Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: Bruce Dickinson, william blake

Bruce Dickinson Graphic Novel Printed With William Blake Grave Soil

Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson's graphic novel The Mandrake Project will be printed with soil from William Blake's grave.

William Blake, poet and artist extraordinaire, is buried in the Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. just north of St Paul's Cathedral, and pretty close to the grave of John Bunyan. And at some point Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, or someone working for him, has rocked up with a small shovel and helped themselves.

Z2 Comics is to collect and publish Bruce Dickinson's comic book project The Mandrake Project: Year One, on the 5th of August 2025, collecting the first four issues of his Mandrake Project comic released last year as well as a series of interviews and essays about the creation f the project, as well as an introduction by Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, four exclusive foil collectors cards and the cast metal Mandrake Project medallion that featured in the comic and music videos. It will also feature a homage to William Blake, who inspired the project. And yes, soil from his grave was collected and mixed with ink to print the deluxe editions.

William Blake will not only turn in his grave but will also do so on the pages of the graphic novel.

Written bby Tony Lee and drawn by Staz Johnson, I is being published in twelve episodes, collected into three graphic novels, and is described as "a dark, adult story of power, abuse and a struggle for identity, set against the backdrop of scientific and occult genius." It will tie in with Dickinson's upcoming solo album and Latin American/European tour dates, also known as Bruce Dickinson's The Mandrake Project.

An eight-page comic prequel entitled Afterglow Of Ragnarok was included within the vinyl 7" single booklet, which accompanied the single of the same name. Bruce Dickinson said, "Finally, we are at the end of the beginning. I honestly have to pinch myself to believe that Volume 1 of The Mandrake Project is upon us. I sometimes get the feeling that I am not fully in control of the story and that some other entity is squeezing the blood out of my subconscious and turning it into ink on the page before my very eyes. We are just getting going. We are all… formed… of the dead."

In May of 2024, Dickinson became a patron of the William Blake Cottage Trust, which owns and preserves William Blake's only surviving house. They state that the Z2 team collected soil from the grave of the legendary English artist and poet, which was mixed into the ink for printing. So Bruce didn't do it himself, then… Tony Lee, was it you? Bruce Dickinson added, "William Blake has given me so much over the years, and I want to repay the debt by helping to restore the Cottage. Despite his impact on the world, there is no center for Blake, nowhere people can visit to see where he actually lived and worked during a key part of his life. I want to change this."

The oversized 12" x 12" Deluxe Edition with spinning slipcase and the limited, signed platinum edition will only be available directly from Z2 at Z2Comics.com, while a 9" x 9" smaller hardcover edition without slipcase will be available on Amazon in the United States, and at HMV UK (Exclusive HMV Cover + Trading Card), as well as many independent comic and music shops worldwide.

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