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Heavy Metal #321
Heavy Metal magazine is back! Heavier than ever! This relaunch brings the world's greatest illustrated magazine back to the forefront of comics. One of the magazine's original line-up of legends, Enki Bilal - returns with the English language adaptation of his acclaimed BUG series. Michael Conrad (Hello Darkness, In Bloom) will be teaming up with Greek comics legend, Ilias Kyriazis (Collapser, What We Wished For), for an all-new series entitled Millstone. The outrageous Burton & Cyb returns with "Poor Monsters" by Antonio Segura and Jose Ortiz, as well as Vicente Segrelles' classic, The Mercenary. The English language debut of Janevsky's cult sci-fi heroine, Sixella. Guido Crepax' classic character Valentina returns by the hands of writer/artist Sergio Gerasi. Heavy Metal will harness the power of its own rich stable of characters, starting with the ultimate Taarakian warrior, Taarna! Writing duo Leah Moore and John Reppion will pen Taarna's ongoing adventures, accompanied by art from Anna Morozova. Also featuring one-shots of: Cold Dead War (B-17) by Craig Wilson, Grimaldi by Keron Grant, and Legends of Taarna by Joseph Michael Linsner. Fernando Dagnino brings a new cyberpunk short: Lester, That Old Feeling. The return of classic strips The Bus by Paul Kirchner and June 2050 by John Workman. Visionary creators David Quinn and Tim Vigil deliver Transcendestiny. Writer/artist Dwayne Harris gives us the fantasy tale They Dug Too Deep. Jim Rugg exposes Kecksburg UFO and Jon Wayshak writes and draws a horror short entitled Cobot. Plus Interviews, The Dossier, prose fiction and more!
233 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 2025
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2 people want to read
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If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.
Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 3, 2025
this was fun! happy to have backed this kickstarter. i even forgive them personally for the release kerfuffle, altho i do also understand why ppl were so mad.
anyway, some cool stuff in here, mixed w a prbly equal amount of stuff i either didn't like or was just neutral towards. really enjoyed the brief article about the history of the magazine, the brief synopsis of the ways scifi has predicted modern technology (with included commentary on the many flaws of our modern technology), & the piece about greg hildebrandt was really sweet. they weren't all hits for me but i liked the idea of the focus for this, with little one page art pieces & a brief synopsis centered around the theme of what would happen if we discovered aliens among us; some of these were really cool, some were....fine? might have been my least favorite of the art pieces but i think ending it on the note of aliens trying to "convince us greed was human nature and empathy the anomaly" was a nice touch.
in terms of the actual serials & other stories we got in this, we ran a solid balance between fun stories, cool art, & both. this is not to say that i liked all of them, because simply by the nature of being a collection by different writers & artists i did not, but overall they were good. a couple standouts for me were "the mercenary," a short little sword-and-planet styled piece, rly good art (i LOVE the dragon design) & a fun story; "burton & cyb," which had some really great wacky 80s-styled art, fun character designs (i particularly loved that even the weird alien-looking characters were still, somehow, human), with a nice bit of commentary on the power of belief & what it means to be monstrous; "austin grimaldi," which had GORGEOUS art & colors, was one of the few comics that actually did visually interesting things with page layouts, & was just a slightly silly story about a father who?? may have been a secret agent??? unclear, coming home to visit his daughter, with some, ah, fanfare; "the last roots," with some extremely dream-like artwork (altho i'm not 100% sold on the colors; sometimes the lack of visual contrast made it hard to figure out what was happening in each panel) that also manages to be...horrifying (all the centipede- & intestine-like architecture & robot structures??? sick as fuck) & an interesting world & story; "kecksberg ufo," which is based on a true story, & also features some truly CLASSIC 20s-style art & coloring; & then "millstone," easily my favorite of this entire mag, which had truly stunning dark-fantasy art & coloring, also did visually interesting things with page layouts, & also had a rly cool story that i genuinely look forward to continuing.
