Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume I: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness

Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume I: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness is a comic written by Claudio Sanchez and illustrated by Christopher Shy. It was published by Evil Ink and had a limited, special release in conjunction with the album of the same name.

Plot Summary
The novel takes a step outside the science fiction narrative of the first three chapters and examines the life of (then unnamed) The Writer, a character who is crafting the lives of the protagonist Claudio Kilgannon and his companions in the form of a fictional story. Through a series of delusional conversations with his Ten Speed bicycle about an unfaithful former lover, The Writer decides he must kill the Prise Ambellina to properly end his story. The events in the narrative itself build up to a final confrontation between Jesse Kilgannon's rebel forces and the Red Army of Supreme Tri-Mage Wilhelm Ryan under the command of General Mayo Deftinwolf, as well as a literal meeting of The Writer and Claudio culminating in the death of Ambellina and Claudio's emergence as The Crowing.

Publication History
The full novel was released at the same time as the album on September 20, 2005, but was sold separately for $19.99 USD. The printing was limited and quickly sold out. It was reprinted in the Ultimate Edition of The Amory Wars: Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, which consisted mostly of the rebooted version of the story's chapter.

Creative Team
Christopher Shy is a freelance artist known for dark and moody, photorealistic fantasy and science fiction subjects. He has his own tabletop RPG company (which utilizes his pen name) called Studio Ronin, which he co-founded with game designer Philip Reed. Aside from this novel, he has also worked for Dark Horse Comics to create a comic adaptation of the 2007 film Pathfinder, with the writer of the film's screenplay, and with PlayStation on a comic titled Rise of the Warrior which was released prior to and just after the game it was based on (God of War: Ascension) on GodofWar.com from October 22, 2012 to March 19, 2013.

Changes
As Shy's artwork was more abstract, many fans complained that the novel was confusing and hard to understand. Sanchez also remarked that the novel was relatively unfinished due to financial constraints and agreed that although Shy's art is beautiful, it was not the best medium for the album's storytelling.

Trivia

 * It notably uses a Roman numeral one (I) in it's title, rather than one spelled out, like on the album.