December, 1985, and in heavy rotation on MTV and on the FM radio is 'Broken Wings' by Mr. Mister, which was released in September of that year. The song made it to the number one spot on the Billboard pop chart in December.
The latest issue of Heavy Metal is out, with a cover by Ajin. Inside, editor Julie Simmons-Lynch announces that a 'new' Heavy Metal is debuting in January of 1986....
This 'new' Heavy Metal will be published only four times a year, on a quarterly basis. According to Simmons-Lynch, this change is necessary to provide readers with "....a bigger, more handsome, even more exciting quarterly edition....there will be no continued stories."
Readers with a less naive frame of mind might well conclude that given that moving to a quarterly publication schedule is something magazines do when their circulation and sales revenue fall to a level that cannot sustain a monthly schedule. Whether or not this is the case with Heavy Metal, one thing already has changed: the 'Dossier' section is absent in this December issue.
The good news about the December issue is that it features a great little strip by Caza, 'The Trial of Marlon Malone', which I have posted below.
December 1985 was the last monthly issue, as well as one of my favorites, though it was obvious the editorial was BS, as the quality and focus of the mag was deteriorating after the 1981 movie came out. "Collector's Item" indeed.
ReplyDeleteAt the Sales portion of the About page of heavymetalmagazinefanpage.com can be seen a peak in 1981, that was followed by a fairly steady fall to about half, hanging there until Kevin Eastman bought it about 1992, but I'll speak no more of this here.
The Caza story is a good one. Though the art is less inspiring for me than some of his others, the wit and humor of the writing (and translation) are terrific.
The cut paper cover art was unique, and fascinating to me. I happened to like the serials, Rock Opera and Tex Arcana were a couple that kept me buying the mag as is withered, and some of the conclusions of the ones that were going in this issue seemed rushed. The iconic HM creators had been scarce for a while. Neverthless, I liked this issue for the overall level of content, regardless of the Joost Swarte, as well as for sentimental reasons.
It's almost hard to believe this was 30 years ago.
thanks