Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica.
In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French science-fantasy magazine ‘Métal Hurlant’, which had debuted a few years earlier. Impressed by the magazine, Mogel was able to license and reuse the artwork from the popular French publication at an affordable cost, and reprint them in English for an American audience.
Thanks to Heavy Metal, Americans were introduced to some incredible artists for the first time, including Moebius, Juan Giminez, Enki Bilal, Serpieri, Milo Manara, H.R. Giger, Frezzato, Luis Royo, and many, many others! As Heavy Metal became more popular, it also became an early platform for a lot of groundbreaking American Artists, including Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Charles Burns, Richard Corben and so many more.
I am excited to share that Archive.Org has scanned and preserved a LOT of old Heavy Metal issues, in their entirety! These issues can be viewed right here:
https://archive.org/details/heavy-metal-magazine
So take some time out of your day and peruse the nearly 100 issues of Heavy Metal, which are chock full of incredible artwork which still holds up today, 40 years later!
For instance, check out this issue, which contains a beautiful and haunting story, painted entirely in watercolors by Scott Hampton:
https://archive.org/details/heavy-metal-magazine-1993-09/page/n19
Or this issue, which has an crazy, sci-fi epic from Jodorowsky and George Bess:
https://archive.org/details/heavy-metal-magazine-1994-08
Or this one, in which Serpieri demonstrates some of his absolutely incredible ink work:
https://archive.org/details/heavy-metal-magazine-1988-06
Or this unbelievable issue, which contains not only Adamov’s ‘The Waters of Dead Moon’…
… but also, ‘The Mercenary’, a comic by Vicente Segrelles, painted entirely in oil paints:
https://archive.org/details/heavy-metal-magazine-1992-09
Or how about this issue, which contains ‘Zora’, by Fernando Fernandez:
https://archive.org/details/heavy-metal-magazine-1983-08
Honestly, you can’t go wrong with Heavy Metal. You can pick any of these issues at random, and you’re pretty much guarenteed to see some incredible art within that you’ve never seen before. So give it a shot, and let yourself get inspired! Just be warned, most of the content in Heavy Metal is NOT safe for viewing at work.
Incredible resource Dan. Thanks!
There are some great art in these. Almost too much great art. Hard to know where to start. A stand out for me that has not been reprinted is Steranko’s Outland found is issues
#51 (June, 1981) – Introduction; about the story
#52 (July, 1981)
#53 (August, 1981)
#54 (September, 1981)
#55 (October, 1981)
#58 (January, 1982)
And if I remember correctly there is an early Greg Manchess piece of a woman in a gask mask 🙂
DavidEdwardFrancis[TheEternalDomine’.]Was WHO To ANTEEKQUITY?
This is AWESOME! Thanks Dan, HM was one of my first inspirations at an early age. This archive looks like a great time capsule. Cheers-
I am so fucking jealous of fantasy artists. I wish that i could do some of the art that they do. But alas i am just a hobby artist.
Wow, I remember these ( yes I am that old), thanks for sharing this. I was just thinking about heavy metal the other day (those were the days). Thanks for sharing this, I’ll be bookmarking this.
Thank you these are amazing!
Archive also has a handful of issues of Epic Illustrated, Marvel’s answer to Heavy Metal on the magazine racks of the time. It had some beautiful work throughout its run. https://archive.org/details/EpicIllustratedSPRING1980USA
I like this magazine very much
thx