Mature Magazines and the Graphic Novel

Definition

Adult-oriented titles were the forerunners of the graphic novel. Often printed as serialized strips, they became increasingly popular and were sometimes reproduced as collections.

Introduction

When Evergreen Review, a counterculture publication, successfully released a serialization of the French comic strip Barbarella in 1965, the nature of comic books changed. While anthologizing comics series had been a practice in Europe, the concepts of serialization and creating novel-length comics were new.

Jean-Claude Forest’s Barbarella was first published in France in 1962. It is frequently referred to as the first comic book for adults because, though it was science fiction, the heroine, Barbarella, frequently used her sexuality to escape dangerous situations. The fact that adult-oriented material featuring graphic sexuality, violence, and language was marketable was not lost on other publishers.

Early Adult-Oriented Publications in America

During the 1960s, Warren Publishing, a mainstream publisher, released Creepy (1964-1983), Eerie (1966-1983), and Vampirella (1969-1983) after the demise of Entertaining Comics’ lines of horror and science fiction. Works from Warren appealed to adult audiences because they highlighted artistic detail using blacks, whites, and grays rather than color; were sold on the magazine rack rather than in the comics section; and featured Frank Frazetta’s paintings of fantasy and science-fiction nudes on the cover. However, their stories were mostly one-shots, which, save for some of the early Vampirella stories, could not be collected into a single novel.

In 1970, Robert Hoffman, Henry Beard, and Douglas Kenney founded a national version of the satirical magazine National Lampoon. The magazine heavily relied on comics and had two special issues devoted to comics: National Lampoon Presents the Very Large Book of Comical Funnies (1975) and National Lampoon Presents French Comics (the Kind Men Like) (1977). The comics featured graphic sex and violence, all with satirical intent, and were created by underground and alternative cartoonists, such as Vaughn Bodé, Shary Flenniken, and Tina Robbins, as well as mainstream artists and writers, including Neal Adams, Frazetta, Edward Gorey, and Gahan Wilson.

In 1971, Marvel Comics entered the adult market because of editor Stan Lee’s desire to break away from the Comics Code. In 1968, Marvel released The Spectacular Spider-Man, a magazine-format publication. Although they seemed re-engineered for mature audiences, they were simply variations of stories that had appeared earlier in the comic book magazine. The magazine was not a great success, but Lee tried again, against the advice of his publisher, Martin Goodman. Savage Tales was the result, but the magazine, never a favorite of the publisher, limped through only two years of irregular publishing before being canceled.

Sal Quartuccio Publishing (SQP) began in 1973, intending to publish pinup books of fantasy and comics art by predominantly European artists. Slowly, however, it began to release serialized European comics in graphic novel format. It published Enrique Villagrán’s classic Teach Me! (2002), about a trio of bisexual female teachers. SQP also produced Hot Stuf’ (1974), a sexually explicit comic book that led to the fantasy-horror graphic novel Demon Baby: Hell on Heels (1996).

In 1976, NBM Publishing came into existence. In 1977, it began repackaging several European serials that were heavy on sex and violence, starting with Racket Rumba, a detective spoof by French creator Loro. NBM was among the first publishers to perceive the graphic novel's worth, and it is considered responsible for introducing artist-writers such as Enki Bilal, Hugo Pratt, and Milo Manara to US audiences.

When Heavy Metal first appeared in 1977, it surprised readers: It contained color throughout and featured stunning covers. It was based on a French science-fiction and fantasy comics magazine for mature audiences titled Metal Hurlant. The American version featured European and American artists and writers; stories were often serialized and collected into albums.

Changing Audiences, Changing Creator Benefits

The fledgling success of alternative, or underground, comics during the 1960s and 1970s suggested that a mature audience was looking for comics. The rise of specialty comic book stores both encouraged and allowed for various magazines and early graphic novels. Writers and artists did not necessarily recognize that they were fostering the birth of the graphic novel. Still, they did understand and respond to the fact that many of the magazines for mature readers allowed them to explore issues that would not have been publishable by mainstream publishers because of the Comics Code. Issues of sexuality, gender, drugs, popular culture, and politics came to the fore, and writers and artists explored a variety of genres, including autobiography, biography, satire, mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. Another benefit of publishing in magazines such as Heavy Metal or Epic Illustrated was that publishers gave contractual control of material to the creators instead of demanding ownership of it, as popular comic book franchises did.

Mainstream Publishers

Marvel Comics tried to use its most popular franchises in the magazine format. The company had already been cited in popular magazines and newspapers as appealing to a more mature audience than DC Comics, with emphasis on a known real world where characters seemed to meet daily to deal with personal dilemmas as much as saving the universe. The first issue of Savage Tales seemed to hold some promise. A Conan the Barbarian story, adapted by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, was more graphically violent and included more nudity than would have been allowed in monthly comic books. The other stories were more mundane, though they dealt with contemporary social issues: Sergius O’Shaughnessy and Gene Colan’s “Black Brother” highlighted racial issues, and Lee and John Romita’s “Femizons” dealt with feminism. “Man-Thing” and “Ka-Zar,” both previously published as comic books, rounded out the first issue. While boasting artwork from major mainstream artists such as John Buscema, Adams, Mike Kaluta, and Boris Vallejo, neither writers nor artists could figure out how to make the new magazine work. Low sales and Goodman’s concern about challenging the Comics Code Authority caused the magazine to be published sporadically.

