System Of A Down's John Dolmayan On New Comic "Dead Samurai" & More - "Paltrocast" Exclusive

Photo byJohn Dolmayan

John Dolmayan has always had a passion for acquiring and collecting rare comics, a hobby that began long before he joined GRAMMY Award-winning and multiplatinum rock band System Of A Down.

As a child, Dolmayan would reportedly utilize his $5.00 per week allowance to purchase new issues of his favorite series, and in time, eventually began selling off back issues via newspaper ads and at conventions. After a few years of honing his entrepreneurial skills, Dolmayan was making more money selling comics than he was working at “real” jobs.

Dolmayan took a step back from the comic world when he joined System Of A Down in 1997, although he never gave up collecting. Touring with the band allowed him to explore comic book stores, shops, and antique treasures all around the world, looking for vintage, high-end titles that were not readily available. During rare breaks from the road, he would return to conventions to continue selling his finds.

Those pop-ups eventually led to the launch of Torpedo Comics in 2003, Dolmayan’s first brick-and-mortar comic book shop, in Las Vegas. It has since expanded into three more stores located throughout Southern California, all specializing in rare and hard-to-find titles.

Dolmayan has taken his love for comics even further by creating and authoring his own series. His first body of work, Ascencia, is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller set 150 years in the future that explores the question: how far will human civilization go to attain immortality?

This week, he will be releasing the first issue of his new series, Dead Samurai, which is a zombie thriller set in 16th century feudal Japan. The release -- out via Diamond Distribution -- features cover art by Bill Sienkiewicz (New Mutants, Moon Knight, Elektra: Assassin) and illustration by Ryan Benjamin (Star Wars, Iron Man, Batman, Wonder Woman), with variant covers by Jim Lee (President, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics), Art Adams (Fantastic Four, Hulk, Ultimate Comics: X, The Rocketeer), Frank Miller (Sin City, Daredevil, The Dark Knight Returns), Frank Cho (Ultimate Spiderman, Avengers vs. X-Men, Hellboy) and more.

John Dolmayan – who continues to fire on all cylinders in his business, as well as in System Of A Down – spoke with the Paltrocast again, as embedded above and set to air via the Long Beach, New York-based Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz television series; our 2020 conversation is embedded below. More on Dolmayan and Dead Samurai can be found onlne by clicking here.