The Mandrake Project: Year Two, the extension of Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson’s ongoing saga based around his 2024 solo album, won’t start shipping from Z2 until late October. But, fortunately for all of you, Loudwire has an exclusive preview of the first six pages of the forthcoming installment.
The 184-page addition is home to chapters five through eight in The Mandrake Project story as well as interviews and essays which recollect Dickinson’s experience on the road in support of the solo LP and corresponding comic series.
A press release teases what’s head, where “the war between magic and science for the control of immortality reaches a hallucinatory fever pitch.” It continues, “Starting with a near-death experience that propels Necropolis into a parallel world where he learns the dark secrets of his twisted family tree, he’s exposed to revelations that leave him shocked, wondering if he can escape the family legacy of self-destruction in the name of ambition, or if he is simply a cog in a greater cosmic machine, controlled by supernatural forces?
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Dickinson, exclaims, “Oh, just hold on to your proverbial hats folks… This one gets REALLY weird!” Meanwhile, writer Tony Lee adds, “You thought the first book was going to get us sued and bring out the pitchforks? You haven’t seen anything yet!”
In the opening pages seen below, a drained Necropolis comes out of a stupor in his apartment, vowing to continue. Next, he meets a cloaked figure that beckons him to follow through a tunnel of thorns. Hacking and slashing through his way through, Necropolis sustains a gash across the stomach. An attempt to stem the bleeding with a torn piece of his cape does no good as the cloaked figure cautions that the bleeding will not stop until a quest is completed. Enraged, Necropolis continues to slice through the thorns, which discharge piercing shrieks.
Meanwhile, something else nefarious is taking place… does Professor Lazarus have other plans?
See the preview of the first six pages of The Mandrake Project: Year Two directly below. To pre-order from a selection of variants (hardcover edition, deluxe edition, signed platinum edition), head to the Z2 website.
Exclusive First Look: Bruce Dickinson’s The Mandrake Project: Year Two
Iron Maiden 2026 Tour Dates
While Dickinson has been aggressively supporting The Mandrake Project album and comic series, this year has largely been focused on Iron Maiden’s 50th anniversary Run For Your Lives tour. The band is currently winding their way through Europe and the U.K. with a long-awaited North American leg set for late summer/early fall.
Below, see how many songs each member of Iron Maiden (past and present) has written.
How Many Songs Each Iron Maiden Member Has Written
Here’s a breakdown of Iron Maiden’s song-writing credits.
Gallery Credit: Joe DiVita
