For nearly 45 years, Heavy Metal has thrilled readers with its unapologetically badass fantasy and science stories that don't pull their punches. At the start of 2020, Matthew Medney took over as the company's new CEO and charted a bold, new future for the magazine starting with its 300th issue last year. Moving to a monthly publishing schedule for its first time since 1985, Heavy Metal #304 launches the title's first-ever YA story, along with a whole set of short stories by a roster of superstar comic creators.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Medney talks about the decision to expand into YA, what to expect for future issues of Heavy Metal and provides a preview of the short story "Back-Up" written by Hal Jay Greene, illustrated by Joel Ojeda, colored by Enrica Eren Angiolini and lettered by Bernardo Brice. Also included are both covers for Issue #304, with Cover A illustrated by Andrea De Dominicis and Cover B illustrated by Michal Suchánek.
CBR: With Issue #304, you've got Steve Orlando, Ivan Shavrin and Saida Temofonte launching Starward which is the first YA story ever to run in the pages of Heavy Metal. What made you want to have the magazine explore that kind of storytelling and what made this the perfect team and story to tell it?
Matthew Medney: Well, first off, it has been a goal of David Erwin, Heavy Metal’s Publisher & Chief Creative Overlord, and I to have a “Cradle to Grave” program as he puts it best. Being able to expose younger generations to the magic of beautiful storytelling that is proportional to their age is a core drive to success that allows us to span multiple decades. As for the team behind Starward, I met writer Steve Orlando through his pitch for this story and quickly realized that his sensibility and insight to craft stories with complexity while delivering them in a palatable manner made him uniquely qualified to spearhead this initiative.
I have worked with Starward artist Ivan Shavrin for years at my other company Herø Projects, on stories such as “Voyagers” with the rock band 311, and just knew he was the perfect fit. As for Starward letterer Saida Temofonte, she’s in charge of the most overlooked stage of comic composition; a good letterer is invisible, a bad letterer can destroy a book, and a phenomenal letterer can add that “magic” that you can't put your finger on but lifts the whole comic up. I consider Saida to be the latter!
What I like about "Back-Up" is it's a beautiful, standalone story that feels like Heavy Metal but could just as easily be an episode of Twilight Zone with its blend of science fiction and emotional commentary. How did Hal Jay Greene and the creative team pitch the story to you and how did it appeal to you?
Medney: This is a perfect example of what Heavy Metal was built on. Compelling, forward-leaning, beautifully composed graphic stories. The story for “Back-Up” was pitched to us in its entirety. With the magazine, some stories are driven and created in partnership with Heavy Metal, like Starward, "Dark Wing," "Savage Circus," "Swamp God," "Maiden" and more, and some are pitched as completed shorts, like “Back-Up”, “13 Deathless”, and countless classics from Moebius, Stephen King and more. When Hal and the team sent this one through, I instantly knew it would be one of the stories that graces the pages of Heavy Metal. It spoke to the ethos of what we are from the first page to the last panel.
What can you tease about future issues of Heavy Metal as we get deeper into 2021?
Medney: Since we “re-launched” the magazine with Heavy Metal #300, we have seen the likes of George C. Romero, Brendan Columbus, Stephanie Phillips, Steve Orlando, Geoff Boucher, Bart Sears and Ron Marz grace the words of the magazine along with art from Al Barrionuevo, Moebius, Geraldo Borges, Diego Yapur, German Ponce and many, many more. Balancing the rich history of creators with young trailblazing talent is critical to our DNA. We will continue to do this and continue to build upon our new series of serials in the magazine called “Elements.” The pages of Heavy Metal have never been more exciting than they are now, using the guiding principles of bleeding-edge art and story, while ensuring we follow our founders' number one rule: break all the rules.
Written and illustrated by a whole roster of superstar comic book creators including Steve Orlando, Hal Jay Greene, Blake Northcott, Michelle Sears, Ivan Shavrin, Joel Ojeda, Giuseppe Cafaro, Bart Sears, and more, Heavy Metal #304 is on sale now. Heavy Metal #305 goes on sale April 7.
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