Heavy Metal #306

Heavy Metal #306 is 144 pages with the $13.99 cover price.  I got mine from mycomicshop.com in May 2021, with the cover A by Lurk.  Colorful and roughly imaginative, a being with a shaman-ish appearance.  I give it a 7 since I like the color and room for interpretation.  Photo of my copy:

The three big shots take their shots at editorials again.  Some of what they say, about their discovery of HM, and its place in their culture, has a familiar sound to it, but I'm getting the feeling that the mag is less and less for oldsters from the times when HM was new, like me.  These guys' experiences are not like mine, and I can't expect them to view things like me, or have the same memories of the mag.  Likewise I can't expect the mag to have the same impact on me now as it did then.  I won't get the same mind-blowing sense of discovery, seeing a door open to a new world I was just becoming able to comprehend, as I did 40+ years ago, or even as 15+ years ago when I started gathering and reading them all, getting a whiff of that memory in the process.  That memory of memories is what keeps me reading the mag, and I'm still having some fun with it.  But the Heavy Metal media empire juggernaut is rumbling along, becoming more obscure to me in the noise and dust of their machinations.  I hope it remains visible as I cling to my faint impressions of what it should be.

And that's enough wallowing.  I'll save some whining for the stories in this issue of the mag.

"Black Beacon - Chapter 1" by Ryan K Lindsay, Sebastian Piriz, Jame, R.G. Llarena - 7 - The story  begins with a refugee arriving, unwelcome, to a crowded outpost.  Art with bright colors and imaginative characterizations, complements writing that gives incidental exposition.  Some worn bits, the jaded cop figure, the not-yet-jaded youth, fortuitous titular object appearance, etc, but this starts with some promise.

"Euclid" by Omar Spahi, Dillon Gemmill, Peejay Catacutan - 7 - Interstellar explorer crashes into an (almost) infinite staircase, needing to decide if he goes up or down.  Well-done exploration of life and reality, that I enjoyed even though none of it was surprising.  Except for the letterer spelling it "letterrer".

"Star 69" by Michael J. Ruiz-Unger, Maxi Dall'O, Steve Canon, Micah Myers - 6 - Some guy finds someone's phone.  But it's an alien phone.  Misdialed hijinks ensue.  Pretty humorous space tourist loses their phone story.

"Swamp God - Chapter 2" by Ron Marz, Armitano, Werner Sanchez, ALW Studios' Troy Peteri - 6 - With Tim Seeley and Joseph Illidge getting their respective Editor and Co-Editor credits. Well, the swamp witch gets her piece, but the Reb boys ain't much for cuddling after.  But she manages to birth her creature, which bears a remarkable resemblence to the wendigo in "Blizzard" in HM #297.

"Nuclear Romance" by Stefano Cardoselli, Panta Rea, Andrea Lorenzo Molinari, Bram Meehan - 7 - A lonely orphan robot searches the wasteland, for hope?  It's been since 2014 that we've seen Cardoselli in Heavy Metal's pages, and I'm glad to see his ability to display actual emotion comes through in this one.  His ability to depict raw ultraviolence is not present here.  But there is some violence implied.

"Barracuda - (chapter one) by Keith Champagne, A. Christopher Smith, Rich Stahnke, Steve Dutro, Tim Seeley - 5 - A cop wants to find her vanished crooked cop father.  The art isn't terrible but the story starts that way.  So far this is most noticable for a flashback including obvious gay sex, which is not unheard of in HM, but pretty rare.

"Dark Wing - Chapter Six" by Matthew Medney, German Ponce, Protobunker Studios, Saida Temofonte, R.G. Llarena, Bruce Edwards, Pete "Voodoo Bownz" Russo - 5 -This gets an extra point from me by avoiding two-page spreads, so the art can better speak for itself.  Story not as much, alliances are formed etc, but it's trying to go somewhere.

"Au Naturale" by Perry Crowe, Chris Anderson - 7.5 - Mother Earth has her revenge, with some help.  Some pretty fun art with some neat writing, and the last chapter of humanity on her Earth.  

Interview with Kevin Smith, by Joshua Sky - 6 - So Mr Smith has played his pop culture success into an influential media career, so he gets to be listened to.  Good for him.  It's disconcerting to see this go towards promoting NFTokens in Heavy Metal Magazine, and not just because it stinks to high heaven.  But because of how, like Mr Medney's big shot editorial in this issue, they both refer to Beeple's 69 bajillions for a bunch of (digital) art, and the issue HM #293 Mr Beeple did the cover B for, as a measure of HM's NonFT cred, when Mr Beeple was actually featured in an Artist Spotlight in the HM #289 issue, which does actually discuss the art project he eventually sold.  This barely superficial awareness of HM's past, even so recent, for such a cause, is causing me concern.

