The Airtight Garage Of Jerry C.: The Third Trick: Star Billiard - Jean "Mœbius" Giraud
This installment of the series follows a giant robot shaped like a human being, but with people inside crewing it. Anyway, the crew of the robot (a boyfriend & girlfriend team, so yes, there is sex), is infiltrating a community of giant beings which is suspected to be controlled by the Bakelites. They're discovered, the robot is destroyed and it's crew has to flee to a nearby safe house.
Den - Richard Corben
Den has made his way through the Queen's search parties and returns to Ard, only to discover that Kang has not returned, and Ard will not release Kath until he has the Loc-Nar, so he sends Den back out to find the Loc-Nar, and to kill Kang. At the third village he comes across, Den is drugged. As he dreams, he sees a vision of his Uncle, transformed to one like Den, who took a path similar to his, except he saved the Queen from some horrible fate, made love to her, and was killed.
Bird Dust - Philippe "Caza" Cazamayou and François Bazzoli
This story's a bit more artistic but not abstract. It almost reminds me of the Star Child bit from 2001, except a Heavy Metal version of it.
A Visit To Jivaskilla Technexpo - Patrick Lesueur
For this one, it looks like it's a parody of car shows and science fiction conventions. With some parts more obviously car show related (the vehicles on display), some more presumably more sci-fi con related (like women being "barred from entry").
Blue Terror - Elisabeth "Zha" Salomon and Nicole Claveloux
This is a continuation from the last little series of strips that Zha and Claveloux were working on, except this one's focused on the bird what poisoned the plant. Anyway, the bird's all sad and lonely, and goes for a walk in the rain. As it comes back home and continues to try and write, the woman from the first few strips comes in.
The Adventures Of Ludwig Mollusc: The Feet Upon The Stomach - Richard "F'Murr" Peyzaret
An elf goes to the beach, relaxes and takes a nap. Aliens show up and claim the land for Spain! or someone else. The aliens then notice the sign on the beach saying "No Dogs or Skin Diving" (well, the sign varies, but the key word is "No") and they leave.
Ballade - Jean "Mœbius" Giraud and Arthur Rimbaud
An explorer travels through the wilderness, is attacked by a monster and is rescued by a naked nymph. They agree to travel together, and get out of the forest only to be gunned down by a column of soldiers.
You know, another poster commented that it's harder to write a genuinely happy ending instead of an ironically dark ending, and I'm wondering if this isn't the case for this story, which ends with the leads being gunned down, possibly because whoever was writing this couldn't think of an ending.
1996 - Chantal Montellier
I'm really not sure of the point for this one. I guess it has to do with poverty or something similar.
World Apart: The Golden City - E. E. Davis
This is the last installment. The battle continues bloody and without dialog. Finally, there is a massive conflagration which consumes everything. No explanation what it was or anything. Just the Bomb falls and everyone dies. That's it. No denouement, nothing. Now, this installment was delayed due to illness on Davis' part, so he could have rushed it to reach the deadline for this issue. Still, it's a crappy, crappy ending. I'd post the last page of World Apart, but there are distant boobies in the background, so I'm not sure. I'll post it, but will take it down if a moderator objects.
How's The Night Life On Cissalda? - Harlan Ellison
To be frank, this is the first Harlan Ellison story I've ever read. Temponaut Enoch Mirren goes to the an alternate Earth and and comes back with a bizarre creature from the world of Cissalda on his member. Said creature turns out to be "the most perfect fuck in the universe" (that's a quote from the story), and it can communicate telepathically while it's having sex. It's also androgynous. It also looks disgusting. However, the creature (and all of its race) can teleport, and they start teleporting to earth and doing people.
I'm slightly impressed by the variety of people who Ellison name-drops, and in many occasions cheap-shots in the process (especially Truman Capote, William Shatner, Evel Kinevel). Anyway, the Cissaldan incursion leads to the ultimate extinction of the human race, due to the fact that once you start doing a Cissaldan (or start being done) you can't stop.
Anyway, I kind of liked this story, but the name-dropping got to be a bit much, especially when we get to a few people (like Capote & Shatner), where it feels like Ellison's going for the cheap shots on as many people as he possibly can. However, this means we're not getting quality, just quantity. Having heard some great examples of people getting told or otherwise hilarously mocked, given enough build-up, I can't help but feel that had Ellison name-dropped less and aimed his barbs more carefully, it could have worked better.
We get a quick letters column here, with Hugo & Nebula award winning Robert Silverberg asking them to keep up the good work. As Silverberg doesn't plug his new anthology, the Editor's show how much it means to them by plugging it for them. We get a letter from a reader in Mexico who isn't getting his copy of the magazine, possibly because someone in the Mexican Post Office is stealing it, so if they'd put it in an envelope, he'd appreciate it. There's also a letter wishing good riddance to Age of Ages and Rodger, and asking for more Conquering Armies. Here here!
There's also some criticism too. Sergio Macedo, author of Orcyb, writes to say they need to be more careful with reproducing the stories - apparently there have been some alterations from the original which weren't improved (including arms and legs missing from characters in Orcyb). Apparently the film they get of the stories from the Metal Hurlant people is oversized, so they have to crop the art to get it to fit their page size. What, you can't scale it down (or whatever the photographic equivalent is)? We also get a letter accusing them of being horrible sexist pigs, claiming that every issue of being horrifically misogynist, and that they all need to grow up. The editorial response is that aside from the "big tits on space ladies" (the editor's phrase), that there's also a lot of penis visible, which has gotten the magazine many Gay readers, and many of the writers, artists, and editors on the magazine are women.
Polonius - Philippe Picaret and Jacques Tardi
Polonius decides to abandon the city of Ru, and just in time, as the city is wiped out by a horrible plague. The End.
We get an ad for Mother Jones magazine, one of the few print magazines that were covered in Heavy Metal that are still in existance, and it's still as inflammatory (from the left side of the coin) as before - at least if the cover that's featured in the Wikipedia entry for the magazine says anything about the inside.
Master - Jean-Michel Nicollet
In a post apocalyptic future, a woman is nearly raped by a mutant, but is rescued by robotic naked women which look kind of like angels by a man seeking to re-populate the world. However, the woman is a hermaphrodite, and is cast out. The man kills himself, but the woman survives.
1996 - Chantal Montellier
This story focuses around an underground boxer - forced to fight underground because he's white. However, the story doesn't get any further than that before we get to the end of this installment... To Be Continued.
This issue's a little better, though we've gotten several of their longer running stories ending this issue, particularly Polonius & Worlds Apart. I'm actually going to miss Worlds Apart. It was terribly written, but it was well drawn. Polonius was nicely written though, and the ending kind of worked. It would be nice if we found out where the Railroad tracks went though. It would be interesting to learn more about the setting's world.
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