Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Annie Zaleski, Cat Mihos, colleen doran, David Mack, Derek McCulloch, eah Moore, Lar DeSouza, Marc Andreyko, Margaret Atwood, neil gaiman, Neil Kleid, Tori Amos

Neil Gaiman & Margaret Atwood On Tori Amos' Little Earthquakes Comic

Published Tue, 22 Feb 2022 12:30:19 -0600

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Tue, 22 Feb 2022 13:22:33 -0600

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"If you need me, me and Neil'll be hangin' out with the dream king. Neil says hi by the way. " – Tori Amos, Tear In Your Hand, Little Earthquakes.

Z2 Comics' latest music/comic book collaboration is with Tori Amos, who is already an Eisner Award winner for the Comic Book tattoo graphic novel. It is not to have a follow-up Little Earthquakes: The Graphic Album, to be released for the 30th anniversary of her breakthrough album, Little Earthquakes, containing the song and the line above.

Z2 will publish a graphic novel with 24 stories inspired by the 12 songs on the album, as well as the 12 'B-sides' that accompanied the album and its associated singles. This includes Neil Gaiman telling a tale inspired by "Tear In Your Hand" with artist Bilquis Evely, and Margaret Atwood who will bring to life the song "Silent All These Years" with artist David Mack, who has also painted the cover. Other contributors include Leah Moore, Colleen Doran, Derek McCulloch, Lar deSouza, Annie Zaleski, Marc Andreyko, Cat Mihos, Neil Kleid, and Alison Sampson. A full list of participating creators and the stories they are creating will be released on March 11th, coinciding with the first part of Tori's Ocean to Ocean tour. The book will be assembled by Z2 editor Rantz Hoseley, who previously edited Comic Book Tattoo, and who painted the cover for her recent Christmastide EP.

Tori Amos says "To have some of the most creative graphic artists interpret the songs from Little Earthquakes, is a true honor. I enjoyed working with Rantz on Comic Book Tattoo so much that when he contacted me about putting something together for the 30th Anniversary, I had no hesitation. Artwork is such an important part of my musical world and to see these songs come to life in graphic form is such a joy."

Editor Rantz Hoseley states "Having been present during the writing of many of these songs, I can tell you they are inextricably bound to comics. They were on the early demo cassette that I snuck to Neil Gaiman at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1991, telling him 'this is my friend, she sings about you, please don't sue her.' It's been too long since Comic Book Tattoo, and it's truly a pleasure to get to make comics with Tori again."

Tori Amos is a classically trained pianist and singer-songwriter, who came to prominence in 1992 with Little Earthquakes, an album spun out of her religious upbringing and struggle to establish her individual identity. The album served as her commercial and artistic breakthrough, entering the British charts in January 1992 at #15. Little Earthquakes was released in the United States 30 years ago in February and slowly, but steadily, began to attract listeners, gaining attention with the video for the first single, "Silent All These Years." Since that time, Amos has sold over 12 million albums across 16 releases, with her most recent effort, Ocean to Ocean, released in October 2021.

Little Earthquakes: The Graphic Album will be available in three editions. The 8"x8" standard hardcover edition will be released in finer bookstores, comic shops, and record stores everywhere in September 2022, and will be available for pre-order through Z2 and ToriAmos.com. The limited Deluxe and Platinum Artists Editions will be available exclusively through Z2's website in limited quantities.

The oversized 12"x12" Deluxe Edition will be limited to 1,450 units, which will come packaged in a collectors slipcase, with vinyl releases of Little Earthquakes and the previously unavailable vinyl picture disc of Little Earthquakes: The B Sides, as well as 12"x12" art prints by Comic Book Tattoo contributors Jason Levesque, KAKO, and David Mack.

The Platinum Artists Edition is limited 500 copies, and includes the signed and numbered oversized 12"x12" graphic novel with a foil embossed hardcover, the vinyl album of Little Earthquakes and the exclusive B-Sides picture disc vinyl, prints by Jason Levesque and KAKO, and a print of the cover signed by David Mack and Tori Amos, and a sketchbook/diary, contained in a die-cut clamshell collectors box that echoes the wooden crate that is synonymous with the cover of this album. There will not be a second pressing of the limited picture disc vinyl of Little Earthquakes: The B-Sides that is available with the Deluxe and Platinum editions.