Kickstarting Comics: The Iconic Fantasy Comic Magazine ‘Metal Hurlant’ Lives Again

50 years from its creation, Metal Hurlant, one of the greatest anthologies returns and it’s kickstarting right now…

.In 1974, artists Jean “Moebius” Giraud and Philippe Druillet, journalist-writer Jean-Pierre Dionnet, and financial director Bernard Farkas came together as “Les Humanoïdes Associés” (United Humanoids), creating a comics magazine that would revolutionise Euro comics and whose art would reverberate around the world. That comics magazine was Métal Hurlant, and it’s coming back.

50 years on, publisher Humanoids are bringing it all back, bigger and bolder, as a quarterly English anthology, 272+ pages of all-new comics to impress and a selection of the finest comics from the Metal Hurlant archives.

They’re promising a “one-of-a-kind, otherworldly, literary experience’ and ‘bold, transgressive comics, beamed to Earth quarterly with all-new stories, cutting edge reportage, and iconic archival material”

Reflecting the style and focus of the original, this new Metal Hurlant will feature short sequential stories by some of the world’s greatest artists and writers, backed up with articles and features on art and culture, including names such as Ted Chiang, William Gibson, Alan Moore, and Denis Villeneuve.

Looking at the first year’s worth of comics, you’ve got covers by Mœbius, Peach Momoko, Enki Bilal, and Jean-Michel Nicollet, and tales from Brian Michael Bendis and Jacob Edgar, Matt Fraction and Afif Khaled, Miran Kim, Karla Pacheco and Sagar, Simon Roy, Matthew Sheean, Shofela “Shof” & Shobo Coker, James Stokoe, Elie Huault, Jake Thomas and Jorg de Vos, Elene Usdin, Fabien Vehlmann and Lionel “Alfred” Papagalli, Mark Waid and Jean-Michel Ponzio. Some names you’ll know, several you won’t, but the artists and creators you’ll discover may well be established greats you’ve not yet found or the next superstar.

Plus, the Metal Hurlant archive material will include the absolute greats of the medium, including stories that never been published before in English or stories that have been out-of-print for decades, including rare short stories from Mœbius, tales from MH founders Druillet and Dionnet, and works from Robert Crumb, Caza, Nicole Claveloux, Michio Hisauchi, Angus McKie, Jean-Claude Mézières, Chantal Montellier, and Trina Robbins.

All of this is feeding off the cultural shift that came from the original, all the mature storytelling, pushing at both the boundaries of what comics could do and how the medium was perceived.

Back then, Metal Hurlant was punk, challenging, experimental, sexy, cutting-edge, transforming comics and culture. It influenced and energised a generation of storytellers, including Guillermo Del Toro, George Lucas, Hayao Miyazaki, Ridley Scott, Denis Villeneuve, and Taika Waititi, who’s currently busy bringing forth a cinematic version of Jodorowsky and Mœbius‘s incredible creation The Incal, created within the pages of Metal Hurlant (yeah, part of me thinks that’s great, part of me thinks good luck making anything approximating it’s brilliance.)

As for the Kickstarter for this new version, well, it’s doing rather well — over $265k pledged over their initial target of $5k. Pretty good really.

Will it transform comics and art the way the original did? I doubt it can, such is the once in a lifetime impact of the original. Will it be a source of some damn good comics? Oh yes, I think that’s a must.

One interesting distinction to make here, something they point out in the Kickstarter — Metal Hurlant may have found English language translations initially in the US Heavy Metal magazine, but, as they say, “the essence of Metal Hurlant eventually became lost in translation.” So, it’s absolutely nothing to do with modern versions of Heavy Metal, including the version on Kickstarter right now.

The Kickstarter runs until 12th December. They’re offering digital, paperback, and hardback versions, with opportunities to just grab the first issue or go all-in with one- and two-year subscriptions for the quarterly books.

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Of particular interest amongst the tiers and Kickstarter exclusives is the Moebius Arzach hardcover, giving you the master’s incredible silent story in the hardcover, slipcased edition that’s never been available outside of Europe. Then there’s the posterzines with work by Moebius and Druillet that won’t be included in the anthology.

Like I say, it’s happening. They don’t need your money, but you need to have a look at it and see what they’re going to do. It all looks rather bloody good.

Metal Hurlant – Kickstarter runs until 12th December