The Last Temptation

The Last Temptation is an album by the famous rock star, Alice Cooper. It was released about 1995 or so, I think, and has some very cool tunes on it. It was released in parallel with a comic book series by Neil Gaiman, and AFAIK the songs are supposed to parallel the story in some way.

One of the more bizzare rumors I've heard about this album is that it shows Alice Cooper's conversion to Christ. Many of the lyrics to the songs do seem to have some Christian influence, but having heard very little of his ouvre, I'm not sure if that's a big change. But I can see where people might get that idea &emdash; quite a few of the songs mention renouncing the Devil.

Of course, you should make up your own mind.

Here is a little bit more information on The Last Temptation comic series.

First, the details:

The Last Tempation is written by Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Signal to Noise, Neverwhere, Stardust, Smoke and Mirrors) and illustrated by Michael Zulli (The Sandman, The Dreaming). It was published originally in 1994-95, and reissued by Dark Horse Comics as a graphic novel in 2000.

Next, a bit of the story:

Neil Gaiman was asked by Bob Pfeifer of Epic Records to help produce a series of comics to parallel The Last Temptation album release. Alice had previously been the star of his own Marvel comic, but the vision for The Last Temptation was somewhat different. After meeting Cooper and agreeing to the project, Gaiman contacted one of his favourite artits, Micahel Zuuli, and asked to help him. He agreed. Next to join the project was award winning letterer Todd Klein.

Now, a bit about the comic itself:

Alice Cooper did not really play himself in The Last Temptation, and by that I mean that it is not about a musician. The primary link is merely visual: the antagonist (who remains unnamed) is a brilliant and chilling visage of Cooper himself. The complete story consists of three comics:

Act One: Bad Place Alone
Act Two: Unholy War
Act Three: Cleansed by Fire

The story is one of a mysterious "ghost-theatre" with an ominous showman (Cooper) who draws a young boy (Steven) inside in an attempt to scare him into leaving his life behind and joining the cast of the show. When Steven refuses, a series of strange things begin happening, such as Cooper taking over the bodies of people around him, appearing in mirrors, and haunting his dreams with frightening (and brilliantly drawn) hallucinations. Steven attempts to find out what is going on, and eventually uncovers stories of a theatre that burnt down ages ago, and with that knowledge embarks upon the quest to rid himself of the evil that stalks his every move.

In Conclusion:

Good. Very Good. Any fan of Gaiman will no doubt love this work, as it is quite clear he had most if not all of the input as far as the story. The black and white art fits the mood perfectly, and while the story is slightly cliched in some ways, it has enough original elements to avoid becoming too corny.