"Savage Circus" Chapter Six by Brendan Columbus, Al Barrionuevo, Candice Han, Dave Sharpe, Joseph Illidge - 3 - Goodness gracious me I don't like this.

"The Dream of the Human God" by Homero Rios, Mark Lorenzana, Juan F. Contreras, Jame - 7 - In a MegaBabylon space station, The Human God Nebucchadnezzar decides between prosperity for his people, or for his name to live forever.  The decision is not surprising for one that calls themselves the Human God.  I really liked the premise and the art, though I wished the storytelling had a clearer finish.

"Starward:  Chapter Two" by Steve Orlando, Ivan Shavrin, Saida Temofonte - 6 - With Tim Seeley and Joseph Illidge credited as Editors. The main character is perplexed by her sudden transformation into a superheroine.  The art is showing some pretty cool promise, though the story's just-out-of-high-school setting doesn't resonate with me.

Heavy Metal #305

With 150 pages and the $13.99 cover price, and the Frank Frazetta self-portrait on the cover A, I got this issue from mycomicshop.com in April of this year.  Photo of my copy:

There's also an interview with Frank Frazetta Jr in the mag.  As I've noted before, there's less Frazetta in HM's history than one might think.  There are a number of instances, but it's kinda sporadic, with the most significant items in recent issues.  I looked and started thinking to go into more detail on Frank Frazetta's entries in Heavy Metal Magazine here, but it may be enough for a post on its own someday.   Good for Frank Jr to trumpet his father's legacy in the interview coming later.  I will not be so rude as to put a number rating on this.

The three big shots put out their editorials, this time about sex, mostly sex in Heavy Metal magazine.  Too bad there isn't all that much of it in this issue.  The masthead is unchanged from #304, including an apparent typo in Justin Mohlman's name, that I did not notice until #305.  Hope they get that fixed.

"Swamp God - Chapter 1" by Ron Marz, Armitano, DC Alonso, ALW Studios' Troy Peteri - 6 - With Tim Seeley and Joseph Illidge getting respective Editor and Co-Editor credits.  Fugitive Confederate soldiers, fleeing an all-black Union squad, encounter a Swamp Witch.  A topless Swamp Witch.  Besides that it's pretty comic-y.

"Vasator and Crunch" by David Erwin, Kevin Molen, DC Alonso, David Sharpe, Morgan Rosenblum - 6 - Mercenary warrior brothers in ancient (Assyrian?) times, one is a golem/robot?  I have enjoyed Molen art in previous HM entries, "The Aftermath:  Big Clean" and "The Savage Sword of Jesus Christ".  But unfortunately, neither of these finished in Heavy Metal Magazine, despite stating "to be continued".  This one does not hint of more, but I'll bet there will be.

"The Rise - Part Three" by George C. Romero, Diego Yapur, DC Alonso, Saida Temofonte, Joseph Illidge - 6 - The scientist pays for the secret he seeks.  This entry's storytelling a bit less cohesive, but it still looks pretty cool.

Interview with Frank Frazetta Jr. by Joshua Sky - 7 - Titled "The Once & Future King", for some reason.  A warm and insightful reminicense of Frank Frazetta by his son Frank Jr.  Jr says he has a novel about the Death Dealer, and wants to get it published, and working with HM seems to be one of his tactics.

"Cryptwalker" by Michael David Nelsen, Jason Danzeisen - 7.5 - The titular character is a Barbarian, looking for answers to his past for thousands of years.  The story has him failing to rescue a captive from the arcane ritual of an unholy cult, but gaining the power they sought.  I quite enjoyed how the art succeeded showing me expanses of mind and space, illustrating a grand scale.  There's some to the story I am missing, but it finishes with an "End Chapter" so maybe there will be more.

"Dark Wing - Chapter Five" by Matthew Medney, German Ponce, Protobunker Studios, Bruce Edwards, Pete "Voodoo Bownz" Russo, Saida Temofonte - 4 - This has lost my interest.  It skipped an issue and I didn't even notice.  It's oozing with wordy balloons failing to expound a contrivance of a story, and unfortunate two-page spreads.  Sorry but I never got into this and now it's starting to rub me the wrong way.  It may get somewhere someday, but I am not optimistic.

"The Grasping Dark" by Mark McMann - 4 - A short prose piece, a rant about humanity.  Pretentious presentation with weird font changes and annoying typos.  An ok premise without an impact.

