REVIEW: Heavy Metal #275

Hey Hurlers and Screamers:

Thank you so much for the Cyberpunk meets Magic Realism Special, Heavy Metal 275! That’s what I’m talkin’ about! This is a special that stands out from the regularly monthly fare in a way I don’t remember other specials.  275 had all the novelty and exoticism I came to love reading HM in the 1970’s (remember those?)

Bang up cover! Jose Quintero was an excellent choice for the Gallery! Both his style and content are fresh and intriguing.  The cover, while still showing the almost requisite semi-nude hot female, manages to avoid the piercings and tattoos that have become so cliché in almost every guest artist’s work.  Has Quintero worked up any Buba stories?  I would love to see his various textures and media applied to something with this character.  Keep on him, and bring him back.

Each interior story had something to add to my enjoyment of this ish. Calvo and Omar-Trucu-Estevez New Moon Rising showed some delightfully detailed architecture and design; I especially loved the geometric motion lines of the Aztec gods’ movements.  I enjoyed The Eyes of Itzam for its interesting extrapolation of social media. Taxi, while not one of the strongest stories, begs for tales of the driver and his new drivee.  I want to see what comes next. Munoz and Casares’ The Data Mule, Llarena and Bazals’ Itzel, and Rios and Velazquez’ The Outsider rounded out a great issue with solid stories and draftsmanship. 

I especially enjoyed Puig and Guivara’s Untopia. Guivara creates highly detailed and yet readable panels and the Xibalba mythos is ripe for the picking, but it doesn’t quite read.  Still, the story breaks down between the Hacker starting to hack and the ending.  Do we assume that somehow the group has called up cyberdemons and are now possessed? 

Finally, While the artwork and design of Trees Feel No Rage displays a competent and engaging quality, the story seems incomplete.  Why a tree?  I see reference to the trees in an earlier seen, but felt unconvinced; neither rage nor trees seemed enough to connect the two, and I am sure a panel was out of place. If not, then the time flow of the tale is not clear.  

Interesting how revolution and butterflies seem to dominate the thematic content.

Pull some of these guys in to work some regular issues! I don’t remember seeing anything remotely “Mexican” in HM before, and they used to publish La Rambla down there, so we know there is talent.

Thanks again for this fine special! Until next ish,…

Griffin Mauser

REVIEW: Heavy Metal #274

Dear Screamers and Hurlers!

Alright, “Julia and Roem” is heating up.  I will wait to give a better idea after a few installments, but as always, lovely. And “The 49^th Key” is moving along as well.

I liked “Things of Real Life” and its ironic ending.  Interesting how Christianity parallels what Christians I know would classify as witchcraft.  But attacks are easy. The artwork makes me think of Rick Veitch.

I liked the Gallery feature, despite my eschewal of titties in HM (remember “why does Johnny read HM?”). While I don’t want this to be an all female cosplay, I recognize the talent and effort that goes into these photos, and they are quality.

Tessandro’s and Lages’ “Homo Bonum Est” shows some talent; fine line, color and great fight scenes.  These are not easy; I’ve one friend who has worked several months to produce such choreography and these guys got the chops.  Yay for strong women and a merciful ending.

Despite some delightful grotesquerie, don’t get me wrong, I am still not in love with the Molen’s “Aftermath”. Maybe it will work out into a complete world build and I will be ecstatic, but so far, I just look for the pictures.  Again, though, same problem as Bisley. So it’s grotesque and has that same oily veneer you see in Glenn Fabry. So?

 

”Matriyoshka SA” is certainly typical HM fare, but the artwork here falls down a little. Could be taste; I often prefer more refined lines, but I sniggered anyway.

“The Last Laugh” (should I put all my HMs in my bunker to read again?) was a worthy short, though nothing to write HM about.  Although, I enjoyed Bagatzky’s vision of the aliens in Mary’s dream.

“Miss Necro” was gross.  I showed it to my girlfriend.

Kari Christensen’s Studio was great; not just pinups like so many HM covers.  I like the variety of subjects and creatures.

Branko Jelinek’s “Oskar Ed” is funny and reminds me of some of the Druillet strips from “back in the day”.  Hook him up with a writer for a longer work.

“The Initiation” seems to reference so many works that contain the same kind of rites: I am thinking of the initiation jump of the Dauntless  in Divergent. 

