I received my copy of HM #319 in late November 2022. 144 pages and $14.99 cover price. It ended up being released on Nov 16, after the release date kept getting pushed back from mid-September, following the release of HM #318. Three months between issues isn't the longest gap in HM's publication history, four months between #292 and #293 in early 2019 was the longest before by my count, and then it was on a six issues per year schedule (but not really; starting from #259 when issues were first numbered in 2012, I only got six issues in a year three times. Then they tried to go monthly in late 2020 but have only come close with 10 in 2021). #320's release date is also slipping, so I doubt I'll get it in 2022, making seven issues I'll see this year. That's actually really bad for a mag that still sells 12-issues-per-year subscriptions, and its inability to stabilize the publication and operation is a big part of why I'm concerned about the mag's continued existence. They announced a deal with Whatnot in October to publish the mag starting in 2023, but I haven't seen anything yet that makes me confident it will really happen. But I hope it does, and I hope they do a better job running the mag than the current big shots.
Now to this issue #319 of Heavy Metal Magazine. I got the cover A by Pascal Blanche, who has done a few covers, front and back for #270 (also with a Gallery) and #303, and I liked the 3D modeling techniques, I thought they were well done. Photo of my copy:
I'll give it a 7.5, and I can assure you it looks better on the cover than in my lame photo.
The first page is an ad for yearly subscriptions. Unbelievable and also lame. The second page is "In Honor of Ken Kelly" with the cover image of Taarna from #308. Mr Kelly passed away this year, and was only in the mag a few times, besides #308 he also did the cover for #284, and had a Gallery in the March 1998 issue. But he was apparently prolific and well-known for album covers. RIP.
The third page has an ad for some graphic novel called Stable from Hero Projects, not really from HM but with a couple of known suspects, then the Contents page, so we miss out on Big Shots' editorials again. Thank goodness.
Then the sixth page has an "In Memorium, TSALE, An Artist for All Seasons".
I have no idea who this is. Oh well, RIP.
"Vasator and Crunch: Into the Valley of Ash" by David Erwin, Andrea Romano, Saida Temofonte, Morgan Rosenblum - 6.5 - Maya St. Clair gets a "special thanks". Maya St Clair has been listed on the masthead, up until #318 as Junior Executive Assistant, but I stopped watching the masthead the past several issues, since there's been less churn. Fifth installment, fifth different artist. One of the bros gets distracted by a pretty girl, again. This time in a dead forest made of bones, maybe not the best choice. This may be the best one yet though, the art works hard and delivers, and the story attempts introspection with a somewhat better result than before.
"Space Pirates Unit Dolores Chapter 3 The Red Crystal" by by Didier Tarquin, Lyse Tarquin, Ivanka Hahnenberger, Jame, Fabrice Sapolsky - 5 - This finishes with 62 pages in two parts in the mag, oddly noted as "Part Three Chapter One" and "Part Three Chapter Two" in the Contents page, as someone pointed out. I get the feeling this is better than I think it is. The artwork is skilled and intense, there are human boobs and inhuman violence, the storytelling is brisk, it has some of the old mag's serialized euro-art feeling, but these separate aspects don't really synergize for me. Thanks anyway.
"Dark Wing - Chapter Eleven" by Matthew Medney, German Ponce, Andrew Dalhouse, DC Alonso, Saida Temofonte, Joseph Illidge, Bruce Edwards, Pete "Voodoo Bownz" Russo - 5 - This installment is the "End Book One". The Dark Wing is welcomed at the planet of benificent aliens (you can tell they're good since they have elf ears with their dark magenta skin and deep turquoise hair, and the wise words in balloons), some inhabitants choose to stay and some choose to continue, so at the end the Dark Wing launches to the next supernova. The art is sometimes bright and energetic, sometimes not. The storytelling is rarely engaging. I'll bet any continuation doesn't ever appear in the mag, if it even continues to exist. Also in this one, there were some odd light spots in the art, mostly but not always on the main friendly alien:
I didn't see it elsewhere in the mag, so maybe it was on purpose?
"Something Seems Off" by Chris Anderson - 8 - More intensely weird action with Ricky and Darla, fighting huge beaked and taloned monsters, when we see Fador, or the top half of 'em anyway, in machinations in the hellish underworld they was banished to in #314, when this marvelous story began for us. Things don't start out looking good for Ricky, maybe not Darla either, but there are lots of neat sound effects. What can possibly happen next? Well, this ends with "Answers Abound In The Next Weird Issue" so maybe we'll actually find out.
"The Axe - Part 5" by Joe Trohman, Brian Posehn, Scott Koblish, Diego Fichera, Lucas Gattoni, Morgan Rosenblum - 6.5 - This may not be my favorite story ever, and there are some apparent text mixups here, but I'll give it some credit for how hard it works, with fun monsters and jokes that keep coming, like needing quills from the "Gore-Cupine". Though they must come to an end somehow, I'm sure. Right?
"The Adventures of Adrienne James - Chapter 5" by Matthew Medney, Bruce Edwards, Santa Fung, Lucas Gattoni, Morgan Rosenblum - 5 - This one also gets a "Special Thanks to Maya St. Clair". But I still don't enjoy it. It ends with "Will Return Soon!" but I won't hold my breath.
6 comments:
Y’know, after reading your post I went and looked at a preview for ‘Darkwing: Chapter 11’ at the AIPT website. ‘Darkwing’ comes across as a variant of James Cameron’s bloated ‘Avatar’ franchise. It seems to me that ‘Darkwing’ is be representative of the problems with contemporary HM stories: self-important, ponderous, and devoid of the humor, or perversity, or just plain ‘weirdness’, that marked the serialized sci-fi comics of the golden days of the magazine, like ‘The Alchemist Supreme’ (1980), ‘So Beautiful and So Dangerous’ (1979) and ‘Captain Future’ (1979).
Maybe I’m old and cranky, but to me, nothing in HM #319 seems to have the inventive imagery of Philippe Druillet's stuff from the glory days. I can’t see the magazine’s fortunes improving until it adopts a different attitude towards the stuff it wants to publish………
Glad to see from your review that I didn’t miss much. I ordered this from Heavy Metal a couple of months ago, and they couldn’t be bothered to ship it, or answer emails asking about it. The magazine is a total dumpster fire, and I have to wonder how long it can go on.
Yeah it's too bad we're subjected to the current management's lack of commitment and competence as they wreck my favorite magazine. I only hope something arises from the ashes, someday.
Follow up to the magazine not being shipped: the magazine arrived yesterday, well over a month late, but to be fair, before the next “monthly” issue. I didn’t want to leave that negativity hanging out there, they did finally get it shipped. I think HM has a lot of problems, but hopefully they can get it together. It seems like they are over expanding, when they should be putting a laser focus on the core magazine.
Glad you got your magazine. I've seen too many stories about people who don't get what they ordered months or years ago.
Unfortunately it appears #319 may be the last of its era. Watching #320's publicized ship date slip from December to January to February, to nothing, and seeing the turnover announced at CEO, makes me think the ship has sunk, and all that remains to see is if anything made it to the lifeboats. The Whatnot Publishing issues are starting to show ship dates in March, and I'm just going to wait and see what comes. I'm pretty upset with how badly the big shots messed this up, but if I write anything about it, it'll be after the wreckage lands ashore.
I’m definitely looking forward to your take on the apparent implosion of Heavy Metal. I guess we can at least be grateful for 4 decades of effort, but hopefully someone with vision will pick up the mantle, and we can squeeze out a couple more decades.
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