S. Samuel
Grammy-winning rapper Eminem has officially joined forces with Marvel Comics for a two-part comic book alongside fictional anti-hero The Punisher.
Marvel Entertainment rep Michael Pasciullo recently described working with Em and how the rapper was on top of his comic book knowledge.
“We thought he might want to do something as Wolverine since the movie is coming out right now, or maybe Spider-Man or one of the classic big names, and we were pleasantly surprised when he said he wanted to do a story with The Punisher,” Pasciullo explained. “He’s a true fan, and it showed throughout the process…He also requested that the villain be Barracuda, and that’s when we knew we were dealing with a real fan. How many people know Barracuda? I think this was really fun for him, and I know it was fun for us.” (Los Angeles Times)
The two-part comic series will begin with Em’s XXL Magazine cover issue which drops this week.
The first part of the team-up story “Kill You” appears in the June issue of XXL, which is available with two different covers and hits the street on May 5. That same day, part two of the story will be posted as a digital comic book at www.marvel.com/eminem. (Marvel)
Em recently spoke on a mixture of topics including his stance on today’s popular rappers.
“I stayed up on the music,” he said in the interview. “And without naming any name, it just felt like hip-hop was going downhill…But with this new T.I. album, with this new Lil Wayne album of recent, it seems like things are looking a lot better now. You can appreciate Lil Wayne using different words to rhyme and actually rhyming words that you know. Or T.I., where you hear sh*t and you’re like Whoa, ah, I wish I would have thought of that! You know what I mean? Or you hear all the compound-syllable rhyming and all that. It just seems like now the craft is getting cared about more.” (XXL Magazine)
The rapper recently made history with the premiere of his music video “3 a.m.” on Cinemax last weekend.
Following his previous music video, “We Made You,” the rapper’s latest features Em’s protagonist staying in-tune to the song’s lyrics as he sits alone at night in the woods recalling a likely murder spree he took part in. Appearing shirtless and with bandages, his character slowly begins to remember how he got there thinking back to each victim he killed upon leaving the fictional rehab-based facility Popsomp Hills. All taking place at night, much like most horror films, Em’s video uses dark settings to enhance the ‘scary’ factor while using massive amounts of blood and a before/after effect of how each victim was slain. Similar to his violent-based rhymes from The Marshall Mathers LP, Em’s new video did not feature any main cameos unlike 50 Cent and Dr. Dre‘s presence in “We Made You.” (OnSmash)
Relapse is scheduled to hit stores Tuesday, May 19th via Interscope Records.
