"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.

Ed Piskor the Latest Comic Creator Found to Be Engaging in Inappropriate Behavior

Update, 4/1/24, 4:18 PM: 

Ed Piskor has apparently died from suicide. This is tragic and we are going to see the internet playing the blame game for weeks. It is possible to have both sympathy for anyone who felt victimized by Piskor and for the man himself--he clearly felt he was a victim in enough of a manner that he made this decision. It is incredibly sad and I am now dreading watching as various people on the internet try to score cheap points using this to help their agenda. I don't care what your political affiliation is and how guilty or innocent you felt Piskor was. This whole thing is just upsetting, full stop. I don't care if we, "Blame," all this on Comicsgate, SJWs, or any other term you're bound to hear being thrown around. It is just upsetting and I would have never wanted any of this to have occurred. It is all awful no matter how you look at it.

Original Article:

Ed Piskor has been revealed to be engaging in behavior that is not illegal, but incredibly inappropriate. It started when a woman revealed Piskor followed her on social media and at first complimented her art but then began coming onto/grooming her when she was 17. The age of consent in Pennsylvania (where Piskor and the girl were located) is apparently 16, something the handful of Piskor's defenders on Twitter/X have loudly pointed out. Be that as it may, it is still incredibly creepy for a man then nearing 40 to be trying to pick up someone who can't even legally vote. That revelation being posted led to other women sharing how Piskor had interacted with them--generally in a disgusting manner. It all turned into a big snowball rolling down a hill of bad behavior. 

An art show that Piskor was the star of is now delayed/canceled and Piskor's longtime collaborator, Jim Rugg (they did a podcast called Cartoonist Kayfabe together) said he was no longer going to work with Piskor. By all accounts, Rugg is a nice guy and I've never heard anything bad about him. In regards to Piskor, I'd not heard about his behavior toward women until all this news broke but had heard from other men who had ever spoken with him that they found him to be wholly unpleasant to interact with. The general vibe he apparently gave off was someone who was full of themselves and wanted to be perceived as a, "Bad boy of comics." Well, he's been bad alright, just not in a way conducive to having a successful career.

How do we interact with his past work now? Some of it was admittedly cool stuff. I mean, I found, "Red Room," to be disturbing but interesting. Plus, "Hip-Hop Family Tree," was a popular work by Piskor as well as his recent take on the X-Men via, "X-Men: Grand Design." Multiversity has a poll asking fans how they respond to the work of a, "Cancelled," creator they like, and that can be hard. I've struggled with my feelings regarding the works of Warren Ellis ever since his big scandal. Piskor's career has taken a major hit that I honestly don't think he'll be coming back from and I hope his being exposed for predatory behavior helps bring even a modicum of relief/closure for any women he interacted with in an awful manner.

"Hulk: Grand Design," Sounds Right Up My Alley

The, "Grand Design," comics have had fantastic creators retell the origins of famous Marvel superheroes in superb ways. Ed Piskor gave us the amazing X-Men version and then Tom Scioli crafted a beautiful take on the Fantastic Four. Now, Jim Rugg will be doing a retelling of the origin of the Hulk. Rugg has made some awesome works from, "Street Angel," to, "Afrodisiac," and plenty of other neat stuff. I'm excited at the thought of him giving us, "Hulk: Grand Design," in the near future!

A great graphic novel: Afrodisiac

 Afrodisiac

A satiric riff on the era of Blaxplotation (think like "Black Dynamite"), Afrodisiac is an original graphic novel featuring the aforementioned title character on his various adventures, be it pimping, fighting Dracula, wooing countless women, or seducing death herself. This book has already gotten great reviews, so what did I think? I liked it. Why I liked it follows the cut...