shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,706
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Post by shaxper on Aug 2, 2017 20:56:17 GMT -5
I have so been looking forward to this!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2017 21:06:50 GMT -5
Heavy Metal #2 Part OneHeavy Metal May 1977 (#2 or Vol. 1 #2 depending on reckoning)Published by HM Communications 96 pages; color and b&w; $1.50 cover priceContentsFront Cover by Moebius MEAONbIn MECRU by Tardi The Adventures of Yriss by Druillet and Alexis Sunpot by Bode Agorn by Druillet 1996 by Montellier Den by Corben Age of Ages by Rubington Conquering Armies by Dionnet and Gal Roger by Locquet and Souchu The Star-Death of Magaret Omali by James Tiptree Jr. Virgo by Caza Harzak by Moebius Festival by Picaret and Baret Back Cover by Druillet ReviewsMEAONbIn MECRU (8 pgs; color)Story/Art/Colors Jacques Tardi Synopsis/Comments: My only previous experience with Tardi’s work was The Bloody Streets of Paris, a far cry from the sci-fi tale here. A Soviet spacecraft travels through space and the Soviet couple aboard takes a break from their scientific experiment to engage in a sexual interlude. Another craft spots the Soviet craft and attacks them because it is a Soviet craft, boarding the ship and killing the Soviets aboard. The attackers consist of one human and a pair of blob-like aliens. One alien is killed and another eats the fetus-like subject of the Soviet experiments. Once back aboard their own ship, the blob-like alien has a reaction to the experiment and explodes destroying the ship. This was a bit difficult to read as all the Soviet’s dialogue was lettered in Cyrillic, it was Russian I assume-I am not sure as I can’t read Russian or Cyrillic, so some of the fine points of the theme/moral of the story eluded me a bit, but the gist was comprehensible from the art and the English speakers dialogue. I expected to like a Tardi work more than I actually enjoyed this piece based on The Bloody Streets of Paris, so I was a bit disappointed by this one. Ratings: Story 6/10 Art 7/10 Overall 6/10 The Adventures of Yrris (8 pgs; b&w)Story: Dominique Vallet (writing as Alexis) Art: Philippe Druillet Synopsis/Comments: Part 2 of 2. Now armed Yriss sneaks back into the palace to rescue the women and confront the dragon lord and uses a light-emitting fast growing plant to overcome the dragon lord and slay him. He and the girls fight their way from the city and escape and Yriss enjoys the fruits of his labors. The set up in part one was decent, but the payoff here in the conclusion was weaker and less satisfying. There was no dramatic tension in the outcome or even anticipation built for the climax. It just went through the paces until it limped to an end so the hero could get all the girls. Even the art was not as strong in part two. Ratings: Story 5/10; art 8/10; overall 6/10 Sunpot (8 pgs; color)Story/Art/Lettering: Vaughn Bode Colors: Bruce Patterson Synopsis/Comments: (Part 2 of 4) Fearing further chances of detection by Apollo craft, Dr. Electric decides to move the Sunpot to an orbit around Venus before testing its capability for deep space travel. Some in the crew object to the decision to fire upon the Apollo and one of the Screw Crew goes berserk and has to be put down. They arrive at Venus and one scout ship pilot is blinded by the brilliance of the planet and is lost in space. The strip certainly has a lighthearted feel, but there’s a lot of subtext beneath the surface of this one, something typical of a lot of the underground comix of which this a direct descendant if not a product of the tail end of that movement. Bode’s art is quirky but effective. I can see his influence on cartoonists like Phil Foglio, not only in art style but in layering in a lot of subtext in what seems like a lighthearted erotic romp. Of note: The editorial in this issue credits Jack Adler with coloring Bode’s b&w story, but the GCD credits Bruce Patterson. Not sure if Patterson was working in Adler’s studio and actually did the work or if one or the other is incorrect. Rating: 7/10, Art 8/10; Overall 7/10 Agorn (15 pgs; b&w)Story/Art: Philippe Druillet Synopsis/Comments: A lone desiccated figure sits upon a desolate throne until the cosmic winds and the voice of a demon lord summon him back to life and consciousness, only to force him to relive the events that led him to sell his soul for vengeance resulting in this eternal damnation forever denied the love that led him to this desperate act. Druillet’s art here is fantastic, especially the 2 page spread/splash at the center of the story, but this is one story that cried out for color and was held back by the black and white format. I generally like b&w as a format for comics, but Druillet’s art here could have used something to break up the blacks adding to the palette of the story. A small complaint though. The story works as an effective