Metal Hurlant: Selected Works

by R.A. Jones, Daniel R. Wickline, Geoff Johns

Short Stories that appeared in the legendary magazine of the same name, and that inspired the TV series Metal Hurlant Chronicles.

"Métal Hurlant" magazine was created in Paris in 1974 by Moebius, Druillet and Dionnet, the founding fathers of Les Humanoïdes Associés. This movement soon revolutionized the medium and inspired countless writers, artists and filmmakers the world over. Versions in various languages flourished everywhere, including in the States with "Heavy Metal." The French version was eventually shut down in 1987. But in 2002, Humanoids relaunched a limited publication of a 13-issue anthology, with one main goal: establishing a creative bridge between the US and Europe.
Includes stories written and illustrated by comic book stars Geoff Johns, Kurt Busiek, Guy Davis, and Jerome Opena, among many others.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Horror, Fantasy

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 17, 2020

About the author

a.k.a. Artor Konig

Reviews

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Metal Hurlant" was a revolutionary and influential French graphic novel series started in the mid-1970s that was a showcase for some of the best and brightest in the comic book industry. The American version was called "Heavy Metal", which every heterosexual male of a certain age probably remembers fondly because it was probably the first time they saw naked boobs in a comic book.

The magazine folded in 1987 but has been resurrected several times to varying degrees of success. In 2020, Humanoids, Inc. published (for American audiences) a selection of stories by a wide range of comic book talent. The stories are a variety of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, with a few in other genres, like western and humor. They range from mediocre to close-to-brilliant, but if you are a fan of great comic book art, this is a must-read.

P.S. A European live-action TV show exists called "Metal Hurlant Chronicles", which can be found on Netflix, supposedly. I have never seen it or heard of it until recently, and I don't know if it's called something else here in the U.S.

[Johan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very diverse collection of short stories, on average 10 pages per story. Space battles, a western, a different take on Adam and Eve, a deal between a dragonslayer and a dragon, mythology, some very naughty behaviour by some pensioners, ... The quality of the stories varies, but as a whole I really enjoyed this collection.

[Duncan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This ain't the Metal Hurlant of estimable lore, the groundbreaking French comic magazine that featured Druillet, Moebius & Corben (although there is one Corben story here, a pale shadow of his former work), but a new revamped Metal Hurlant for the 2000's and one that after reading this collection need not have been. I know it's a cliche to say an anthology is a mixed bag, so I won't, would shit bag be more appropriate? One thing I noticed is there aren't a lot of French sounding names involved on the comics contained w/in this new MH, mostly it seems to be anglophone names, most I've never heard of before & whoever they are they just don't get the work done. The former MH of the 70's & 80's was visionary and wondrous in it's art & themes, this is simple-minded in it's stories and quite a bit downgraded as far as the art-work goes: Merde! All is merde. There was only one story that was kinda interesting & that was the Kurt Busiek story but the artwork like so much other art in this book was nothing to get excited about. I bought this sight unseen from a mail order thinking that it would be an anthology of the 70's MH, but of course I was a bit disappointed when I got it & saw it featured new stories & art. Still I was very willing to give it a chance and slogged all the way through it, fortunately most of the stories are short so there would always be hope that the next one might be better. A hope I abandoned about half way through this compendium. I liked the art on the cover, the sleek looking, possibly female robot lounging by a tree gazing up at the stars. That was nice. That artwork was by Caza who also has the last story of the book which does have some nice art but the story itself is pretty rote environmental-dystopia stuff.
I love Howling Metal as much as the next guy but not this edition.

[Spaghett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of short stories, I hadn't read any Heavy Metal/metal hurlant before this and it made a good first impression. Lots of them end with some kind of twilight-zone esque twist, some are just good little short stories. I was consistently pretty surprised just by how much each one managed to cram into 8 pages or less and I'd say there was only 2 or 3 duds out of the whole collection which is pretty good for an anthology. Some of the twists were more surprising than others but the journey was fun too and overall it was a nice collection that has me looking forward to reading mroe from this line

[Artur Coelho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sabemos que desta clássica publicação podemos sempre esperar umas banda desenhada diferente, muito dedicada ao fantástico (especialmente ficção científica) e a equilibrar-se entre estilos. A Metal Hurlant/Heavy Metal esteve sempre no cruzamento entre Comics comerciais, BD francófona, e banda desenhada, apostando numa estética de radicalismo gráfico e temático para marcar a diferença. Esta antologia é uma espécie de Best Of que toca em todos esses campos. Algumas histórias são excelentes, e todas se distinguem pela qualidade gráfica, que sempre foi uma das bandeiras da revista.

[Chris Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh! For the Metal Hurlant of the '70s and '80s!

The art work in many of these episodes is hurried, lacking the lusty, dreamy detail of Heavy Metal of long ago. Noir stories, some with a soul, but too many relying on slight-of-hand and jeux sur le mots. Mildly entertaining, but not worth re-reading to savor deeper meaning and double entendre. Too clever by half. Borrow but don't buy.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

An ambitious anthology of the kind of story-telling you’d expect of Metal Hurlant and it’s American cousin, Heavy Metal. And when it is good it is very good. But far more often, it is just mediocre or underdeveloped or simply too convinced of its own cleverness. The promise in this simply never lives up to its potential.

[Mark L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Impressive line up of writers and artists but overall the very short stories mostly didn't work for me because of a 'so what' factor. Stories like these work best like in Tharg's Future Shocks when there's irony or a real twist. 3 stars for the Art and a couple of the stories though.

[Beven · Rating 2 out of 5]

cool art 🎨

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

DPL hoopla