It’s always been a dichotomy, right? A graphic storytelling (er, “comics”) magazine called Heavy Metal, focusing on science fiction and fantasy, that rose to prominence while, along a parallel path, a musical genre called “heavy metal” got really, really fucking popular. And before we get into the debate of what is “really” Heavy Metal, whether it’s music or illustration, let’s call a few celebrity witnesses.

Now approaching the stand: Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Iron, Lead, etc.

Those are the original heavy metals, and have been called by that name for at least 200 years. And to those who have, occasionally, questioned whether Heavy Metal magazine should be called such because it is not explicitly about the genre of music known as heavy metal, let us say this: We are about heaviness, and we are about metal, and if that aligns us with heavy metal, the music, then so be it.