Because Andrew reviewed Heavy Metal 2000 it revived my interest in the original.
My favorite stories from this include "Harry Canyon", "Den of Earth", "Captain Stern", and " Taarna" Since they all take place in bizzare worlds that we only got a glimps of. "Harry" had a 1st person sort of take on it and it features the coolest taxi cab ever. "Den of Earth" is also sort of 1st person as we here Den narrate his story, it had a lot of violence, I liked the desert landscape, and it's pretty much how a geeky person's dreams would come true. "Captain Stern" I just liked this, Hanover's transformation from meek to mighty was pretty scary, I'm still trying to figure out if he could do that naturally or if that was the Loc-Nar. "Taarn" great landscapes, especially when we first see Taarna flying over the land on that bird-steed. The guys that were turned evil by the pea soup were quite nasty. This was certainly the best story to have end the movie with.
"B-17" was quite good. It seems out of place as more of a horror segment when the rest are either sci-fi or fantasy. It's style and story felt very much like a Tales from the Crypt story.
"So Beautiful, So Dangerous" is the weakest of the segments. It feels like it has no purpose other than to show more nudity and have some aliens to drugs. It's not terrible, I like the animation it's just the weakest is all.
Has anyone read the Heavy Metal magazine or Metal Hurlant? I want to check them out.
I used to catch some of the Heavy Metal magazines now and then years ago, because a friend always got them. Some of them had some interesting stuff in them. I remember one that was quite well drawn, but I could never figure out what the heck the story was supposed to be. That was "Druuna." I found it immediately (apparently the artist's website) with a Google search, but be warned that the site is not safe for your work computer.
The bit with Captain Stern has always been my favorite. "Hanging's too good for 'em!"
Yeah I'm at the site now checking out the covers, the link from Wikipedia said "Warning contains violence and pornography material" tell me something I don't know.
The covers from the eighties were the coolest, such creativity! I looked at the 2000 and up one's and they're pretty much just a naked women with a not so interesting background. I think I'll dig around for hte eighties one's.
I got the impression the Loc-Nar did it. And not only was the taxi cab itself cool, I quite liked the driver actually. I just like how he took no BS, and was completely cool ALL THE TIME. He also is the only normal human in the movie totally unphased by the Loc-Nar, at least that I can recall.
And man, the original Heavy Metal is sooooooo much better than 2000. 2000 was such a disappointment in every area. The original is class. I might actually have to track down a DVD copy fo it...
Don't get me wrong Jim I liked the taxi driver himself, that driver and the taxi were an unstoppable team. I wonder if his taxi was custom or if all of them were like that.
Likely it was a custom job. If all cabs were like that, people would know better than to try and rob cabbies....
Speaking of original vs the orignal title + 2000, the same could be said for Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. The attempt at comedy in between musical segments destroys it....
I was reading HEAVY METAL quite regularly for a couple of years.
Basically, HEAVY METAL is an American translation of adult oriented European comics. The quality can be all over the map. I stopped reading the magazine because the good stories seemed to be getting fewer and farther between.
A lot of the time the stories are an excuse to draw lots of naked ladies. DRUUNA, which Andrew mentioned, was in the first issue I ever picked up. (They probably shouldn't have sold that to a thirteen year old.) Serpieri, the guy who draws it, is a true artist, at least when rendering the female form. I could never figure out what the hell he was rambling about in his stories.
Then you've got the cartoony lines of Azpiri, the exagerrated oafishness of Simon Bisley, the polish of Jodorowsky, and who doesn't like cover artists like Royo? Plus, any magazine the introduces me to Sam Henderson (http://www.indyworld.com/whistle/) is alright in my book. (Link SFW, unlike most of these other names.)
Note: The stories reproduced in HEAVY METAL are censored. While the magazine is filled with gratuitous nudity (some might say it's raison d'etre), they never show full on genital shots. That may or may not matter to you, I just thought I'd point it out.
So, I can't really recommend HEAVY METAL. They've done a lot to bring some really good artists over to the United States. They just need a tighter rein on their quality control.
I've gotten the impression from breif returns to the mag from time to time that while the art is largely due to taste, the storywriting and plot development are at odds with each other, and things often suffer from what I like to call the "softcore stories problem"- which is essentially how many ways can you throw a sex scene into a story and still have a story, complete with a true beginning, middle, end.
Why the hell even have a magazine of this style if you're going to censor the sex? What the hell do they think people by the mag for? Order forms for Euro-porn?
Shadowphile: Likely it was a custom job. If all cabs were like that, people would know better than to try and rob cabbies....
Good chance of that, but who'd pass it on, they kept dieing. I'm sure it's custom job but I do wonder.