"The Queensbury Company - Episode 1" by Patrick Smith, Carlos Pedrazzini, Arthur Hesli, Victor Uchoa, David Sharpe, Ismail Nihad, Morgan Rosenblum - 6 - The ragtag group of miscreants needing to coalesce into a fighting unit trope.  This time with "Mythicals" - characters based on creatures of myth and fantasy, in a post-alien-invasion world.  A handful of interesting bits try to raise this from comic mediocrity.  It's Episode 1, so presumably we'll see more.

"Maiden - Neoma:  The Bride - Chapter Four:  The Lord's Sin" by Michelle Sears, Bart Sears, Ilaria Fella - (-4) - My first negative rating.  I might normally give this another 6, but it's getting (-10) points on top of that, since it Actually Went There with child sexual abuse and murder.  Fuck that.  I can handle fantasy murder and mayhem in HM, it's part of what helps remind me of man's capacity for inhumanity.  Sexiness is cool.  Leering prurience, juvenile drooling, sexual assault of (supposed) adults, sexualizing too-young teens, are all unfortunate realities in HM's history, but this shit gets called out.  Reprehensible.

"Savage Circus" Chapter Five by Brendan Columbus, Al Barrionuevo, Candice Han, Dave Sharpe, Joseph Illidge - 4 - I'm starting to feel about this one like I did about "The 49th Key", last seen in issue #281, less than effective storytelling with only slightly better art.  At least if this ever gets made into a movie it'll probably be better than this story.

"Off" by Chris Anderson - 7 - Reports of "little green men" and people seeming "off" distress the populace.  Gratuitous nudity and comically fanciful body horror push this over the top of the "pretty good for HM" threshold.

"Cyberarchy" by Matt Hardy, Clark Bint, Rob Jones - 7 - A delightful commentary on existence, told by robots born to die.  Very nice art that did well to show worlds near and far, despite the unfortunate preponderance of two-page spreads, helping move along the wryly told story.

Heavy Metal #304

 Heavy Metal #304 has the USD$13.99 cover price and 144 pages.  I got the cover A by Andrea De Dominicis, in March, off of ebay since I didn't see it on mycomicshop.com where I usually go these days.  It's pretty cool and it gets a 6 from me, while I'd think it'd be easier dragging a dragon head first (though I've never tried).  Image I lifted from HM's site:

 

This image appears lighter than my copy:

A bit odd, though inconsequential.  Also odd is that I noticed, sitting here with my HM collection staring at me, that the logo varies.  Slightly, but noticably, over the years.  Comparing this issue with April 1977, below, the proportions of the "Y" look like the letters are "thicker".  Even ignoring the outlines, it can be seen by measuring the edges and comparing ratios.  Looking back I also saw variations in how the "E" edges are more or less parallel between issues, and some other small differences.  Which blew my tiny little mind, which thought the logo was fixed, and the differences in color or texture or outlines were just applied to the same template.  Perhaps different logos were generated from scratch, with likely variations occuring.  Mostly I'm just surprised I didn't notice until now: 

A quick flip through the earlier years seems to indicate the logo was pretty consistent through the monthly issues, ending with December 1985, and soon after there were more noticable variations, like Summer and Fall 1986, where aspect ratio and perspective differ:

Amusing but inconsequential.  A bit more interesting in light of Peter Kleinman now being credited regularly for the logo.  I'm sure others are more knowledgeable about logos in general and the HM logo in particular.

On to the mag, where again the three big shots wax eloquent, on comics.  I never really thought of Heavy Metal Magazine as "comics", since it was "adult" (though I barely was), and it was so far removed from reading Mad Magazine and Peanuts, and Sgt Rock, and G.I. Combat, in my youth (though it did hit some of the buttons hit by my friend's brother's undergrounds like Zap and Mr. Natural).  I realize now, as much more of an "adult", how HM has always been comics-adjacent, at least, and it sure seems to be getting closer to "comics" every day.  I'll give the three big shots credit for producing these editorials and sharing some opinions and viewpoints.

"Maiden - Neoma:  The Bride - Chapter Three:  The Massacre" by Michelle Sears, Bart Sears, Ilaria Fella - 6 - A massacre indeed.  The bride is a demon, filling the panels with blood.

"Azra Alaraph" by Darko Perović - 7.5 - A story of one of the horrors of war.  A gritty black and white style that helps the mystery of the storytelling, seen less these days than in the mag's early years.

