Considering that Dethklok is the biggest and most important band in the universe, my question is why it's taken so long for a Metalocalypse comic book series to get off the ground. Originally, it was just the Dethklok vs. The Goon one-shot from Dark Horse Comics. That came about because The Goon creator Eric Powell is a huge fan of the show.

From there, though, Dark Horse got with series co-creator Brendon Small and have developed a full publishing program around the Metalocalypse brand. They even got artists and writers from the show to collaborate with the Dark Horse team on whatever's going to come down the pipe.

First of all, some Adult Swim news:

The first Brak Show webisode is now online. Go watch it.

Also, some cool news for Metalocalypse fans: a brand new Dethklok album will be released on September 25, followed by the release of the first season DVD one week later. Before all of that, however, a brand new 2nd season, with that fresh "2nd season smell" will hit Adult Swim one week before the CD release. NOTE: Thanks to Holly for pointing out that this information changed since I first posted this.

Finally, you can bid on a tour of the Robot Chicken studio. Seth Green himself will be your tour guide.

Here's some cool animation news from the past week or so:

First, if you dig the heavy metal sounds of Dethklok, the brutal (but rather stupid) band from the Adult Swim series Metalocalypse, you'll be happy to know the band is doing a tour of some college campuses, according to Toon Zone and Adult Swim HQ. I'll keep you posted as more information becomes available. Other yet-to-be-announced bands will also be touring to promote Adult Swim.

The first season of Metalocalypse, which finished off last week, will be available on DVD in the summer of 2007, according to DethKlok's lead singer Nathan Explosion (each of the band members have their own MySpace). The message was sent as a bulletin to members of the site, but you can check it out in the Toon Zone forums, also.

The message also teases that there may be a second season of the series, telling fans to pay close attention to the last line of the season's last episode. Since that line was something like, "The Metalocalypse has begun" I'm going to say that's a pretty good sign we'll be seeing more of the brutal but not-especially-bright boys of DethKlok in the future.

Also, a full-length DethKlok album will be available this summer. The CD will include complete songs featured in the show, as well as some new stuff. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for new information on both of these releases as more pops up. ROCK.

(S01E01) "By the power of all that is evil I command you to awaken and make me a sandwich!"

This is an early review courtesy of Adult Swim Fix.

Are you metal? I don't mean are you made of a durable alloy of some sort, I mean do you RAWK* in every conceivable way that one can RAWK? I think I used to be slightly metal, but my frail body couldn't take it so I had to give it up for folk music. Sad, really.

Anyway, Dethklok is a death metal band of mythical proportions, a group of five musicians who so embody everything that is metal they're unable to really function in any other capacity. They're the idiot savants of metal, which is just fine because their worldwide fan base has made them worth billions of dollars. In the premiere episode, over 300,000 fans gather at the Arctic Circle to hear one song from the band, a jingle they've written for a coffee commercial. Lead singer Nathan Explosion insists the band has not sold out, and that they will not only make coffee metal, they'll make EVERYTHING metal. Encased inside a gigantic cube, the band parachutes from their restaurant/helicopter, missing their target and smashing several people in the process. Then the cube opens its spiked doors to reveal the stage, also killing more people. During the song large pots of coffee are poured onto audience members, burning the skin off their bones. This is why all fans are forced to sign "pain waivers" before entering a Dethklok concert.