HEAVY METAL

   Glossy BEDSHEET-size US colour COMIC-strip magazine inspired by the French magazine METAL HURLANT and reprinting English-language versions of mainly sf and fantasy material from this and other French, Italian and Spanish sources alongside similar matter by select US contributors.Published monthly Apr 1977-Dec 1985, quarterly from the Winter (i.e., January) 1986 issue and then bimonthly from Mar 1989, HM has built a reputation for high quality in both presentation and content; in an editorial during 1985 it claimed a readership of over 2 million. Monthly issues carried serialized material in episodes of varying length, causing an often uncomfortable segmentation of some stories; the change to quarterly publication introduced a policy of presenting only complete stories and full-length GRAPHIC NOVELS. HM's list of contributors reads like a roster of the world's best artists and writers of comic-strip sf, and the following is only a selection: Enki BILAL, Vaughn BODE, Caza, Howard V. CHAYKIN, Richard CORBEN, Guido Crepax, Philippe DRUILLET,Fernando Fernandez, Juan Giminez, Jean GIRAUD (Moebius), Jeff Jones, Rod Kierkegaard, Tanino Liberatore, Milo Manara, Georges Pichard, Jose Ribera, Aleuteri Serpieri, Jacques Tardi, Daniel Torres and Berni Wrightson. In addition to the regular issues there have been several "Specials", including Son of Heavy Metal (1983), Heavy Metal's Even Heavier Metal (1984), Bride of Heavy Metal (1986) and Best of Heavy Metal (1986). HM hasalso published a line of graphic novels, most of which previously appeared as serials in the magazine.The animated film Heavy Metal (1981) dir Gerald Potterton displayed animated improvisations on themes and charactersfeatured in HM. A live-action sequel, Heavy Metal's Burning Chrome, was planned but never realized.

   RT