morality play with a fantasy setting, a fable for the ages so to speak. Ratings: Story 7/10, Art 9/10; Overall 8/10 1996 (1 pg; b&w) Story/Art: Chantel Montellier Synopsis/Comments: The same diva/singer/face on the television we saw previously makes an announcement to the gathered laborers at a factory that they have been laid off and are no longer necessary and asks them to proceed to the disintegration chamber. This is a harsh unsubtle statement on the standing of the labor class in a consumer economy. There’s no punches pulled in the condemnation of the owner class here. But then with 1 page and 5 panels it’s hard to build an effective strip that incorporates subtlety. Ratings: Story 6/10; Art 6/10; Overall 6/10 Den (8 pgs; color)Story/art/colors: Richard Corben Letters: typeset Synopsis/Comments: Den tracks the lizardman who follows the Indian girl towards a large structure. Fearing the lizardman will harm the girl Den attacks but is knocked unconscious by the lizardman, which reawakens his memories of who he was and how he got to this world. He awakens to find the girl had a partnership with a large dragon which is eating the lizardman, she had lured it into a trap. Den hides as she rides the dragon towards the horizon. Den’s origins evoke a Burroughs planetary romance and Corben wears that influence on his sleeve incorporating Burroughs into the story and using the same literary device that took John carter to Barsoom to explain Den’s presence on the strange world, and his memories put the shape of the journey into a little more perspective. The story will be continued in future issues. Rating: Story: 8/10; Art 9/10; Overall 9/10 Part 2 coming soon… -M
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Post by berkley on Aug 3, 2017 2:49:33 GMT -5
I always thought the biggest direct inspiration for Corben's Den must have been ERB's Barsoom but that could be me projecting my own reading experiences onto Corben's work. However, if there was some influence there, it should be noted that the nudity in Den, male and female, would have been entirely faithful to Burroughs's Mars. And I fully agree with Mikel that Corben is one of the few artists who could render nudity without it seeming forced or out of place.
Love this thread but as so often I'm only skimming because I haven't read all these issues myself yet. So I'll probably comment in detail only on my distorted memories of the specific issues I read back in the day, when they come up.
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bran
Full Member
Posts: 223
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Post by bran on Aug 3, 2017 7:29:28 GMT -5
Conquering Armies (12 pages; b&w)Story: Jean-Pierre Dionnet Art: Jean-Claude Gal Synopsis/Comments: The one constant in history is that there will be conquering armies, this is the strange tale of one such army. It advances on a city and takes it and its inhabitants without a fight. They will hold the city until the main force of the army arrive after the winter, but the city has a strange effect upon the army as the city seems to have a pervasive consciousness that subverts the conquering forces, until the next army arrives… There is an underlying them examining the pervasiveness, inevitability and ultimate futility of war in human history. It is both subtle and in your face at the same time, a difficult balance for any writer/artist to achieve, and it is done so here with aplomb. The art is gorgeous and furthers both the story and thematic content. this one was my personal favorite from these early issues. there was that western that I watched as a kid (and never since), I don't even remember what it was about - there was Clint Eastwood and he had a whore (dressed up as nun) tied up (on a horse), she was his prisoner of sorts. By the end of the movie, he sets her free because by that time she had her (much stronger but) invisible ties around him - he ended up being her prisoner (of sorts). this story about the conquerers who became conquered (and vice versa) is right in the same alley, just intriguing and well told. montage/sequencing is exceptional and so is the art. colored version published later as a standalone book is looking even better, I liked it. finally with these types of stories included HM is officially unclassifiable (except of course as a "Hard Rock Music mag" it's funny how many promoters of heavy metal bands in the 80s thought the same LOL). I mean military/conquest, psychedelic stories, sf, fantasy, horror, imperfect future, social and cultural commentary/satire, it's all there. that diversity is as important as quality - at that time mags were strictly thematically cut-out, like a cake, in their respective "genres" (which are often editorial projections anyway).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 9:20:34 GMT -5
