Heavy Metal #295

Heavy Metal #295, another "Music Special" in the vein of #287 (eight issues and over two years ago) with stories and art inspired by rock songs.  They must have had some success with the previous Music issue, so they're doing it again.  I'm ok with that.  As before, I'm pretty clueless on the music, but I still get to enjoy the frenzy that seeps into the stories.


I got the Cover "A" by Killian Eng at the bookstore.  It's pretty cool, a sorta-samurai guy at a keyboard, and actually quite reminiscent of the Cover "A" for #287, coincidentally also by Killian Eng.  Imagine that.  I didn't see a page showing all the covers in the mag, I had to go to the preview article to be sure which was which.  The cover price is up to $9.99, and there are over 200 pages in this issue, compared to the previous #294 with over 150 pages at $8.95.


Judas Priest - "Firepower" by Jeff Krelitz, Diego Agrimbau, Agustín Alessio, Taylor Esposito - 6 - Besieged scientists release a robot warrior into spacetime.  It joins some historical battles, laying waste to its finders' enemies.  Kinda cool, if not dramatically intriguing.  It says "To Be Continued".


"Crystal Planet" by Ned Evett, Joe Satriani, Brendon Small, Dan Morison, Dennis Calero, Micah Myers - 6 - A guitarist saves the world from alien invasion.  It spends most of its space on the guitarist's back story, his long-gone father and the guitar he left him.  The art's alright, the story goes pretty well, it seems like it could be continued, but apparently it's not.


HO99O9 - "Master of Pain" by Aaron Gillespie, Arturo Lauria, DC Hopkins - 8 - Pay-per-view snuff gang is destroyed by a bio-android vigilante.  Incredibly violent and disturbing.  The art is all deep purple and neon black shadows.  The storytelling is brisk with an ironic twist to the justice delivered.  It came together for me as a strong HM story.


"The Boss" by Diego Agrimbau, Marco Turini, Adam Wollet - 7.5 - "Story inspired by Dave Correia's cover art for Rob Sonic's Defriender album" which is conveniently located just before this story, and also the Cover "B" for this issue # 295.  Death is overcome in a hostile takeover.  I like what I've seen of Mr Turini's art in previous stories, but I didn't recognize this as his right away.  Maybe it's the depictions of Death and demons instead of hot babes in improbable space suits.  I still like it.  The story gets a lot out of the one picture that inspired it, more than I could do, and makes strong reference to some present-day societal issues.


An ad for a Tenacious D tour, that was done by the time this came out, is followed by "The Metal" by Ryan Browne, Aaron Conley, Vladimir Popov, Taylor Esposito - 6 - Caricatures of urban musicians accidently summon The Metal and unite to send the demon back to where it came.  They fail.  Quick, fun, and a bit funny.


High on Fire - "Spewn from the Earth" by Phil Hester, Matt Allison, Frank Cvetkovic - 6 - The battle of gods and the suffering it brings.  Greys and browns and quoted lyrics.  The power and emotion it carries can't break into my skull.


Slipknot - "We Are Not Your Kind" by Corey Taylor, M. Shawn Crahan, Alex De Campi, Jonathan Wayshak, Fares Maese - 5 - Some guy wallowing in regret, wearing a mask, some book or game?  The story may be unclear to me, the art is frantic and shattering, setting a stage for something maybe, since it says "To Be Continued".


Gallery with Grimes, and an informative interview by Hannah Means-Shannon - 6 - The musician is able to grow her art into visual space.  Of course I don't know the artist's body of work, and though I get a high-school notebook feel from the art, I can also feel it trying to extend into fuller emotion and awareness, as well as technical execution.


Mastadon - "The Czar" by Jeremy Haun, Shane Patrick White, Nick Filardi, Micah Myers - 7 - Spelled "Mastodon" on the Contents page.  I rather enjoyed this one despite my lack of familiarity with the music, I got into the epic though fragmented storytelling.  A woman is betrayed at the heist of some alien monolith, or something, and is transported to another reality reincarnated as some sort of superwoman.  Befriended by a local tribe, she's forced to repel an attack on them that leaves almost no survivors.  The art is good enough, and does a great job driving the action of the story, with some fantastic imagination.  And the storytelling drew me in, with few words, of which many were in an alien tongue, even though little is resolved.


Code Orange - "The Hunt" by Cullen Bunn, Andy Belanger, Tatto Caballero, Micah Myers - 5 - Told mostly without words.  A car theft and chase in an urban wasteland.  With Murder.  If I had a clue about the song this is based on I probably would've gotten more out of it.


Def Leppard - "Hysteria" by Jeff Krelitz, Leah Moore, John Reppion, Simeon Aston, Moramike, Fabian Cobos, Zoar Huerta, DC Hopkins - 6 - Social worlds collide when a biker kid jumping over a ravine for a gang initiation, almost hits a bored socialite escaping her mum's snooty party.  Of course she's smitten, and he leaves.  But it says "to be continued" so we might get more from this story.


Amon Amarth - "The Berserker at Stamford Bridge" by Alex De Campi, Tony Parker, Carlos Cabrera - 6 - This story has some ambition and some success weaving the tale of a Beserker into the story of the Norman invasion of England.  It tries to tell his origins and makes a nice reference to the Bayeux Tapestry.


Megadeth - "The Skull Beneath the Skin" by Justin Jordan, Rob Prior, JAME - 7 - A tale of personal anguish in a world full of evil.  Cool art effects and the power of the storytelling was made plain to me.


Iron Maiden - "Legacy of the Beast - Night City Preview" by Llexi Leon, Ian Edginton, Kevin West, Richard Friend, Keith Champagne, Raúl Manríquez, Jacob Bascle - 5 - The long list of creators is not noted on the work, an apparent preview of a video game.  HM is getting a lot of mileage out of this collaboration with Iron Maiden.  I'm not a fan, but good for them.


"The Ghoul Screamer" by Dan Fogler, Burney, Justin Mohlman, Matthew Allison - 7 - A rather cool story about a band gaining possession of the guitar pedal of "Jimi Hyjinx".  Reminiscent of "The Legend of the Magic Tone Box" by Angus McKie from the October 1980 issue of Heavy Metal, and with a layer of Spinal Tap.  Derivative perhaps, but also funny, and I liked the art.  And it also says "to be continued..."


"Murky World" by Richard Corben - 7.5 - I'm glad this is continued in this otherwise Rock-oriented issue.  Our hero Tugat continues his murky quest, through a desolate landscape, encountering an old foe.  Still more murky than mysterious, but it's fun and I still like seeing the wonky Corben art.  "More violent punching and kicking" is in store.


Artist Spotlight by Gerald Scarfe - 8.5 - With a lengthy interview by Hannah Means-Shannon.  Gerald Scarfe is a widely known cartoonist and illustrator (except my me) who did the art for Pink Floyd's "The Wall", so this does fit well with this Music issue.  The artist is not shy expressing his opinions about his work or his politics in his art over his long career, and I admire the mag for displaying these opinions on its pages.