After more than a year of unofficial hiatus, Heavy Metal Entertainment has announced that their legendary namesake magazine will be returning in 2025 with a brand new first issue. frankfurter Returned to the magazine as editor-in-chief, and also Dave Kelly will serve as Executive Editor, and Chris Thompson will serve as its editorial manager. A pre-order campaign for the first issue will launch on Kickstarter next month (November), offering fans limited-edition covers and collectibles.
In 1977, four artistic visionaries decided to make science fiction, fantasy, and horror the birthplace of popular culture… It’s been 45 years, and while heavy metal has always been there, in the zeitgeist, other brands are trying to steal what we were born with. The right to come. Now, we have taken back our rightful place on the genre throne. Come dive deeper into the world of heavy metal—past, present, and future—as we boldly chart a course that expands minds and pushes the boundaries of pop culture.
Published in 1977 as the English version of the French science fiction magazine scream metal, heavy metal An agreement with Massive Publishing to relaunch the magazine failed to be reached due to several delays, and the magazine ceased publication in April 2023 with issue 320. The disruption occurred after current C.E.O. Marshall Lees Taken over from Matthew Medney In January 2023, Medney left the company amid reports that he was not paying freelance workers and was accused of selling publishing rights to stories in other countries without the creators’ permission.
Presumably hoping for a genuine fresh start, Lees said in a press release: “The new team and I step in after a pretty tumultuous period, so we’ve been working quietly behind the scenes to put things right and pave the way. The magazine returns to its original boundary-pushing roots, with a range of exciting new plans for the brand that we hope fans will find truly interesting. team, who have complementary skills and share our brand vision, [and] We believe we’ve seen this with Frank, Dave and Chris and the rest of the team across all aspects of the business.
Since the news started circulating, there have been complaints on social media from freelancers who didn’t pay their bills for the last issue of Heavy Metal. Hopefully the team can start fixing the bugs.