Conquering Armies (12 pages; b&w)Story: Jean-Pierre Dionnet Art: Jean-Claude Gal Synopsis/Comments: The one constant in history is that there will be conquering armies, this is the strange tale of one such army. It advances on a city and takes it and its inhabitants without a fight. They will hold the city until the main force of the army arrive after the winter, but the city has a strange effect upon the army as the city seems to have a pervasive consciousness that subverts the conquering forces, until the next army arrives… There is an underlying them examining the pervasiveness, inevitability and ultimate futility of war in human history. It is both subtle and in your face at the same time, a difficult balance for any writer/artist to achieve, and it is done so here with aplomb. The art is gorgeous and furthers both the story and thematic content. this one was my personal favorite from these early issues. there was that western that I watched as a kid (and never since), I don't even remember what it was about - there was Clint Eastwood and he had a whore (dressed up as nun) tied up (on a horse), she was his prisoner of sorts. By the end of the movie, he sets her free because by that time she had her (much stronger but) invisible ties around him - he ended up being her prisoner (of sorts). this story about the conquerers who became conquered (and vice versa) is right in the same alley, just intriguing and well told. montage/sequencing is exceptional and so is the art. colored version published later as a standalone book is looking even better, I liked it. finally with these types of stories included HM is officially unclassifiable (except of course as a "Hard Rock Music mag" it's funny how many promoters of heavy metal bands in the 80s thought the same LOL). I mean military/conquest, psychedelic stories, sf, fantasy, horror, imperfect future, social and cultural commentary/satire, it's all there. that diversity is as important as quality - at that time mags were strictly thematically cut-out, like a cake, in their respective "genres" (which are often editorial projections anyway). Well I really do think the initial thrust/theme of Heavy Metal really was let's put these successful European features from Metal Hurlant in front of an American audience and see if we can make more money off of them. The diversity of content reflects what Metal Hurlant was doing, not something conceived specifically for the American Heavy Metal mag. Looking over the GCD as I go through each issue, I haven't noticed many (if any) strips in the first 2 issues that weren't presented in Metal Hurlant previously, so it's not like the editors are saying hey let's create some diverse new strips-that was the editors of Metal Hurlant or more specifically guys like Druillet and Moebius and their associates who created Metal Hurlant getting together and saying hey let's create a showcase for all this stuff we do and what others like us are doing. Eventually the American Heavy Metal starts featuring new material created in this vein, but it owes it's direction and thematic heart to its European forebear. And Metal Hurlant owes its thematic heart of diversity to the fact a diverse bunch of artists came together to make it. That said, the editors of the American version did have the ability to cherry pick content formt he various issues of Metal Hurlant, they weren't straight reprints of entire issues of the European mag, so they could package content from different issues together to form the opus of each issue to maintain the thematic diversity. -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 3, 2017 9:41:48 GMT -5
Conquering Armies (12 pages; b&w)Story: Jean-Pierre Dionnet Art: Jean-Claude Gal Synopsis/Comments: The one constant in history is that there will be conquering armies, this is the strange tale of one such army. It advances on a city and takes it and its inhabitants without a fight. They will hold the city until the main force of the army arrive after the winter, but the city has a strange effect upon the army as the city seems to have a pervasive consciousness that subverts the conquering forces, until the next army arrives… There is an underlying them examining the pervasiveness, inevitability and ultimate futility of war in human history. It is both subtle and in your face at the same time, a difficult balance for any writer/artist to achieve, and it is done so here with aplomb. The art is gorgeous and furthers both the story and thematic content. this one was my personal favorite from these early issues. there was that western that I watched as a kid (and never since), I don't even remember what it was about - there was Clint Eastwood and he had a whore (dressed up as nun) tied up (on a horse), she was his prisoner of sorts. By the end of the movie, he sets her free because by that time she had her (much stronger but) invisible ties around him - he ended up being her prisoner (of sorts). Two Mules For Sister Sara.
