HM Communications

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 January 1975. The French title translates literally as "Howling Metal."

When Mogel licensed the American version, he chose to rename it, and Heavy Metal began in the U.S. on April, 1977 as a glossy, full-color monthly. Initially, it displayed translations of graphic stories originally published in Métal Hurlant, including work by Enki Bilal, Philippe Caza, Guido Crepax, Philippe Druillet, Jean-Claude Forest, Jean Giraud (aka Moebius) and Milo Manara. The magazine later ran Stefano Tamburini and Tanino Liberatore's ultra-violent RanXerox. Since the color pages had already been shot in France, the budget to reproduce them in the U.S. version was greatly reduced.

Artists
Heavy Metal's high-quality artwork is notable. Work by international fine artists such as H.R. Giger and Esteban Maroto have been featured on the covers of various issues. Terrance Lindall's illustrated version of Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost appeared in the magazine in 1980. Many stories were presented as long-running serials, such as those by Richard Corben, Pepe Moreno and Matt Howarth. Illustrator Alex Ebel contributed artwork over the course of his career. An adaptation of the film Alien, written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Walter Simonson, was published in the magazine in 1979.

The magazine is currently owned and published by Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Publication of the French magazine ceased in 1987. It resumed in July 2002 under the French name Métal Hurlant, edited by Les Humanoïdes Associés.

Editors
The founding editors of the American edition of Heavy Metal were Sean Kelly and Valerie Marchant. The founding Design Director was Peter Kleinman. Kleinman was the Design Director of National Lampoon at the time, and he was asked to provide direction for the fledgling project in addition to his Lampoon duties. He created the original Heavy Metal logo design at the request of Len Mogel and Matty Simmons and was responsible for the launch and art direction from the first issue. He continued to oversee the design and work on the cover designs for the first two years and hired Art Director and Designer John Workman who brought to the magazine a background of experience at DC Comics and other publishers.

After two years, Mogel felt the lack of text material was a drawback, and in 1979, he replaced Kelly and Marchant with Ted White, highly regarded in the science fiction field for revitalizing Amazing Stories and Fantastic between 1968 and 1978. White and Workman immediately set about revamping the look of Heavy Metal, incorporating more stories and strips by American artists, including Arthur Suydam, Dan Steffan, Howard Cruse and Bernie Wrightson.

White's main solution to the problem of adding substantive text material was a line-up of columns by four authorities in various aspects of popular culture: Lou Stathis wrote about rock music and Jay Kinney dug into underground comics, while Steve Brown reviewed new science fiction novels and Bhob Stewart explored visual media from fantasy films to animation and light shows.

In 1980, Julie Simmons-Lynch took over as editor, and her new slant on text material was the showcasing of non-fiction by well-known authors such as Robert Silverberg, John Shirley and Harlan Ellison. Later, a review section labeled Dossier, was created by associate editor Brad Balfour, who came on board to handle text features by authors such as William S. Burroughs and Stephen King. Dossier featured short pieces by a variety of writers, and was edited first by Balfour and then by Stathis, who soon replaced Balfour as an editor. Stathis continued the tradition of focusing on pop culture figures to connect the magazine to the larger hip culture context. There were also interviews with such media figures as Roger Corman, Federico Fellini, John Sayles and John Waters. Beginning with the winter of 1986, Heavy Metal dropped back to a quarterly schedule, continuing until March 1989, where it then switched over to a bi-monthly publication period. Original Design Director Peter Kleinman was brought back on staff and Simmons-Lynch remained the editor until 1991 when Kevin Eastman acquired the magazine and became both publisher and editor.

Films
In 1981, an animated feature film was adapted from several of the magazine's serials. Made on a budget of US$9,300,000, under production for three years, Heavy Metal featured animated segments from several different animation houses with each doing a single story segment. Another house animated the frame story which tied all the disparate stories together. Like the magazine, the movie featured a great deal of nudity and graphic violence, though not to the degree seen in the magazine. For example, in its Den segment, it did not display the blatant male genitalia of its print counterpart. The film featured such SCTV talents as John Candy, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis and Ivan Reitman. It did reasonably well in its theatrical release and soon gained a cult status, partially because a problem with music copyrights that resulted in a delay of several years before the film became officially available on home video.

Another animated feature film alternatively called Heavy Metal 2000 and Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.², with a budget of $15 million, was released in 2000. This direct-to-video release was not based on stories from the magazine, but instead was based on The Melting Pot, a graphic novel written by Kevin Eastman and drawn by artist Simon Bisley, who based the appearance of the female protagonist after nude model and B-movie actress Julie Strain, ex-wife of Kevin Eastman. Strain later lent her vocal talents to the movie, portraying the character modeled after her likeness.

During 2008 and into 2009, reports circulated that David Fincher and James Cameron would executive produce, and each direct two of the eight to nine segments for, a new animated Heavy Metal feature. Kevin Eastman would also direct a segment, as well as animator Tim Miller, with Zack Snyder, Gore Verbinski and Guillermo del Toro attached to direct segments. However, Paramount Pictures decided to stop funding the film by August 2009 and no distributor or production company has shown interest in the second sequel since. In 2011, filmmaker Robert Rodriguez announced at Comic-Con that he had purchased the film rights to Heavy Metal and planned to develop a new animated film at the new Quick Draw Studios.

A film entitled War of the Worlds: Goliath, created as a sequel to H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds and based on a story previously published in the magazine, is scheduled to be released in 2012.

Video games
Heavy Metal 2000 inspired a video game sequel released in 2000, the PC action-adventure Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.². It was developed by Ritual Entertainment.

In 2001, Capcom released Heavy Metal: Geomatrix, an arcade fighting game that later made its way to Sega's Dreamcast console. Though not based on any specific material from Heavy Metal, it featured character designs by frequent contributor Simon Bisley and a style generally inspired by the magazine.