The Scrolls Of FAITH NO MORE | An Epic Journey Through FNM's History

A new trilogy of Faith No More comic books is now available to own.
Written by Hungarian writer Ákos Dudich, a translator, music journalist and the co-owner of the Konkrét Könyvek publishing house and illustrated by Gergely Oravecz also from Hungary. 
The author has translated several rock music biographies, including: Anthony Kiedis, Iggy Pop, Queens of the Stone Age, Rage Against The Machine, Rex Brown, Max Cavalera, Scott Ian and others. In 2011, Dudich received his first book offer and has since written three publications about Hungarian bands, namely the Galloping Coroners, Anima Sound System and Undertaking. 

The FNM scrolls are three comic books that cover the history of the band in great detail from their inception to present day. The first volume is about the birth of the band and the Chuck Mosley-era, while the second depicts the Mike Patton-era until the band's break-up and the third is still in the writing stages. Bill Gould revised the books, so they are a biographical version of FNM's career.

We spoke to Ákos to discover more on how they were written.


When did you first discover FNM?

Back in early 1990, I was watching MTV when suddenly the song Epic burst onto the TV and the insane videoclip immediately caught my attention. I was only 15 years old at that time, but already into punk and metal, I was easily seduced by this new kind of music which incorporated both genres (and a lot more). A couple of years later, I saw the band perform live in Budapest, on the eve of my high school graduation date, May 31, 1993. This show had such an effect on me I was hysterically giddy all the way home; People passing by must have been convinced I was a nutcase! The show occurred just a few months before Jim Martin quit. To date, I still consider it to be one of my best concert experiences ever, and is the reason why we deliberately referenced it in the comic book. Ever since that first show, I made it a goal to attend as many of the band's performances as I possibly could.


What is about their music/story that inspired you to create a series of comic books?

I believe this strong connection I feel toward the band has inspired me a lot. But to be more specific, the members’ appearances, their style, stage persona, and the wild things happening around the band, all cried for a comic book. We did not want to invent anything, it is far from fiction – reality is entertaining enough. Billy Gould himself was impressed how we captured their personalities and recreated some of the situations they experienced. This is a testimony to the talent of the artist, Gergely Oravecz. So this is much more a biographical version of FNM's life than simply a random creation of our imagination.


How did you research the story for the books?

I bought all the books I could find that pertained to FNM and Mike Patton, and gathered a bunch of the information from the internet. I cross-checked each source and did my best to eliminate all the fake stories, which was not easy given the fact that the band themselves liked to talk a lot of shit to the press. But the most important source was Billy Gould himself, to whom we sent the first 'scroll' before publishing it. We did not want to release the story without the band first knowing about the project. This was a 'trial and error' kinda thing, we had no idea what his reaction would be. At first, I was merely hoping for a green light, however, Bill liked the art so much and was amazed by some of the details I dug up about the band, that he ultimately decided to help us with the actual script. So he gave us further insight, and thanks to him, we were able to provide more accurate telling of the band’s story by rephrasing some of the dialogue and even discarding or editing a few panels. In the case of 'Scroll 2', I asked Bill to revise the story-line before producing any of the artwork. So this second time around we had to make fewer changes. He even told us stories that were nowhere to be found on any forum about FNM; I can’t tell you how grateful we are to have received his help.


How long have you been working on the books?

Until now, we have worked intensively for about a year and a half. But long before, I started with the research during my spare-time. And we still have one last „scroll” to make: the hiatus of the band and their comeback.


Will we see all the band’s major notorious major events unfold in the story?

Sure! Chuck’s fistfights, Mike turning into a shit terrorist, the feud with Anthony Kiedis, the clash with Axl Rose, the Montreal riot, the fall out of Jim Martin, and all the many highs and lows of the band. The reader will also encounter many other stars in the comic, including James Hetfield, Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted, Ozzy Osbourne, Axl Rose, Slash, Everlast, Rick Rubin, and more.


Ákos has kindly let us post some of pages from the books.

 

 

 

You can read more about the the author HERE.

https://dudichakos.com/impresszum/about-akos-dudich/

And the offical website for the new comic books HERE.

https://www.thescrollsoffaithnomore.com/