The Adult Illustrated Fantasy Magazine Fan Page

Magazines

1) There have been some issues censored by customs.  I'm not referring to Heavy Metal placing word bubbles over certain things, but actually customs ripping out pages, or blacking out certain things when shipping to other countries.  The most known censored issue is Spring 1988, which because of Canadian "sex with violence" import laws, 36000 copies had the Druuna story censored.  It also had an explanation note stuck to its contents page.  The next issue, Summer, also had an editorial about the situation.  Another issue that was censored was November 1997, which had one page torn out of the Gypsy story in thousands of issues.  For a while, HM offered people an exchange for an uncensored copy for a small fee.  September 1995 was another issue that was censored because of the Druuna story.  However, it usually doesn't get censored country wide, and only a few copies get censored, depending on where the issue is going, what customs want to do with it, and what distributors want to do with it.  There have been many other issues that have been censored.

2) There are three issues that have a variant cover.  November 1999, has a limited edition with the cover by Frank Miller to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.  September 2008, has a limited edition with the cover by Nathan Fox made for the Fluorescent Black story within and given out at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con.  September 2011, has a limited edition with the cover by Artgerm and was given out at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con.

3) There are a couple issues that use the same cover illustration.  The Best Of special used the same illustration as the June 1977 issue, and January 2002 issue used the same illustration as the Summer 1988 issue.

4) In the Special issue, "Heavy Metal's Even Heavier Metal", there's no one credited for the cover illustration.  Lost in time it seems no one remembers who it was.

5) The Special issue, "War Machine", is the only issue to have a 3 page fold out cover.

6) Heavy Metal doesn't reprint stories that have already been printed in previous issues.  However, there are a few exceptions, such as the issues The Best Of, The Best Of #2, 15 Years Of, Greatest Hits, and One Step Beyond.  Also the story Bird Dust in January 1984 was previously printed in November 1977.  And the story The Bus was printed in January 1985 and again in July 1985.  And the story A Mudwog Tale was printed in May 1981 and again in September 2005.  And in March 1990, there was a story for The Incal, which in July 1995 was remade with a different artist for the Meta-Barons story.  And in June 1978, there was the feature, Galactic Geographic, which was later reprinted as a rewritten and expanded version in the Spring 1998 issue.  And in March 1993, there was the start of the Melting Pot story, which was later reprinted in full as a remade and expanded version in the Fall 2007 issue.

7) There have been many different kinds of mailing covers and bags over the years.  These all vary depending on if they're subscriptions, or store bought, or where they were sent.  If it's in a store, a bag can prevent minors from flipping through the issue.  Bags can also censor the cover, if needed to get past customs.  Unfortunately, the process to seal these bags can also cause the ink to come off where the seams are.  Both bags and mailing covers can be great to stick the mailing label to, instead of ruining the actual cover.  Although with some issues, mainly early ones, mailing labels have been stuck to the magazine cover.  The December 1985 mailing cover had a note on it, telling subscribers about the frequency change from monthly to quarterly.

8) A 1986 issue of the French Métal Hurlant was double numbered 121 and 122.

9) In the April 1982 issue of Epic Illustrated it was advertised as their "Third Anniversary" issue.  Even though it was the start of their third year, they were only two years old at this point, so it should actually be their "Second Anniversary" issue.

10) Tanino Liberatore illustrated the album cover for Frank Zappa's "The Man From Utopia".  It shows Frank as Ranxerox.  There is also a similar illustration on the back cover.

11) You can access the Heavy Metal website through many different URL's, such as:
www.heavymetal.com - www.metaltv.com - www.heavymetalmagazine.com - www.simonbisley.com - www.roninbebop.com - www.whiteroninblues.com

Games

1) The game Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.˛ has a lot of easter eggs.  Check them out at Ritualistic.

2) In the game Sin by Ritual Entertainment (same company that made the F.A.K.K.˛ game afterwards) on the level "Construction Zone" when you climb the roof there's a vent thing.  If you shoot and destroy it, you can climb down a hidden ladder and find a room with some posters like F.A.K.K.˛ and Julie and such.  Also in the introduction at the start of the game, on the desk is a book of Gith.

"Heavy Metal" Movie

1) In "Den" the queen's hair and robe change color slightly.  And at one point she is naked, then is wearing a g-string in the next shot, and goes back to being naked a few shots later.

2) In "Den" Katherine is tied up, then is shown untied, and then tied up again.

3) In "B-17" the original idea was to have Gremlins take over, but they decided to change to zombies instead.  So in some places you may still see the story referred to as Gremlins.

4) In "So Beautiful & So Dangerous" as they fly through space you see different kinds of debris pass by.  One thing is the destroyed Star Trek starship U.S.S. Enterprise (although is labelled NCC-170-1 instead of  NCC-1701).