a few criticisms: "all american" is certainly a choice, in our current global political climate; i question the necessity of glorifying & valorizing US military efforts in literally any form, esp something like mecha??? altho i suppose i am grateful the enemy mech was russian & not, like, chinese or arab or smth. & then something that i thought a lot about through reading the history & the spreads of various features from the classic magazines is this: i understand that the societal norms of the time were much more puritanical than we are now (i say this theoretically; we are certainly backsliding this direction in many ways) & that esp comics were subjected to strict censorship & guidelines that required them to be child-friendly, but i have to ask how "transgressive" this magazine can really be when what we often mean by "transgressive" is the highly sexualized commodification of women's bodies, occasionally interspersed with equally naked men but only from the pov of a male power fantasy, often in violently-charged ways. outside of the technically accepted norms of what was generally allowed in this form of art, certainly, but transgressive? i'm not sold.
either way, i'm looking forward to the second issue (which was included with the kickstarter), & if i like that enough i may actually considering subscribing to the magazine as a whole! i'd like to end with this comment from the dossier that i really liked:
"we're walking through a future dreamt by artists, authors, and lunatics. the blueprints were laid down by gibson, asimov, moebius, and o'bannon -- not because they were trying to predict the future, but because they were warning us about it.
now, tech companies are scrambling to turn those visions into lifestyle products. but sci-fi wasn't about gadgets -- it was about consequences. the tension between machine and man, control and chaos, evolution and erasure."
anyway, some cool stuff in here, mixed w a prbly equal amount of stuff i either didn't like or was just neutral towards. really enjoyed the brief article about the history of the magazine, the brief synopsis of the ways scifi has predicted modern technology (with included commentary on the many flaws of our modern technology), & the piece about greg hildebrandt was really sweet. they weren't all hits for me but i liked the idea of the focus for this, with little one page art pieces & a brief synopsis centered around the theme of what would happen if we discovered aliens among us; some of these were really cool, some were....fine? might have been my least favorite of the art pieces but i think ending it on the note of aliens trying to "convince us greed was human nature and empathy the anomaly" was a nice touch.
in terms of the actual serials & other stories we got in this, we ran a solid balance between fun stories, cool art, & both. this is not to say that i liked all of them, because simply by the nature of being a collection by different writers & artists i did not, but overall they were good. a couple standouts for me were "the mercenary," a short little sword-and-planet styled piece, rly good art (i LOVE the dragon design) & a fun story; "burton & cyb," which had some really great wacky 80s-styled art, fun character designs (i particularly loved that even the weird alien-looking characters were still, somehow, human), with a nice bit of commentary on the power of belief & what it means to be monstrous; "austin grimaldi," which had GORGEOUS art & colors, was one of the few comics that actually did visually interesting things with page layouts, & was just a slightly silly story about a father who?? may have been a secret agent??? unclear, coming home to visit his daughter, with some, ah, fanfare; "the last roots," with some extremely dream-like artwork (altho i'm not 100% sold on the colors; sometimes the lack of visual contrast made it hard to figure out what was happening in each panel) that also manages to be...horrifying (all the centipede- & intestine-like architecture & robot structures??? sick as fuck) & an interesting world & story; "kecksberg ufo," which is based on a true story, & also features some truly CLASSIC 20s-style art & coloring; & then "millstone," easily my favorite of this entire mag, which had truly stunning dark-fantasy art & coloring, also did visually interesting things with page layouts, & also had a rly cool story that i genuinely look forward to continuing.
a few criticisms: "all american" is certainly a choice, in our current global political climate; i question the necessity of glorifying & valorizing US military efforts in literally any form, esp something like mecha??? altho i suppose i am grateful the enemy mech was russian & not, like, chinese or arab or smth. & then something that i thought a lot about through reading the history & the spreads of various features from the classic magazines is this: i understand that the societal norms of the time were much more puritanical than we are now (i say this theoretically; we are certainly backsliding this direction in many ways) & that esp comics were subjected to strict censorship & guidelines that required them to be child-friendly, but i have to ask how "transgressive" this magazine can really be when what we often mean by "transgressive" is the highly sexualized commodification of women's bodies, occasionally interspersed with equally naked men but only from the pov of a male power fantasy, often in violently-charged ways. outside of the technically accepted norms of what was generally allowed in this form of art, certainly, but transgressive? i'm not sold.
either way, i'm looking forward to the second issue (which was included with the kickstarter), & if i like that enough i may actually considering subscribing to the magazine as a whole! i'd like to end with this comment from the dossier that i really liked:
"we're walking through a future dreamt by artists, authors, and lunatics. the blueprints were laid down by gibson, asimov, moebius, and o'bannon -- not because they were trying to predict the future, but because they were warning us about it.
now, tech companies are scrambling to turn those visions into lifestyle products. but sci-fi wasn't about gadgets -- it was about consequences. the tension between machine and man, control and chaos, evolution and erasure."