"Backup" by Hal Jay Greene, Joel Ojeda, Enrica Erin Angiolini, Bernardo Brice, Sabrina Del Grosso, Zach Howard - 7 - A long-haul space freighter pilot, with her homemade robot companion, are imperiled by a high energy piece of space junk piercing their hull.  She won't make it, and doesn't expect the ship to be found, or the "backup" she made of herself, to be retrieved to be "recorped".  Buuuutt, somehow she is, and her robot buddy finds her immediately.  Despite some of it being on the thin side, I thought this did well to tell a thoughtful story.

"Funeral - Final Chapter" by Emilio Balcarce. H.C. López, Jok, JAME, Alberto Calvo - 7 - God's worms overrun the earth, but there is hope in a new ark and new worlds.  Growing even more busy and far-fetched, I still enjoyed how much ground this covered.  It's noted as from '09 at the end, and with a Color:  Haus Studio credit as well.

Interview with Gideon Kendall - 7 - Subtitled "Between Life and Death" and with Joshua Sky doing the interview.  A collection of delightfully bizarre and meticulous drawings.  Mr Kendall has the required HM-influence name-drop, and it's promoting a HM published book, so good for him.  I like wacky stuff like this, reminding me of some early undergrounds as well as Garbage Pail Kids.

"Story Time" by by Ron Marz, Bart Sears, Andrew Dalhouse, JAME - 5 - Extremely buff Santa from "A Midnight Clear" in issue #297 is featured in a two-pager with Santa not reading stories to kids.  Pretty cool looking art with not too much story.  I'll complain here again about how poorly two page spreads work with the mag's current "perfect" binding.  Without wrecking the binding to spread the seam apart, the continuity between the two pages' halves of the image is non-existent.  The image really suffers. 

"Synap$e" by Blake Northcott, Giuseppe Cafaro, Bryan Valenza - 6 - Subtitled "Corruption(dot)exe" and with Frank Forte and Matthew Medney getting Edits credits.  A wronged woman pays some sort of AI for revenge.  Pretty good art, an ok premise of a creepy data dystopia.  Does anyone pick up anonymous calls anymore?  It ends with a cliffhanger, but no indication of continuation besides that.

"Starward:  Chapter One" by Steve Orlando, Ivan Shavrin, Saida Temofonte - 5 - With Tim Seeley and Joseph Illidge credited as Editors.  I read somewhere that this was going to be a HM YA graphic novel.  It's a comic, complete with superhero outfits and disaffected youth.  The art is pretty cool, notwithstanding a couple more two-page spreads.

"The Wizard's Curtain" by Mark McMann - 6 - An eight-page long prose piece, telling the story of a consciousness time traveler.  It has a "Wonderwerk" mark, so maybe it came from the podcast.  It develops its interesting premise well, that humanity lives on as tank-living organisms able to cast their consciousnesses through human history.  The narrating protagonist prefers ruthless dictators' last moments, but pursues his dreams of a seemingly ordinary 21st century man.  I felt the ending didn't meet the story's promise.

"Viral" by Benton Jew - 6 - A nifty virus/zombie joke, the brevity of its two pages is just right.  The art is ok and the joke isn't new, but I thought this did its job well enough.

"The Last Detective:  Redemption - Chapter Two" by Claudio Alvarez, Geraldo Borges, Arthur Hesli, Maycols Alfaro, Guillermo "Kobayashi" Nuñéz -  6 - A long installment (31 pages) completes the story started in #303.  The broken detective finds the source of the drugs and the cause of his misery, with some droid/transhumanism help.  Some interesting story twists keep this from being just another shoot-em-up cop comic.

"Forgive Us Our Sins" by Mark McMann, Boo Cook, Frank Forte - 6 - A scientist sees the results of his work.  Good art with lots of expression, pretty good premise that perhaps too quickly came to its conclusion.  

Heavy Metal #303

Heavy Metal #303 has a cover price of USD$13.99, 144 pages, it's the first issue I got in 2021.  Again editorials from the three big shots. They all talk about science fiction, and two of them end on dumb notes.  At least there is actually some sci-fi stuff in the mag.  I got the Cover A by Pascal Blanche, spaceships in orbit, cool and blue, from mycomicshop.com again.  They usually have them available earlier, and I'm not about to order from HM, not only because of the people complaining about not getting their stuff, but I don't want to be on their mailing list more than I already am (I only gave my email a couple times to comment on articles several years ago, now I'm getting their newsletter, twice each.  hmph).  Here's the image from mycomicshop.com, I think it's pretty cool so I'll call it a 7:

There's almost no change on the masthead, and they're still crediting Peter Kleinman for the logo.  Good:

"Lucy:  Hope - Chapter Four" by Patrick Norbert, Tanino Liberatore - 8.5 - With Frank Forte & David Erwin noted again as Editors.  Pain and loss, struggle and hope and perhaps redemption, the pre-human characters survive, in this final chapter.  Wonderful imagery and presentation, with the story bridging the gap in time and humanity.  Certainly one of the better HM stories of the post-Morrison era.

