'Heavy Metal' magazine, April 1978

 

April, 1978, and 'With A Little Luck' by Paul McCartney and Wings is in heavy rotation on the airwaves.

The April issue of 'Heavy Metal' is on the stands, a genuine success as its first year of publication comes to a close. Robert Morello provides the front cover illustration.

Major advertisers are still some years away from buying ad space, but one mail order company - 'Moondance Productions' - is at least willing to purchase a full-page ad for Conan paperbacks and posters, and - get this - a record album of Harlan Ellison stories, narrated by The Man Himself ! 

This is how you got hold of sci-fi media in the days before the internet and amazon.com....

Most of this issue is taken up with ‘Paradise 9’, a lengthy, free-form strip which apparently was created by the artists of Metal Hurlant as a congratulatory present to the editorial staff of Heavy Metal for completing their first year of publication. Each of the major Metal Hurlant artists - Moebius, Duillet, Nicollet, He, Clerc, Macedo, etc. - contributed a couple of pages or so.

 

Among the better singleton strips in the issue is 'The City of Flowers', by Druillet and Picotto.  A neat little cautionary tale about 'heavy is the head wearing the crown'.....