Once again, I give you the write up because it’s fun – especially the commentary from the dolphin. And that drawing of the Noron is pretty great. I do enjoy the fact that Kofoed has been consistent about the alien races in his setting since the beginning.

(Heavy Metal Issue #229, March 2007 – Page 8 Galactic Geographic by Kofoed)

The letters column is pretty interesting here. The first two letters are a story-by-story breakdown about the contents of a prior issue, which was a thing that people on the forum used to do, I guess. I also like the penultimate letter telling people how to be “cool.” Because we all need people on the internet imposing their standards on us, I guess.

(Heavy Metal Issue #229, March 2007 – Page 6 Publisher’s Note)

One of the real pleasures of reading issues of this publication from back in the day is seeing the URLs of how to see more of the work of the artists. I love the fact that this one has a MySpace account. That’s the best part of this whole thing.

(Heavy Metal Issue #228, January 2007 – Page 122 Artist’s Studio on Pittarelli)

There’s something great about the Happy Little Cellist Playset in the last panel. Bless that mother for making a genuine effort to teach her child to be a nice person. It does not turn out well in the end, but it’s a great effort.

(Heavy Metal Issue #228, January 2007 – Page 90 Stickboy by Wilson)

This is a really great use of spot color and ziptone over clean black and white artwork. The story starts strong and fades a bit towards the end, but the artwork is amazing. Which is pretty on-brand for Heavy Metal, as it turns out.

(Heavy Metal Issue #228, January 2007 – Page 79 Pherone by Baggatta and Kalvachev)

This is a great little story about this thief being sent on a mission to kill a neighboring king. This page is a great little set up – I especially like the marketplace in the background in the first panel.

(Heavy Metal Issue #228, January 2007 – Page 68 A Deadly Mission by Frenz and Ferreira)

The previous portion of the story is all about the main character getting unsuccessfully sexually assaulted and killing said assaulter will a boulder. But what does she confront her creator about? The fact that she’s not wearing enough clothes. And he won’t even commit to giving her something warmer to wear. The meta element is fun, but the stuff that came before it really doesn’t help very much.

(Heavy Metal Issue #228, January 2007 – Page 65 Wildflower by Martinez)