5) In "Taarna" when she's in the bar you can see what looks like Pinocchio in the background behind the bartender.

6) In "Taarna" when she's fighting the barbarian leader she gets blood on her hand, then it disappears in the next shot.

7) "Taarna" was heavily influenced by Mœbius' story Arzach, because originally that's what it was going to be.  However, they couldn't acquire the rights to it.

8) The Blue Öyster Cult album "Fire Of Unknown Origin" was heavily influenced by Heavy Metal.  4 songs were submitted for consideration for the movie.  "Vengeance (The Pact)" (aka "Taarna's Theme"), was written all about the story of Taarna.  "Don't Turn Your Back" was written for the Harry Canyon story.  "Heavy Metal: The Black And Silver" wasn't written about the movie, but was still inspired by the movie.  The last submitted song was "Veteran Of The Psychic Wars", which was the chosen song, even though ironically it was the only one not really inspired by the movie.  It is also believed that the song "Sole Survivor" was inspired by the movie, but wasn't submitted with the others.  All 5 of these songs can be found on this Fire Of Unknown Origin album.

9) When Sammy Hagar wrote the song "Heavy Metal" for the movie, he wrote it about Heavy Metal music because at the time he didn't know what the movie was about, and assumed it was probably about music.

10) Devo's remake of the song "Working In A Coal Mine" was inspired by the mining scene at the beginning of the "Harry Canyon" story.  Although the song was used for the credits instead.

"Heavy Metal: 2000" Movie

1) Tyler tells the crew to set a course for sector BR-549.  That was Junior Samples phone number on "Hee Haw".

2) When going to the space port, Julie gets the docking coordinates A-N-U-S 6-3-7-0.  Then she gets the visa file number U-R-F-U-K-D 8-8-1.

3) When Julie arrives on the planet Uroboris, the outfit she is wearing is in decent condition.  However, in the next scene her outfit is badly torn.  This is never explained in the movie as to why, but there was a scene cut of her being attacked by a creature.

4) Although not in the same realm as the 1981 movie, it does offer many homage's to it.  Such as the glowing green key having some evil similarities to the glowing green ball.  And the changing outfit sequence where the heroine swims and changes into her final suit.  And one destination Julie goes to is the planet Uroboris in the Terackian system, which is similar in name to the Taarakian people that Taarna was part of.



- Heavy Metal, As Seen On TV (Or Movies) -
(excluding interviews, documentaries, etc)

1) "Joy Of Sex" (Movie 1984) - Near the start of this National Lampoon movie, Alan Holt is getting ready for school and when he goes to get a book you can see an issue of Heavy Metal in the pile.  It's the May 1982 issue.  There's also a continuity error as the previous shot shows the June 1983 issue instead.

2) "Clerks" (Movie 1994) - About 1/3 into the movie, the clerks are talking about annoying customers.  In the video store, behind one customer is a copy of Heavy Metal: The Movie VHS.  Which is interesting because Clerks was made in 1994, but the official VHS didn't legally come out until 1996.

3) "Higher Learning" (Movie 1995) - Near the start of this movie, in Remy's room, he is hanging up posters, including a Luis Royo Heavy Metal poster.

4) "Address Unknown" (Movie 2001) - Near the end of the movie, in Eunok's room, the American soldier sets his gun down on a Fall 2000 issue of Heavy Metal.  Which is an error, as this story is supposed to be taking place in 1970.

5) "The Venture Bros." (TV 2004 Season 1, Episode 11, "Past Tense") - This episode includes the character Mike Sorayama and his "Lesliebot" robots.  Half way through the episode, Mike asks Dr. Venture, "Notice anything familiar about them?"  In which Dr. Venture responds, "Yeah, I had that issue of Heavy Metal too."  He is referring to the cover of November 1980 by Hajime Sorayama, which looks like the Lesliebots.  Because of this similarity, the episode was held back from being re-aired for nearly a year due to legal concern.  However, it did return with a "thank you" credit added for Hajime Sorayama.

6) "Heavy Metal Versus Dominator" (Online 2005) - A 12 minute animated short of Dominator, featuring characters from the Heavy Metal movies, mostly from Heavy Metal 2000.

7) "Fun With Dick And Jane" (Movie 2005) - When Dick goes into the first victims variety store, the clerk is reading the August 2000 "Femme Fatales" magazine with an ad on the back cover for Heavy Metal 2000 action figures.

8) "Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny" (Movie 2006) - Near the start of the movie in young JB's room, there is a poster of Heavy Metal: The Movie, that his father (Meat Loaf) rips off the wall.

