The Who’s previously unreleased Lifehouse is set to be released as a graphic novel more than four decades after the rock opera was originally supposed to be revealed.
Lead guitarist Pete Townshend wrote the opera as a follow-up to The Who’s hit 1969 record Tommy, which was later turned into a play and movie, but Lifehouse was dropped for their 1971 album, Who’s Next.
After releasing Lifehouse for a 1999 BBC radio drama, Townshend will be dropping the opera as a 150-page graphic novel as part of a partnership with Heavy Metal magazine. The graphic novel, which is set to be up for sale in July 2020, will be written and illustrated by James Harvey, and the story is set to be adapted directly from the original music and screenplay.
Sci-fi mag @HeavyMetalInk & @peteyaggerdang r partnering on @TheWho ’s uncompleted rock opera “Lifehouse” for a graphic novel, w/ an eye 2 develop a movie & 📺 projects.
The Who’s ‘Lifehouse’ Gets Graphic Novel https://t.co/FCqpEr9djP #GraphicNovel #TheWho pic.twitter.com/d73nJpKUGD— Pablonius Monk (@PabloniusMonk) March 30, 2019
“A graphic novel based on my very first 1970 concept for The Who’s abandoned Lifehouse project is perhaps the most exciting creative development in my long career,” Townshend revealed in a statement. “Lifehouse always had a strong and important visual story that was never even touched on.”
The graphic novel follows Townshend’s announcement of his forthcoming debut novel, The Age of Anxiety.