If you ever wondered what helped inspire all of those pulp sci-fi stories of dragons and scantily clad women back in the '70s and '80s, look no further than Heavy Metal. The magazine was a one-stop shop for everything campy, be it horror, science fiction or gratuitous nudity. That said, it's not as if the magazine didn't host some truly fantastic artists: Heavy Metal saw work from greats like H.R. Giger, Jean Giraud and Richard Corben during its prime.
However, following waning popularity and more than a few cancelled projects, Heavy Metal hasn't exactly been at the forefront of the conversation... but that may soon change.
Grant Morrison quickly became one of the most widely recognized writers in comics since his work with DC in the late '80s. Now, the man behind some of Batman's best stories will be helping bring Heavy Metal back into the limelight. That's right: Grant Morrison is now working as the Editor-in-Chief of Heavy Metal.
It's a move that makes a lot of sense: Morrison built a career on avant-garde work, starting with Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. Since then, Morrison has worked with both DC and Marvel on a number of different projects, several of which are considered to be some of the best in the industry. Now, that same talent will be helping re-shape Heavy Metal.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Heavy Metal co-CEO Jeff Krelitz expressed that he couldn't be more excited about signing Morrison:
"The first D.C. Comics book I ever picked up was Arkham Asylum. I thought 'Holy shit! Batman just went Heavy Metal!
"From the standpoint of what he does and how he tells a story-edgy, provocative, avant-garde — that's us. And why not? It just makes sense."
Considering Morrison's pedigree, it looks like Heavy Metal fans have a reason to get excited — maybe the premier magazine for all things sci-fi and horror will finally get a second wind.
If there's one caveat, it's that the image above (a preview of Morrison's debut issue) is all fans have to go on at this point. It'll still be some time before Morrison's influence will be felt: his first issue as Editor-in-Chief won't hit store shelves until February 2016.
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