Metal Hurlant

Metal Hurlant is a French comic, who deals in science fiction and horror stories. The comics name translated means 'screaming metal', which first appeared on the shelves in December 1974. The comic was a collaboration between four associates, Jean Giraud, Philippe Druillet, Jean-Pierre Dionnet and Bernard Farkas. Jean Giraud and Philippe Druillet were artists while Jean-Pierre Dionnet was a journalist-writer and Bernard Farkas was a finacial director.

These associates were know collectively as “Les Humanoides Associes” which meant united humanoids. This became the name of the publishing house. Metal Hurlant was also published in the United States but under the name Heavy Metal.


At first the magazine was released quarterly but by issue 7 it became semi monthly and monthly with issue 9. The comic consisted of 68 pages but only 18 of them were in colour. Contributions were made by many different people, including Richard Corben, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Caza, Enki Bilal, Serge Clerc, Alain Voss, Berni Wrightson, Milo Manara and many others.

The comic contents were expansive, including information on science fiction books and movies, as well as music and video game reviews. The Comic drew upon a complex graphics system using detailed imagery with surreal storylines to immerse the reader. This made the comic highly influential and was seen as one of the first mature comic books.