Dee Snider: HE'S NOT GONNA TAKE IT

by Dee Snider, Frank Marraffino

Rock legend and champion of free speech Dee Snider, and Z2 Comics come together to bring you He's Not Gonna Take It.

The name of Dee Snider is synonymous with the battle for freedom of expression in the arts. This new graphic novel will follow the impact of it throughout Dee’s life. From a childhood where he was frequently silenced, through the early efforts to stifle his band’s music, to the open warfare of the PMRC hearings in Washington DC, and his current efforts on social media, HE’S NOT GONNA TAKE IT tells the story of why free speech is so important to this man who has fought for it. Even when it endangered everything that was important to him.

Genres: Graphic Novels

120 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2023

About the author

Daniel "Dee" Snider is an American singer-songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality, and actor. Snider is most famous for his role as the frontman of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister.

Reviews

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this. Love the Tom Morello intro art too omggggg.

[Bradley Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this graphic novel illustrated by Steve Kurth, Snider’s makeup and braggadocio blast from the pages, turning the Twister Sister frontman into a comic book superhero that led the fight against the villainous Parents Music Resource Center. With colorful vibrancy and art direction that stylistically places him on the same plane as the heroes of Marvel and DC comics in a way that highlights his rockstar persona, thus signifying his rank as a champion for free speech, Snider’s telling of his testimony before a Senate committee on the issue of rating music albums and videos is that of a self-proclaimed hero’s journey. Snider tells the story of how music became an important part of his life, giving him meaning and a dream to pursue. While playing in bands throughout high school, and then eventually refining his chops as a club act, Snider kept pushing himself further toward achieving his dreams, despite his parents and other authority figures putting him down. After “We’re Not Gonna Take It” became a radio hit for Twisted Sister, and was made even bigger thanks to its music video playing in heavy rotation on MTV, Snider finds his crowning artistic achievement has come under fire, with its meaning misinterpreted by powerfully connected people with a conservative and religious agenda. Snider’s full statement, and clash with then Senator Al Gore over mistruths that PMRC founder and his wife Tipper Gore claimed about his music, is dramatically illustrated, serving as the climax of Snider’s musical hero’s journey. With a foreword written by Tom Morello, another iconic rocker known for sticking it to the man, Snider’s graphic novel is a fun, albeit skewed, introduction to one of the most critical moments not only in rock history but also modern American history.