Heavy Metal has steadily been expanding its efforts and scope since receiving a change in leadership in 2019. Now, the company has entered a major partnership that will bring it to new heights in 2022.
Heavy Metal is teaming up with comic and animation production company Herø Projects to launch a line of original science-fiction graphic novels (distributed by Simon and Schuster) starting in summer 2022 and slated to continue through 2023. In addition to the upcoming comic titles, this partnership will see Herø Projects develop its original IP for television and film through Heavy Metal's own studio division. Dubbed the Onyx line of graphic novels, the five titles are created by Heavy Metal and Herø Projects CEO Matthew Medney, Chief Creative Officer Morgan Rosenblum, President Jonny Handler and Executive Creative Director Pete "Voodoo Bownz" Russo, and written by Medney and Rosenblum. Notable artists featured in the series of OGNs include Francesco Pisa, Jon Lam, Giuseppe Peppe, Santa Fung, Andrea Adiletto, Fabrizio Ugolini and many more. Preview art from the dystopian thriller The Red, the apocalyptic space opera Stable, the action-adventure title The Awakening, the neo-noir thriller Remnant and historical epic Dogma Resistance is below.
"Herø Projects started as a simple idea to build a company that straddles original storytelling with music icons from various genres. It began with Insomniac Events and the Project Z music festival. Then we wrote for Rolling Loud, and got to play in the sandbox with some of the biggest artists in the world with that book—Migos, Chance (The Rapper), Rick Ross, the list goes on. It was pretty surreal," Medney said. "But throughout all of this, the team and myself all felt a hunger that wasn't being tempered. A hunger that grew from the dark corner of our collective creative soul, which encouraged us to pursue original ideas. That hunger drove us to create 5 original titles. When Chapter One of The Red was released, it sold out within the first month. So with the announcement of these 5 original Ønyx books, the only question that remains is how satisfied we will be after the world reacts to the graphic novel meals we’ve cooked up. But expect more meals to come."
"I have been super inspired by the IP coming out of Heavy Metal's sister company Herø Projects for years now, and am excited to say that we are actively developing a number of incredibly rad Herø IP through Heavy Metal Studios currently," Heavy Metal President and Head of Studio Tommy Coriale added.
Stable goes on sale in early 2022, with Remnant on sale in summer 2022 while The Awakening is expected to go on sale fall 2022. Dogma Resistance is expected to go on sale in early 2023, with The Red slated to go on sale in spring 2023. This announcement comes after Heavy Metal's digital distribution partnership with GlobalComix and a multimedia development deal with Range Media.
Source: Heavy Metal