2000AD - spawn of Heavy Metal?

[GordonR]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mipcom-doctor-who-writer-reboot-738300

"Metal Hurlant is an iconic comic and the wellspring from which a lot of fledgling U.K. comic talent took their inspiration," says Mathieson. "Without Heavy Metal there would be no 2000 A.D., no Judge Dredd..."

Ummm.....no.  I can see the then young turks like Mike McMahon, Kev O'Neill etc being HM-influenced in 1977, but anyone else?  Not really.  Especially the Dredd founding fathers.

Also given that 2000AD stories have always had a) plots and b) a disappointing (for some round here) lack of women characters' clothes falling off at the first excuse, then it's difficult to see the HM influence running through prog history.

Interesting fact: The US Heavy Metal sells some astonishing amount by subscription, and an equally astonishing proportion of these go to addresses in the US prison system.  Why?  Because porn is contraband material in prison, but HM is the next best permitted thing...

[glassstanley]

I would have thought the influence (if any) was going the other in the eighties/nineties with their reprinting of Rogue Trooper: War Machine and heavy use of post-Slaine Bisley.

[TordelBack]

Aye.  In various reflections on Slaine Pat mentions his desire to emulate the 'European sensibility' of Metal Hurlant, but we're firmly into the '80s at that point.  I don't see it being a big factor in the early years of the comic, which always seems more a response of hugely creative people to the indigenous comics industry, as well as to Hollywood of the '70s.

[Bubba Zebill]

I can't say for Metal Hurlant at the outset of 2000AD...BUT there is a link here in that European comic art had an influence on Pat Mills. I'm not sure how broadly and I don't think it matters. 2000AD is unique. And rather it be influenced by French comics etc than the awful, weak, posturing, repetitive dross of Marvel and DC...sorry to those of you who love them, I just never liked most of it. 2000AD lead me to HM and on... ( i remember thinking in my 'yoof'  that the great Carlos Ezquerra worked for HM, I don't think he did, but he could have fit in there.)

[Hawkmumbler]

Deffinetly noticeable in Bisley. However i'll say that the majority of artists who have contributed to the prog are European influenced, if not actualy having had a name for themselves anyway.

[James Stacey]

Metal Hurlant? Quite possibly. Heavy Metal probably not. Especially as the first issue of Heavy Metal was released 2 months after the first 2000ad.

[Steve Green]

Pat mentions it being an influence on Comic Rock and the introduction of Nemesis in TPO.

I don't know if he's cited it being an influence at the inception, it seems it more came from Kelvin Gosnell noting that sci-fi was starting to get big with Star Wars in the wings according to TPO.

It's not like the soft-porn stylings of MH are going to be a fit for a juvenile title at IPC.

There is also that 1975 proto-Dredd drawn by Ortiz, but that was from Creepy

http://forums.2000adonline.com/index.php/topic,37621.0/nowap.html


It seems like it it's more an influence here and there, and not as black and white as that article makes it out to be.

[Proudhuff]

^^^... the defence rests.

I'm more worried about the GRennie droid's knowledge of porn in prison 

[Steve Green]

Well, *there's* a way to boost the prog's circulation...

[GordonR]

^^^... the defence rests.

I'm more worried about the GRennie droid's knowledge of porn in prison 

I was told this fascinating factoid in person by a movie producer who's a partner in the company that recently bought Heavy Metal from Kevin Eastman.

They have plans to revamp it so that it doesn't just appeal to sex-starved prison inmates.

[BPP]

^^^... the defence rests.

I'm more worried about the GRennie droid's knowledge of porn in prison 

I was told this fascinating factoid in person by a movie producer who's a partner in the company that recently bought Heavy Metal from Kevin Eastman.

They have plans to revamp it so that it doesn't just appeal to sex-starved prison inmates.

Having read HM pretty consistently from the days of Peter Kuper and Mark Martin's 'alt' section I always find HM's 'it's perverted' reputation somewhat baffling. At it's very best it provided a complete BD album and some okay / different side stories. Personally I don't see its representation of women as that different to 90% of comics.

The vast majority of genres and media formats trade on appealing images of women, what their role and function is is more important than how they look because their look is never going to change. The market dictates that. Thinking of the 'strong female role models' in say an Image comic and in Heavy Metal.. there hasn't been that much difference the last 20 years and the source market (european BD) has largely moved first towards strong female archetypes. Just because HM puts a 'sexy' image on the cover doesn't mean there is even much 'sexual representation' inside.. if you were hoping to beat off to a les Cites Obscures  edition you would be largely disappointed, the odd flash of bum aside. I guess they wait in hope for the next Claudia chapter...

By and large, over the last four or so years, it's been beset by huge production difficulties and restructuring many times. More than once I've thought it was dead.. six months between an issue at one point. It will be interesting to see where the new owners take it but frankly aside from stripping out the 'porno' adverts (which had disappeared for about 3 years but were back in issue 369 a few months ago) trying to 'de-sex' it seems to conflate it's reputation with what it actually has been for the last 20 years.

[Hawkmumbler]

Lets put it this way. Guido Crepax Valentina works where to graphic for HM. So they published his boxing comics instead.

[Mabs]

I'm a big fan of Heavy Metal; thanks to it I've discovered some real gems over the years, and learnt of some great European talents, the French artist Olivier Ledroit being the most recent one (on 'Sha' by Pat Mills, which in turn introduced me to the awesome Requeim: Vampire Knight series). And I'd rather 2000ad is influenced by HM/ European comics than the majority of Marvel and DC crap.

[Richmond Clements]

Personally I don't see its representation of women as that different to 90% of comics.

Which does not make what it does okay. It just makes it yet another offender.
I disagree fundamentally with pretty much your entire post, which seems to boil down to Nigel Tufnel's "What's wrong with being sexy?"

[Mabs]

Personally I don't see its representation of women as that different to 90% of comics.

Which does not make what it does okay. It just makes it yet another offender.
I disagree fundamentally with pretty much your entire post, which seems to boil down to Nigel Tufnel's "What's wrong with being sexy?"

I don't know how the recent issues of HM look (after the takeover), but in previous issues, I felt the X rated adverts were needless, and over the top. It detracted from some of the truly amazing stories and artwork within its pages. Of course, there were also strips every once in a while which could be viewed as soft porn (of which Serpieri's Druna series comes to mind), but the majority of the great stories, and the excitement of discovering something new, are what drew me to HM in the first place.