Monday, September 30, 2013

Anarchy in the UPC


A Comic That Never Existed!

New Violence Comics #1 is a mysterious piece of comics history. Several hundred issues were 'droplifted' into comic stores, Tower Records, Borders, Barnes & Nobles, Waldenbooks, B. Dalton and other retailers across the country in 2001. 

Droplifting is a process of a leaving a piece of merchandise in a retail store by an artist for the purpose of getting it into the hands of consumers when those outlets would not normally carry such an item. New Violence was interesting in that it was found nationwide in 43 of the 48 contiguous states. 

The story contained within is the extremely violent tale of Steeltoe, a street level revolutionary with a vague, ill-defined political philosophy that seems to be advanced by kicking in the heads of all opposition.

The writer and artist of New Violence Comics have never been identified.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Head Case


A Comic That Never Existed!

In 1994 the long running Metal Head Magazine adopted a format and title change (the numbering remained). Heavy Metal was in a steep decline following its heyday in the mid 1980s and the publishers were hoping to cash in on the most recent comics boom. 

Articles and reviews were trimmed in favor of adding Heavy Metal themed comic features. The July 1998 issue included:

'Lil Lars: The Last Headbanger on Earth - Lars would try to save heavy metal from Rapper Mutants, Roving Bands of Biker Evangelists, Electronica Robots and Country Music Good 'Ol Boys in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

The Screaming Metal Babies - The story of 5 kids who were all conceived at the same Judas Priest concert in 1981, and grow up to become teen-aged, Metal-Themed superheroes.

Lilith Swordbringer - a fantasy/sword and sorcery series with plenty of T & A, graphic violence, and heavy metal themes.

These comics provided the bulk of the content, but written articles and review remained an integral part of this odd hybrid, that survives to this day.