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Take It Back : Life, Anxiety and Gray Matter - Steve Niles

Take It Back

Life, Anxiety and Gray Matter

By: Steve Niles, Brian Walsby (Illustrator), Monica Richards

Paperback | 7 September 2026

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Paperback


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Available: 7th September 2026

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Writer Steve Niles, best known for horror comics 30 Days of Night, The October Faction, and Frankenstein Alive! Alive!, came from the burgeoning 1980s Washington DC punk rock scene, where he played bass for years with the legendary Dischord band, Gray Matter. This book not only delves into Steve's formative years, providing a candid look into his personal struggles, it also serves as a heartfelt tribute to the original DIY culture that inspired the DC punk scene. Illustrated by acclaimed punk rock artist, Brian Walsby.

Praise for Take It Back:

"Steve Niles offers an intimate, nostalgia-free perspective on his own personal and creative journey with a tightly-knit crew at the epicenter of DC punk's massively influential Revolution Summer and beyond-brought to life through Brian Walsby's inviting, expressionist brushwork."

Nate Powell (Diana, Fall Through, the March trilogy)

----

"An intimate, nostalgia-free perspective on personal and creative growth with a tightly-knit crew at the epicenter of Revolution Summer and beyond-brought to life through inviting, expressionist brushwork."

Nate Powell (Diana, Fall Through, the March trilogy)

----

"Without the pretension or self aggrandizing melodrama I see in so many autobiographies, Niles tells his brutally honest punk rock story in a clipped no-nonsense fashion that makes you feel like you're having a beer with a friend and remembering the good old days."

Eric Powell (The Goon, Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?)

----

As a fellow survivor of DC's "Revolution Summer" and a longtime witness to Steve Niles' turbulent life and hard-won success, I can testify that this is the real deal: the inside story of what it was like to play in one of the standout bands of punk rock's most vital scene, and an honest account of how love for music, comics, and one exceptional woman helped Steve overcome his many demons.

Kurt Sayenga

Editor/Publisher, GREED Magazine

Writer/Director, Horror's Greatest, Eli Roth's History of Horror, Breakthrough, Microkillers, etc.

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