Z2 Comics

Z2 Comics is an American publisher of graphic novels, comic books, and popular culture merchandise. Known for its music-related projects and partnership with musical acts, the company uses "a data-driven approach to identify acts with strong followings across all musical genres, then recruits ... comics creators to produce the works."

Zip Comics
The company began as Zip Comics, founded in 2010 by Josh Frankel with financing from an investor. The company's first publications were Frankel's own title, The Schizophrenic, illustrated by Toby Cypress; and Harvey Pekar's Cleveland, a nonfiction graphic novel written by Pekar and illustrated by Joseph Remnant; the book was co-published with Top Shelf Productions and released after Pekar's death.

Relaunch as Z2 Comics
The company was relaunched in 2014 as Z2 Comics, with its first two titles being graphic novel collections from alternative comics creators Dean Haspiel and Paul Pope. In the period 2015–2016, Z2 released a couple of other graphic novels and a selection of comic book limited series.

In 2015, Frankel brought filmmaker Sridhar Reddy on board and formed Modern Prometheus, a division of the publisher designed to adapt comics to film and television. Ian McGinty's Welcome to Showside was one of the first Z2 projects targeted for this treatment.

Shift to music
In 2016, Z2 Comics "began collaborating with musicians to create graphic novels centered on unique stories and exclusive music." The first two such projects, published by Z2 in 2017, were The Wonderful World of Perfecto: With Paul Oakenfold and Friends, and Murder Ballads, which was accompanied by an original soundtrack by Dan Auerbach and Robert Finley. 2018's Apocrypha: The Legend of Babymetal is one of the company's best-selling books.

Z2's Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes, The Graphic Album was nominated for three 2023 Eisner Awards: Best Short Story for "Silent All These Years" by David W. Mack, Best Anthology, and Best Adaptation from Another Medium.

In the fall of 2022, company founder Josh Frankel left Z2, eventually joining IDW Publishing. By this time, the company had grown from three employees to 30.

Overview
Z2 Comics specializes in authorized partnerships. Musicians with whom Z2 Comics has worked include Gorillaz, Self Defense Family, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, DJ Paul Oakenfold, Tori Amos, John Cooper of Skillet, Andy Biersack of Black Veil Brides, Jimmy Eat World, Machine Gun Kelly, Yungblud, Oliver Tree, and BABYMETAL.

Many Z2 Comics graphic novels (or anthologies of stories) are accompanied by an original "soundtrack" by the artist/band in question. Examples include Murder Ballads (Dan Auerbach and Robert Finley, 2017), Genesis 1 (Poppy, 2019), Chasin' the Bird: A Charlie Parker Graphic Novel (2020; the deluxe edition of which was packaged with vinyl recordings of two previously unreleased Parker tracks), This is Where We Fall (Mitski, 2021), and Superstate (Graham Coxon, 2022).

Other projects use classic recordings as springboards for comics anthologies. Examples include Anthrax: Among the Living (2021), The Doors: Morrison Hotel (2021), Machine Gun Kelly's Hotel Diablo (2021), Little Earthquakes, The Graphic Album (Tori Amos, 2022), Blondie: Against the Odds (2022), King Diamond's Abigail (2022), Joan Jett & the Blackhearts 40x40: Bad Reputation / I Love Rock-n-Roll (2022), Jefferson Starship: Blows Against the Empire (Paul Kantner, 2022) (which included a limited edition Blows Against The Empire LP on colored vinyl), and The Illustrated Al: The Songs of "Weird Al" Yankovic (2023).

In addition to distributing its products through the typical book and graphic novel platforms, Z2 also utilizes a robust direct-to-consumer system via its website. Many Z2 Comics projects include standard and deluxe editions.

