Tag Archives: heavy metal entertainment

Heavy Metal Entertainment, Incendium, and Evanescence Debut ‘Echoes From The Void’

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Evanescence, Incendium, and Heavy Metal Entertainment announce the launch of Echoes from the Void, an Evanescence Graphic Anthology Series, under Incendium’s all-new music-focused OPUS imprint.

Echoes from the Void is a fantasy Graphic Anthology Series, comprised of 48-page deluxe comic books, each featuring two or more story adaptations from the Evanescence catalogue. Beginning with story themes based on songs from their upcoming March 26th release The Bitter Truth (BMG), and culminating in revisiting iconic material from throughout the band’s career, the project is comprised of a series of short stories created by an all-star cast of graphic artists, animators, illustrators, fine artists, screenwriters, novelists, and more.

Combining bandleader Amy Lee’s love of visual arts, fantasy-inspired graphics, and graphic novels with the narrative power of Evanescence’s music, the series is being developed in close collaboration with Amy as she oversees the creative direction of the art and stories. Echoes from the Void begins as a 5-issue series, with each issue containing stories based on two or more of Evanescence’s songs, presented in a variety of visual styles and mediums. Issue #1, available in limited-edition, includes two stories inspired by the songs “Better Without You” and “Wasted On You,” from the forthcoming Evanescence album, The Bitter Truth, with tales written by Carrie Lee South and Blake Northcott. The issue will feature illustrations from Hugo Award-winning artist Abigail Larson and highly-esteemed painter Kelly McKernan.

The first print edition of each issue will be released as a prestige format limited-edition collectible comic book, with cardstock covers, specialty foil treatments, glossy pages, and individual numbering. Each first printing will be limited to 3,000 copies priced at $18.95, and available to order. The first issue is available to order now and ships in June 2021.

The art of Echoes from the Void will also be made available to purchase through a series of archival fine art prints, the first of which is illustrated by Kelly McKernan. Incorporating symbols and themes from across the band’s discography into an intricate traditionally painted work that also debuts a mysterious original character, the print features a blue tint glow in the dark base with a luminous pink UV active overlay, as part of an individually numbered 500-piece collection. Kelly’s print is available now.

Cradle of Filth Goes Heavy Metal with a New Comic Anthology Series

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Incendium and Heavy Metal Entertainment have announced the launch of Maledictus Athenaeum, a Cradle of Filth comic book anthology series, under the all-new music-focused OPUS imprint.

In the ruined halls of the Maledictus Athenaeum lie occult histories, sealed records, and cursed artifacts – this unholy archive explores the far corners of Cradle of Filth’s musical legacy, a vast universe of Ageless Vampires, Mythical Creatures and Vengeful Gods. The Countess, The Huntress, Lilith, The Manticore, and many more, will be revisited in stories from an all-star roster of comics talent from the pages of Heavy Metal Magazine and beyond.

Maledictus Athenaeum begins as a 5-issue series. The first print edition of each issue will be released as a prestige format limited edition collectible comic book, featuring cardstock covers, specialty foil treatments, glossy pages, and individual numbering. Each first printing will be limited to 2500 copies at $16.66, and available to order. The first issue is available to order now and ships in May 2021.

The cursed tales of Maledictus Athenaeum will extend beyond the printed page into toys and collectibles. Dani Filth and the iconic Succubus of Cradle of Filth’s 2001 album Bitter Suites to Succubi make up Wave 1 of the Cradle of Filth action figure range, also available to pre-order for $29.95, shipping June 2021.

Get a Behind the Scenes Look at the Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance Audio Experience. Out Now in Book and Audio!

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Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance

While on loan to CERN, a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions leaves astrophysicist Bernard Hubert as the sole survivor. While the scientific community and world looks to him for answers, he states the unthinkable: “It has to be aliens.” Unacceptable to the world, the Hubert family is under investigation and their name tarnished. Disgraced and shunned, Bernard claws his way back into society with his new company C.O.R.E. where he works tirelessly to design an engine capable of interstellar travel. Follow Bernard on his road to redemption and discovery in this ensemble cast of futurism, space travel, and the fate of our species.

