Steranko's 'Outland'

from the June 1981 issue of Heavy Metal

Released in May 1981, Outland is described as an outer space version of the Western classic 'High Noon'. It's been a while since I last saw it, but I do remember it being a decent film , if not particularly inspired or imaginative. 

Warner Bros. was hoping the film would be a box-office, multi-marketing juggernaut, like Fox's 'Alien' had been two years previously, and they adopted much the same marketing approach.  

Heavy Metal magazine was happy to oblige,  serializing a graphic novel, ably illustrated by Jim Steranko, in several issues (July through October 1981, and January 1982). 

Outland was also available as a novelization in paperback, by Alan Dean Foster, and a 'movie novel' paperback authored by Richard Anobile.

Unfortunately, 'Outland' never became the marketing phenomenon that Warner was anticipating, but Steranko certainly did a good job on the graphic novel. Here's the Preview of the graphic novel; I'll scan and present its serial sections in forthcoming posts here at the PorPor Books Blog.

'Heavy Metal' magazine, June 1981

 

The June, 1981 issue of ‘Heavy Metal’ features ‘The Birdwoman of Zartacla’ by Marc Harrison on the front cover and ‘The Bionic Bunny’ by James Cherry on the back cover.

With this issue, Corben’s ‘Bloodstar’ has its next-to-last installment; ‘Tex Arcana’ by Findley continues; more ‘Valentina’ by Crepax; more ‘Cody Starbuck’ by Chaykin; a brief ‘Mudwogs’ comic by Suydam; and a preview of an ‘Outland’ illustrated novel, with illustrations by Jim Starlin.

Among the better pieces appearing in the June issue is ‘March Hair’ by Caza, featuring some nice artwork in the Peter Max / groovy sixties mode....

Epic Illustrated June 1981

Epic Illustrated: June 1981

The June, 1981 issue of 'Epic Illustrated' features a front cover by Neal Adams and an advertisement for the movie 'Outland' on the back cover.

I've scanned the story 'Flash Sport' written by Roy Kinnard and illustrated by Mike Saenz (who also illustrated the seminal 1985 Cyberpunk comic book series 'Shatter'). Back in 1981 virtual reality and its intersection with video games were among the hotter topics in SF culture. 

Although William Gibson's 'The Gernsback Continuum' and 'Johnny Mnemonic' were published this year (in Universe 11 and Omni magazine, respectively)  the Cyberpunk movement was still in its infancy (the term didn't debut until November 1983). 

Whether or not readers knew they were looking at a Cyberpunk piece, 'Flash Sport' features one of the more gruesome last panels ever provided in an SF strip....in this comic, when a  geek gets wasted, he gets wasted.