Salvētē ––

In this Eel, we come bearing gifs and good tidings:

MCD/FSG, renowned publisher of heroes both ancient and modern, is honored to announce the publication of perhaps its most revelatory and inspiring book yet: The Book of Darryl, a heretofore unheralded early chapter of the greatest story ever told.

Darryl was bandmate to the messiah before he was the Messiah—as revealed in these pages, Darryl was the founder of the early first century Nazarene hard rock sensation Iron Messiah, the band that would notoriously propel its lead singer (and Darryl’s neighbor) to forty days and forty nights in the desert…and well beyond.

Darryl’s lost gospel sheds shocking new light on the teenager he knew simply as “Jay”—including, not least, an inside account of the invention of Heavy Metal. Indeed, long before the famous loaves and fishes and the ballyhooed encounters with money lenders—and indeed, long before Black Sabbath and Judas Priest—there were immodest quantities of hairspray in the sand, naïvely unholy power chords, and perhaps, it must be said, sympathy for the devil.

But while The Book of Darryl is unquestionably an invaluable document for its otherwordly riffs alone, its pages also contain a veritable power ballad of unexpected sweetness, tender heartbreak, iconic beauty, and a kind of animation this oft-told story has never yet revealed. To paraphrase the immortal words of Nigel Tufnel, How much more metal could it be? None more metal.

Resurrected by leading Darryl scholars and storytelling pioneers The Goggles and Matthew Bate, MCD’s special edition of The Book of Darryl is illuminated by the world-famous GIF artist Scorpion Dagger, with images that come to life—via augmented reality app Artivive—accompanied by a sweet heavy metal score by Ryan Battistuzzi — volume ON for videos!

The Book of Darryl project also includes the preservation of Darryl’s ancient website, https://thebookofdarryl.com/#stuff, and the reinvigoration of his Instagram feed and GIF archive. You can listen to some of his sick tunes on Bandcamp. And there’s t-shirts…

Below, some shocking images from the Darryl archives.

Peace be with you, The Electric Eel