Are you ready for the totally true, totally hilarious, and totally terrifying tale of Witch Taint? In May, Oni Press tells the tale of Dave Hill’s viral Internet hoax in comic book form in the pages of Dark Regards.
Two decades ago, Dave Hill and his first band set out to rock their high school auditorium in a fury of heavy metal hellfire. They failed miserably. Years later, Dave has made a new life for himself as a rising star in the New York comedy scene – a career where getting laughed at on stage is the entire point and not just a tragic consequence. But when Dave’s metal ambitions are re-awakened by the über self-serious, “Satanic” genre of Norwegian black metal, Dave creates a ridiculously hyperbolic alter ego and a band to match that, together, reignite the spark of his forgotten rock ‘n roll fantasy. But when Dave’s internet-fueled rumors of Witch Taint – a metal band “so extreme that you must remove all sharp objects from the immediate area” when their music is played – spreads all the way to Europe, his story will spiral dangerously out of control as Norway’s most extreme black metal butchers come to reap their revenge . . . and put everything and everyone Dave holds dear in the crosshairs (of their axes, which, truth be told, don’t actually have crosshairs, but, hey, it’s a metaphor).
“Like all the best black metal bands, Witch Taint existed entirely in my mind at first, mostly because I didn’t think anyone could handle it,” said Dave Hill in a press release. “But it could not be contained. And now the mighty Witch Taint has no choice but to destroy the universe. Or at least the suburbs.”
Joining Hill is Artyom Topilin on art.
Dark Regards #1 arrives on May 13, 2025.
