Forty years after its release, Somewhere in Time expands beyond the record format once again. Iron Maiden and Z2 have announced Somewhere in Time: The Graphic Album, a comic anthology that turns the eight tracks of the 1986 album into as many stories set within the sci-fi universe associated with the record. The release is scheduled for March 2, 2027.
The project is neither a band biography nor a mere commemorative art book. The idea is to use the songs, lyrics, atmospheres, and above all, the album’s visual identity as the starting point for standalone stories. Tying the volume together will be Eddie, Iron Maiden's mascot, in his cyberpunk incarnation: the armed, cybernetic character dominating the famous cover art by Derek Riggs.
That cover, with its nocturnal cityscape packed with neon signs, hidden details, and references to the band's history, has long been more than just artwork. It is a visual archive of Maiden lore, and the comic begins right there. The prologue and epilogue envision the events that might precede and follow the scene captured across the front and back of the record's original release, giving that snapshot a narrative before and after.
Eight songs, a team of creators
The anthology's structure follows the tracklist of Somewhere in Time, an album that marked a major shift in the band's sound in 1986. Without abandoning their heavy metal foundation, Iron Maiden introduced synthesizers and expanded their creative palette toward futuristic landscapes, time travel, isolation, and distant worlds. Tracks like “Wasted Years” and “Stranger in a Strange Land,” both penned by guitarist Adrian Smith, helped make the record one of the most distinctive chapters in the band's catalogue.
The framing story featuring Eddie will be written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and illustrated by Andy MacDonald. The rest of the volume features creators from the worlds of comics and cinema, including Steve Niles, Goran Parlov, Benjamin Raab, Deric Hughes, Matt Haley, Dan Hernandez, Adam Markiewicz, David Dastmalchian, Stan Yak, Corin Hardy, Montos, John Reppion, Leah Moore, Vincent Locke, Henry Sansom, and Davide Fabbri. The introduction is written by Bill Sienkiewicz, an artist who has previously worked with Bruce Dickinson.
The presence of creators with very different sensibilities suggests an anthology bound less by a single style than by a shared universe. It is a choice consistent with an album that, despite having a precise aesthetic direction, spans different registers: the nostalgia of “Wasted Years”, the desert and alienation of “Stranger in a Strange Land”, the adventurous dimension of “Alexander the Great”, and the more urban tension that the artwork cemented in the fans' imagination.
The book will also include an extensive conversation with Adrian Smith, conducted by Dave Shack of Phantom Music Management, dedicated to the writing and recording of the album. Smith described this version of Eddie as his favorite, highlighting the weight and menace conveyed by the character. It is a useful detail for understanding the purpose of the project: the band and the publisher are not merely commemorating an anniversary, but a specific iconographic turning point in their history.
The catalog as a publishing universe
Somewhere in Time: The Graphic Album is the second project in which Z2 tackles an Iron Maiden album. The collaboration began with Piece of Mind, a volume published in 2023 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the 1983 record and nominated for an Eisner Award. In parallel, Z2 has also worked with Dickinson on publications tied to his solo project The Mandrake Project.
For a band with over half a century of activity, an editorial reimagining of their catalog answers a specific need: keeping alive records that audiences already know without reducing them to reissues or nostalgia campaigns. Comics offer a different path because they transform a musical repertoire into narrative material and allow its symbols to circulate beyond the listening experience. From this perspective, Eddie possesses an advantage that few musical mascots share: he is instantly recognizable, has traversed eras and album covers, and can carry a story even when the band is not physically on stage.
The operation does not imply that the eight stories are literal adaptations of the lyrics. Rather, the format makes it possible to build interpretations around the tracks and add perspectives to a world already suggested by music and artwork. For long-time fans, the appeal will lie in the references and details; for Z2, whose catalogue also features volumes dedicated to Johnny Cash, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, and Descendents, it is a way to work on a creative property with an especially solid international fanbase.
Collector's editions and distribution
As with many Z2 releases, the standard edition will be accompanied by versions designed for collectors. The Deluxe and Platinum editions will arrive in a metallic slipcase called Time Machine, featuring a die-cut green lens and cover art by Blake Armstrong. Cover prints and variants aimed at specific retail channels are planned, created by Tony Harris, Jay Geldhof, and Dan Mumford.
The Platinum adds four framed Eddie cards, created by Davide Fabbri, and a bookplate signed by Adrian Smith. The special editions will also include 7-inch vinyl singles of “Wasted Years” and “Stranger in a Strange Land”. The package highlights a now standard model in music publishing: the book is not merely content, but the centerpiece of a set of physical items capable of reaching audiences with differing purchasing habits, from comic book readers to limited edition collectors.
This aspect is not negligible. In a music market where listening remains largely dominated by digital platforms, premium editions allow legacy bands to leverage imagery, physical formats, and signatures without relying on a new record release. The risk is that the layering of variants could make the project somewhat inaccessible to those who simply want to read the anthology; the presence of a retail edition, however, maintains at least an entry point separate from the more expensive bundles.
An anniversary looking ahead to the 2027 tour
The announcement comes as Iron Maiden also prepare for their live return to North America in the spring of 2027. The tour will kick off on April 14 in Tacoma, Washington, and includes dates in arenas and amphitheaters, as well as appearances at the Sonic Temple and Boardwalk Rock festivals in May. The graphic novel will therefore be released just a few weeks before the start of the tour, in a window that can boost the band's presence during the promotional cycle without overlapping with a new studio album.
The choice of Somewhere in Time is significant for this reason as well. The album retains an immediate visual impact and speaks a language—that of 1980s urban science fiction—that remains compelling without requiring a radical update. Z2 and Iron Maiden can thus treat the anniversary as the launch of a small narrative universe, rather than a celebration locked in the past. The outcome will depend on the creators' ability not to settle for merely illustrating an already familiar icon: the raw material, between songs, artwork, and Eddie, offers enough scope to make the volume something more than just a collector's item on a shelf.