Comics series

 * Free Comic Book Day:
 * — contributions from Tyler Boss, Jarrett Williams, Ian McGinty, Chris Hunt, Alexis Ziritt, Michael Moreci, Matt Battaglia, Miss Lasko-Gross, and Kevin Colden
 * — creator-owned series
 * — creator-owned series
 * — creator-owned series
 * — creator-owned series
 * — creator-owned series

General graphic novels

 * ISBN 978-1940878010
 * ISBN 978-1940878027
 * ISBN 978-1603090919 — co-published with Top Shelf Productions
 * ISBN 978-1940878003 — reissue of a 1999 self-published work
 * ISBN 978-1940878058 — originally a webcomic; loosely based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s existential play No Exit
 * ISBN 978-1940878089
 * ISBN 9781940878126

Music-related titles (selected)

 * — art by Takashi Okazaki, Vasilis Lolos, Rosi Kampe, Rufus Dayglo and Josan González
 * — illustrated by Koren Shadmi
 * — illustrated by Scott Tuft
 * — illustrated by Audrey Mok, Logan Faerber, Hayden Sherman, Alex Diotto, Bill Masuku, Robert Ahmad, and Julianne Griepp
 * — deluxe edition packaged with vinyl recordings of two previously unreleased Parker tracks
 * — illustrated by Chris Hunt
 * — illustrated by Chris Hunt
 * — 15 stories featuring the work of 15 artists accompanied by an original album soundtrack of 15 new songs from Graham Coxon
 * — 24 stories inspired by the 12 songs on the album, as well as the 12 B-sides that accompanied the album and its associated singles; contributors include Tori Amos, Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Marc Andreyko, Annie Zaleski, Derek McCulloch, Leah Moore, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Neil Kleid, Lar DeSouza, Colleen Doran, and David W. Mack
 * — illustrated by G. Romero-Johnson; deluxe and super deluxe editions include a limited edition Blows Against The Empire LP on colored vinyl.
 * — illustrated by Martin Morazzo, Victor Ibañez, Nelson Blake II, Amilcar Pinna, Rachel Smart, and Roberta Ingranata
 * — collaboration with Self Defense Family, illustrated by Goran Gligovic
 * — illustrated by Steve Kurth
 * — art by Noah Van Sciver
 * — sci-fi western graphic novel illustrated by Vincent Kings; comes with a soundtrack by Mitski
 * — illustrated by Michael Shelfer
 * — celebrating the 40th anniversaries of Joan Jett's first two albums, Bad Reputation and I Love Rock & Roll, bringing Jett's "songs to life as 20 vivid stories" by female writers and artists
 * — artwork by Chris Hunt, Tyler Boss, Ian McGinty, and Koren Shadmi
 * — illustrated by Jen Hickman, Goran Gligovic, Ian McGinty, and Derek Jones
 * — illustrated by MinoMiyabi and Derek Jones
 * — contributors include Howard A. Rodman, David Barnett, Richard Kadrey, and J. H. Williams III
 * — art by Masa Minoura and Ian McGinty; bundled with Poppy's I C U: Music to Read To, an ambient music album meant to be listened to while reading
 * — illustrated by GMB Chomichuk
 * — celebration of Anthrax's 40th anniversary with stories inspired by songs from Among the Living; contributors include Corey Taylor, Grant Morrison, Brian Posehn, Gerard and Mikey Way, Rob Zombie, Brian Azzarello, Jimmy Palmiotti and Rick Remender
 * — illustrated by Paul Reinwand and Chris Hunt; accompanied by an original soundtrack by Dan Auerbach and Robert Finley
 * — illustrated by Orpheus Collar
 * — illustrated by Damien Worm
 * — takes twenty of "Weird Al" Yankovic's songs and illustrates them in comic form, each by different artists. Contributors include Drew Friedman, Mike & Laura Allred, Emo Philips, Sam Viviano, Danny Hellman, Aaron Augenblick, Peter Bagge, Bill Plympton, Gideon Kendall, Michael Kupperman, Ruben Bolling, Robert Sikoryak, Fred Harper, Bob Fingerman, and Hilary Barta. Yankovic selected artists for the book based on past experience in working with the artists, but short of proofing the final work, was otherwise hands-off for various editorial choices.
 * — illustrated by Damien Worm
 * — takes twenty of "Weird Al" Yankovic's songs and illustrates them in comic form, each by different artists. Contributors include Drew Friedman, Mike & Laura Allred, Emo Philips, Sam Viviano, Danny Hellman, Aaron Augenblick, Peter Bagge, Bill Plympton, Gideon Kendall, Michael Kupperman, Ruben Bolling, Robert Sikoryak, Fred Harper, Bob Fingerman, and Hilary Barta. Yankovic selected artists for the book based on past experience in working with the artists, but short of proofing the final work, was otherwise hands-off for various editorial choices.