V8.8 Heavy Metal - Nov 1984

This issue of Heavy Metal is packed with the magazine’s trademark mix of science fiction, fantasy, underground comics and beautifully strange artwork, with standout stories including Daniel Torres’ Rocco Vargas: Tritón, Joost Swarte’s A Second Babel, Jean “Jéronaton” Torton’s The Great Passage, Pierre Christin and Enki Bilal’s The Hunting Party, and François Schuiten’s The Walls Of Samaris. There’s also Frank Thorne’s Lann, Nicole Claveloux and Élizabeth Salomon’s wonderfully titled I’m In Love With An Economist!, Paul Kirchner’s The Bus and Critical Mass Of Cool, plus the usual assortment of technology, film and cultural oddities.

But the real fucking highlight is the 10-page feature The Most Moral Man In America: An Interview With John Waters. Waters is exactly the kind of cultural outlaw who feels perfectly at home in *Heavy Metal: filthy, funny, provocative, completely unafraid of good taste and seemingly incapable of giving a shit about the rules. The feature digs into the mind of the man behind Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and Polyester, making this a particularly cool piece for anyone interested in underground cinema, trash culture and one of the great American provocateurs. Elsewhere, the issue includes dossiers on Tanith Lee, Nuvinyl, filmmaker Ruy Guerra, Nahallywood, filmstrips, the Metal Projector and John Holmstrom’s Hi-Tech Lowdown, along with Drew Friedman’s The Incredible Shrinking Joe Franklin. A killer issue with a seriously strong lineup of comics and cultural weirdness.

This issue has a crease down the front of the cover, like it was folded in half. It also have the original subscription cover still attached with the address removed by a previous owner.