Has anybody else read Heavy Metal?

I used to pick up the odd issue in the eighties and nineties, and always found it fascinating (if often incomprehensible) but someone's just given me a stack of issues from the early eighties, about a year's worth, and they are slightly blowing my mind...

I use to read them sporadically back-in-the-day . . . and, yeah, sometimes the stories made me feel like what I imagine an acid trip would have been like. (But never having tried most of those illegal pharmaceuticals and the like, I can't say for sure.)

I've read some of this stuff in translations of European albums but it's the little things, the weird one or two pagers, that are really compelling.

tony ingram wrote:I've read some of this stuff in translations of European albums but it's the little things, the weird one or two pagers, that are really compelling.

I own a handful, but mostly haven't read them. Too much to do. I like that it's an anthology. Gives me plenty of interesting stories to check out.
Also, and I just double-checked this, it helped inspire cyberpunk with Dan Obannon and Moebius's The Long Tomorrow.

There's some Moebius stuff in the issues I'm now reading, the man was amazing.

tony ingram wrote:There's some Moebius stuff in the issues I'm now reading, the man was amazing.  

And then some. The more of his work I find the happier I get.
I really want to watch the Documentary on Jodorowsky's Dune, especially since Moebius had a hand in it. It's on Amazon. I'll report out if I get to it any time soon.

Can't believe I missed this, but Grant Morrison is now editor-in-chief of HM!

tony ingram wrote:Can't believe I missed this, but Grant Morrison is now editor-in-chief of HM!

Yep, I picked up his first issue, though I haven't read it yet.

I say that a lot, I haven't read/watched this or that yet.

There are not enough hours in the day.

tony ingram wrote:Can't believe I missed this, but Grant Morrison is now editor-in-chief of HM!

You should peruse the Previews more often Tony! I have bought the first Morrison issue, which have slipped from being # 279 to 280, at the beginning there is a story by Grant drawn by Benjamin Marra (who?) pretty much old school but esotheric for my tastes...Some are the continuation of previous issues like Enki Bilal's Julie and Roem, so I imagine that we'll have to wait some issues to see the "real" Morrison edited Heavy Metal.

Hi Tony, do you remember me from Italy?  I used to get every issue of Crikey from Ace Comics (with only the very first issues missing but now the old website is no more, do you still have them with the Second Special too...?) and I bought a big stock of your fanzines directly from you four years ago (!), this was when the parcel came to me almost destroyed but the fanzines were Ok, maybe you remember that. Nice to see that the Crikey forum is still alive and kicking, guys!

Barry_Allen wrote:

tony ingram wrote:Can't believe I missed this, but Grant Morrison is now editor-in-chief of HM!

You should peruse the Previews more often Tony! I have bought the first Morrison issue, which have slipped from being # 279 to 280, at the beginning there is a story by Grant drawn by Benjamin Marra (who?) pretty much old school but esotheric for my tastes...Some are the continuation of previous issues like Enki Bilal's Julie and Roem, so I imagine that we'll have to wait some issues to see the "real" Morrison edited Heavy Metal.

Hi Tony, do you remember me from Italy?  I used to get every issue of Crikey from Ace Comics (with only the very first issues missing but now the old website is no more, do you still have them with the Second Special too...?) and I bought a big stock of your fanzines directly from you four years ago (!), this was when the parcel came to me almost destroyed but the fanzines were Ok, maybe you remember that. Nice to see that the Crikey forum is still alive and kicking, guys!

I do remember! Very good to see you!
I think Glenn still has several Crikey! back issues, but I'd have to check with him which ones. I ran out some time ago, myself.

tony ingram wrote:There are not enough hours in the day.

Oh, I know. There's just so much good stuff out there. Or at least stuff that sounds good.

Mbast1 wrote:

tony ingram wrote:There are not enough hours in the day.

Oh, I know. There's just so much good stuff out there. Or at least stuff that sounds good.

Both, I think...

tony ingram wrote:
I do remember! Very good to see you!
I think Glenn still has several Crikey! back issues, but I'd have to check with him which ones. I ran out some time ago, myself.

Thank you Tony, it's a pleasure also for me to be here again!
If you have the chance please ask GFB about availability and prices, of the Specials too, included shipping to Italy, in my case.

Barry_Allen wrote:

tony ingram wrote:
I do remember! Very good to see you!
I think Glenn still has several Crikey! back issues, but I'd have to check with him which ones. I ran out some time ago, myself.

Thank Tony, it's a pleasure also for me to be here again!
If you have the chance please ask GFB about availability and prices, of the Specials too, included shipping to Italy, in my case.

I'll give him a call this evening. Where've you been hiding, anyway?

tony ingram wrote:Where've you been hiding, anyway?

Wild guess... shot in the dark... Italy???

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Lucy McGough wrote:

tony ingram wrote:Where've you been hiding, anyway?

Wild guess... shot in the dark... Italy???

Well, Tony and Lucy, first, last years I "worked" with friends on the old komix.it italian portal and forum (now shut down because the powers that be founded a fine publisher called Tunué which is quite active on italian comic scene and not only that) and spent a lot of time also losing time on Fb, as a lot of people do, which causes, not only in Italy I guess, a lot of comics forum to close/become substantially inactive, except for the Crikey cult forum, of course! In fact, when the old Crikey website disappeared, I wrongly thought that also the forum was gone, shame on me!

I think a lot of people made the same assumption. And yes, Facebook has a lot to answer for...

But luckily the Crikey forum is still with us!  
Just to return on topic, just received Heavy Metal # 281, labeled in cover as "the sex issue" (when I ordered the mag, the theme was not specified, you evil thinking ); I still have to read it but flipping the pages I did not find many sex scenes, just to make a "cultural" check-up ; I'll read the Grant editorial first to try to undertand what philosophy he intended to use for this issue...l

Believe it or not, while the publisher of the original magazine is having big economic problems, after two changes of ownership since the Kevin Eastman era (last issue published there is # 319 about one month ago and it was several months late... but it seems that subscribers still have to receive it), here a local publisher, Sprea Comics, has just started the italian edition of Heavy Metal and published also five books of HM comics, like the Tpbs containing Iron Maiden and Taarna mini-series; here below there's the cover of issue # 2 with a iconic Taarna image!   

I used to love Heavy Metal, but I can't remember the last time I saw a new copy...

I have what I think is the complete run with Grant Morrison as editor and others. There are some things I'd love to have as "runs" but the good stuff is hard to find.

Yes, Grant's Heavy Metal whole run was not as great as "expected" and, while when he was nominated the annoncement was made public 11 issues before the change, when he left no publicity was done to that change of EIC of HM!

While the original magazine stopped publishing "Volume one" with issue # 319 (but they solicited until issue # 322!) and already annonced three issues of "Volume two", still to be seen...., the Italian edition of Heavy Metal just lost one of his two co-Editors in chief and raised his price from € 6.90 to € 9.90 due to low sales; this is the  cover of issue 6 just arrived (also) on newstands:

I imagine that you have already read about the definitive demise of Heavy Metal Magazine, with issue # 320, so sad...also the italian edition stopped with its issue 7.