Heavy Metal October 1984

The October 1984 issue of Heavy Metal had an interview with indie film maker Amos Poe, whose best known film was 1976's The Blank Generation and who had just released Alphabet City. Also interviewed were author Jonathan Valin and Michael Radford, who had made the movie 1984. The XTC album Mummer is reviewed, and updates are given on John Carpenter's movie Star Man, The movie Clue which was about to enter production, and Steven Spielberg's many upcoming projects, including The Money Pit, Peter Pan (which I assume became the movie Hook) and E.T. II, which never happened, along with a movie he wanted to make called Schindler's List which would finally see the light of day nine years later in 1993. The feature interview is with John Sayles, who that year had released The Brother From Another Planet.

Stories include Mode of Existence by Charles Impert and Phillipe Gauckler, A Matter Of Time by Juan Gimenez, The Great Passage by Jeronaton, The Hunting Party by Christin Bilal, The Lord Of Eltingville On The Merits Of Ed Platt by Drew Friedman, Son Of Xerox by Fromental and Beja, Atomax by Y. Chaland, The Island Of Dr Murry by Nicola Cuti, a chapter of the weird Tex Arcana and June 2050 by Mark Wheatley. There were a few other weird one offs, and of course they are all chock full of nudity, strangeness, and the overall feeling that humanity is a doomed species, all hallmarks of the Heavy Metal style.

Also released in October 1984 were U2's The Unforgettable Fire, The Ramone's Too Tough To Die, and Metallica's Ride The Lightning. The cable station American Movie Classics is launched. The sitcom Charles In Charge began its run that month, and the classic sci-fi mini-series V ran that month. Ashlee Simpson, Katy Perry and Kelly Osborne were born that month, and actor Jon-Erik Hexum accidentally killed himself on the set of his show Cover Up while playing around with a prop gun loaded with a blank.