May 31, 2025
Decades ago, I was an avid HEAVY METAL reader. The stories I read between the covers of that magazine were unlike anything else out on the market. Oh sure, occasionally, someone else would put out something Heavy Metal-ish, like Marvel's EPIC ILLUSTRATED, which wasn't bad, but played it much safer, or my treasured copies of Moebius's THE INCAL.
But, for my money, nothing could touch HM. And, of course, there was that movie, too.
Eventually, my graphic novel and comic book reading dwindled down, and HM was one of the casualties.
So, here we are, almost fifty years since HM started, and it's relaunched with a shiny new #1 on the cover. I had to pick it up.
And, it's both fun and disappointing, to be honest.
There's way too much navel gazing in this issue, reveling in the glory days of HM, as though trying to get the reader to buy into how great this issue is through all the glimpses into the past, envelope pushing issues.
When it's not looking back at past glories, it's often riffing off them. There's SO MANY callbacks to the movie in this issue that this portion seems to be aimed squarely at those who watched the movie, but never picked up an issue.
These, along with some really sloppy editing ("firts" for "first" and "you're" for "your" among others) made the journey disappointing.
However, luckily, there were enough stories here that had no ties to the past, no ties to the movie, instead, they just got on with telling the story they came to tell. Some were very, very good, some were wincingly bad, but they were all more forward looking, and those are the ones that made this issue worth the cover price.
I hope the magazine succeeds. I'm actually looking forward to future issues. But...I do mean FUTURE...stop looking back at the former glories.
Create some new ones.
But, for my money, nothing could touch HM. And, of course, there was that movie, too.
Eventually, my graphic novel and comic book reading dwindled down, and HM was one of the casualties.
So, here we are, almost fifty years since HM started, and it's relaunched with a shiny new #1 on the cover. I had to pick it up.
And, it's both fun and disappointing, to be honest.
There's way too much navel gazing in this issue, reveling in the glory days of HM, as though trying to get the reader to buy into how great this issue is through all the glimpses into the past, envelope pushing issues.
When it's not looking back at past glories, it's often riffing off them. There's SO MANY callbacks to the movie in this issue that this portion seems to be aimed squarely at those who watched the movie, but never picked up an issue.
These, along with some really sloppy editing ("firts" for "first" and "you're" for "your" among others) made the journey disappointing.
However, luckily, there were enough stories here that had no ties to the past, no ties to the movie, instead, they just got on with telling the story they came to tell. Some were very, very good, some were wincingly bad, but they were all more forward looking, and those are the ones that made this issue worth the cover price.
I hope the magazine succeeds. I'm actually looking forward to future issues. But...I do mean FUTURE...stop looking back at the former glories.
Create some new ones.
June 9, 2025
3.5
I missed out on the whole Heavy Metal thing growing up as a kid in the 80s and 90s, and by the time I was an adult in the 2000s, it seemed like some relic of the past. But when I heard it was relaunching with a new #1, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try it out. I had seen the film in college, and my comics reading has included Moebius, Bilal, and Corben, among others, so I went in with some idea about what I was walking into. However, as a newcomer to the actual magazine, I did appreciate, perhaps more than most, some of the navel-gazing of the issue -- the article looking into the magazine's history, technologies it semi-predicted, etc., as well as the glimpses into past features and artists. But I agree that future issues should probably avoid this kind of indulgence and focus on the future, as another reviewer noted.
As with all anthologies, the stories themselves are hit and miss, but I found the amount of decent to really good entries outweighed the poor to forgettable ones. Some entries stood out for their art but not so much for their stories, like Jonathan Wayshak's "Cobot" and Vicente Segrelles's "The Mercenary." But the entries that were solid all around include: "Burton and Cyb," "Lester -- 'That Old Feeling'," "Millstone," "Sixella -- 'The Last Roots' Part 1," "Kecksburg UFO," "Valentina -- Part 1," and "All American." I also found "Legends of Taarna" and "Transcendestiny" to be pretty solid.
