I shrug off the embarrassment and pick it off the rack every time I see an open copy in the bookstore. More often than not there's at least one amazing artist in every issue (if not 3 or 5). The stories tend to range from the default (titties and violence) to the completely abstract. I've recently acquired a massive collection and have been stumbling upon a bevy of far out tales.
There's really nothing else like this publication. There doesn't seem to be many boundaries or rules about what someone can submit and have published. There's a lot of groundbreaking, original material in the history of the magazine. I almost never find this style of storytelling in any other comic book publication besides a few hits from Dark Horse once in a blue moon.
Just hoping there are some other fans on the shmups board. I guess be careful about linking images as well and make sure they have a more artistic than pornographic nature. I figure the freakin' masterpiece above is pushing it with the mods but if we can post snaps of the Gynoug dick monster then this shouldn't be too outrageous.
I'm a fan as well (at least of the early era of HM). Corben is my favorite artist, but there are so many talented artists from all over featured in that magazine that put Western superhero stuff to shame.
You're right in that there really isn't anything else like it. It almost exists in a vacuum, far removed from the big American companies (even Dark Horse), and while they have stuff just as porny and violent in Japan, it's a very different style.
I also really like the movie (the first one, of course). I suppose it's just nostalgia, but I've seen it so many times and love the soundtrack.
I'm big into Richard Corben as well. My first exposure to him was Dark Horse's Aliens: Alchemy, which I hated at the time. I remember for the longest I blamed Corben's weird, frumpy style but now that I look back at the series it was definitely the shit computer coloring which was handled by some other guy. Since then I've grown to love the guy's work and go out of my way to read his stuff. He did a few issues of the previous volume of Swamp Thing I found pretty interesting. When he takes full rein over the artwork his textures and shadows give a nice depth to the figures and landscapes, almost like they are made of clay.
Yea, exactly. I always thought his stuff looked like everyone was made out of clay, and as a kid I didn't dig it, but now I know better. Everyone is short, stocky and sporting rocking pecs and huge titties.
My first exposure to his work was when I was eight and my dad would buy me the independent Ninja Turtles comics (not just the Archie series based on the cartoon). Corben did an issue where they went back in time and his style is perfect for those characters in that setting.
Love Heavy Metal. I pick it up whenever I get a chance to go to Tower Records over here. If you like that, check out an old series from Marvel called "Savage Tales" (not the Conan series - according to Wikipedia there have been three magazines with the same title). It only went for eight issues, but some of the same artists worked on it, and it's dirt cheap to pick up these days.
Heavy Metal is great. I'd buy it more often if storage space wasn't a problem. I've been hoping they'd offer a digital subscription like Marvel does, but there's still no sign of that happening.
While I have very little interest in Heavy Metal myself, I do have interest in one of the founders - Jean Giraud - Moebius of Metal Hurlant.
I'd actually credit Panzer Dragoon towards learning of Moebius. Reading about the inspiration and source for PD coming from Moebius' work, most notably the character Azrach. I wanted to find out more so I sought out later collected works published by Epic and while I did not get the compilation of Azrach until much later I must say I was pretty interested with what style(s) he had and how strange the stories were. In a way I am partial to the ligne clair style of people like Darrow and Herge and yet while Moebius works in that his talent isn't limited to the extreme detail that can be seen of ligne clair.
Also worth mentioning is he did the Silver Surfer reboot some years ago (1988, Parable) and the compilation is getting a reprint this month. Now there is some phenomenal art.
Back in the early 1980s, Heavy Metal used to be within easy access at the local magazine stands (along with the sexy National Lampoon magazine & even Fangoria also {with the popular horror & slasher flicks being distributed within the Hollywood movie industry back in the early '80s}). So it was within easy reach for minors to read back in those days. Nowdays, it's poly-bagged on the USA magazine stands. Most local & national grocery stores don't bother to carry it whatsoever these days (due to possible complaints from customers & the like) and thus is regulated to the dedicated national big book chains such as Barnes & Noble, Walden's Books, etc. (and Border's when they used to be in business).
I recall wanting to go see the HM movie on the big screen back in 1981 but missed it. Watching the shortened HM movie trailers on TV was cool back in the day. It wasn't until it was finally released on VHS format back in the mid-1990s that I got to see it in it's entirety (due to getting the proper artist IPs clearances and all). There's the softcover book of "The Art of HM" by Carl Macek (same guy whom brought Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Super Dimensional Calvary Southern Cross & Genesis Climber Mospeada anime titles stateside as the revamped "Robotech" series in the spring of 1985).
I pick it up from time to time to see what's going on in the HM universe. There are two different DVDs of HM (the '81 version) + the current Blu-Ray version available as well.
As for the Heavy Metal 2000 film with the voiceovers done by actress Julie Strain, from what I've read is that it went under numerous revisions and changes before settling on the current script for the film that, ultimately, was released. Yet, it still seems to follow the same footsteps of it's 1981 film predecessor. I was hoping for an original HM story like most HM fans were expecting but that wasn't meant to be.
There's always a third HM animated movie to do justice.
I still have a stack of issues somewhere from the time when they regularly featured Milo Manara stories (he's a favorite).
I find it hard to believe that the North American version is still in circulation after all these years, since the comics are so European and kind of contrary to American tastes. However, it's the French and German editions that have long ceased publication.
Unfortunately the English editions are hard to come by here.
My father was a huge fan of Heavy Metal, and both of Jean Giraud and Moebius. I liked some things here and there - the focus was too much on illustration, for my tastes.
I should find the time to put in order father's collection.
"The only desire the Culture could not satisfy from within itself was one common to both the descendants of its original human stock and the machines [...]: the urge not to feel useless."
I love Heavy Metal. I wish more people appreciated it for what it is, a breeding ground for some of the most brilliant contemporary art and storytelling ever.
<@scootnet> if you were a real gamer, you could jerk it to Super Metroid box art
Limbrooke wrote:Also worth mentioning is he did the Silver Surfer reboot some years ago (1988, Parable) and the compilation is getting a reprint this month. Now there is some phenomenal art.
Coincidentally I've been on a big Silver Surfer kick the last two weeks after finding my collection of Vol. 3 at my dad's house. I also have a scan of Parable and intend to get to it soon. Big Moebius fan myself, I really enjoyed The Gardens of Aedena when reading through a collection of his works a few months back.
Super positive through out my life! My mom started buying me this when I was 6 ((!) 1983) so sone of my earliest exposure to comics was Ranxerox. Love everything about it. My lifelong dream is to get published on the cover.
I only ever read this on the newsstand now, unfortunately. People's be broke. There has been a very impressive series running currently, this magazine is the shit. Maybe I'll do myself a solid and get a subsciption.
It has been an American publication for quite awhile now! Kevin Eastman owns that shit.
I watched the movie around three weeks ago actually. It really is the best adaptation that one could hope for. Gotta give it up to John Candy for doing this. The featurette talk about the difficulties making this due to foreign ownership, mostly French. And it was made by multiple animation houses simultaneously. The early rumors of a new movie sound really promising.
As grateful as I am that this magazine is still in publication, I know it is only because of Kevin Eastman. Every time you see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles another issue of Heavy Metal is born.
xris wrote:As grateful as I am that this magazine is still in publication, I know it is only because of Kevin Eastman. Every time you see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles another issue of Heavy Metal is born.
That's right! Simon Bisley + Kevin Eastman + Heavy Metal =
I'm an italian Heavy Metal fan, Ranxerox is italian too