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bran
Full Member
Posts: 223
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Post by bran on Aug 3, 2017 9:54:23 GMT -5
this one was my personal favorite from these early issues. there was that western that I watched as a kid (and never since), I don't even remember what it was about - there was Clint Eastwood and he had a whore (dressed up as nun) tied up (on a horse), she was his prisoner of sorts. By the end of the movie, he sets her free because by that time she had her (much stronger but) invisible ties around him - he ended up being her prisoner (of sorts). this story about the conquerers who became conquered (and vice versa) is right in the same alley, just intriguing and well told. montage/sequencing is exceptional and so is the art. colored version published later as a standalone book is looking even better, I liked it. finally with these types of stories included HM is officially unclassifiable (except of course as a "Hard Rock Music mag" it's funny how many promoters of heavy metal bands in the 80s thought the same LOL). I mean military/conquest, psychedelic stories, sf, fantasy, horror, imperfect future, social and cultural commentary/satire, it's all there. that diversity is as important as quality - at that time mags were strictly thematically cut-out, like a cake, in their respective "genres" (which are often editorial projections anyway). Well I really do think the initial thrust/theme of Heavy Metal really was let's put these successful European features from Metal Hurlant in front of an American audience and see if we can make more money off of them. The diversity of content reflects what Metal Hurlant was doing, not something conceived specifically for the American Heavy Metal mag. Looking over the GCD as I go through each issue, I haven't noticed many (if any) strips in the first 2 issues that weren't presented in Metal Hurlant previously, so it's not like the editors are saying hey let's create some diverse new strips-that was the editors of Metal Hurlant or more specifically guys like Druillet and Moebius and their associates who created Metal Hurlant getting together and saying hey let's create a showcase for all this stuff we do and what others like us are doing. Eventually the American Heavy Metal starts featuring new material created in this vein, but it owes it's direction and thematic heart to its European forebear. And Metal Hurlant owes its thematic heart of diversity to the fact a diverse bunch of artists came together to make it. That said, the editors of the American version did have the ability to cherry pick content formt he various issues of Metal Hurlant, they weren't straight reprints of entire issues of the European mag, so they could package content from different issues together to form the opus of each issue to maintain the thematic diversity. -M right, when I speak of Heavy Metal, you can append Metal Hurlant to it, so it's Heavy Metal/Metal Hurlant. it's not technically a singular mag, but I am referring to it as a singular concept. they did not just publish European comics of the day (they were not that good) - it's diverse + high quality + adult European and American comics (Den). in France before Metal Hurlant there was Pilot, and Pilot with it's strict policies and taboos I think forced their hand to start the new mag (hand of some of the editors and artists from Pilot). [thank God they wanted to make a profit, or else they wouldn't survive for a year.] Pilot comics would represent your average output of the day. don't get me wrong - some of it is quite good, but often infantile and in genres. these later HM thematic (special) issues I actually like, but even with those their general assortment remained diverse, they stuck with formula that works, to this day.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 10:03:18 GMT -5
Den previously appeared in Metal Hurlant before appearing in Heavy Metal. It was created by an American, but created for a European audience and appeared first in a European comic. If European creators (say Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman) produce work for an American comic book company it's still American comics, while Moore's tff produced for European comics are still European comics, so Den, while produced by an American, was produced for a European comic, so I consider it a European comic not an American one.
