Gates The Comic by Hal Hefner, Presented by Heavy Metal

“Heavy Metal Unleashes Hybrid Freaks in Sci-Fi Digicomic Gates” – Scot Thill Underwire (Wired Magazine)

A few months ago, Scot Thill, writer for Underwired, did an article on me and Gates, Heavy Metal’s first webcomic. It was pretty cool in the fact that he really focused on one of my favorite parts of the story…The HYBRIDS.

As it stands now we are at page 15 and still quite a few pages off from really getting into the “good stuff'”. It’s what I like to call the Land of Oz on LSD. In this crazy world there are definitely some hybrid creatures that become integral characters in the story.  My inspiration for these characters comes from many avenues, from Richard Corben to Ralph McQuarrie, to Planet of the Apes and HG Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau. The fact of the matter is that I love playing mad scientist creatively and artistically splicing various kinds of creatures together.

So here is a sneak peek at some character design concepts of some “Hybrid Freaks” as Scott Thill of Underwired aptly labeled my artistic craziness.