The Doors’ ‘Morrison Hotel’ Getting Graphic Novel Treatment

Over 50 years since its release, the Doors' penultimate album, 1970's Morrison Hotel is set to become a graphic novel. Surviving members John Densmore and Robby Krieger are involved in the project, which will be published on October 13th via Z2 Comics.

According to the press release, the graphic novel “will feature some of the lore that led to their status as the architects of counterculture, influencing artists, poets, and outsiders for generations to come, set against the backdrop of the close of the free spirit of the 1960's into the tumultuous 1970's. A decade in which women, African Americans, Native Americans, gays, lesbians, and other marginalized people continued their fight for equality and many Americans joined the protest against the ongoing war in Vietnam.”

The comic's author, Leah Moore, revealed to Rolling Stone that none other than John Lennon will make an appearance in the book, adding, “I have loosely tied the stories to the tracks on the album, but also I am filling them with everything I can that puts you in that mindset, into that moment, where the album was made. I mean, obviously you could write a whole book for each track, but I wanted the stories to just immerse you in one place.”

We asked drummer John Densmore to recall the earliest days of the Doors before he, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and the legendary Jim Morrison had become household names: “Ray and I were listening really carefully to each other, 'cause his left hand was the bass. So, Ray and I kind of laid down the bed for Jim and Robby to float on top of. And then we get a record deal and that's another stage; but really, I would say, when we started playing small concert halls, second bill, or something — out of the clubs — I thought, 'Oh my God. . . I'm gonna make a living and this is gonna. . . this train is leavin' the station!' That's really almost more exciting as playing Madison Square Garden, because it's this dream coming true, y'know?”