A thoughtful meditation on the human race’s place in the universe as well as an entertaining sci-fi adventure, Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance asks some important questions. Why hasn’t sentient life been discovered in our galaxy? If that life exists, why has no other life communicated with us? The answer is simple, no one wants to. Enter the Galactic Star Alliance, a union of species and planets that span the galaxy earth calls home. But while our galaxy has yet to speak to Earth there are some humans who believe it is out there. Not as science-fantasy but as science.

Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance is the first in a planned series of 10 epic sci-fi prose novels from authors Matthew Medney, Heavy Metal CEO, and Lockheed Martin Aerospace Engineer John Connelly.

The audio experience features the talent of actor and entrepreneur Dylan Sprouse (All-Wise Meadery & Sun Eater) voices Odian Spek and film/television director and producer George C. Romero (Romero Pictures) voices Tordok, as well as Kyle Perrin (Another Kingdom: Season 3 and The Cold War: What We Saw) who also sound designed, narrated the majority of the voices and book and scored the audiobook alongside Matt Medney.

Purchase: Audible [Audiobook] – Amazon – Kindle – Heavy Metal

Review: Never Never #1

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Never Never #1

There have been numerous takes on the story of Peter Pan. Some have stuck more towards the traditional story of a boy who never grows up and the young children who follow him to a magical, but dangerous, land. There are stories that spin out of it with the story of what comes next. Then, there’s the twisted takes that dive into the darker and more nefarious aspects of the classic story. Never Never #1 kicks off a new twisted take on the classic tale… and it’s very twisted.

Instead of the Darling children, the story focuses on Winter whose mother is having health issues and the stress has her run away with Petros to the Never, Never. In this magical place the children never grow old, the adults are the enemy… and war rages. With scarce resources and constant battle, the world has twisted its inhabitants past the brink of insanity. And, with the lack of aging… immortality is on the table. This is a story of survival, about a young girl facing a test on an island full of twisted immortal cannibals.

Written by Mark McCann, Never Never #1 gives us a horror take on Peter Pan. It takes its basic building blocks and pushes them to their logical conclusion. If you can never age, wouldn’t you live forever and be immortal? It’s an island and you’re there forever, resources will become an issue eventually. Wouldn’t that drive anyone insane?

The story is a horror story. We’re thrown into the chaos and even expecting a different take on Peter Pan, you’re not prepared for what’s to come. Walls of heads, disembowelment, there’s some brutal stuff here that makes it clear we’re not in the Neverland we knew. Peter is a sadistic child whose brutality is matched by his lack of any empathy. There are no good guys here (so far), only a lot of bad. And we’re thrown into it all like Winter trying to figure out “wtf!?”.

Phil Buckenham‘s art is solid delivering shocking visuals that match McCann’s twisted concepts. Along with Agnese Pozza on colors and David Withers on lettering the art delivers a style and look that’s one of unease. There’s truly a lot that’ll cause you to pause and soak in how off the rails-Eli Roth this story has gone. This is the “torture” take on classic tales that became vogue for a time with horror. Maybe it’s the beginning of more to come. But, much like a lot of the detail in the story, I wasn’t prepared for what the visuals would deliver. It’s definitely unnerving.

Never Never #1 is a shocking debut. I expected a different take on the classic Peter Pan but wasn’t expecting this. It’s definitely an adult take that takes everything to the extreme and has me wanting to check out more. It also has me rethinking the original story as this take highlights some of the holes in the story and world. The team has something very interesting here and hopefully what’s to come isn’t caught up in the shock but instead has just used that as a springboard to shake us out of expectations. This is definitely one to check out for a new twisted take on a classic story.

Story: Mark McCann Art: Phil Buckenham
Ink: Mark Buckenham Color: Agnese Pozza Letterer: David Withers
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

Heavy Metal Entertainment provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: comiXology

Review: Dark Wing #1

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Dark Wing #1

Dark Wing #1 is a fascinating sci-fi epic full of action and a world we’re dumped into the deep end to explore. It’s an unknown time and a human-like race is mining material they desperately need to survive. It’s a dangerous mission full of risk. It’s also full of visuals that challenge you to linger on the page to figure out everything going on.

