Monday, December 19, 2016

Heavy Metal # 283

Fear Special - for Halloween, get it?  Yeah, over a month ago, even I hardly care.


From the bookstore again, I got the Cover "A", Mercy by David Stoupakis, a woman in robes holds a dying demon, resembling a familiar sculpture (Pieta perhaps?).  Kinda murky, I'll give it a 5.  The other covers are shown in an ad on the last page, these are pretty dark too.


Mr. Morrison's editorial has sketches by Rantz Hoseley, and he has a go at a Lovecrafty-ish style, squeezing out inner dread like the last of the toothpaste.  Impressed that he can produce these prodigious screeds, but really, how long does he think he can keep this up?


Das Fischerhaus by Deric Hughes, Benjamin Raab, Mike "feeb" May, Rantz Hoseley - 6 - (miscredited as Der Fischerhaus on the contents page)  Mr Hoseley is credited as Editor here, perhaps some pages were excised for brevity.  Wordless, a couple nice artistic touches, and the visual metaphor of an anglerfish was cool, besides that perhaps not too original and rather tame.


Gallery with David Stoupakis - 6 - Some nice ability and technique are displayed, most are pretty dark much like the Cover "A".


Nightfeed by Juan Roldan and Patricio Delpeche - 4 - A young parent wakes to a crying baby.  It's a little clever but only slightly funny.


The Smile of the Absent Cat by Grant Morrison and Gerhard - 6 - A noir-ish detective story, told in a world of cats.  The detective takes the assignment to find a big-shot's wayward daughter, and in to the gritty underworld he goes.  Somewhat interesting so far, it's to be continued, this Chapter One is subtitled "the origin of nothing".


Gallery with Morpheus Fine Art - 6 - A Giger and a few other nice images.


Constriction by Daniel Govar and Mike Walton - 6 - A woman's sudden and unexplained illness destroys the world, or something like that.  The premise and resolution of the story are quick and it sort of grabs you, but I found myself wanting more out of such a dramatic scene.


Semiautomagic - the hollow man by Alex de Campi and Jerry Ordway and Louise - 6 - A celebrity of some sort is called out for his possession by tiny demons.  There's a clever bit here and there, but for me, the quite serviceable art and storytelling didn't do much to impress.  The tiny censorship of a line was the most intriguing part.  It appears this is a series of some sort, though I doubt much more will appear in the mag.  I could be wrong though...


Gallery - Tim Lehi - 6 - Interview by Frank Forte.  Tattoo and other art.  Not my thing but good for him.


Holiday Offering by Diego Agrimbau and Gabriel Ippoliti - 6 - A mob hit is interrupted by the radio broadcast of War of the Worlds.  There's nothing wrong with this one, it's done nicely enough, but I just didn't get excited about it.


Zentropa by John Mahoney - 8 - I'm enjoying this a good deal.  I enjoy the detail I get to scrutinize, and that it's sometimes rewarded.  Seeing it's computer imagery, I enjoy imagining the playing around generating and arranging and accessorizing the models to make the images, and wondering about levels of intent in the content and composition.  It's funny how this kind of obtuse storytelling can inspire imagination for me.  And there's more splooges and spliffs and bits and splashes.


Gallery by Justin Cherry - 7 - It's the fourth Gallery in this issue, with an interview by Rantz Hoseley.  Some intriguing and compelling images.  The artist tells us some things about himself, including tumblr and artstation addresses with a unique moniker, which is not matched by an email address noted elsewhere in the Gallery (a couple extra i's), which made me wonder if it's a typo or on purpose.  I looked a little further and saw some more of his cool stuff, and it appears to be on purpose.  What a guy.


Salsa Invertebraxa by Mozchops - 7 - Part Four it says, it's pretty cool.  It starts with a repeat of the last couple pages from the last installment, that kind of overlap is kind of unique.  The action takes us to the lows and the highs of the forest environment, it's pretty dark below but considerably brighter above.  In the depths our plucky heroes try to pluck some prey, by pouring little sharp looking bits on their victim, causing a distraction, if not its demise.  I wonder if that's supposed to be diatomaceous earth, or is there something else that's toxic to insects in that way too.  I wonder if this is really to be continued, I kinda hope so.


Felt by Tom Burns, Maxx Marshall, Chris Chuckry - 5 - A girl has a special day at school.  It looks rather interesting, in terms of the color and composition and rendering of the art, but I couldn't make much sense out of it.  All the action and exposition went nowhere for me.  I suspect it's part of a continuing story we will probably never see again.


Gutt Ghost by Enzo Garza - 6 - A grouchy ghost consumes a random shithead.  I happened to like the art style, and the joke was kind of clever.  I bet this one is part of a regular comic that we will also likely not see in HM again.  A few of those this issue.















2 comments:

Anonymous said...

(BiLL) Hey Fred the HM turns 40 in April What surprises can we expect from the magazine that over the last ten years has undergone a major change!

fred said...

I don't know that there's anything special planned for a 40th anniversary. The fact that HM is still being published is enough of a party for me. I remember the 30th was a full reprint of Eastman's and Bisely's Melting Pot. It wasn't terrible, but it was less a commemoration of 30 years of HM than a bit of vanity. Thanks for your comment BiLL.