Dueling Metal Hurlant and Heavy Metal kickstarters raise $1 million

They say it’s just a coincidence, but Metal Hurlant and its US offshoot Heavy Metal both have comeback anthologies on Kickstarter right now. And both are a big success. 

The Metal Hurlant campaign, published by Humanoids, wraps up in a few hours, and has raised $581,432 from 3,847 backers. Contributors include: 

• “Clean and Clear” by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Jacob Edgar
• “In Every Dream Home a Heartache” by writer Matt Fraction and artist Afif Khaled
• “Peppermint Wendy” by cartoonist Miran Kim
• “Retrograde” by writer Karla Pacheco and artist Sagar
• “Soldiers of Light” by cartoonist Simon Roy
• “The Laws of Physics” by cartoonist Matthew Sheean
• “Hot Ground” by cartoonists Shofela “Shof” & Shobo Coker
• “Red Planet Tomatoes” by cartoonist James Stokoe
• “The Rite” by cartoonist Elie Huault 
• “A New Dawn” by writer Jake Thomas and artist Jorg de Vos
• “Nightmare Motel” by cartoonist Elene Usdin
• “The Naked King” by writer Fabien Vehlmann and artist Lionel “Alfred” Papagalli
• “Alter” by writer Mark Waid and artist Jean-Michel Ponzio

As well as archival material from Mœbius, Philippe Druillet, Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Robert Crumb, Caza, Nicole Claveloux, Michio Hisauchi, Angus McKie, Jean-Claude Mézières, Chantal Montellier, and Trina Robbins. 

The anthology is planned as an ongoing affair with each issue weighing in at 272 pages. 

MEANWHILE, Heavy Metal is also making a comeback, after going dark in somewhat controversial fashion. The magazine is under new management and promises to clear up debts to previous contributors. The Heavy Metal kickstarter has 18 days to go and has already raised $433,996 from 5,005 backers – so it looks like it might beat out the original. 

Contributors to THIS anthology include

• Greg Hildebrandt
• Frank Frazetta
• Enki Bilal
• Vicente Segrelles
• Michael Conrad
• Dan Brereton
• Brian Viveros
• Dan Quintana
• NYCHOS
• Skinner
• Keron Grant
• Leah Moore and John Reppion
• Anna Morozova
• Joe Linsner
• Antonio Segura
• Jose Oritz
• Janevsky
• Tim Vigil
• David Quinn
• Luca Strati
• John Workman
• Paul Kirchner
• Craig Wilson

The campaign mentions Heavy Metal Issue #1, but one assume it will be an ongoing project. 

The backstory: The original Metal Hurlant launched as a comics magazine in France in 1974, under founders Moebius, Philippe Druillet and Jean-Pierre Dionnet. Featuring trippy SF and fantasy by Moebius, Enki Bilal and many other masters, it quickly became a staple in France.

Meanwhile, over in the US, Heavy Metal launched as a magazine owned by National Lampoon in 1977. It started out licensing work from Metal Hurlant, but soon established its own superstars such as Richard Corben. However material commonly ran in both titles.

Both magazines were very much of the era, featuring brawny heroes, topless heroines, and comics as a mind altering substance. 

Metal Hurlant ceased publication in France in 1987, but was revived in 2002 by Fabrice Giger, who had purchased Humanoids in 1988. Humanoids moved to Los Angeles in 2013 and has been a more or less US based publisher since. It’s had many stops and starts and relaunches, but has been basically putting out comics and graphic novels in one form or another pretty steadily. 

Heavy Metal has a far more complicated history, including being sold to Kevin Eastman in 1992 for $500,000 (About $1.1 million in 2024 dollars.) Eastman bowed out in 2014 and then many things and owners and investors happened. I refer you again to The Uncertain Death of Heavy Metal Magazine by Heavy Metal scholar RM Rhodes for a concise account. 

As for the current version, I asked a spokesperson who owns Heavy Metal, but got no reply. Perhaps a topic for another day. 

And what of the current relation between the two brands? That is another mystery. In 2016, Giger was interviewed in Futurism, and was asked that very question:

FG: We have met the new owners who seem nice, but we don’t really know them. To some degree, I still believe that the real spirit of Heavy Metal is that of Metal Hurlant. They have, for the most part, lived on a wave which started in the 70’s. Those content licensing deals, and creative agreements happened before me. Back then, they decided, probably because it was cheaper, not to publish the Humanoids content and to go with material whose quality was not at the same level. Clearly, in a spiritual sense, there was a split between both brands back then. They went into a different direction, with the big tits and stuff like that, while Humanoids has been investing heavily in creating new content and building a strong catalog of IPs.

I’m sure a lot has happened in the eight years since, however, so maybe it’s time for an update. 

At any rate, whichever version you prefer, MH/HM’s best weird, spicy tales were among the peak comics of their time and continue to be read. Just what might be the 2024 equivalent is for more dedicated editors than myself to decide. But based on the success of both Kickstarters, readers are eager to find out, too!