Heavy Metal Magazine is further spreading its signature brand of subversive storytelling across the metaverse, with the establishment of a Heavy Metal brand store on Crypto.com NFT.
Scheduled for release on Sept. 15, the iconic illustrated fantasy, horror and science fiction publication’s debut collection on the NFT platform will be based on the Amazon No. 1 best-selling hard science fiction novel “Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance” — created and written by Heavy Metal CEO Matthew Medney and Lockheed Martin Space mechanical engineer John Connelly. It will be followed by at least two others: a drop based on George C. Romero’s “The Rise” — the comic book series prologue to his father George A. Romero’s classic 1968 zombie flick “Night of the Living Dead” — and another on “The Axe,” a recently announced horror-comedy adventure created by guitarist Joe Trohman of Fall Out Boy and comedian Brian Posehn, illustrated by renowned comic book artist Scott Koblish.
“To launch ‘The Rise’ NFT with Heavy Metal on Crypto.com is one of those next-gen moments for a brand that has endured for five decades,” said Romero. “I love the excitement that bleeds from a Romero and Heavy Metal collaboration… I’m so excited to see the future hitting both of our legacy brands with such force.”
“I find the whole NFT thing fascinating,” added Trohman. “To boot, I am excited to take something from ‘The Axe’ — this disgusting, sentient, hell-guitar — and let it exist in other mediums… I think it’s so cool to see this weird Sam Raimi-inspired guitar that’s supposed to be alive, come to life!
“I had this idea for ‘The Axe’ for so long and couldn’t find the right partner for it, because it’s pretty insane. Luckily, Heavy Metal deals in insane.”
Dealing in the Insane
Originally published in 1977, when comic book content was still heavily regulated by the controversial Comics Code Authority, Heavy Metal Magazine has been championing counterculture for over 40 years. The first magazine of its kind to introduce celebrated global comic creators such as Moebius, Enki Bilal and Pepe Moreno to an American audience, Heavy Metal has provided a platform for many legendary writers and illustrators including Richard Corben, Jim Steranko and Bernie Wrightson.
“To me, Heavy Metal isn’t just a countercultural institution that has always sought to upset the status quo and pave its own way creatively, it has also consistently pushed the boundaries of convention in the comic book community and effectively influenced the mainstream culture,” said Crypto.com Executive Vice President and Global Head of NFT Joe Conyers III. “In that way, Heavy Metal shares many common values with the cryptocurrency and NFT communities.”
Heavy Influence
The brand’s impact on popular culture is substantial. Besides spawning the cult 1981 namesake anthology film “Heavy Metal,” it is credited with providing the groundwork for iconic motion pictures including “The Fifth Element” and “Blade Runner”; the latter’s basis, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick, was first serialized in Heavy Metal Magazine. It also published the official critically-acclaimed “Alien” graphic novel in 1979, adapted from the classic film released the same year. The magazine continues to feature stories, artist galleries and interviews by groundbreaking new and established talent. The brand is also home to a slate of standalone comic book series, prose novels, a podcast network as well as television and film projects — and now NFTs.
“When I took over Heavy Metal, it was with the singular goal of bringing the proverbial ‘Ranger from the North back to his rightful throne at Minas Tirith’; collaborating with Crypto.com on a slate of digital collectibles is like taking a giant step closer to Gondor,” Medney said. “With the first collection inspired by my very own hard sci-fi book ‘Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance,’ which I co-wrote with John Connelly, we use the concept of discovering new worlds to literally offer owners of the NFTs entry to Heavy Metal’s worlds — which is epically awesome. Then we get to top that with NFTs from the ‘zombie lord’ himself, George C. Romero — and if that isn’t enough, Joe-freaking-Trohman of Fall Out Boy is realizing his story ‘The Axe’ as digital collectibles.
“The next four months with Crypto.com NFT are going to be insane — or as my partner, Heavy Metal President and Head of Studio Tommy Coriale, so eloquently puts it: ‘Buckle the f—k up.’”
Beyond Kuiper: The Creators
Medney began his career in live events, operating as a tour and production manager — traveling across 45 countries and producing over 200 shows and concerts for Coachella, Ultra Music Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival and Lollapalooza — before co-founding Herø Projects, a creator-owned studio specializing in custom comics and animated content for music’s elite, where he continues to serve as CEO. He has helmed graphic novel projects with artists and festivals including Shaggy, Rolling Loud and Insomniac Events. Medney has also authored best-selling works including “Beyond Kuiper” and the comic series “Dark Wing” — as well as “The Red” and “The Adventures of Adrienne James,” which has been explained as “a female ‘Indiana Jones’ in space.”
Connelly is a mechanical engineer for Lockheed Martin Space, described by Medney as the “celestial ground support lead, deep space division” — and he’s not really wrong. Connelly was instrumental in work on the Mars Helicopter and has contributed to numerous NASA missions — from Mars 2020 to Lucy, Deep Space Gateway and Orion. Between his technical knowledge of aerospace engineering and Medney’s imaginative penmanship, in “Beyond Kuiper,” the duo concocted a fantastical galaxy filled with alien technology that is actually based in science.
Beyond Kuiper: The Story
Transcribed and translated from existential questions to tangible adventure, Connelly and Medney’s world-building and galactic lore imagine a universe teaming with sentient life — all of which wants nothing to do with humankind — centered on disgraced astrophysicist Bernard William Hubert, who has made it his mission to unlock the secrets of interstellar travel and explore the cosmos.
“The ‘Beyond Kuiper: Galactic Edition’ pulls you back into its rich interstellar society, shattering the Fermi paradox with over 600,000 worlds,” Connelly commented on the series. “Heavy Metal and Crypto.com [will] bring your understanding of the Karandu galaxy to greater realms, and treasures, with our expanded array of select planet NFTs — showcased from ‘Beyond Kuiper’ volumes both present and future.”
Beyond Kuiper: The Collection
The “Beyond Kuiper” NFT collection will include collectibles that illustrate the co-creators’ scientifically-grounded fantastical universe: a map of the Karandu galaxy, animations of 15 planets from the star system, three animated scenes from the series and a piece by popular U.K. street artist Thumbs.
“Although the story of ‘Beyond Kuiper’ is a fantasy tale about deep space travel and alien life, the character of Bernard is someone very real and I wanted to create a design that people could identify with,” said Thumbs. “Bernard is shunned because of his beliefs, by his peers and the community he’s helped to build, and because of this he goes through a very isolated and lonely time. Going through isolation and lock downs is something every person on this planet has had to endure in the past year — trapped in your own personal space with only your thoughts — so I felt this connection with Bernard was something people could relate to.”
Preview select pieces from the “Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance” collection below and visit the drop page for more information.
The Hangar
Hanger 3 at the Outer Limits Campus is home to the construction of the Nomad, the interstellar space vessel Bernard William Hubert will be taking on his journey to the stars.
Assembly of Planets
There are 3012 hexagonal Kaelan steel plates constructed around an unnamed asteroid to create the planet on which the Galactic Star Alliance Assembly meets. This “planet” is home to the meetings of governance that the Assembly holds to dictate the future of the Alliance.
You Are Trespassing
They did not know what was out there — they did not know what they would find — but now the crew of the Nomad will learn of the beauty and terror of The Galactic Star Alliance.
Browse the “Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance” collection by Heavy Metal.
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Editor’s Note (Sept. 1, 2022): an earlier version of this article was originally published on the Crypto.com NFT Medium blog on Sept. 1, 2021 and has since been edited and/or updated to republish.
