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Def Leppard's HYSTERIA

Colorist Fabi Marques / Illustrated by Alex Schlitz / Letterer Jim Campbell
Published by Headshell
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

We Sold Our Souls meets a Josie and the Pussycats-from-hell in Def Leppard’s HYSTERIA, the graphic novel, a supernatural thriller that tells the tale of the world’s most dangerous guitar!

Worship at the altar of the almighty Guitar.
It wants your love.
It craves your blood.
It desires YOU.

A struggling band is gifted with a magical guitar that rockets them to success, but when it’s stolen they’ll stop at nothing to get it back.

When Foz, the frontwoman of indie band Darkside, inherits her father's estate, it comes with a guitar she half-remembers from her childhood. The guitar speaks to her, promising fame and success. Soon, it delivers. But when Darkside’s equipment is stolen at a massive music venue, just before they’re set to take the stage with Def Leppard, Foz goes on the warpath to get it back. A knuckle-dusting rampage ensues, and the guitar's true history is revealed.

Written by Phil Collen (Def Leppard) and Eliot Rahal (Bleed Them Dry), and illustrated by Alex Schlitz, Def Leppard's HYSTERIA is a musically immersive experience, featuring never-before-heard music from Darkside (written by Phil Collen), appearances by Def Leppard, loads of rock n’ roll easter eggs, and the tale of the guitar that’s destroyed many bands.

Def Leppard's HYSTERIA explores fame, addiction, gender dynamics, silencing of female voices, mistreatment of women, female empowerment, rage, and descent into madness.

For fans who are fascinated by Faustian bargains for fame with music’s mysterious and legendary artists – and curses: Blue guitarist Robert Johnson (and his song Crossroads), violinist Niccolo Paganini, Giuseppe Tartini’s Devil’s Trill Sonata, the Gloomy Sunday curse, the “Curse of the Ninth,” Jelly Roll Morton, the many members of the 27 Club, and even poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (To a Lady, With a Guitar), as well as the books We Sold Our Souls (Grady Hendrix), The Wicked + The Divine (Kieron Gillen), Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You (Scotto Moore), The Armageddon Rag (George R.R. Martin), Murder Falcon (Daniel Warren Johnson), Wylding Hall (Elizabeth Hand), Signal to Noise (Silvia Moreno-Garcia), Blue in Green (Ram V), The Ballad of Black Tom (Victor LaValle), Phonogram (Kieron Gillen), Machine Gun Kelly's Hotel Diablo (Eliot Rahal, Machine Gun Kelly, Ryan Cody), the classic The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman), Daisy Jones & The Six (novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid and miniseries), A Song for Quiet (Cassandra Khaw), Violin (Anne Rice), The Vampire Lestat (Anne Rice), and the films Streets of Fire, Green Room, Lords of Chaos, Nocturne, and the classic 80s rock/shock movie Trick or Treat.

Would you sell your soul for rock n’ roll? Pick up Def Leppard's HYSTERIA and find out.

CHECK OUT OTHER HEADSHELL TITLES FROM VAULT:
DYING INSIDE (Pete Wentz, Hannah Klein, Lisa Sterle) – TPB in stores September 17, 2024
DEATHSTALKER: The Damned Blood (Slash, Tim Seeley, Jim Terry, Steven Kostanski) – TPB in stores October 8, 2024
MUDDY WATERS TOO (Redman, Ben Katzner, Geo Gant) - TPB in stores June 10, 2025

About The Authors

Phil Collen is the co-lead guitarist of Def Leppard, together with Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Vivian Campbell, and Rick Allen. Def Leppard’s career includes numerous ground-breaking multi-platinum albums—including two of the best-selling albums of all time, Pyromania and Hysteria. Phil has loved comic books since childhood.

With more than 110 million albums sold worldwide and two prestigious Diamond Awards in the U.S., 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame® inductees Def Leppard - Joe Elliott (vocals), Phil Collen (guitar), Rick Savage (bass), Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Rick Allen (drums) — continue to be one of the most important forces in rock music. Over the course of their career the band has produced a series of classic ground-breaking albums that set the bar for generations of music fans and artists alike. The group’s spectacular live shows and arsenal of hits have become synonymous with their name, leading Def Leppard to be heralded as the world’s greatest live rock band. Def Leppard’s influential career includes numerous hit singles and ground-breaking multi-platinum albums—including two of the best-selling albums of all time, Pyromania and Hysteria, capturing the group’s legendary tracks, bringing together classic Leppard hits such as “Rock of Ages,” “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Foolin.” For the first time, in January 2018 Def Leppard debuted their full recording catalog worldwide via streaming and download platforms. As they did with the original release of their records, Def Leppard dominated the worldwide charts again, which found their albums charting in the iTunes Top 10 in more than 30 countries, including Hysteria at #3 in the US, and #5 in the UK. Def Leppard also had the #1, #2 and #3 records on the US catalog albums chart. The band have gone on to amass a staggering 6 billion streams since 2018, reaching a younger 18-44 demographic that now represents 58% of their fanbase. Additionally, the band have garnered an impressive 15 million followers across their social media platforms.

Eliot Rahal is a comics/writer and creator best known for his work on BLEED THEM DRY (Vault Comics), HOT LUNCH SPECIAL, MIDNIGHT VISTA and CULT CLASSIC (Vault Comics).

About The Illustrator

Alex Schlitz is a comic artist, illustrator and animator from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her work has been featured in independent comic anthologies YULE: Dreadful Tales for the Holiday Season and Sagas of the Shield Maiden Vol. 2.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Headshell (May 14, 2025)
  • Length: 192 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781638492382

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