Steampunk.
I don’t think I’ve gotten a good handle on this particular pop-culture world or its increasing popularity over recent years. Still, I do love its visual aesthetic: Victorian era and/or ol’ West appeal, mashed with retro-future, steam-powered technology gizmos. Brass and metal. Gears and cogs.
In fact, Biff Bam Pop! has its own Steampunk representative, writer Marie Gilbert (the Steampunk Granny), who would do much better at describing the genre than I ever could.
Still, that doesn’t change the fact that I know something cool when I see it – and that cool thing comes out today…with a musical element you might not have expected.
Steampunk, meet famous Canadian prog rockers, Rush.
Today, let’s all meet Clockwork Angels.
Clockwork Angels #1
Written by: Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart
Illustrated by: Nick Robles
Published by: Boom Studios
Released in 2012, Clockwork Angels was the nineteenth full-length studio album by the rock band Rush. It won the award for Rock Album of the Year at the 2013 Juno Awards and I was lucky enough to see the tour alongside this site’s Editor-in-Chief, Andy B., in Hamilton, Ontario.
Clockwork Angels is a rocking album. But it was the live show that blew me away. Besides the musicianship, stage presence and performance of Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee and Neil Peart, the tour showcased snippets to the background story of the album: a steampunk fantasy world where the Watchmaker runs everything with clockwork precision.
Best selling sci-fi and fantasy author, Kevin J. Anderson, who also happens to be a long-time friend of Rush’s Neil Peart, wrote an acclaimed novelization of the Clockwork Angels album, released by ECW Press in 2012.
Well, isn’t it just like prog-rock to showcase this great story in the comic book medium? Within a 6-issue series, artist Nick Robles will lavishly illustrate the Clockwork Angels story. Here, you’ll journey to the world of Albion and meet the young Owen Hardy who has lived his whole life under the rule of The Watchmaker. Everything here, every aspect of life, has been planned to the exact second. So, what happens when Owen decides that not everything should go as planned?
Make a precision run to your local comic book shop today and pick up Clockwork Angels #1.
In the meantime, I’ll leave the video to The Wreckers, the third single off of Rush’s Clockwork Angels album, right here:
Every Wednesday, JP makes the after-work run to his local downtown comic book shop. Comics arrive on Wednesdays you see and JP, fearful that the latest issue will sell out, rushes out to purchase his copy. This regular, weekly column will highlight a particularly interesting release, written in short order, of course, because JP has to get his – before someone else does!
Excellent imagery and I do think you have the gist of what Steampunk is all about. If you’re ever down this way, I will have to take you to one of Dorian’s Events. Thank you JP for the heads-up on the new comic book release of Clockwork Angels