Heavy Metal #311 comes in at 136 pages for the $13.99 cover price. I got the Cover A by Dan Quintana, via ebay. The art is effective and over the translucent logo is splashed "The Boulet Brothers Halloween Takeover" in oozing letters, it's cool and I'll give it a 6. Photo of my copy:
The Boulet Brothers are apparently established and popular entertainers and creators, according to their apparently well-maintained wikipedia, and of course, clueless me, I have never heard of them before now. I got a pretty good impression of their creative determination, and I thought this issue had a lot to offer; despite my relative lack of interest in dyna-gendered horny horror, it seems to be a pretty good HM fit.
Speeding past the the big shots' babbling, at least I noticed they gave credit to the Boulet Brothers and Special Guest Editor Steve Orlando for this Takeover issue. On the masthead there's also Morgan Rosenblum as Special Edition Lead Editor.
"Happy Halloween, Uglies" by The Boulet Brothers, Anderson Cabral, Lucas Gattoni, Morgan Rosenblum, Steve Orlando - 6 - An introductory piece with the Brothers in their lair, that connects with a couple more features that come later in this issue. The fabulous outfits and shirtless tattooed manservants appear to be part of their thing.
"Adventures In Babysitting" by Katya Zamolodchikova, Rui Wobeto, Danielle Caraman, Lucas Gattoni, Morgan Rosenblum - 6 - Naughty babysitter and escaped slasher tropes, together again in suburban "Joisy". This one didn't excite me so much, but there was some humor and pretty explicit naughtiness to be had.
"Death Must Be So Beautiful" by The Boulet Brothers, Anderson Cabral, Lucas Gattoni, Morgan Rosenblum, Steve Orlando - 5 - A waitress's enchanted wig propels her to stardom, but at what cost? I thought the premise had more promise than the execution delivered.
"The Vault of Saumagotha - Part One" by The Boulet Brothers, Anderson Cabral, Lucas Gattoni, Morgan Rosenblum, Steve Orlando - 6 - The Brothers depart their lair, on a mission to Save Halloween. Bless their hearts, it looks like they have such fun doing so.
"The Rise - Part Five" by George C. Romero, Diego Yapur, DC Alonso, Saida Temofonte, Joseph Illidge - 6 - It appears the scientist commandeers a prison to expand his experiments. I like how the art looks, and it's trying to tell a cool story, but I get bogged down with glitches in the telling, narratively and visually (The warden's meeting is more confusing than informative. Flying fired rifle shells would have an indentation in the primer where the firing pin hit, no? The agent pulling out a gun with her left hand then firing it with her right?).
"Good Moon and Good Night" by Danhausen, Steve Orlando, Federico Tardino, Niccolo Laporini, Micah Myers, Morgan Rosenblum - 4 - Has-been fails to resuscitate his career following scandal. I didn't like this one, the beginning didn't set up the finish, and the art wasn't enough to improve my viewpoint.
"Mirror Mirror" by Axelle Carolyn, EgoDuo, Daniele Caraman, Robin Jones, Morgan Rosenblum, Steve Orlando - 7 - Young women having a Halloween sleepover, late-1800's style. Polished prose and ambitious art that worked hard with shading and framing, helped elevate this one for me.
"The Vault of Saumagotha - Part Two" by The Boulet Brothers, Anderson Cabral, Lucas Gattoni, Morgan Rosenblum, Steve Orlando - 6 - The Brothers gleefully dispatch the unstable beast. Something I think I'm noticing in what's in HM these days, is when the the art has the foreground action so emphasized, that the background is left as a second thought, if that. Part of the fun I get in HM reading is when the art has detail that rewards scrutiny, and there's not so much of that to be had here. Perhaps an effect of modern digital graphic art tools, and how they're used. Sometimes it seems that's all we get in the mag. This may be a clue to what I feel can be missing from the mag in its present form, in my conception of what Heavy Metal Magazine should be.
"Starward: Chapter Six" by Steve Orlando, Ivan Shavrin, Saida Temofonte - 6 - With Joseph Illidge credited as Editor. The Starward Sisters are Seven again. Their meeting with their doom awaits. Again it's pretty formulaic, but this comes with great use of action and dynamic pacing and coloring, and the writing is keeping up, so I'm finding something to like.
"Boulet Brothers Pinup" by Luke Marsh - 5 - A poster style image, unfortunately diminished by being spread across two pages. With a fantasy description of the Brothers' origins and powers.
"Popping Off" by Yvie Oddly, Arabson Assis, Letícia Pusti, Lucas Gattoni, Morgan Rosenblum, Steve Orlando - 7 - Party night at the club turns into wild hookup turns into unnatural horror. Notable for its obvious gay sex, unusual perhaps for Heavy Metal, but not unheard of. The most prominent earlier examples I recall are "The God's Brilliant Idea" by Monti from HM September 1999, and also a farcical stereotyped crossdresser in "Bodyssey" by Simon Revelstoke and Richard Corben in May 1985, but most other instances were more implied than explicit. And the orange menace is pretty scary.
"Dark Wing - Chapter Seven" by Matthew Medney, German Ponce, Andrew Dalhouse, Saida Temofonte, Joseph Illidge, Bruce Edwards, Pete "Voodoo Bownz" Russo - 5 - Returning since its last appearance in HM #306. The story is still not hitting the mark for me, but I'll give the art credit for its effort to show expansive perspectives and some enriching detail. It's use of two-page spreads is pretty egregious though.
"She Makes Monsters" by Steve Foxe, Isaac Goodhart, Letícia Pusti, Robin Jones, Morgan Rosenblum, Steve Orlando - 5 - A nice premise, an aged actress dispenses career advice at a signing, but this misses opportunities to expand the storytelling; e.g. the poster behind the signing table appears to say "The Woman Behind the Mask", which would forward the narrative, but for its being obscured and minimized in the background.
Interview with the Boulet Brothers by George C. Romero - 6 - A lengthy interview with multiple questions and answers, and a multitude of photos of the Brothers in various costumes. Even though I'm not really interested in the "content" they produce, it's clear they are motivated and driven to achieve their place and personas, and with all the effort they put into their looks and "content", I can't help but admire their achievements, such as I have learned about in this mag.
"The Adventures of Adrienne James" by Matthew Medney, Bruce Edwards, Geraldo Borges - 5 - Noted as a "Special Preview", the title character apparently rides dinosaurs to meet lizard people to trade for an amulet. It's maybe not as cool as that sounds, and it was odd to me that this is a "Preview" when there was a fuller installment in #307.
"Savage Circus" Chapter Nine" by Brendan Columbus, Al Barrionuevo, Candice Han, Dave Sharpe, Joseph Illidge - 3 - Apologies to the creators, but I really don't like this. I read once that "comics are not storyboards", so the corrolary may be "storyboards don't make good Heavy Metal Stories". If anything I'm disliking this one more than I did "The 49th Key", which ran from issue #273 to #281, which was similarly afflicted with clumsy formulaic storytelling and less-inspiring art.
"What's Hers" by Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, Przemyslaw Klosin, Morgan Rosenblum, Steve Orlando - 7 - Sex worker is possessed by a bloodthirsty alien. While I wonder where she got the sword, I thought the storytelling was terrific with the badass ending, and the art supported the story well.
