Métal Hurlant: the French comic that changed the world

Between 1975 and 1987, the French science fiction anthology magazine Métal Hurlant
(‘Screaming Metal’ in English) published the maddest, weirdest and most
breathtakingly gorgeous comics the world had ever seen. A list of its
contributors reads like a roll call of the industry’s finest talent:
Jean (Moebius) Giraud, Philippe Druillet, Jacques Tardi, Alejandro
Jodorowsky, Enki Bilal, Hugo Pratt, Jean-Claude Gal, Richard Corben and
Milo Manara either made their name, consolidated their reputation or
completely reinvented themselves within its pages. More than any other
publication, it transformed a lowly, juvenile medium into a vibrant
‘ninth art’ and – to this day – continues to exert a powerful influence
on the world of comics and beyond.

The magazine was launched in January 1975 as the flagship title of Les Humanoïdes Associés,
a French publishing venture set up by Euro comic veterans Moebius,
Druillet and Jean-Pierre Dionnet, together with their finance director
Bernard Farkas. Influenced by both the American underground comix scene
of the 1960s and the political and cultural upheavals of that decade,
their goal was bold and grandiose: they were going to kick ass, take
names, and make people take comics seriously.