Heavy Metal and Justine
Suspended Animation Classic #253
Originally published October 31, 1993 (#45)
(Dates are approximate)
Heavy Metal and Justine
By Michael Vance
“Heavy Metal” v. 18 #5/$3.95, 100 pages, from Metal Mammoth, Inc./various artists, writers/available at newsstands, comics shops.
Parents always want their children to become adults, i.e. irresponsible, completely selfish, pleasure obsessed threats to society. These must be comic book parents because this seems to be the comic book definition of adult.
“Heavy Metal” was touted the premier adult comics magazine on American newsstands from its beginning. It reprints mostly European comics, translated and unrestricted by America’s ‘prudish heritage’. It often publishes startlingly beautiful art, exceptional or competent story, and promotes the three standards that define adult: explicit sex, bloody, graphic violence, gutter language.
The proof is in the blood pudding. Of nine features in the current issue, only one set of one-page pieces, “StripTease”, fails to obsess on nudity or sexual encounters. The longest story, “Eden”, is a suspense thriller set in the distant future. Extremely well drawn, full of imagination, and competently written, “Eden” is also rife with exploding bodies, bloody mutilation, and nudity. In fact, if sex were removed from six of the remaining stories, almost nothing would remain of “Network”, “A Present from Upstairs”, and “A Pleasant Walk” (each primarily sex dreams), “Reflections” (fictional slice of Peru’s conquest), and “For Private Eyes” (film noir detective fiction) would be severely crippled.
Much of “Heavy Metal” is artistic excellence; most is marred by an underlying fatalism that values nothing outside of instant gratification.
“Heavy Metal” and most comics labeled “Adult” are actually like kids swapping nasty words and lies on a school ground. They use obscenity and sex because these are forbidden to them by adults. By ‘stealing’ these subjects, kids think they’re adult.
“Heavy Metal” is recommended for these comic book ‘adults’.
MINIVIEW: “Justine” #s 1 & 2. This adaptation of the Marquis De Sade’s sick novel of sex as violence is what most call pornography, and publisher Catalan labels “Erotica”. Ultimately, no matter how well drawn or expertly written, what is the value of perversion? Recommended for no one.
Heavy Metal and Justine
Suspended Animation Classic #253
Originally published October 31, 1993 (#45)
(Dates are approximate)
Heavy Metal and Justine
By Michael Vance
“Heavy Metal” v. 18 #5/$3.95, 100 pages, from Metal Mammoth, Inc./various artists, writers/available at newsstands, comics shops.
Parents always want their children to become adults, i.e. irresponsible, completely selfish, pleasure obsessed threats to society. These must be comic book parents because this seems to be the comic book definition of adult.
“Heavy Metal” was touted the premier adult comics magazine on American newsstands from its beginning. It reprints mostly European comics, translated and unrestricted by America’s ‘prudish heritage’. It often publishes startlingly beautiful art, exceptional or competent story, and promotes the three standards that define adult: explicit sex, bloody, graphic violence, gutter language.
The proof is in the blood pudding. Of nine features in the current issue, only one set of one-page pieces, “StripTease”, fails to obsess on nudity or sexual encounters. The longest story, “Eden”, is a suspense thriller set in the distant future. Extremely well drawn, full of imagination, and competently written, “Eden” is also rife with exploding bodies, bloody mutilation, and nudity. In fact, if sex were removed from six of the remaining stories, almost nothing would remain of “Network”, “A Present from Upstairs”, and “A Pleasant Walk” (each primarily sex dreams), “Reflections” (fictional slice of Peru’s conquest), and “For Private Eyes” (film noir detective fiction) would be severely crippled.
Much of “Heavy Metal” is artistic excellence; most is marred by an underlying fatalism that values nothing outside of instant gratification.
“Heavy Metal” and most comics labeled “Adult” are actually like kids swapping nasty words and lies on a school ground. They use obscenity and sex because these are forbidden to them by adults. By ‘stealing’ these subjects, kids think they’re adult.
“Heavy Metal” is recommended for these comic book ‘adults’.
MINIVIEW: “Justine” #s 1 & 2. This adaptation of the Marquis De Sade’s sick novel of sex as violence is what most call pornography, and publisher Catalan labels “Erotica”. Ultimately, no matter how well drawn or expertly written, what is the value of perversion? Recommended for no one.