This is a great piece of sequential storytelling. On the next page, we find out that the context is a giant dust storm. I’ve got Burning Man on my mind at the moment, so that’s the inference I picked up. YMMV.
(Heavy Metal issue #208, September 2003 – Page 29 Peter Etc in Comic Strips by Valley)
This story has a good concept. An alien species comes to Earth and decides to destroy the planet. On this page, we find out that the scale of their ship is very small. It’s a great visual reveal, honestly.
(Heavy Metal issue #208, September 2003 – Page 65 A Space Trifle by Xalabarder)
This is a very weird story. For most of the pages, it’s about a guy who is pining for Sarah, his would-be girlfriend who just flat out disappears. Nobody seems very concerned about the fact that she’s always gone. And then we get to the end, where we find out that she had herself surgically transformed. This is a great pin up page, but it makes no sense in the context of the larger story.
(Heavy Metal issue #208, September 2003 – Page 90 Without Sarah by Ciampi)
This story is pretty good. The art is a little stiff, but it has a strong resemblance to Charles Burns. I especially liked the flashing lights in the rave at the bottom of the page.
(Heavy Metal issue #208, September 2003 – Page 99 Hellorave by Mezzo)
I really liked the design on the stained glass windows around the entrance here. Also, it’s good to see an entirely wordless sequence because it shows confidence in the artist’s ability to tell the story.
(Heavy Metal issue #208, September 2003 – Page 45 The Regulator by Corbeyran and Moreno)
The middle panel with the invisible men at a strip club is pretty awesome. I’d read an entire story about that. As it is, it’s just the best panel in this story.
(Heavy Metal issue #208, September 2003 – Page 23 A Nightmare on the Town by Rother and Scherwinski)
The Bradbury joke gets repeated throughout the story and is probably the best thing about this story. The explorers find something that looks like a toilet, but turns out to be a thermonuclear device. No, really.
(Heavy Metal issue #208, September 2003 – Page 104 Martian Gadget by Pahek)