-M
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bran
Full Member
Posts: 223
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Post by bran on Aug 3, 2017 10:20:32 GMT -5
Den previously appeared in Metal Hurlant before appearing in Heavy Metal. It was created by an American, but created for a European audience and appeared first in a European comic. If European creators (say Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman) produce work for an American comic book company it's still American comics, while Moore's tff produced for European comics are still European comics, so Den, while produced by an American, was produced for a European comic, so I consider it a European comic not an American one. -M be it as it may - replace American comics with American authors. the point is - their policy was/is quality + diversity + adult. (mind you that adult bit wouldn't stop teenagers from buying it, just the opposite.) looking in retrospect they effectively wiped out mainstream/underground division.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 10:24:19 GMT -5
Den previously appeared in Metal Hurlant before appearing in Heavy Metal. It was created by an American, but created for a European audience and appeared first in a European comic. If European creators (say Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman) produce work for an American comic book company it's still American comics, while Moore's tff produced for European comics are still European comics, so Den, while produced by an American, was produced for a European comic, so I consider it a European comic not an American one. -M be it as it may - replace American comics with American authors. the point is - their policy was/is quality + diversity + adult. (mind you that adult bit wouldn't stop teenagers from buying it, just the opposite.) looking in retrospect they effectively wiped out mainstream/underground division. The cynical side of me says the policy was National Lampoon (who initiated the discussion of creating an American version of Metal Hurlant according to the editorial in the first issue of Heavy Metal) asking for the best of the stuff already published in MAtal Hurlant so they didn't have to pay as much for it that would then sell well in an American market and make them as much money as possible, and that resultant mix was a happy coincidence of diversity + quality because that's what was already in Metal Hurlant. The creators were looking to create diverse interesting art when they put together Metal Hurlant. National Lampoon was looking ot make money when they initiated Heavy Metal. -M
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bran
Full Member
Posts: 223
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Post by bran on Aug 3, 2017 11:21:11 GMT -5
be it as it may - replace American comics with American authors. the point is - their policy was/is quality + diversity + adult. (mind you that adult bit wouldn't stop teenagers from buying it, just the opposite.) looking in retrospect they effectively wiped out mainstream/underground division. The cynical side of me says the policy was National Lampoon (who initiated the discussion of creating an American version of Metal Hurlant according to the editorial in the first issue of Heavy Metal) asking for the best of the stuff already published in MAtal Hurlant so they didn't have to pay as much for it that would then sell well in an American market and make them as much money as possible, and that resultant mix was a happy coincidence of diversity + quality because that's what was already in Metal Hurlant. The creators were looking to create diverse interesting art when they put together Metal Hurlant. National Lampoon was looking ot make money when they initiated Heavy Metal. -M you are saying American branch/licensed publisher was more into following the market (rather than artistic concept of their French counter-part), right. that means American audience was really hungry for this kind of stuff, because they changed almost nothing in concept (over decades, it's remarkable), they stayed on the mark (sure, not because they wanted to - they just followed the market). (I have a theory that art is extremely commercial, just not necessarily on the short run - accountants like to jump the gun as they are easily scared. the question is - is it really art or it just pretends to be, but I am going off topic here..) great reviews mrp, keep them coming.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 3, 2017 11:48:29 GMT -5
Jeebus. Now I need to try to dig out copies of Heavy Metal that haven't seen the light of day in probably 30 years. Thanks, @mrp.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 3, 2017 12:19:38 GMT -5
Well I really do think the initial thrust/theme of Heavy Metal really was let's put these successful European features from Metal Hurlant in front of an American audience and see if we can make more money off of them. The diversity of content reflects what Metal Hurlant was doing, not something conceived specifically for the American Heavy Metal mag. Looking over the GCD as I go through each issue, I haven't noticed many (if any) strips in the first 2 issues that weren't presented in Metal Hurlant previously, so it's not like the editors are saying hey let's create some diverse new strips-that was the editors of Metal Hurlant or more specifically guys like Druillet and Moebius and their associates who created Metal Hurlant getting together and saying hey let's create a showcase for all this stuff we do and what others like us are doing. Eventually the American Heavy Metal starts featuring new material created in this vein, but it owes it's direction and thematic heart to its European forebear. And Metal Hurlant owes its thematic heart of diversity to the fact a diverse bunch of artists came together to make it. That said, the editors of the American version did have the ability to cherry pick content formt he various issues of Metal Hurlant, they weren't straight reprints of entire issues of the European mag, so they could package content from different issues together to form the opus of each issue to maintain the thematic diversity. -M right, when I speak of Heavy Metal, you can append Metal Hurlant to it, so it's Heavy Metal/Metal Hurlant. it's not technically a singular mag, but I am referring to it as a singular concept. they did not just publish European comics of the day (they were not that good) - it's diverse + high quality + adult European and American comics (Den). in France before Metal Hurlant there was Pilot, and Pilot with it's strict policies and taboos I think forced their hand to start the new mag (hand of some of the editors and artists from Pilot). [thank God they wanted to make a profit, or else they wouldn't survive for a year.] Pilot comics would represent your average output of the day. don't get me wrong - some of it is quite good, but often infantile and in genres.