Unfortunatlely, the biggest disappointment for me was Enki Bilal's entry, "Bug -- Part 1." Perhaps future parts will right the ship, but Bilal was one of the only artists in the issue I was familiar with, so I had high expectations based on his older work. Perhaps that's why I found it disappointing -- the fact that it is also the first story presented in the issue scared me a bit because I headed into the rest of it with that taste of disappointment already sunk in. But perhaps I'm in the minority in this opinion (others seem to have liked it).
However, there is more than enough here to bring me back for issue two. I'm particularly interested in seeing where "Millstone" and "Sixella" go from here, and I'm hoping to see more short stories like "Lester," "Kecksburg UFO," and "All American." All in all, this was a solid starting point, and I'm hoping it can keep up the quality moving forward.
I missed out on the whole Heavy Metal thing growing up as a kid in the 80s and 90s, and by the time I was an adult in the 2000s, it seemed like some relic of the past. But when I heard it was relaunching with a new #1, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try it out. I had seen the film in college, and my comics reading has included Moebius, Bilal, and Corben, among others, so I went in with some idea about what I was walking into. However, as a newcomer to the actual magazine, I did appreciate, perhaps more than most, some of the navel-gazing of the issue -- the article looking into the magazine's history, technologies it semi-predicted, etc., as well as the glimpses into past features and artists. But I agree that future issues should probably avoid this kind of indulgence and focus on the future, as another reviewer noted.
As with all anthologies, the stories themselves are hit and miss, but I found the amount of decent to really good entries outweighed the poor to forgettable ones. Some entries stood out for their art but not so much for their stories, like Jonathan Wayshak's "Cobot" and Vicente Segrelles's "The Mercenary." But the entries that were solid all around include: "Burton and Cyb," "Lester -- 'That Old Feeling'," "Millstone," "Sixella -- 'The Last Roots' Part 1," "Kecksburg UFO," "Valentina -- Part 1," and "All American." I also found "Legends of Taarna" and "Transcendestiny" to be pretty solid.
Unfortunatlely, the biggest disappointment for me was Enki Bilal's entry, "Bug -- Part 1." Perhaps future parts will right the ship, but Bilal was one of the only artists in the issue I was familiar with, so I had high expectations based on his older work. Perhaps that's why I found it disappointing -- the fact that it is also the first story presented in the issue scared me a bit because I headed into the rest of it with that taste of disappointment already sunk in. But perhaps I'm in the minority in this opinion (others seem to have liked it).
However, there is more than enough here to bring me back for issue two. I'm particularly interested in seeing where "Millstone" and "Sixella" go from here, and I'm hoping to see more short stories like "Lester," "Kecksburg UFO," and "All American." All in all, this was a solid starting point, and I'm hoping it can keep up the quality moving forward.
June 28, 2025
Heavy Metal #1, April 2025 (Legacy #321)
The several attempted resurrections of the once great comics magazine returns for another try in the spring of 2025, this time spearheaded by an editorial team that seems focused on a more "if it ain't broke" mentality. Indeed, this issue features pieces from classic contributors to the magazine (at least from the '90s era of HM) like Enki Bilal, Vicente Segralles and Paul Kirchner, along with contemporary work that mirrors the bandes dessinée style of comics a bit more. Most of the more modern looking pieces do feel a bit out of place here, but nonetheless the variety of comics here feels very reminiscent of the heights of the magazine. Stand outs/surprise hits for me were "Evil Sex Bitch" by Steve Mannion and "Gladiatrix" by John Stanisci and Dave Baron, both of which feel very much at home in this magazine, and the latter shaping up to be the start of a promising ongoing story. Another ongoing feature that was delightful was Sergio Gerasi's take on Guido Crepax's classic character, Valentina. Though Gerasi's linework is distinct from that of the masterful Crepax, the paneling, layouts and storytelling style is spot on. Excited to see where Gerasi takes the story in subsequent issues.
Overall, this was a much more promising start for Heavy Metal. Let's hope this return keeps the momentum in subsequent issues.
