Heavy Metal Magazine Relaunches With Bold New Plan

Heavy Metal stands as one of the most popular and influential anthology magazines ever published, making its highly anticipated return to comic shops a major event. Following an incredibly successful crowdfunding campaign, the new volume of Heavy Metal officially launches on Wednesday, April 30.

Before the official release, IGN is thrilled to exclusively debut a brand new preview of Heavy Metal #1. Scroll through the slideshow gallery below to explore pages from several stories featured in this debut issue, alongside all the previously revealed covers.

This new volume of Heavy Metal brings together a blend of legendary creators returning to the magazine and exciting new talent. And yes, that includes brand new stories starring the iconic Heavy Metal character, Taarna. Here is the complete list of stories and creators appearing in the first issue:

BUG - Enki BilalBurton & Cyb - Antonio Segura & José OrtizThe Mercenary - Vicente SegrellesValentina - Sergio GerasiSixella: The Last Roots - JanevskyTaarna: Rebirth - Leah Moore, John Reppion, Anna MorozovaCold Dead War: The Aftermath - Craig WilsonGrimaldi - Keron Grant, Josh Sky, Frank ForteLegends of Taarna: "Autophonomania" - Matt and Shawn Fillbach, Joseph Michael LinsnerGladiatrix - John StanisciEvil Sex Bitch - Steve MannionLester, That Old Feeling - Fernando DagninoThe Bus - Paul KirchnerJune 2050 - John WorkmanMillstone - Michael Conrad, Ilias KyriazisTranscendestiny - David Quinn, Tim VigilCobot - Jonathan WayshakAll American - Jason Spell, JokKecksburg UFO - Jim RuggThey Dug Too Deep - Dwayne HarrisFloyd the Giant Killer - Michael L. PetersGUNK - Curt MerloHarry Canyon - Josh Sky, Frank ForteZeke & Edsel - Frank ForteThe Devil's Teeth - Lia Bozonelis, Agustin Alessio

Heavy Metal #1 features a substantial print run of 73,000 copies, marking it as the series' largest printing in several decades. Priced at $14.99, this issue contains 232 pages.

Heavy Metal #1 arrives in comic shops on April 30 and on newsstands on May 13. Future issues are planned for a quarterly release schedule, though the publisher has indicated the possibility of a more frequent release if reader demand supports it.

In other comic book industry news, Mike Mignola is set to return to the Hellboy universe this summer, and we recently spoke with the creative team behind the new Spider-Man & Wolverine series.