Heavy Metal magazine, a favorite in the late seventies and early eighties, is still publishing and still features some of the best comic art out there! I hadn't read Heavy Metal since the eighties, when I thought they began to decline somewhat, so out of curiosity, I picked up the latest issue.

The stories were fresh and enjoyable, and the artwork top-notch. One thing that is not missed is the preponderance of serialized stories, one of the things that made early Heavy Metal mags a bit of a drag. Almost every story was part of a serial. Not quite so anymore, and a welcome change.

Missed are some of the classic Heavy Metal artists such as Moebius, Phillippe Druillet, and Philippe Caza. Boris Vallejo has artwork in it though, and Richard Corben was seen in some recent issues. Oh well, the Moebius' of tomorrow have to come from somewhere, don't they?

Another element missing would be cover art that does not feature a pin-up girl on every single issue. I like to look at the ladies as much as anyone else, but early issues had covers featuring all sorts of subjects, in addition to the occasional voluptuous sexpot. Viewing the covers for the recent issues made me think I was looking through nudie mags rather than comic books. The last issue not to feature a pin-up girl was 10 years ago.

August 1978	March 1979	November 1998
Artwork by a classic early HM artist Philippe "Caza" Cazamayou. Globular!	Here's one for the gearheads! "S*M*A*S*H" by Angus McKie features a crazy tank battle!	This cover by Zook is the last HM cover to feature something other than a pin-up girl.

A great Heavy Metal site, if you wish to learn more or view every cover throughout its existence, is the Heavy Metal Magazine Fan Page. Or you could do as I did, and pick up the latest issue. My favorite story from this issue, for both story and the art, is "My Adventures In Hells Kitchen" by Philip J. Cohen. A short tale that takes an interesting twist on some familiar subjects from child-hood.

Springtime is here, Iron Man is in the theaters, but I'm already looking ahead to... Christmas? That's because that's when the Frank Miller version of the The Spirit hits theaters, and it is quite an anticipatory thing indeed.

For those of you who may not be familiar with The Spirit, let me just say that it was one of the most cerebral newspaper comic of its time. Created in 1940 by Will Eisner as the lead feature of a comic book insert to Sunday newspapers, the stories evolved from crime-fighter vs. criminal plot-lines to include such diverse themes as a momentary stoppage of time (A Time-Stop!), the tense environment of quiet sounds or the absence thereof (Quiet!) or detailed character studies of the psychosis of a criminal (The Meanest Man In The World). The artwork was executed in a dark and moody film-noir scheme uncommon in Sunday newspapers comics of the time and which suited the story-lines well.

popslant  believes that taking this character and adding the current film-noir innovation of Frank Miller should result in one of the best film releases of 2008.