Scott Ian Is a Comic Book Hero

"Comics never became uncool for me – I'm still a comics nerd!" Scott Ian admits to Noisecreep.

Ian, best known as the guitarist for thrash metal band Anthrax, just took on a new gig. He'll be writing a special miniseries for DC Comics called 'Lobo: Highway to Hell.' Ian threw himself into his work, personally writing the entire two-comic set. Sam Kieth provides the illustrations.

For Ian, the jump from metal legend to comic writer makes perfect sense. "I've been into comics and hard rock and heavy metal my whole life. I literally started reading comics when I was four years old because I had an uncle who was 10 years older than me ... and he had this crazy comic collection. When I was like seven or eight and my uncle was 17, he gave me his comic collection. That was the coolest thing ever."

It took Ian about a month to pick a character from the DC stable. He had free reign, but knew he wasn't ready for Batman just yet. "They [DC Comics] were not going to give me an A list character and say, 'Go reinvent Batman,'" explains Ian. "Maybe someday I'll get a chance to do that. At this point, I felt Lobo was a character I could do anything with, and I was correct."

In truth, Ian has a lot of interests outside both music and comics. He's a well-known poker player and food expert. Still, the chance to write a comic really meant achieving a life-long dream. "I've said for years that when I'm asked the question 'If you weren't in a band, what would you be doing?' I would say 'I hope I would be writing comics.' Now I have the opportunity to do that."

The special Scott Ian-penned Lobo comics will be out this November.