Written by Matthew Medney, Dark Wing #1 is a solid sci-fi concept and comic with a lot of tension throughout. That tension and a wondering of “will the mission succeed” is the draw as we get little on the actual characters. This is a debut that drops the reader in the deep end as the action is underway with no build-up and no set-up. You’re challenged to piece together what’s going on in the thick of the action.

There’s some crazy concepts presented and I found much of my reading of the issue was just trying to piece together exactly what was going on. The mining of the material, the design of the ships, and how it all connects together, it’s a take that’s original. That originality also forces you to focus a bit more and just go with the flow. It’s a different sort of world and sci-fi adventure with a DNA that’s very familiar.

That unfamiliarity is primarily in the art. German Ponce handles that with color by Protobunker Studios. The design of the ships and where people are in relation to each other is a bit hard to piece together in my review copy. It’s possible the physical copy of the series is a bit easier to understand with the ability to get the literal full picture but as I read it, I found myself jumping between pages. And even then, I was a bit confused as to what was going on visually. It’s definitely a different thought on page layout and design of the ships. It took me much of the comic to get used to it. That’s not necessarily bad as further issues shouldn’t have this problem and I can focus more on the story itself.

That focus is needed. Dark Wing #1 doesn’t explain a lot about its characters and world. You’re really forced to figure out who people are and what’s going on by a sentence or two. The set-up is built into the story which is itself focused on the action. This feels like a bit more dense of a comic debut and should be interesting to see where it goes but as it stands this is one that might be for those really into space focused science fiction.

Story: Matthew Medney Art: German Ponce
Color: Protobunker Studios Creative Team: Brice Edwards, Pete Russo
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

Heavy Metal Entertainment provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – comiXology

Review: Savage Circus #1

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Savage Circus #1

There’s some classic stories that take place during Christmas. While many will think of classics that have to do with specifically with the holiday and celebrations it’s those that use it as a backdrop that are more entertaining to me. Die Hard and Gremlins are two examples and two of my favorite films. Savage Circus #1 reminds me of both of those not just with the setting but even the concept to some degree.

Savage Circus #1 presents a collision course of a first issue. Some of the comic is about a traveling circus called the Savage Circus whose features are the most dangerous creatures out there. In a small town, a gang is pulling off a job to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars. All of this is happening during a snowstorm during Christmas. You can see where all of the plots come together for what will be a wild ride of crime and strange creatures destroying things. And the first issue is laser-focused on setting that all up.

Written by Brendan Columbus, there’s something very familiar about this debut. And that’s not a bad thing at all. The characters all fit their roles and clearly are built on types we’ve seen before with relationships we’ve seen before. And in that way it’s good as we can easily dive into the story focused on the setup and whatever is eventually to come. We don’t need a lot of depth and backstory to the characters because Columbus quickly establishes for us as to who they are.

Al Barrionuevo‘s art helps establish that familiarity and ease. With colors by Candice Han and lettering by Dave Sharpe, the art leans heavily into the familiar. Again, that’s not a bad thing at all. It sets up the town and world easily and allows us to dive in quickly with the numerous moving parts. The local police have a familiar look to themselves that immediately tells us it’s a small town. Those in the town have a blue-collar aspect about them letting us know this isn’t a wealthy community but one that’s struggling. It helps get us through the intro and to the main attraction coming in the second issue.

Savage Circus #1 is an interesting debut. While I wish it got more towards what’s coming, it balances all of its moving parts well. There’s a familiarity about it that allowed me to sink into the story waiting for what’s to come. I wasn’t caught up in the details or each character’s personality, each fits a “role”. Instead, we’re getting a “disaster” story where the action, thrills, and kills, will be the draw. The first issue is the quiet before that storm.

Story: Brendan Columbus Art: Al Barrionuevo
Color: Candice Han Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

Heavy Metal Entertainment provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – comiXology

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week!

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U.S.Agent #1

Wednesdays (and now Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in!

Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!

Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.

Black Widow #3 (Marvel) – The first two issues have been fantastic and we’re expecting more as we figure out what exactly is going on with a now domestic and married Black Widow.

Crossover #1 (Image Comics) – We’ve read the first issue and it lives up to the hype. Comic characters have crossed over into the real world and caused a seismic shift in everything. Read our review then make sure to get this comic this week.