"Savage Circus" Chapter Four by Brendan Columbus, Al Barrionuevo, Candice Han, Dave Sharpe, Joseph Illidge - 5 - With killer cassowarys, a flashback, a yeti and a bejeweled panther.  The art may be getting slightly better, the story maybe not so much.

Interview with Brendan Columbus, by Matthew Medney - 6 - This also includes Chris Columbus, Brendan's father and famous film guy.  Indeed, Chris has most of the story, including the obligatory HM reference.  Maybe not exciting to me, but I liked the enthusiasm.

"The Last Detective:  Redemption" by Claudio Alvarez, Geraldo Borges, Arthur Hesli, Maycols Alfaro, Guillermo "Kobayashi" Nuñéz - 6 - A failed but legendary detective is commandeered back into service, and partnered with an insufferable robot, to find the source of a killer drug.  Okay art and writing good enough to not be too superficial.  Twenty pages and it ends with "End of Chapter One" so presumably there will be more.

"The Rise - Part Two" by George C. Romero, Diego Yapur, Dc Alonso, Saida Temofonte, Joseph Illidge - 7 - The broken professor goes in search of the missing component for his work.  The developing story is interesting, the telling is nice, and I'm liking the art even more, cool black and white and red style, and it does well to advance the story.

Interview with Liam Sharp by Geoff Boucher - 5 - Evan Copp gets an Editing credit.  Again a transcription of a Mindspace podcast.  Most remarkable to me is the transcription "band destiny" of what was so obviously supposed to be "bandes dessinée", that even a lunkhead like me who only has the slightest idea of what that is, could notice.  They were even talking about Heavy Metal!  Sheesh.

"Dark Wing - Chapter Four" by Matthew Medney, German Ponce, Protobunker Studios, Bruce Edwards, Pete "Voodoo Bownz" Russo, Saida Temofonte - 6 - Most interesting to me is the parts where Cell is showing the kids some history, with some convenient story background and nicely put together pages.  Much of the rest is either hard for me to follow or so obvious as to be flat.

"Sides" by Marko Stojanovic, Tudor Popa - 7.5 - I liked the art in style and subject, quite reminiscent of HM's best years, and it tells a nice story, almost a parable.  Not overly long, and my impression is that it has a very good translation.

Interview with Dylan Sprouse by Joshua Sky - 7 - I have not been impressed by the various entries in HM on Mr Sprouse's Sun Eater, but I admire that he is strong enough to discuss the personal side to the "cautionary tale about drug addiction and how it affects families" that he describes this work as.

"Neoma:  The Bride - Chapter Two:  The Wedding" by Michelle Sears, Bart Sears, Periya Pillai - 6 - The Bride is presented to the groom.  A heavy feudal Japan motif, a couple modern-ish bits.  I find it difficult to track characters, and who is talking.  The word/thought balloons are different, apparently to discern different characters, but the speaker is not always in the panel.  We'll see where this goes.

"Dominion" by Dwayne Harris - 7 - Future space archaeologists determine mankind's fate from the evidence.  Perhaps not a new story, but it makes its point well in its two pages, and I like the art, shiny and chrome.  I seem to like Mr Dwayne's HM entries.

"Funeral - Chapter Two" by Emilio Balcarce. H.C. López, Jok, JAME, Alberto Calvo - 7 - "They desecrated the casket!"  The art and text are dense, nicely displaying human stupidity and otherworldly horror.  With sex and explosions too.  I'm enjoying the broad scope and quick telling.

"String Theory" by Steve Orlando, Marcelo Borstelmann, Micah Myers, Morgan Rosenblum - 6.5 - A Soloist warrior fights the ruler of silence.  The art is technically very good in execution and composition, though it's riddled with posing, but the sword turning into a guitar was pretty creative.  And while the story comes across in a familiar manner, I quite enjoyed its ambition.

"Last Planet Other Side of the Sun" by Chris Anderson - 7.5 - Giant-robot driving humans fight a losing battle with an alien invasion, ending with the salvation of both sides.  With giant-robot-extraterrestrial-virtual-sex, wheeee!  Fantastic storytelling, and the psychedelic mind-meld flashback is really cool too.

The back cover is an ad for the "Green Slime" movie from Warner.  A space babe in the clutches (?) of a tentacled one-eyed space monster sure gets one's attention.  This is the first non-HM ad in the mag for a while.