Gates The Comic by Hal Hefner, Presented by Heavy Metal

In 2010 the world lost a pioneer. Ronnie James Dio was a man who looked life in the face and growled at it.

Born in 1942, as Ronald James Padavona, better known to the world as DIO, he was an Italian-American, like me. And he originated from the central New York area like me.

When I was growing up he was a legend in our area of New York. He was a man that got out and made something of himself. Something huge. Ronnie James Dio went on to become a heavy metal vocalist and songwriter of epic proportions. He performed with, amongst others, Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, and his own band Dio. And to me he was an idol, someone who was real and tangible and he provided hope when at times, little existed on a cold, depressing gray day in my teen years.

I remember the first time my friends and I saw the video for Holy Diver. We actually made fun of it and thought he looked like a dork, in a time when Boy George and the New Wave movement were starting to engulf Europe and America. But secretly behind the backs of my friends, I loved it. I loved that he was a mysterious elf-like warrior, who had an energy and a stigma about him that I was drawn to. I remember reading my crappy hometown paper one evening and seeing a little article on him and that’s when I found out he was from Cortland, NY, a town just a few miles down the New York State Thruway. I also found out he was Italian and short–like me!

From that day forward, Dio was a man I watched. He was a man I idolized because he made it. He escaped the area in which we came from, which to me seemed as barren and scary to survive in as the planet Hoth. Dio was one of the first men to show me hope.

Fast forward to my teen years and here I am watching the Heavy Metal movie. Here  the sounds of Black Sabbath, fronted by Ronnie James Dio. With the perfect combination of animation and ass kicking music, I was elated to hear Dio again, who I had lost touch with for a little while. The Mob Rules was a song I always loved, and it just so happened to be on the soundtrack to the original Heavy Metal movie. It’s an awesome song, for a violent, death filled scene, as the evil clan of Loc-Nar mutated warriors storm the castle and kill everyone. Dio/Sabbath really captured the scene completely and in my opinion it’s the best song and animation pairing in the movie. The music, the movie and their marriage was an awesome reminder of what I could be, what I wanted to be and the attitude I wanted to live.

Dio was the man who took the Italian evil eye and made it a symbol of devil horns and Heavy Metal. He told the system to go fuck itself, questioned authority and didn’t apologize for it.

He was a man whom I shared many things in common with including our height, Italian heritage, fiery temper, balls to the wall attitude and the fact that we both originated from upstate New York. Ronnie’s music has always been an inspiration to me. As I would sit at home late at night drawing creatures, I would listen to Dio over and over again. To Rainbow, Elf, Black Sabbath and more. It was always a good time for Dio on my headphones as I sat dreaming and drawing fantastic lands far away from the cold winters of upstate NY.

In May of 2010, When I found out that Ronnie passed away, I felt empty. I really never realized how much he had meant to me until the day he died. A part of me had died as well. A piece of my childhood that was so vital to my development as an artist and courage as a man felt lost forever.  

At the time of his death I was actually working on my pitch to Heavy Metal Magazine for Gates the webcomic. I had the idea to unite Ronnie with the comic, somehow in someway. Without a real plan of action how to do this, I put the thought out of my head, buried it deep within my soul and tucked it away for motivation.  As you all know, I continued on to secure the deal with Kevin Eastman and shortly thereafter I began production on Gates.  But as it started to take shape, I began to concoct an idea for a soundtrack to accompany the comic, just like the movie from 1981. I knew this is how I could bring Ronnie’s memory into the fold.

Now on the day Gates officially launched on January 1st, 2011 I announced that the soundtrack would be dedicated to Ronnie James Dio. To me this was a no brainer. I had to honor him. But Ronnie also died of cancer which is a disease that personally struck my family and took my father when I was in my early twenties. I wish cancer would manifest itself in human form so I could kick it’s ass and beat it to a bloody pulp–but it doesn’t work that way. Since my dad passed away I have always wanted to do something to bring awareness to and to help fight cancer. And the answer seemed to lie with Wendy Dio, Ronnie’s former wife and the trusted and beloved heir to his estate.

In Ronnie’s honor Wendy has started the Stand Up and Shout Cancer foundation. She and Dean Schachtel have also formed Niji entertainment to keep the music of Ronnie alive. In the last few months I have reached out to Dean but he has not responded. Luckily I have finally made inroads into Wendy and I am now in the process of getting in touch with her.

It is my goal to compile all of the music onto a soundtrack that will be available for sale on this website. I would like to take 100% of the proceeds and dedicate them to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer fund. As more details become available I will share them with you.As human beings it is our duty to help others. Ronnie never knew me but he helped me in more ways than he could ever know. Now that I have finally done something useful with my life, I would like to humbly pay him back.

It excites me to envision this being the start of a longstanding relationship between the foundation and myself personally, professionally and artistically.

It’s an honor to have shared an existence on this planet with Ronnie James Dio. Ronnie, you are truly “the man on the Silver Mountain”.  I promise to honor everything you stood for and carry on the tradition you began.

Thank you.

Rest in peace.