"Heavy Metal Magazine," is Back With it's (Reboot) Debut Issue

"Heavy Metal," the edgy comic magazine, was due to return in 2025. Well, it is 2025, and here it is on newsstands and at comic shops. With the talented Frank Forte as the helm as EIC, I had hopes it would be an enjoyable read. I have good news in that it was a great (and big) magazine of fun!

"Heavy Metal," is known for wild fantasy stories, crazy sci-fi comics, and quite often plenty of boobs. This new iteration has all of that and more. There are some nonfiction pieces looking back at the previous generation of, "Heavy Metal," and all the talent involved. This may be a reboot of sorts, but it acknowledges where it came from. An absurd number of talents are involved in this debut, and it would take too big a chunk of space to name everyone, so I'll just spotlight that Jim Rugg's story of space aliens was my favorite with its retro-kitsch style--nothing was bad, however, so that's encouraging for the future issues as well.

In the old days a lot of comics were too squeaky clean besides the underground comix and magazines like, "Heavy Metal." I wondered if in this new era where plenty of indie comics push the envelope of content if, "Heavy Metal," could still stand out. Well, even if more comics these days have the violence and nudity some adults crave, "Heavy Metal," still provides a nice fantastical edge to everything with its wildly inventive stories, artwork, and all-around envelope-pushing vibe--even if that envelope is now more pushing the boundaries of creativity as opposed to simply shocking folks with nipples in a comic. Give this new iteration of, "Heavy Metal," a chance--I'm quite pleased with it myself.

5 out of 5 Stars.

"Heavy Metal," Magazine to Return in 2025

There was never much of an official announcement, "Heavy Metal," magazine just kind of ended with a whimper. It was a bummer as the magazine had been through so many highs and lows, and petered out in 2023. The publication sometimes had really thoughtful and mature comics. Sometimes it was mostly boobs, butts, guns, and sci-fi-influenced mixtures of the three in an effort to be experimental and erotic. It was always an interesting publication, however, from the early days in the 70s all the way to when Grant Morrison was briefly at the helm later in its term. The thing is, when I wrote about the end of, "Heavy Metal," (linked above) I did say how barring some unforeseen rising from the ashes of failure like a mythical phoenix I thought it was done. I guess the Phoneix is rising because--you guessed it--"Heavy Metal," is due for a return.

Heavy Metal International has CEO Marhsall Lees confirming the magazine shall relaunch in 2025. Frank Forte will be the Editor-in-Chief, Dave Kelly the new Executive Editor, and Chris Thompson the Editorial Manager. Preorders for the extra-big first issue shall be done via Kickstarter (which will also offer limited edition covers and such). I hope this relaunch is successful so that creators who want to make weird and interesting stuff have a platform to do so for the fans that want to buy the aforementioned interesting and weird stuff. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for more information as well--such as when the Kickstarter launches and who will be contributing to this new debut issue!

Panick Entertainment Sounds Like an Interesting New Publisher

I was a fan of, "Heavy Metal," magazine. A weird comic publication geared towards mature readers, it often had lots of wild sci-fi concepts, crazy violence, imaginative concepts, and (often) uncensored illustrated nudity for those after some cheesecake mixed in with everything else. It didn't officially end so much as it just petered out. However, some of the folks who used to be associated with, "Heavy Metal," as well as other companies are launching a new publisher (more on that in a second) and the magazine itself might relaunch over with Frank Forte of Asylum Press--it is unclear if it will be under that company or something else). The new publisher with a fun blend of talent involved is Panick Entertainment.

As Comicsbeat discusses in a post about Panick, "Panick may be new to the scene, but its team is not. The founders are comprised of comics industry vets with years of experience, including CEO Kris Longo (former Heavy Metal publisher and current Modern Fanatic CEO); head of studio and executive director Adam Schlagman (former VP of film and integrated content at DC); COO Doug Pasko (screenwriter and former The Outpost executive producer); CFO Christopher Chiang (former DC manager of finance); and CCO Mark McCann (writer, editor, and illustrator). Syzygy Publishing co-founder and former IDW president and CCO Chris Ryall will serve as chief advisor for branding, world-building, slate development, and more." That's a pretty solid lineup of folks with Chris Ryall having quit the pedigree having worked with IDW and currently doing cool stuff over at Image with Ashely Wood as well. I am intrigued by this Panick Entertainment as I always love weird sci-fi/horror, and can enjoy the occasional dash of gratuitous nudity in comics as someone who appreciates human form. I'll be following news about Panick Entertainment closely.

The Halloween Horror Box from Asylum Press Looks Like a Fun Kickstarter Campaign

I wrote before about getting some excellently packed comics from Asylum Press and recently reviewed a comic I enjoyed published by them in my latest capsule reviews. The head person of Asylum, Frank Forte, wrote me to thank me for the kind words I've been sharing and let me know that Asylum Press is actually currently running a Kickstarter campaign to help fund an assortment of snazzy horror comics. Known as the, "Halloween Horror Box," it is a collection of all new comics from Asylum press which backers can pick to get some or all of with assorted regular and spiffy variant covers. 

I want to thank Frank for telling me about their Kickstarter as Aslyum Press puts out cool comics and these are bound to be great reads. Plus, as I said before, they pack stuff well. Therefore, the comics will be fun and packed safely for backers. The campaign actually has already achieved its funding goal, so now there are just awesome stretch goals left! Here is that link again so you can give it a look.