9) "Teeth" (Movie 2007) - Near the start of the movie, in Brad's room, there is a poster of the Heavy Metal story Fistful Of Blood.  In addiction, there are two other posters of illustrations that were also used as Heavy Metal covers.  One poster is the one that was used for January 1992, and the other poster is the illustration used for March 2001.

10) "South Park" (TV 2008 Season 12, Episode 03, "Major Boobage") - This episode includes an homage to the 1981 Heavy Metal movie.  It can be viewed from South Park Studios or X Episodes.

11) "Step Brothers" (Movie 2008) - In the brothers room, there is a poster of Heavy Metal: The Movie.

12) "(500) Days Of Summer" (Movie 2009) - In the video & record store near the end of the movie, there is a DVD of Heavy Metal: The Movie on the top shelf to the far left.



Welcome to the Heavy Metal Magazine Fan Page!  I'll try to guide you to understand what can be found on this site, and what it contains.  This site mainly started with the Magazine List, listing every issue of Heavy Metal and their contents.  Even correcting errors and expanding on titles and names that were printed.  However, since this is the Fan Page I couldn't stop at just listing the issues, and therefore I list the official Heavy Metal movies, music, toys, games, etc.  Also to be complete, I've added the Collectors List to list all the official Heavy Metal merchandise that has been made.  That should be enough, but then I've also decided that occasionally there's a predominant story in Heavy Metal that has produced other media.  And even though it's not officially a Heavy Metal item, I occasionally list other things such as the Druuna or Ranx games, or the Immortal movie.  And just to expand this site a little bit further, I've also incorporated the English Métal Hurlant comics into the Magazine List, because that's where Heavy Metal originated.  But then I also include Epic Illustrated magazine, which although it has no Heavy Metal connection, it is very similar in style and occasionally shares the same artists.  With Métal Hurlant and Epic Illustrated, I may not go into detail about their merchandise, such as movies and whatnot.  I've also added the Other Miscellaneous Collectors List to include such things as movies, music, and games from various stories somehow connected to either Heavy Metal, Métal Hurlant, or Epic Illustrated.  If I make any major changes to my site such as adding an item to the Collectors List, or adding a new issue to the Magazine List, I'll post news about it.  However I may not post news for minor updates such as updating a picture, or correcting spelling and grammatical errors.  But there's a lot more then that to check out, so feel free to browse around the site.




Even though I'm the only one that runs this site, it wouldn't be the same without the help from others.  I thought about listing names to credit everyone for their contributions, but I would also be very embarrassed if I missed anyone.  Some people I might have only talked to once many years ago, and some I still talk with frequently.  But you know who you are.  There have been people that notified me if I was missing any items in my Collector's List, or Music section, or other places.  When available, sometimes they would even take the time to scan images for me to use.  Without them, my site would be incomplete.  There have been people that have made suggestions for my site, such as what Search engine they recommend.  Because of them, my site is more user friendly and organized.  There have been people that have taken the time to create some really great wallpapers available for everyone to enjoy.  There have been a few people that have sent a donation, which is a huge help!  When I had my forum, it was great to get to know some regulars and their thoughts.  Thanks for being there.  Also, thank you for those that just visit the site.  Whether you're a frequent visitor, or this is your first time.  Thanks for checking things out.  To everyone; thank you.




This is a section all about Heavy Metal and I.  It doesn't hold any real importance for the site, but if anyone is bored and has a few minutes to spend, feel free to read on.

How I First Learned Of Heavy Metal - I first got into Heavy Metal by seeing the first movie on TV in 1996.  It was about the time that Heavy Metal was getting ready to have the first movie released onto video, and because of this, it was playing on TV.  One night I had a few friends over while it was on TV.  At this point I hadn't heard anything about Heavy Metal.  My friends all knew what it was and thought I should watch it sometime.  But for now, it was just something playing in the background that I wasn't really paying attention to.  I only saw a bit of it, and my reaction to it was:  "What the fuck is this?  This is kind of cheesy, but kind of cool, I should rent it sometime."  Anyways, a few days later, I caught it on TV again, and this time I watched it by myself from the start to the finish.  I had my first real taste of Heavy Metal.  Unfortunately I didn't fall in love with it though.  I thought it was a very entertaining movie, and had a little mixture of everything in it.  In fact, it went right onto my list of favorite movies.  But as entertaining as the movie was, it lacked something.  Something I would later find in the magazine.