The several attempted resurrections of the once great comics magazine returns for another try in the spring of 2025, this time spearheaded by an editorial team that seems focused on a more "if it ain't broke" mentality. Indeed, this issue features pieces from classic contributors to the magazine (at least from the '90s era of HM) like Enki Bilal, Vicente Segralles and Paul Kirchner, along with contemporary work that mirrors the bandes dessinée style of comics a bit more. Most of the more modern looking pieces do feel a bit out of place here, but nonetheless the variety of comics here feels very reminiscent of the heights of the magazine. Stand outs/surprise hits for me were "Evil Sex Bitch" by Steve Mannion and "Gladiatrix" by John Stanisci and Dave Baron, both of which feel very much at home in this magazine, and the latter shaping up to be the start of a promising ongoing story. Another ongoing feature that was delightful was Sergio Gerasi's take on Guido Crepax's classic character, Valentina. Though Gerasi's linework is distinct from that of the masterful Crepax, the paneling, layouts and storytelling style is spot on. Excited to see where Gerasi takes the story in subsequent issues.
Overall, this was a much more promising start for Heavy Metal. Let's hope this return keeps the momentum in subsequent issues.
July 30, 2025
Having never read Heavy Metal before (well, other than one 90's issue purchased out of curiosity and largely forgotten since) or it's origin form, Metal Hurlant, but having discovered a love for Moebius in the last decade, I was quite excited to learn that both magazines were relaunching this year. Although less excited to discover that the relaunch has already happened some months ago, meaning I had to pay premium for both first issues to get hold of them. Anyway, this was the first to arrive and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed my read through. Yes it is an anthology series and yes that means there is some inconsistency in quality, but setting that aside I found something to enjoy in every strip. So, now I am signed up, I'll be buying these for as long as they run (as long as the quality does not waver too far) and I am anxiously waiting today for issue 2 to arrive through my letter box at some point later on. Hurry up, Royal Mail, I need another dose of fantastical, science fictional, occasionally hyper violet, occasionally soft core erotica, often unpredictable, but more oftenly beautifully depicted comic book!
June 4, 2025
It's great to see HEAVY METAL back on the shelves again, even though I was never more than an irregular reader back in its' heyday. This new edition seems true to the spirit and mission of the original, providing a glossy showcase for the best in European (and other) comics art and stories within the science fiction and fantasy genres.
Just as before, I don't like everything equally, but there certainly is a good variety of stories, art styles, and presentations to read and view, as well as some good articles, especially the history of the magazine.
My favorite story from this debut issue is "Bug, Part One" by Enki Bilal. I'll definitely check out Issue #2/#322 to see where this is heading. Also worth noting are "The Mercenary: Journey To Death" by Vincente Segrelles; "Cold Dead War: The Aftermath" by Craig Wilson; and "Lester: That Old Feeling" by Fernando Dagnino.
Just as before, I don't like everything equally, but there certainly is a good variety of stories, art styles, and presentations to read and view, as well as some good articles, especially the history of the magazine.
My favorite story from this debut issue is "Bug, Part One" by Enki Bilal. I'll definitely check out Issue #2/#322 to see where this is heading. Also worth noting are "The Mercenary: Journey To Death" by Vincente Segrelles; "Cold Dead War: The Aftermath" by Craig Wilson; and "Lester: That Old Feeling" by Fernando Dagnino.
August 4, 2025
It was alright. Just.
About a third of the stories are well-drawn, interesting stories that leave me wanting more.
Another third are so badly drawn or written you can't make out what on earth is going on.
The remaining third make you think 'huh, was that it? what was the point of this rubbish?"
About a third of the stories are well-drawn, interesting stories that leave me wanting more.
Another third are so badly drawn or written you can't make out what on earth is going on.
The remaining third make you think 'huh, was that it? what was the point of this rubbish?"
June 6, 2025
Finally got my Kickstarter Skinner cover edition! Some cool stories, the overview of predicted technology advancement through science fiction was cool.
"Evil Sex Bitch" felt like a classic Heavy Metal tale as well.
Overall a pretty swell read.
"Evil Sex Bitch" felt like a classic Heavy Metal tale as well.
Overall a pretty swell read.
May 30, 2025
Heavy Metal Magazine is Back!
August 20, 2025
Finally! Highly recommend.
Read
August 30, 2025Would prefer fewer stories with “the end” than infinite “to be continued”. With that said, my interest in the publication rejuvenated.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews