“Weird Al” Yankovic to jump from funny songs to funny pages in upcoming graphic novel
The Illustrated Al: The Songs of “Weird Al” Yankovic will be written by Al and illustrated by a host of artists
Fans of both “Weird Al” Yankovic and comics have long kept their interests separate. While Al may give off the vibe that he’s a living cartoon, with his contortionist movements and a wild mane of curly hair, he is a three-dimensional figure—he even wrote a whole record about it. For too long, fans had to choose whether to read a comic book or watch a “Weird Al” video. Until now.
The Illustrated Al: The Songs of “Weird Al” Yankovic, an upcoming graphic novelization of more than 20 Al parodies, is coming to stores near you. The team illustrating Yankovic’s parody oeuvre is a murderer’s row of comics artists, including Michael Kupperman (The New Yorker), Bill Plympton (Your Face, Guard Dog), Aaron Augenblick (Superjail!), Peter Bagge (Hate), Steve Chanks (Revolver Magazine), Felipe Sobreiro (Death’s Head), Gideon Kendall (Megaghost), Danny Hellman (Legal Action Comics), and more. And if that’s not enough, Mr. Butterfingers himself, Emo Philips, wrote the forward.
The book is already available for pre-order and is expected to ship in November. It will be available in three versions: standard, deluxe, and super deluxe, with various goodies accompanying the deluxe editions. Deluxe versions also include oversized hardcover editions, collector’s cards, a vinyl shipmate—everything an Al fan could want.
Since releasing his final full-length album, Mandatory Funny, in 2014, Yankovic has been involved in several different projects, including becoming the Comedy Bang! Bang! TV show bandleader and the first guest editor of MAD Magazine. Both jobs no longer exist, so we suppose you can blame “Weird Al” for the demise of both the CBB TV series and Mad.
However, the most high-profile and puzzling of his mixed-media performance art pieces is Roku TV’s full-length biopic adaptation of a Funny Or Die sketch: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, starring Daniel Radcliffe. Thankfully, since it’s no longer a Quibi original, fans can watch Weird: The Al Yankovic Story on their TV. Hopefully, one day, we’ll be able to read that one too.