Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello Launches New Comic Book ‘Orchid’

Tom Morello has often been called 'The Mad Scientist of Rock' for the innovative and unusual sounds that come out of his guitar. Now the Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave axeman looks to make his mark in an entirely new medium; the world of comics.

Wednesday night at the San Diego Comic Con, Tom Morello announced that he would be working with Dark Horse Publishing to bring a new comic book called 'Orchid' to stores in the fall. The story centers on Orchid, a 16 year old prostitute who discovers a higher calling. The narrative is set in a dystopian future where the rich literally eat the poor, I'm guessing Orchid sets out to 'Take the Power Back'. Each issue will come with an original track written by Morello that will serve as the soundtrack.

Morello recently told i09.com how he came to the idea of jumping into comics:

"I had the idea about Orchid three years ago...I collected comics as a kid, but when I picked up the guitar I put comics down. I found that comics have grown up a lot since I left them, and that any political or emotional subject matter that you can do in literature, film, or music is now fair game for comics. I tapped into my comic history and said, "Let's do that." Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance and The Umbrella Academy introduced me to my new Dark Horse family, and it's been a great relationship."

Tom also made it clear that this isn't one of those 'George Foreman Grill' situations where he slaps his name on a product and gets cut a hefty check:

"I am the creator and writer of this, it's not farmed out. Each issue will contain a musical score as well. You get free music with each issue that comes out that will be a complete and comprehensive score by the end of the arc. In the graphic novel medium, you can be completely uncompromising in content. I'm wholly invested in this, I want this to go toe-to-toe with my work with Rage and The Nightwatchmen."

Very ambitious goals, but I expect nothing less from the Harvard grad and rock legend. You can get your hands on the first issue of 'Orchid' when it hits shelves October 12th.