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Def Leppard's HYSTERIA
By Phil Collen and Eliot Rahal
Colorist Fabi Marques / Edited by Adrian F. Wassel and Der-shing Helmer / Illustrated by Alex Schlitz / Letterer Jim Campbell
Published by Headshell
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
We Sold Our Souls meets Streets of Fire and Green Room in Def Leppard’s HYSTERIA, the graphic novel, a supernatural thriller that tells the tale of the world’s most dangerous guitar!
Worship at the altar of the almighty Guitar.
It wants your love.
It craves your blood.
It desires YOU.
A struggling band is gifted with a magical guitar that rockets them to success, but when it’s stolen they’ll stop at nothing to get it back.
When Foz, the frontwoman of indie band Darkside, inherits her father's estate, it comes with a guitar she half-remembers from her childhood. The guitar speaks to her, promising fame and success. Soon, it delivers. But when Darkside’s equipment is stolen at a massive music venue, just before they’re set to take the stage with Def Leppard, Foz goes on the warpath to get it back. A knuckle-dusting rampage ensues, and the guitar's true history is revealed.
Written by Phil Collen (Def Leppard) and Eliot Rahal (Bleed Them Dry), and illustrated by Alex Schlitz, Def Leppard's HYSTERIA is a musically immersive experience, featuring never-before-heard music from Darkside (written by Phil Collen), appearances by Def Leppard, loads of rock n’ roll easter eggs, and the tale of the guitar that’s destroyed many bands.
Def Leppard's HYSTERIA explores fame, addiction, gender dynamics, silencing of female voices, mistreatment of women, female empowerment, rage, and descent into madness.
For fans who are fascinated by Faustian bargains for fame with music’s mysterious and legendary artists – and curses: Blue guitarist Robert Johnson (and his song Crossroads), violinist Niccolo Paganini, Giuseppe Tartini’s Devil’s Trill Sonata, the Gloomy Sunday curse, the “Curse of the Ninth,” Jelly Roll Morton, the many members of the 27 Club, and even poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (To a Lady, With a Guitar), as well as the books We Sold Our Souls (Grady Hendrix), The Wicked + The Divine (Kieron Gillen), Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You (Scotto Moore), The Armageddon Rag (George R.R. Martin), Murder Falcon (Daniel Warren Johnson), Wylding Hall (Elizabeth Hand), Signal to Noise (Silvia Moreno-Garcia), Blue in Green (Ram V), The Ballad of Black Tom (Victor LaValle), Phonogram (Kieron Gillen), Machine Gun Kelly's Hotel Diablo (Eliot Rahal, Machine Gun Kelly, Ryan Cody), the classic The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman), Daisy Jones & The Six (novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid and miniseries), A Song for Quiet (Cassandra Khaw), Violin (Anne Rice), The Vampire Lestat (Anne Rice), and the films Streets of Fire, Green Room, Lords of Chaos, Nocturne, and the classic 80s rock/shock movie Trick or Treat.
Would you sell your soul for rock n’ roll? Pick up Def Leppard's HYSTERIA and find out.
CHECK OUT OTHER HEADSHELL TITLES FROM VAULT:
DYING INSIDE (Pete Wentz, Hannah Klein, Lisa Sterle) – TPB in stores September 17, 2024
DEATHSTALKER: The Damned Blood (Slash, Tim Seeley, Jim Terry, Steven Kostanski) – TPB in stores October 8, 2024
MUDDY WATERS TOO (Redman, Ben Katzner, Geo Gant) - TPB in stores June 10, 2025
Worship at the altar of the almighty Guitar.
It wants your love.
It craves your blood.
It desires YOU.
A struggling band is gifted with a magical guitar that rockets them to success, but when it’s stolen they’ll stop at nothing to get it back.
When Foz, the frontwoman of indie band Darkside, inherits her father's estate, it comes with a guitar she half-remembers from her childhood. The guitar speaks to her, promising fame and success. Soon, it delivers. But when Darkside’s equipment is stolen at a massive music venue, just before they’re set to take the stage with Def Leppard, Foz goes on the warpath to get it back. A knuckle-dusting rampage ensues, and the guitar's true history is revealed.
Written by Phil Collen (Def Leppard) and Eliot Rahal (Bleed Them Dry), and illustrated by Alex Schlitz, Def Leppard's HYSTERIA is a musically immersive experience, featuring never-before-heard music from Darkside (written by Phil Collen), appearances by Def Leppard, loads of rock n’ roll easter eggs, and the tale of the guitar that’s destroyed many bands.
Def Leppard's HYSTERIA explores fame, addiction, gender dynamics, silencing of female voices, mistreatment of women, female empowerment, rage, and descent into madness.
For fans who are fascinated by Faustian bargains for fame with music’s mysterious and legendary artists – and curses: Blue guitarist Robert Johnson (and his song Crossroads), violinist Niccolo Paganini, Giuseppe Tartini’s Devil’s Trill Sonata, the Gloomy Sunday curse, the “Curse of the Ninth,” Jelly Roll Morton, the many members of the 27 Club, and even poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (To a Lady, With a Guitar), as well as the books We Sold Our Souls (Grady Hendrix), The Wicked + The Divine (Kieron Gillen), Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You (Scotto Moore), The Armageddon Rag (George R.R. Martin), Murder Falcon (Daniel Warren Johnson), Wylding Hall (Elizabeth Hand), Signal to Noise (Silvia Moreno-Garcia), Blue in Green (Ram V), The Ballad of Black Tom (Victor LaValle), Phonogram (Kieron Gillen), Machine Gun Kelly's Hotel Diablo (Eliot Rahal, Machine Gun Kelly, Ryan Cody), the classic The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman), Daisy Jones & The Six (novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid and miniseries), A Song for Quiet (Cassandra Khaw), Violin (Anne Rice), The Vampire Lestat (Anne Rice), and the films Streets of Fire, Green Room, Lords of Chaos, Nocturne, and the classic 80s rock/shock movie Trick or Treat.
Would you sell your soul for rock n’ roll? Pick up Def Leppard's HYSTERIA and find out.
CHECK OUT OTHER HEADSHELL TITLES FROM VAULT:
DYING INSIDE (Pete Wentz, Hannah Klein, Lisa Sterle) – TPB in stores September 17, 2024
DEATHSTALKER: The Damned Blood (Slash, Tim Seeley, Jim Terry, Steven Kostanski) – TPB in stores October 8, 2024
MUDDY WATERS TOO (Redman, Ben Katzner, Geo Gant) - TPB in stores June 10, 2025
About The Illustrator
Alex Schlitz is a comic artist, illustrator and animator from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her work has been featured in independent comic anthologies YULE: Dreadful Tales for the Holiday Season and Sagas of the Shield Maiden Vol. 2.
Product Details
- Publisher: Headshell (July 29, 2025)
- Length: 192 pages
- ISBN13: 9781638492399
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