Happy Hour #1 (AHOY Comics) – It’s a future America where everyone has to be happy… it’s the law. The concept is intriguing and unique. We’ve read the first issue and it definitely stands out as something different from everything else on the shelf.

La Diabla #1 (Albatross Funnybooks) – It’s Eric Powell… that alone has us wanting to check this out. Who’s La Diabla? She’s a “fuel injected Latina suicide machine sent to strike down the unroadworthy!” Yeah… sold.

Mighty Morphin #1 (BOOM! Studios) – It’s a whole new era for the Power Rangers… Unlimited Power! Who’s the new Green Ranger? Find out!

Origins #1 (BOOM! Studios) – It’s a thousand years since artificial intelligence killed humans but they’ve brought back to life the person who created the technology that destroyed humanity. Can he restore humanity and stop the AI overlords he created?

Pantomime #1 (Mad Cave Studios) – Kids committing crimes seems to be a popular theme for comics lately and this latest entry has some unique aspects to it, like it taking place at a school for deaf children, has us wanting to check it out.

Red Atlantis #1 (AfterShock) – It’s election day and violence has popped up in various locations across the United States. What’s behind this mystery? Is it the Russians!? The first issue has a very X-Files vibe about it.

Savage Circus #1 (Heavy Metal Magazine) – A gang of criminals descends into a town on Christmas Eve but in their escape, they let loose dangerous circle animals who now terrorize a town!

Sweet Tooth: The Return #1 (DC Comics/DC Black Label) – Jeff Lemire’s beloved series is back with a whole new volume! It’s a fresh start for new readers and of course long time fans can dive in and return to the characters they love.

Tales From the Dark Multiverse: Batman: Hush #1 (DC Comics) – These “what if” stories have been great so far and in this one, Bruce goes to live with his friend Tommy Elliot instead of being taken care of by Alfred.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Jennika II #1 (IDW Publishing) – Jennika has been a hit character and the breakout character is getting a second miniseries. The first was a solid read and we’re expecting much of the same for this.

U.S.Agent #1 (Marvel) – Christopher Priest is writing with Georges Jeanty art in this miniseries that has John Walker now operating as an independent contractor. Priest writing this makes it a must-read and buy for us.

Victor and Nora: A Gotham Love Story (DC Comics) – A new graphic novel about a young Victor Fries meeting Nora Kumar. It’s a tragic tale about living life to the fullest and what it truly means to love…and to let go. These graphic novels from DC have been amazing so far and this one has us really excited to read it.

The Walking Dead Deluxe #2 (Image Comics/Skybound) – The Walking Dead is back and now in color with extras but it’s reading this series in the age of COVID that’s the most intriguing thing about it right now.

Wolverine: Black, White, & Red #1 (Marvel) – We’ve read the first issue of this anthology and it’s a fantastic start. It’s definitely mature and full of action but each story is a top-notch read. Well worth picking up and a solid comic you can just read and enjoy and not have to read anything else. Check out our review.

Heavy Metal Entertainment and Aethon Books Announce a New Partnership

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The Luna Missile Crisis
The Luna Missile Crisis

Heavy Metal Entertainment has announced a new partnership with Aethon Books. Aethon Books is publishing the next generation of Science Fiction & Fantasy. Aethon has a focus of building a “bridge between authors and their potential readers.” This partnership allows Heavy Metal to expand and stretch into the world of prose and audiobooks. Both companies will have a greater reach into each other’s business worlds.

Upcoming titles under this partnership:

The Luna Missile Crisis

By Rhett C Bruno & Jaime Castle
eBook & Hardcover Release Date: 9/22/2020
Audiobook Release Date: 2/20/2020 (Is an Audible Original narrated by Ray Porter)

The year is 1961. The Cold War is in full swing and the space race is on. Russia aims to send humanity to space… but what if space comes to humanity instead?

Soviet Yuri Gagarin’s historic first manned-spaceflight is disrupted when an alien Mothership jumps into orbit, causing a cosmic car crash that defies all odds.

Everything changes. The US and USSR must quickly put aside their differences. In exchange for the Earth’s help in the rebuilding of their Mothership, the mysterious aliens know as Vulbathi offer promises of technology beyond humanity’s wildest dreams. All the while, the world asks whether the Vulbathi are saviors or conquerors.

