Metal Hurlant And Heavy Metal Magazines Part Two: Classic Stories and Art
Watch the original video here.

Moebius Art Dan O’Bannon Story

“The Long Tomorrow” was written by Dan O’Bannon and drawn by Moebius for Métal Hurlant number seven, 1976. O’Bannon wrote the screenplay to Alien he also wrote and directed the great 1985 zombie film The Return of the Living Dead starring James Karen and Linnea Quigley.

During this time, they were trying to get Jodorowsky’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” off the ground and Dan O’Bannon came up with a side script for The long Tomorrow and it is really great. An original cyberpunk classic like Blade Runner predating Ridley Scott’s science fiction masterpiece by several years.

The Long Tomorrow did not predate Philip K Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” from which Blade Runner was based but the look and feel of various panels when you think in terms of flying cars and cityscapes is uncanny. The private detective on the case in his flying car and the way that the future looks in The Long Tomorrow is very reminiscent of Blade Runner.

Les Humanoides

There is a long article by Claude Atkin about Les Humanoids Associates Druillet, Dionnet, Moebius, and Farkas. Farkas was the money guy. Dionnet is a writer and Moebius and Druillet are the artists of the quartet. This is the birth of Metal Hurlant, the first issue appeared on newsstands in January of 1975 with a great cover by Moebius.
Metal Hurlant translated is Screaming or Howling Metal
Artist and filmmaker Marc Caro drew stories for Metal Hurlant and made films with Jean Jeunet including City of Lost Children and Delicatessen. They also worked together on Jeunet’s “Alien Resurrection” aka Alien Four.

The Incredible Jean Claude Gal

The Conquering armies by Jean-Claude Gaul and written by Jean-Pierre Dionnet is one of the most striking series in the early issues of Metal Hurlant. The highly detailed line work of Gal must be seen to be believed and it is much better reproduced in the matte pages of Metal Hurlant than in the later printings in Heavy Metal magazine which used more glossy paper producing higher contrast and less detail in the art.

You can see the entire original Metal Hurlant video here.