Just as an aside: although Pilote started as a comic magazine aimed at younger readers, I would not say it was ever infantile. None of its strips were condescending or watered-out; from the start, its strips could be enjoyed by adults as well as by their kids. (It would turn to raunchier stuff in the late '70s). In fact, I would argue that Pilote was, by and large, as "adult" a magazine as Heavy Metal. It didn't have stuff unsuitable for kids, but a lot of its material would clearly fly over their heads.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 14:14:14 GMT -5
The cynical side of me says the policy was National Lampoon (who initiated the discussion of creating an American version of Metal Hurlant according to the editorial in the first issue of Heavy Metal) asking for the best of the stuff already published in MAtal Hurlant so they didn't have to pay as much for it that would then sell well in an American market and make them as much money as possible, and that resultant mix was a happy coincidence of diversity + quality because that's what was already in Metal Hurlant. The creators were looking to create diverse interesting art when they put together Metal Hurlant. National Lampoon was looking ot make money when they initiated Heavy Metal. -M you are saying American branch/licensed publisher was more into following the market (rather than artistic concept of their French counter-part), right. that means American audience was really hungry for this kind of stuff, because they changed almost nothing in concept (over decades, it's remarkable), they stayed on the mark (sure, not because they wanted to - they just followed the market). (I have a theory that art is extremely commercial, just not necessarily on the short run - accountants like to jump the gun as they are easily scared. the question is - is it really art or it just pretends to be, but I am going off topic here..) great reviews mrp, keep them coming. What I am saying is that National Lampoon wouldn't have arranged for an American version of Metal Hurlant if they didn't think they would make money on it. They weren't creating an outlet for creators to get their stuff to market, they were taking proven sellers in another market and bringing it to the American market because they thought it would sell enough to be profitable to them. They weren't concerned bout diversity of content or artistic exploration, they wanted a mag to complement their own National Lampoon mag and with the sci-fi market growing in the states in the late 70s a mostly sci-fi themed mag of strips that did well in Europe translated and repackaged for an American audience seemed like a good bet. It was a low risk high reward potential, and as long as it sold, Nat'l Lampoon didn't care much what the content was. That's not to say the editors they hired to oversee the mag were just interested in the bottom line, but if they had shepherded a mag with diverse philosophical content and it didn't sell well, Nat'l Lampoon would have pulled the plug before the dust settled. National Lampoon's plan was to make money. As long as the editors met that criteria, they could arrange the mag any way they wanted, but their first priority had to be content that sold to an American audience. If that content hadn't found an audience, National Lampoon would have either had the editors find content that did without regard to its diversity or or philosophical content or pulled the plug. Not changing up the stuff form Metal Hurlant was also a money saving option, reusing stuff already done and selling it again rather than paying for new content or paying creators to make revisions. Luckily, the stuff found enough of an audience to keep going, and luckily thwy had an editorial staff who was able to make it work under the commercial parameters National Lampoon established for them. -M
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 14:14:58 GMT -5
Jeebus. Now I need to try to dig out copies of Heavy Metal that haven't seen the light of day in probably 30 years. Thanks, @mrp. Glad to be of service! -M
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