Let’s Get Weird! 13 Page Preview of Heavy Metal 288, the Weird Issue

Are you ready to get WEIRD, Heavy Metal nation? Our latest issue, THE WEIRD ISSUE, is hitting Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and comics shops this week (Wednesday to be precise), and available for order now in the new and improved Heavy Metal online store. There’s weirdness, and yet — it’s a familiar weirdness in many ways. Take Cover A of this issue, “Death Dealer” by the late Frank Frazetta—good ol’ Frank, we’re happy to have him on our cover for the second time this year:

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Grant Morrison kicks off the issue with his customary weirdness, after paying somber tribute to one of his heroes, the late Len Wein. Richard Corben, the man behind the first story in our very first issue, is back in Heavy Metal with “Murky World!” a murky tale of sad sack wanderer Tugat.

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The great Enki Bilal, another longtime Heavy Metal contributor, returns with another installment of “The Color of Air,” and the daring duo of Kevin Eastman and Simon Bisley tell a tale inspired by Five Finger Death Punch’s song “The Bleeding.”

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But let’s get really weird, shall we? Because when it comes to weird, it doesn’t get much weirder than “Mouth Baby” by James Harvey. See, a woman gets pregnant in her mouth. Her neck swells up and she delivers the baby. Out of her mouth. And to be honest, that’s not even the weirdness—it’s a little surprising, sure. But wait’ll you see the baby.

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Grant Morrison and Dominic Regan contribute “The House of Heart’s Desire,” a tale that begins with the purchase of a door—a rather ordinary looking door. But our hero is on a quest: He has the Door Without a House, and so goes searching for the House Without a Door. Be careful what you quest for. John Bivens’ “Where Vices Lead” is a knock-down, drag-out battle of diabolical entities that just goes to show you: Play hooky from work and there’s gonna be Hell to pay. “New Madonna” finds Grant Morrison doing the bizarre baby thing too, with art by Menton—really, is there anything weirder than a baby that’s not quite right? How about a baby that’s not at all right? A baby with (it says here) “a rigid ovipositor that doubles as a sting”? Yeah, that’s not the bundle of joy anyone was hoping for. We’ve also got “Shaman Himiko,” a quick and cutting story of sin and judgment by the very talented Peach Momoko.

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Also in this issue, cover artist Natalie Shau gets the Gallery feature and interview, while Frank Frazetta, Jr. holds forth on the origin and future of his father’s famous Death Dealer. Editor Rantz Hoseley also speaks with Nikki Sixx about the graphic novelization of The Heroin Diaries. And “Hellraiser: The Test,” by Ben Meares, Christian Francis and Mark Torres, sees the return of Clive Barker’s Hell Priest—who is perhaps better known as “Pinhead.”

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And there it ends, your journey of weirdness through the pages of Heavy Metal 288, escorted by titans of the weird—Corben, Bisley, Frazetta, Barker—and new weirdos galore. All bearing the stamp of approval of the weird king, Editor in Chief Grant Morrison, who has never done an ordinary thing in his life. Soak it up, savor it, enjoy your stay in this weird realm—just do not get comfortable. For it is as the witches, the weird sisters, always said (or probably would have said): He who feels too at home in weirdness risks becoming too weird to ever go home again.

Oh, no.

Oh good god. The weirdness!

It is… too late…!

About Heavy Metal

First published in 1977, Heavy Metal Magazine, the world’s foremost illustrated magazine, explores fantastic and surrealistic worlds, alternate realities, science fiction and horror, in the past, present, and future. Writers and illustrators from around the world take you to places you never dreamed existed. Heavy Metal Magazine was the first publisher to bring European legends like Mœbius, Philippe Caza, Guido Crepax, Philippe Druillet, Tanino Liberatore, Milo Manara, Enki Bilal, and Pepe Moreno to the U.S. while showcasing non-mainstream American superstars like Richard Corben, Berni Wrightson, Arthur Suydam, Vaughn Bode and Frank Frazetta. The magazine continues to showcase amazing new talent along with established creators. Heavy Metal Magazine features serialized and standalone stories, artist galleries, short stories in prose and interviews.

About Heavy Metal (film)

Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian adult animated science fantasy anthology film directed by Gerald Potterton (in his director debut) and produced by Ivan Reitman and Leonard Mogel, who also was the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine, which was the basis for the film. It starred the voices of Rodger Bumpass, Jackie Burroughs, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Don Francks, Martin Lavut, Marilyn Lightstone, Eugene Levy, Alice Playten, Harold Ramis, Percy Rodriguez, Susan Roman, Richard Romanus, August Schellenberg, John Vernon, and Zal Yanovsky. The screenplay was written by Daniel Goldberg and Len Blum.

The film is an anthology of various science-fiction and fantasy stories tied together by a single theme of an evil force that is "the sum of all evils". It was adapted from Heavy Metal magazine and original stories in the same spirit. Like the magazine, the film features a great deal of graphic violence, sexuality, and nudity. Its production was expedited by having several animation houses working simultaneously on different segments.

Its soundtrack was packaged by music manager Irving Azoff and included several popular rock bands and artists, including Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Sammy Hagar, Don Felder, Cheap Trick, DEVO, Journey, and Nazareth, among others.

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