Earlier this year, Z2 Comics announced the coming 2020 arrival of a graphic novel focused on the origins of the Grateful Dead. On Monday, the comic book publisher announced that the forthcoming novel—titled Grateful Dead Origins, illustrated by Noah Van Sciver, and written by Chris Miskiewicz—will also feature an accompanying soundtrack curated by the Dead’s own archivist, David Lemieux.
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According to the announcement, the standard edition of the novel—which will be released on April 14th, 2020—will come with an exclusive download of 13 Grateful Dead recordings selected by Lemieux. The recordings chosen range from the band’s early years, and include “The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)” and “Morning Dew” (from Grateful Dead), “Viola Lee Blues” (from Road Trips 2/2/68), “That’s It For The Other One” (from Anthem Of The Sun), “China Cat Sunflower” and “Cosmic Charlie” (Aoxomoxoa), “Big Railroad Blues” (from Rare Cuts), and more.
Additionally, fans who purchase the graphic novel’s deluxe edition will also receive a vinyl LP containing previously-unreleased live performances of “Dark Star”, “St. Stephen”, “Death Don’t Have No Mercy”, and “The Eleven”. All four recordings were originally performed at the Fillmore West in San Francisco on August 21st, 1968. The Dead’s performance that night featured the first known West Coast rendition of “St. Stephen” along with the first known performance of its “William Tell Bridge”, which would go on to customarily connect “St. Stephen” to “The Eleven”.
The limited collector’s deluxe edition will come in a hardcover, oversized, individually-numbered coffee table edition featuring prints and autographed by the comic creators. The deluxe edition of Grateful Dead Origins is now available for pre-order here.