How I First Learned Of The Magazine - It wasn't long after this that I was in a convenience store one day, and found a Heavy Metal Magazine on the shelf.  It was March 1996.  The Gallery featured the making of the first movie, so at first I thought this was a magazine based off of the movie.  I bought it and took it home.  When reading it, I nearly fell in love with it.  This magazine showed me much more then the movie did.  The movie had lots of different stories, but not as widely different as the stories in the magazine.  From this I found out how weird; sexual; beautiful; and disturbing this magazine could be.  I really enjoyed it, and so I went out to look for more, and actually found some.  I found that it was kind of hard to find the magazine because it's not sold in most stores and so I got most of my issues from local comic book shops.  It was when reading these magazines that I truly fell in love with Heavy Metal.

My Impressions Of The Magazine - The things that I enjoy most in the magazine are the action, humor, and art.  Action and adventure is probably the biggest part of Heavy Metal, and luckily there are some really great action stories printed within.  Humor can be found in many issues, probably due to its National Lampoon history.  However, it's one of the least used genres, although that's fine as I wouldn't want this to be a humor magazine.  But just a little bit of humor, gives the magazine a nice overall rounded flow.  Art is a big part of the illustrations, and the talent that each magazine contains is exceptional.  However, even though I highly enjoy Heavy Metal; nothing is perfect.  And that's one thing about trying to reach a broad audience, is that you can't please everyone.  Although if it were me, there are some changes I'd like to see.  I wish there was no gratuitous sex and nudity in the magazine.  There's not much now, but I wish there were none, including ads within the magazine.  I have nothing against sex and nudity, but only if the story actually calls for it.  I also wish there was more emphasis on writing quality.  Although the illustrations are almost always amazing, there's the occasional story that clearly lacks decent writing or storyline.  One last thing I'd like to see more of is the drama genre.  I don't necessarily mean just love stories, but more about focusing on characters and their story.  Heavy Metal does have a bit of this, but I wish there were more.

Me On The FAKKYou Crew - Later, I heard there would be a game - F.A.K.K.˛.  Little info was released on it in the beginning, and so I searched for more.  A web site came up - www.fakkyou.com - They liked how much info I was finding on the game, so they put me on as one of their news crew.  To me this was very cool, and I was very happy to be there.  At first I was sceptical about the game, but in the end, the game proved to be very beautiful and entertaining.  Although the site is no longer there, you can still find the information at Ritualistic.

And The Heavy Metal Fan Page Was Born - Before my site existed, I would often look up pages that listed Heavy Metal magazines for information I needed.  However, it was annoying because there was no complete list out there.  So I decided to make my own, as a reference to me and anyone else that's looking for the same thing.  While thinking about how to do it, I decided to make a full site about Heavy Metal and the obscure facts I knew about it.  So, on November 12, 2001 my Heavy Metal Magazine Fan Page was born.  It wasn't until April 2, 2004 that I finally got the domain name www.heavymetalmagazinefanpage.com.

Finishing My Magazine Collection - Since I've been reading Heavy Metal, I've always tried collecting the back issues whenever I could find them, which was usually at comic shops.  This was a fairly slow process, but in early 2002 I decided to give eBay a try.  In about a year I finished my collection of every issue in just a short amount of time.

The Magazine List Is Completed - It wasn't until June 19, 2007 that I finally finished the main section I wanted, which was the magazine list.  It didn't take me too long to write out a temporary list, but as I was doing so I noticed a lot of little errors which I didn't want.  So I decided my list wasn't going to be an exact copy of the magazines contents page, but instead improve on that to make it much more accurate.  So over 1000 hours of research later, spread over 5+ years, the magazine list was finished.

Archiving The Fan Page - After 10 years of running my site, it was getting to be a bit too much for me.  I wanted to give myself a little more free time, and not feel tied down to the site.  So, on my 10 year anniversary, November 12, 2011, I decided to change my site.  The biggest eater of time was my daily search for news, so I could keep everything up to date.  So I decided my site would focus on the history of the world of Heavy Metal, and not about the future.  I removed my news section, and any pages for unreleased projects, such as movies and games.  Then, periodically I may continue to update my site, as new projects or magazines become Heavy Metal history.

Someday I hope to contribute to the magazine and submit a story or two of my own.  Although I have had some other contributions with Heavy Metal.  I was in the "Letters To The Editor" page as "Dave" in the November 2000 and January 2001 issues, and as "Lostboy" in the November 2004, November 2005, March 2006, May 2006, July 2006, July 2007, September 2007, November 2007, January 2008, March 2008, May 2008, and July 2008  issues.  I was listed under "Additional Thanks" in the F.A.K.K.˛ game credits for my contribution with fakkyou.com.  I was listed under "Acknowledgements" in Mike Ashley's book "Gateways To Forever" for my very small research contribution.  And I was cited in the book "American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s" for my What Is Heavy Metal? page on this site.

- Dave "Lostboy" Cail