For forty years, Heavy Metal has been the leading anthology of science fiction and fantasy, breaking new talent, and providing a platform for legends in comics and genre to push the boundaries of visual storytelling. This tradition continues in The 49TH Key, an original story from Erika Lewis and artist J.K. Woodward, which premiered in the pages of the historic magazine in 2015. Now, upon today’s release of this anticipated graphic novel in comic shops, the book is sold out at Diamond Comic Distributors!
49th Key is based on the 16th century legend of Enochian magic, which tells of a secret language of angels. The first chapter in an expansive fantasy series tells of a rogue archeologist and a young mute boy on a treacherous journey through England to bring the boy home. The boy turns out to be the key to a gateway between our world and that of Enochia, a magical society that exists below the Earth’s surface, filled with fantasy creatures and highly advanced humans.
“Heavy Metal has always been about unique and imaginative worlds. Erika Lewis and JK Woodward’s vision for Enochia is a perfect continuation of that tradition” said Heavy Metal’s Jeff Krelitz. “I couldn’t be more excited for this story to be the first to be collected in the modern era of the brand, and am thrilled retailers supported it with such strong orders.”
“The script offers a journey of twists, turns and revelations that take the reader through multiple and fantastic settings. It was visually a thrill to paint and challenged me artistically like no other project. I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of this” says artist J.K. Woodward
“A simple visit to the British Museum sparked an idea. While living in London, the story started to come together. And with J.K. Woodward’s incredible talent, it now comes to life” says writer Erika Lewis.
Erika Lewis and J.K. Woodward’s The 49TH Key is a beautifully painted 120 page original graphic novel, which was initially serialized in Heavy Metal Magazine from 2015-2016. With 12 never-before-seen pages, signed and limited first printings of this collected edition are ONLY available in your local comic shop, while supplies last. The title will release in limited quantities in finer bookstores everywhere on Decemeber 19. Details on second printing are forthcoming.
Erika Lewis graduated from Vanderbilt University and went on to earn an Advanced Certificate in Creative Writing from Stony Brook University. In addition to a successful career in television, Lewis is the author of the recently released Game of Shadows from Tor Books, Firebrand and Cursed fr
J.K. Woodward started his professional comics career in 2003 and went on to work on several titles for IDW, BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse, Archaia and Marvel. He’s worked on such titles as X-Men Origins:Beast, Star Trek, Doctor Who,Peter David’s Fallen Angel, Mars Attacks and more. He currently illustrates Peter David’s Fallen Angel as a reoccurring miniseries for IDW as well as various cover and sequential work for multiple publications. His most current projects include illustration for the Star Trek/Doctor Who, 8-issue mini series, Assimilation2, Star Trek: City on the Edge of Forever, the Harlan Ellison original Teleplay and the latest Star Trek mini series, Star Trek The Next Generation: Mirror Broken, written by Scott and Dave Tipton.