Marvel enjoyed more success with Epic Illustrated (1980-1986), possibly because the magazine used writers and artists who were unfamiliar with a “house style” and had a greater investment in their own work, as Marvel offered creator’s rights for the first time. Epic Illustrated was influenced by Heavy Metal magazine. While some stories used popular Marvel characters, most were new fantasy and science fiction, created and illustrated by John Byrne, Jeffrey Jones, Jim Starlin, Stephen R. Bissette, John J Muth, and Rick Veitch. Unlike Savage Tales, Epic Illustrated was printed in color. It attracted readers with covers by Frazetta, the Brothers Hildebrandt, and Richard Corben.

While DC Comics is not known for its direct forays into magazines for mature readers, magazines such as Heavy Metal and Epic Illustrated clearly influenced the company's development. DC’s Vertigo imprint features comic books and graphic novels for mature readers interested in non-superhero fare. The stories have a variety of themes and use explicit art, violence, and language.

Behind the scenes, however, DC is recognized for its business acumen in aligning with the French publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés, which originally published Metal Hurlant. The two companies partnered to publish much of the original work from Metal Hurlant in English in graphic novel format. The relationship was turbulent, with arguments over format, what to publish, and how many novels to release in any given month. Still, these releases helped to raise the profile of Metal Hurlant.

Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal, the American version of Metal Hurlant, began publishing in 1977. It initially relied on the stories in Metal Hurlant, though it increasingly used Spanish, Latin American, British, and American writers and artists. Heavy Metal’s early publisher, Leonard Mogel, and editors Sean Kelley and Valarie Marchant brought in writers and artists such as Howard Cruse, Howard Chaykin, Bernie Wrightson, and Arthur Suydam. The magazine was later bought by Kevin Eastman (of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame), who became the new publisher and editor; many of its graphic novels and art books were published by Metal Mammoth.

While the magazine was known for highlighting the erotic in science fiction and fantasy contexts, editorial censorship occasionally became an issue, with artists asked to redraw panels or with cover art that was considered sexually overt partially printed on the front of the magazine and in full on the front inside cover.

For each issue, the front and back covers were used to display awe-inspiring art by artists such as Frazetta, Wrightson, Luis Royo, Olivia De Berardinis, Chris Achilleos, and H. R. Giger. The covers from the first twenty-five years of the magazine were compiled into a book, and the artwork and stories have also inspired two cartoon movies, Heavy Metal (1981) and Heavy Metal 2000 (2000).

One unusual feature of the magazine was its tactic of changing written literature to visual literature. Heavy Metal re-created stories by Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, William S. Burroughs, Stephen King, Robert Silverberg, and even John Milton as graphic narratives. Many of the stories were fatalistic or nihilistic. Another unusual feature is the inclusion of essays, reviews, and interviews with writers, artists, musicians, and film directors. These two features gave the magazine a sense of seriousness that appealed to a sophisticated, mature reader. Heavy Metal ceased publication in 2023 due to financial and managerial struggles. The magazine remained active on the Internet, although this form also suffered in the mid-2020s.

Impact

Magazines for mature audiences encouraged the creation of graphic novels. Increasingly, readers wanted to read the complete story as quickly as possible rather than wait for installments. Publishers were attracted to the graphic novel idea because a book-length volume of comics could be placed in both bookstores and comics specialty shops; also, albums have longer shelf lives, possibly attracting more customers over time.

Collections of serialized works from adult-oriented magazines helped launch the graphic novel, which can be either a collection of serialized work or a new work written especially for the format. The use of comic book techniques in the works of Maurice Sendak (especially In the Night Kitchen, 1970), Jules Feiffer (Tantrum, 1979), and Shel Silverstein (A Light in the Attic, 1981) also suggested that comics could attract adults in addition to children.

From adult-oriented magazines such as Epic Illustrated came Starlin’s Dreadstar saga (1982- ); an early version of Cerebus (1977-2004), the warrior aardvark created by Dave Sim; and a series of Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné stories, written by Roy Thomas and penciled by P. Craig Russell. Savage Tales also introduced stories that would be collected in graphic novels, such as The ’Nam (1987- ), focusing on actual soldiers’ accounts from the Vietnam War, written by Doug Murray and illustrated by Michael Golden. Heavy Metal spawned a series of graphic novels featuring the violent RanXerox, which influenced the images of the aliens in George Lucas’ Star Wars series, and Corben’s Den stories, about a man who solves everything through sex and violence in an untold time and space. During the 1980s, magazines such as RAW, edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly, were published. These often large, oversized magazines introduced readers to works such as Spiegelman’s Maus (1986). Although, like Heavy Metal, many magazines, such as Metal Hurlant and Epic Illustrated, have also ceased publishing, others continue to thrive in the twenty-first century. Vampirella is a science fiction and horror comics magazine. Dark Horse Comics also showcases new and established comics artists. Mature comics continue to inspire graphic novels. Mike Mignola’s Hellboy (1993- ), Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead (2003-2019), and Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda's Monstress (2015- ) are examples of contemporary comics that have inspired graphic novels, amongst other media adaptations. 

Bibliography

“A Brief History of Comics and Graphic Novels.” Medium, 17 Jan. 2020, medium.com/publiclibrarysg/a-brief-history-of-comics-and-graphic-novels-de096c09b8b3. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.

Harvey, RC. “How Comic Books Have Changed.” The Comics Journal, 2 Mar. 2022, www.tcj.com/how-comic-books-have-changed. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.

Pilchner, Tim. Erotic Comics 2: A Graphic History from the Liberated 70’s to the Internet. New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2008.

Workman, John, editor. Heavy Metal: Twenty-Five Years of Classic Covers. Rockville Centre, N.Y.: Heavy Metal, 2002.