While hellishly obscure, or maybe meaning-ambivalent, “The Sadmen” has a distinct alien feel.  Its tone, both in story and art, hint at something much more complex and inscrutable behind the action of the story.  I would like to see more about the Sadmen, their origins and the world they inhabit.

I loved Ruotolo’s “Mia”! Great artwork and color, full and rich design, and a funny story with a bittersweet lesson and fantastic panel work.  Love the last pic of the lizard and redeemed man heading off panel.  I would love to see a lot more of Ruotolo.

“MI9” makes a great last page, and while not my favorite, it consistently delivers.

Overall, I give the issue a meh, but I have been reading since ’76. You keep publishing, I will keep buying.

Another review by Griffin, like the Monster.

Review: Heavy Metal 273

Metal!

I was glad to see my new issue in this month, and more pleased after reading it.  Marco Turini’s “Homage to Frazetta” is not as chunky and dynamic as the model, but certainly augured an authentic Heavy Metal. 

The height of this issue is, for me, Hugo and Geland’s “The Souvenir”.  Classic HM fare, a complete tale; weird, fantastic narrative with imaginative and highly individual design.  A great package from detailed landscapes to ship designs, character and costume. The Products of this world, clothing, weapons, instruments, seemed to match the materiality of the World of “The Souvenir”.  The Mariner comes to a poor end.  How could he not? Several full page panels, feats of design and a treat to see, create a sense of scale and support the pacing of panel to panel narrative.  A legible story and some real treats.  My only complaint is the typefaces; while they are certainly expressive of the characters, and lend a weird voice, they were not particularly easy to read. Tough call.

Like Hugo, Inki Bilal creates uniquely identifiable worlds.  But Bilal’s is idiosyncratic of his own personal medium.  While I still recognize lines from painted and inked-and-colored work, his medium has transformed. Now limiting himself to black, white, and the surface of the paper, he manages to create authentic worlds with minimal detail, worlds that seem always on the edge of unraveling. A post-apocalyptic dust storm. So, “Julia and Roem” is kind of the desert of “Animalz” aquatic setting. Dehydrated water, okay, but just because you deliver. Still obscure, but, that too, is in tradition for HM.

Erika Lewis and J K Woodward’s “The 49^th Key” delivers lush art that is effectively, if not spectacularly, rendered.  The narrative carries the plot clearly and deliberately, though the art is quite dark overall.  I would have liked to have been able to see more of it.  A pretty realistic approach for a near future.  I’ll be waiting to see the next installment.

I enjoyed the more refined control of Joseph Kelly’s “Ymir”.  Who doesn’t like Giants? I want to see more substantive stories with this artwork.  The joke ending kinda undercuts the craft.

“Aftermath: The Big Clean” has too little signal versus noise. I like the almost Bisley stylings, it’s big and heavy, but it’s too dark.  I want to see all the crazy-clown-funhouse-grotesquerie up close, and I want it to mean something. The story made me think of a Halloween candy bag of mythology of the “aftermath” and a mental bellyache.  I’ll read the next installment, but it better be good.

“Exile”, sorta science-fictional and mythopoetic, but the art did not particularly appeal to me.  It ended up looking like stills from a Pixar movie.  I liked the Ourobouros, the seahorse, the spiraling gyre, so, meh.

Both Gallery and Artists Studio were pretty piquing.  I would like to see pages and pages of story work by Abrar Ajmal. He obviously has the chops to do even hyper realistic artwork of fantastical subjects, which is really cool to look at. Myka Jelina’s big-eyed Lolita Goth girls are both adorable and transgressive.  Scary cute at worst, certainly printworthy images and great traditional coloring! Me likey.

Finally, M19 and Kristian Krank’s Dead Earth Comics.  I like these one page scripts and remember Jeffrey Jones’ I’Mage and Paul Kirchener’s The Bus.  Keep looking for more of these. I don’t get a belly laugh off M19, it’s probably too European for me, but, I get that something is there and I do want Heavy Metal to challenge my tastes with new genres, formats, and artists. Dead Earth Comics I love! The chunky, red, white, green, black and zip is so cool low-tech and sci-fi near future.  Love it. Are there any longer Dead Earth tales?

Thanks, Kev, et al, for a fun month.