, spellchecker! -- will not be as failworthy as you'd expect an album called Death Red Saboth to be. Maybe he'll actually stick to his promise to play mostly old shit on his upcoming summer tour. Maybe he'll find a way to bring out Rollins for a chorus of 138 and an ironic smooch. Yeah, we know -- we're not holding our breath. But as lifelong Danzig devotees, we'll be there once again when Glenn shaves a few more inches off his legacy at the HOUSE OF BLUES on June 21."
"Produced by The Blot's Tom Neely and his compatriots in the Igloo Tornado collective (the fourth member of which appears to wish to remain anonymous for the purposes of this project), Henry & Glenn Forever is an email your friends, hey-you-gotta-see-this meme in minicomic form for one simple reason: It takes hardcore's two most self-consciously self-styled tough guys and casts them as lovers, not fighters. It helps if you're familiar with some of their music, since there are a handful of gags (particularly Neely's) based on Black Flag or Misfits lyrics--including the outrageously tumblriffic image I stuck at the top of this review, as well as another that's both one of the comics' few gross-out gags and almost completely indecipherable unless you know the line that comes after the line Glenn utters in the panel. But in general, all you need do is, y'know, look at how Glenn Danzig and Henry Rollins look, and then sit back and enjoy how funny it is to think of them as a sweet romantic couple who wish they could spend more time together, hate themselves for arguing, write about their Hot Topic shopping sprees in their diaries, fret about whether their fishnets will still fit them if they go see Rocky Horror at the Nuart, and so on."
"Hey Matt, You know why I am depicted in a comic? Because I am fuckin famous. That is my thought. Henry Rollins"
"Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig are in a loving, committed relationship. Henry (who sometimes looks like Chester Gould's Dick Tracy) loves Glenn dearly, even if occasionally his anger issues get in the way. Glenn keeps a journal about his ambitions and projects, like being in a band wearing corpse-like makeup ("Just be yourself!" recommends Henry). Oh, their neighbors are Hall & Oates, who are just your average neighborhood Satanists with a penchant for D&D.
This is the premise of Henry & Glenn, the new minicomic by art collective Igloo Tornado presented last week at Silverlake's comics mecca Secret Headquarters.
The minicomic, of course, is an unauthorized work of fantasy, but so are the "official" personas of Rollins and Danzig. What the Igloo Tornado guys have done is turned an old metalhead parlor game ("who would win a fight? Danzig or Rollins?") into clever slash fiction, a non-explicit graphic novelette..."
"... a collection of romantic one-panel gags starring those famous star-crossed lovers, Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig. If you've ever wanted to know how the lead singers of Black Flag and the Misfits would maintain a relationship in the face of interference from their Satan-worshipping next-door neighbors Darryl Hall and John Oates, now's your chance. Henry & Glenn Forever comes to us from Igloo Tornado, a collective consisting of The Blot's Tom Neely and his artistic compatriots Gin Stevens, Scott Nobles, and ___ ______, and it's available for $4 from Microcosm."
