In the Editorial column, we learn that the editor's went to the Frankfurt book fair, and picked up some new series, including Barbarella (the film having come out about in the US 10 years earlier) as well as some stuff from the French magazine Pilote. Additionally, while they have gotten a lot of submissions of work in their line from American artists, they're going to continue to skew European, because they can. I'm actually kind of annoyed by this, because basically the French stuff had seriously been losing stuff in translation, in my opinion. Ah, well. Someday our day will come.
Ulysses by Homer, Jacques Lob, and Georges Pichard
This is a loose adaptation of the story of the Odyssey. By lose, I mean they have Homer himself as a member of Homer's crew (and having him write his poetry, when he originally worked entirely verbally). Also, the Gods are Sufficiently Advanced aliens watching the war for their own amusement, as we would watch a movie, and leaving out the issues from the Trojan war with Odysseus essentially pissing off Poseidon. It still covers the iconic beats of the Odyssey, but with its odd Sci-Fi twist. It's not bad though. They get as far as the Cyclops and escape (with Homer being blinded in the process) before they wrap up this installment. To be continued.
The Time Warp Written by Serge Clerc, Art by Gregory Dentier
This is a clearly satirical piece, but I'm not entirely clear what it's supposed to be a satire of. The main characters are hunting down an "Air Rustler". One of the two gets caught in a black hole when he pressed the doorbell on suspect's door, and ends up in an entirely new universe. He hunts through the universe for a while until he finally finds the exit, which is clearly labeled.
Talapalca by Dominique Hé
This story is allegidly based on an actual Inca legend, of the two brothers (one selfish and one selfless) variety. The illustrations err a little bit on the side of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens for the Inca gods, but otherwise everything works.
Den - Richard Corben
Kang attempts to return the Lok-Nar to Ard in return for being re-united with his family. However, he is betrayed by Ard in a way that's familiar if you've read Dune (but with a twist of magic instead of technology). The time of Kath's sacrifice is soon, and Ard sends his forces out to find Den and kill him, so he doesn't interfere in the sacrifice. To Be Continued
We finally see the face of Jerry Cornelius. He's a pretty handsome man. Major Grubert apparently has been searching for Jerry thorugh his agents, and is now setting out himself to finally track him down. Meanwhile, Samual I. Mohad, Grubert's spy, is discovered by the forces of the Bakelite while traveling undercover by train with his female compainion. To Be Continued.
I'm missing what I suspect is a pinup, "Miss Heavy Metal 1978 - Roberta".
1996 by Chantal Montellier
The boxer from last issue borrows some money from his bartender buddy and drives back home. The end. What was the point of this story, and why stretch it out between volumes. I don't get it.
We get our letters column. We get a letter complaining about how we there's a page where we don't see Den's penis in last issue. I'm kind of glad we got that page, because I couldn't have given a sample of Den in the comic. We also get a letter that brings up one of my complaints about Heavy Metal at this point - the lack of original work from artists in the US. We haven't even gotten into some of more the famous pieces of cover art from Brom, Boris Valijo, Julie Bell, or anyone else yet.
Space Soap Opera by Helme
This is basically a one page story about two lovers parting, however, the man's a robot.
Conquering Armies by Jean-Pierre Dionnet and Jean-Claude Gal
This is the last installment of Conquering Armies. This is a fun little story, one without the darker endings of earlier volumes, of a tack that would probably be familiar to viewers of Rome, sort of. I'd say describe it like this - imagine that Titus Pollo and Lucius Vorenus go on liberty in a town, Vorenus gets shanghied and sold into slavery (by Pollo, even though that would be out-of-character), Pollo gets a bunch of money and ends up on the crew of a ship carrying Vorenus as a slave, there's a slave revolt that both Pollo and Vorenus end up on the wrong side of, and the two end up being sold into slavery in a foreign land. They work togeather and choke their new "master" to death with their chains and escape. That's basically how it turns out.
This is our short story of the issue. Morrow is also illustrating a collection of Zelazney's stories being published contemporary to this issue, which is why he's illustrating this one. This is also one of Zelazny's earlier stories, and is essentially a re-print.
Our back cover for this issue is by Bob Aull
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