Yet another article about EC comics reprints, specifically addressing yet another reprint. The article notes that there have been numerous reprints over the years, mostly because the previous printings keep selling out.

(Heavy Metal Issue #231, July 2007 – Page 17 Dossier by Ringgenberg)

One of the things that shows up in this gallery are characters from TMNT, the property that the editor of Heavy Metal is best known for. Here we see his take on Splinter.

(Heavy Metal Issue #231, July 2007 – Page 11 Gallery on Maloney, text by Cunico)

One of the things that makes this series so distinctive is the amount of ornamentation found throughout. That includes the jewels in the corners of the last panel, as well as the complicated tattoos on the naked woman. Also note in the second panel how the word balloon covers up the man’s erection.

(Heavy Metal Issue #230, May 2007 – Page 101 Requiem #5: Dragon Blitz by Mills & Ledroit)

At the top of the page, you can see one of the more interesting ideas in this episode – the bombs that the dragons are dropping are actually just explosive poop. Because why not?

(Heavy Metal Issue #230, May 2007 – Page 47 Requiem #5: Dragon Blitz by Mills & Ledroit)

That first panel is beautifully rendered. There are a lot of angular surfaces and he shaded each and every one of them. The text in the story is fairly thin, but it does give you a sense of the kind of society that these characters exist within.

(Heavy Metal Issue #230, May 2007 – Page 95 Metallici and the Miserables by Royo)

This story barely holds together, but the art is interesting to look at, which was probably why it got printed. Probably the most arresting visual image in the story is the second panel in this page, where we see the psychic scar where the giant tentacled thing is absorbing the little girl’s life force through her back. It’s some serious body horror.

(Heavy Metal Issue #230, May 2007 – Page 92 Anemia by Saudoval)

This is a slightly different direction for one of Autheman’s stories. Usually, they’re just a scenario or an extended conversation. Here, we actually have more of an extended narrative. Specifically, the fifth panel is a good use of the shadow conceit that extends through the series. And the last panel is typically naughty.

(Heavy Metal Issue #230, May 2007 – Page 82 Inclination by Autheman)

For all of the creative talent credited in this story, you would have thought that someone would have pointed out that captions don’t actually work very well if they blend into the darkness of the artwork. And that there doesn’t need to be that much text. Also, the tattoos on the main character’s face remind me very much of the tattoos on the face of the Crow by J O’Barr. The final lines of the story are appropriately creepy, though.

(Heavy Metal Issue #230, May 2007 – Page 79 Family Man by Somers, Martinez, Rivera, DeLepine, Maus and Conte)

This is a beautiful page of artwork that reverses the black and white with spot color art style of the rest of the story. It’s still not clear what information we get from this page, but I do like how the white hair is rendered.

(Heavy Metal Issue #230, May 2007 – Page 66 Pherone by Baggatta and Kalvachev)