'United Humanoids'), an association of Philippe Druillet, Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Jean Giraud (Mœbius), and financial director Bernard Farkas formed on 19 December 1974.

)[5] Upon Mogel's return from Paris on 27 September, he reported that the French publishers had agreed to an English language version, and he suggested the title Heavy Metal for an April issue to be released in March 1977.

[6] Heavy Metal debuted in the US as a glossy, full-color monthly published by HM Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of Matty Simmons' Twenty First Century Communications, Inc.[7][a] The cover of the initial April 1977 issue declared itself to be "From the people who bring you the National Lampoon", and the issue primarily featured reprints from Métal hurlant, as well as material from National Lampoon, a colorized portion of Vaughn Bodē's Sunpot (1971), and an excerpt from Terry Brooks' The Sword of Shannara (1977).

[citation needed] In the late spring of 1980, Métal hurlant went bankrupt[10] and Heavy Metal severed its ties with its content partner.

[12] After running as a monthly for its first nine years up to the December 1985 issue, the magazine dropped to a quarterly schedule (winter, spring, summer, and fall) beginning in 1986, promising an increase in length and to feature only complete (rather than serialized) stories.

4), the indicia began to feature volume and issue numbers, as well as the phrase "a series of special editions published four times a year by Heavy Metal magazine."

[24] A year later,[25] Grodnik/Matheson Co. sold the properties to J2 Communications, a home video producer and distributor founded by James P. Jimirro, with Grodnik and Matheson staying on for a period to run the new division.

[26][27][28] Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who had grown up reading Heavy Metal, bought the magazine for $500,000[29][21] in May 1992.

In January 2014, Eastman sold the magazine to digital and music veteran David Boxenbaum and film producer Jeff Krelitz.

[33] In early 2020, Heavy Metal saw a regime change to CEO Matthew Medney and "Creative Overlord" David Erwin (formerly of DC Entertainment).

[41][42] On October 15, 2024, Heavy Metal International, LLC announced that they would be relaunching the magazine in 2025, and began a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the first issue on November 25, 2024.

Founding editors Kelly and Marchant were replaced in August 1979[47] by Ted White,[48] who was hired to introduce non-fiction and prose fiction into the magazine.

[53] Julie Simmons-Lynch took over from Mogel in late 1981,[54] serving as Heavy Metal's editor-in-chief for more than eleven years, stepping down when Kevin Eastman bought the magazine.

Heavy Metal International, LLC revived the brand in 2024 and subsequently announced new editors Dave Kelly, Frank Forte, and Chris Thompson would helm the magazine going forward.

During 2008[68][69] and into 2009,[70] reports circulated that David Fincher and James Cameron would executive produce and, each, direct two of the eight to nine segments of a new animated Heavy Metal feature.

Kevin Eastman was to also direct a segment, as well as animator Tim Miller, Zack Snyder, Gore Verbinski and Guillermo del Toro.

[77] In March 2021, Heavy Metal announced its first move into television with an adaptation of Blake Northcott's trilogy of novels, the Arena Mode Saga.

Though not based on any specific material from Heavy Metal, it featured character designs by frequent contributor Simon Bisley and a style generally inspired by the magazine.

[79][80] The made to order machine, with a playfield based on the Stern Star Wars release, sold for eight-thousand dollars and shipped in late 2020 along with an exclusive variant cover edition of Heavy Metal issue #300.

[81][82] In 2021, Heavy Metal launched a podcast network featuring scripted and unscripted shows that focused on horror, fantasy, sci-fi, comedy, and pop culture.