Heavy Metal #266

Cover by Dave Seeley - 6 - The art is pretty nice looking and well-composed, the jetbike is pretty cool even though the windshield placement and some proportion issues are annoying to a nerd like me.  The sidebar list of contents is interesting but detracts from the art's impact on the cover.

Animal'z by Enki Bilal - 7 - The art may be getting a bit more refined, and the story might be getting a bit more wordy, and I am getting more confused by the number of guys in wide-brimmed hats.  More story details about what may have happened and what might be for lunch are provided.  This may already be the kind of convoluted tale that will never get all the loose ends neatly tied up by the end, if it ever even ends.  I'm still interested to find out.

The Pugilist by Greg-Michael Follender, Rick J. Bryant, and Wilson Ramos Jr - 7 - A story that brings an ancient myth of a golem to a dystopian future with exploitation video.  Art that is mostly good and sometimes spectacular, with furious action scenes putting great expressions together with some neat digital type effects.  The story is quite horrifying, holding only the slightest hope.  This appears to be the first story in a series, with no indication of it showing up in HM again.

Gallery by Dave Seeley - 6 - While certainly miles better that I could ever do, the art is only sometimes interesting to me.  Often stiff poses over fuzzy backgrounds, there are a few points that I like, and more I don't care for.  It looks like he has more on his website but I didn't look.

Space Rats by Gonzalo Ruggieri - 4 - Not bad but not so good.

Fate by Homero Rios, Joe Sanchez, and Renato Guerra - 5 - Art and story both ambitious and underachieving, though I do like lines like "We've taken control of the Mega-Arc and destroyed its Patriarchate."

The Age by Tayyar Ozkan - 5 - At least this remake of a story he's already done is different enough to generate a bit more interest.

Artist's Studio by Alicia Hollinger - 6 - For CG pinups, there's a fair amount of personality in these.  There's some unfortunate photoshopping and some figures seem hollow, but there's much to like about her work.

Heaven's Inferno by Scott O. Brown and Ferran Xalabarder - 7 - Much of this is merely good, and some of it is quite fantastic, especially near the end.  I often enjoy Xalabarder's art and its ability to inspire imagination, and the story is able to put this ability to use once the character enters another world.  This installment appears to be in the middle of a story, but at least it says "to be continued."

Water Hat by Spyros Verykios - 8 - A very well-told story of the fate of a Conquistador, with a fine twist and some very nice looking art.  It may even be actually painted.  I think this is my favorite in the whole issue.

in the end was the word by Mauro Balloni - 6 - Short with simple art. It tries to ask what would happen if all the letters left, but doesn't come up with much of an answer.

A couple ads that weren't selling HM mags, were for a resin cast bust of the 60s TV series Batman (seriously?  someone makes this and someone might actually buy it?  Does Adam West know about this?), and a public service spot for boostup.org trying to keep kids in school (nice gesture).

Overall getting and reading this issue was nice and not too difficult, and a few stories I quite liked made it enjoyable.  Advance notices about #'s 267 and 268 on tfaw.com make me think there will be more of the same coming, for the next couple issues anyway.

Some interesting news about Mr Eastman selling HM and staying the publisher appeared on Variety a while ago:

http://variety.com/2014/biz/news

(comments about this on CBR are amusing:  forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread. )

I get the feeling Mr Eastman got some guys to pay him to make HM into the mega-media conglomerate he always wanted.  But what do I know.

I do hope the future plans of continuing the print magazine, albeit quarterly, will hold true.  I won't hold my breath for movies or anything, so much has been said before that didn't happen  to get hopes up (Fistful of Blood movie anyone?  and what ever happened to War of the Worlds - Goliath anyway?).  I will wait to see what really happens.