When an alien tech counterfeiter’s mistake sets off a chain reaction, the fragile peace is threatened. Connor McCoy didn’t mean to upset Earth’s new intergalactic neighbors. He only wanted to make some cash.

Now, Connor is the only person who can stop the doomsday clock from striking midnight. That is if his estranged brother, an agent in the new Department of Alien Relations, doesn’t get to him first.

The Tinderbox: Soldier of Indira

By Lou Diamond Phillips
eBook & Hardcover Release Date: 10/20/2020
Audiobook Release Date: 10/20/2020 (narrated by RC Bray & Julia Whelan)

From the imagination of actor Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba, Stargate Universe, Prodigal Son) comes an epic and unforgettable Science Fantasy tale.

Two worlds at war will bring them together… or tear them apart…

Everson didn’t want to be a soldier. His parents forced him to serve, as all good Indiran men should. The only problem? His first battle against their mortal enemies goes horribly wrong and he winds up stranded on the enemy planet.

Now, Everson has to survive in this strange new land where everyone is out to get him. Not to mention, the planet Mano is covered in unforgiving desert. And he’s the target of traitors who want to use him in a dastardly plot to overthrow their mad king, Xander the Firm, by having him retrieve a piece of mysterious and powerful ancient technology known as the Tinderbox.

But everything changes during a chance encounter with the king’s daughter, Allegra. Despite her station, she’s in as grave of danger from her own people as Everson is. And though their peoples have been at odds for centuries, an unlikely spark forms between them.

As their worlds come crashing down around them, their forbidden love might be the only chance to end this war forever. Or, it might just be the doom of everyone…

The Salvage Crew

By Yudhanyaya Wjitneratne
eBook Release Date: 10/27/2020
Audiobook Release Date: 10/27/2020 (This is a secret still but Nathan Fillion is narrating this audiobook)

They thought this was just another salvage job. They thought wrong.

An AI overseer and a human crew arrive on a distant planet to salvage an ancient UN starship. The overseer is unhappy. The crew, well, they’re certainly no A-team. Not even a C-team on the best of days.

And worse? Urmahon Beta, the planet, is at the ass-end of nowhere. Everybody expects this to be a long, ugly, and thankless job.

Then it all goes disastrously wrong. What they thought was an uninhabited backwater turns out to be anything but empty. Megafauna roam the land, a rival crew with some terrifyingly high-powered gear haunts the dig site, and a secret that will change humanity forever is waiting in the darkness.

Stuck on this unmapped, hostile planet, lacking resources, and with tech built by the cheapest bidder, the salvage crew must engineer their way to payday…and beat Urmahon Beta before it kills them all.

Experience this space exploration adventure told from the perspective of a snarky artificial intelligence you won’t soon forget.

Heavy Metal to Release Ranx: The Complete Collection

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Heavy Metal Entertainment has announced the release of Ranx: The Complete Collection, a 208 page omnibus featuring the entire RanXerox library.

Ranx, the Italian science fiction graphic novel series by Stefano Tamburini and Tanino Liberatore, follows a bizarre antihero, Ranx, a mechanical cyborg made from discarded photocopier parts. After an unfortunate short circuit, he becomes the victim of fabricated feelings of love for his girlfriend Lubna, a brat, who is permanently high and has an abominable temperament. In a world that is a parody of contemporary society, featuring decadence, consumption, and selfishness, Ranx lives on as the epitome of true love. He is the last “knight in shining armor”. Ranx is a colossus in a world of savages, but don’t look for hidden meaning in these epic stories: they are merely a pretext for a lethal dose of cyberpunk, gratuitous violence, and eroticism. The amazing hyper-realistic art of Liberatore may shock and disturb you. 

This book features the entire RanXerox collection that was serialized in Heavy Metal Magazine from 1983-1999, “Ranx in New York”, “Happy Birthday Lubna”, “Be Bop Lubna”, “I, Me, Mine Incorporated”, “Amen” and “I, Robot”. 

This collection also includes never before seen early strips, “Ranx The Thug” and “Modern Dance”. A Gallery contains covers, pin-up art and sketches.

Ranx: The Complete Collection will be hardcover book, 8.5×11 and will retail for $29.99.

Ranx: The Complete Collection
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