The November 1980 issue of ‘Heavy Metal’ featured a cover ('Warmth') by Hajime Sorayama and a back cover ('Number 13 at Hialeah') by Chris Achiellos.
This issue contained the usual dross (‘Changes’ by Howarth and ‘Professor Thintwhistle’ by Stiles and Lupoff), lengthier pretentious rock criticism by Lou Stathis, but also some very good pieces by Giraud (‘Blind Citadel’), Poirier (‘The Prophet and the Dictator’), and Caza (‘Metropolitan Opera’).
The outstanding strip for this issue was ‘Awaken’, by the British artist Martin Springett, a strip that features some of the most intricate artwork to ever appear in the early years of Heavy Metal. These were the days before user-friendly drawing and graphics software was available for PCs, so painstakingly drawing the motifs, stippling, and designs intagliated in profusion on every image in every panel must have been a herculean labor on the part of the artist.
Springett continues to be active in fantasy art and also in music; more details on his work are available at his website.
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4 comments:
I have to admit, I am curious what rock bands/artists/trends might be subjected to lengthy and pretentious criticism in Nov of 1980.
Stathis's entire 3-page column (with b & w photos, too !) is devoted to the 'Urban Verbs', a DC New Wave band comprised of five nice Jewish boys / girls: Roddy Frantz (brother of Talking Head Chris Frantz), Linda France, Robin Rose, Robert Goldstein, and Danny Frankel.
Of the band's self-titled album (released in March 1980) Robin Rose announces:
'It's a very understated, elemental album in respect to tonal and textural development'.
The band is evidently still functional, since a Google search brings up a facebook page and other links.
I listened to mp3 samples from the album at amazon.com
....nothing really remarkable, sort of standard-issue early 80's Punk / New Wave.
Stathis was clearly creaming his pants in anticipation of being the first critic to devote attention to the next Big 'rok' (Stathis's preferred term) Band.
Wow, never heard of them. I will be using "rok" if I ever feel the need to text anybody about rock music, though; gotta conserve those characters.
Shit! He stippled out the tits!
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