After 44 years in the tumultuous media sector, Heavy Metal is taking a chance on nonfungible tokens (NFTs) through a collaboration with Crypto.com to assure its continued existence. The legendary publisher of speculative fiction is eyeing the profit possibilities of NFTs, which utilize the blockchain’s immutable and unhackable record to verify the authenticity of rare things. Heavy Metal will be able to offer unique digital treasures to their fans and collectors by teaming up with Crypto.com. Since 1977, the New York publisher has been producing comic books in the adventure, sci-fi, and horror genres; now, it aims to leverage Crypto.com’s platform for acquiring and selling NFTs to add value to its material. Heavy Metal’s flagship publication is the magazine of the same name, and this collaboration will see the debut of a Heavy Metal Magazine shop on Crypto.com, where readers can buy, sell, and trade a broad selection of rare and collectible items. On September 15 at 9 am Pacific time, the first issue of the magazine was available on the NFT marketplace.
Heavy Metal CEO Matthew told VentureBeat in an email that the company “has always been on the cutting edge of content, delivery systems, and thought.” “It was a natural development for this illustrious brand to move from printed and digital magazines to NFT collectibles,” the company said of its decision to expand into the collectibles market.
What Is An NFT?
A nonfungible token is a digital representation of a non-fungible asset, such as a piece of art, music, or video clip that already exists in the actual world (NFT). It’s basically like a new cryptocurrency to invest in efficiently. They share the same core technology and are traded online, typically for bitcoin. Despite the fact that NFTs have been present since 2014, they are just now finding widespread use as a means of transferring digital artworks. There has been a staggering $174 million in investment in NFTs since November of 2017. On top of that, NFTs are often unique or exceedingly uncommon. When compared to digital art, where copies may seemingly be made at will, there is a huge difference. It stands to reason that if there is need for a commodity, its value would rise if the supply were abruptly cut off. Yet initially at least, many NFTs were digital works that already existed elsewhere, such as well-known video clips from NBA games or securitisation versions of digital painting already spreading on Instagram.
The NFT Bandwagon
NFTs have seen rapid expansion in the past year, especially in areas like the visual arts, sports memorabilia, and the music industry. One such example is NBA Top Shot, a digital spin on traditional basketball trading cards. The sales of NBA Top Shot, developed by Dapper Labs and published by Animoca Brands, have topped $750 million. Furthermore, a digital collage created by the artist Beeple and based on NFT sold for $69.3 million at Christie’s. Some of the people who are putting money into NFTs are gamers. NFT weekly sales peaked in May, plummeted in June, and reached a new high in August, when they averaged $165 million. Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance is a science fiction novel authored by Medney and John Connelly. To help Heavy Metal fans connect with artists like George C. Romero, Medney is striving to develop NFTs as portals into the series’ canon. He predicted that the upcoming four months at Crypto.com/NFT will be “crazy” in a statement. Later he elaborated, saying, “Or as my colleague, Heavy Metal president & director of studio Tommy Coriale so brilliantly puts it: ‘Buckle the f— up.'” The novel Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance serves as inspiration for the first release, which features artwork by British street artist Thumbs and other works depicting a fanciful cosmos with a foundation in science fiction. Heavy Metal will issue a drop based on George C. Romero’s The Rise, the comic book series prelude to his father George A. Romero’s 1968 famous zombie film Night of the Living Dead, after the “Beyond Kuiper” collection. In addition to being the presenter of the Heavy Metal podcast I Hate Myself, Joe Trohman (guitarist for Fall Out Boy and The Damned Things) has revealed plans to release a third collection based on the video game The Axe. Trohman and the comedian Brian Posehn co-created The Axe.Posehn has co-written numerous issues of Marvel’s Deadpool comic book in addition to his more well-known work in comedy, television, and cinema. Scott Koblish, who has drawn hundreds of comics for companies like Marvel, Disney, and DC (including a Deadpool series that lasted for six years), is responsible for the project’s illustrations.
Taking Risks
For an IP company to thrive and expand, “developing methods to provide material in meaningful ways which connect with the zeitgeist of culture” is crucial, as Medney put it. We can instantly mobilize, commercialize, and materialize our brand and assertions into new and cherished content paths for our followers thanks to the reality of NFTs, which is another consequence of the shift from print to digital. In 1977, when Heavy Metal first debuted, the Comics Code Authority was still strictly policing what could and could not be shown in comics. And ever since then, Heavy Metal has been publishing dark tales of science fiction, fantasy, and horror while also promoting the counterculture. Anthology film Heavy Metal, which bore the brand’s name and became a cult classic in 1981, is only one example of the brand’s far-reaching cultural influence; other movies that borrowed heavily from the brand’s aesthetic include Blade Runner and The Fifth Element. The magazine is still published monthly and features articles, artist exhibitions, and interviews with ground-breaking new and seasoned talent. The brand has also spawned a number of spin-off media, including comic books, novels, a podcast network, and even a few movies. Crypto.com Creators, celebrities, and businesses from the art, design, entertainment, sports, and fashion industries may use NFT, a curated platform for accumulating and exchanging non fungible tokens.Crypto.com NFT was launched in March 2021, and it is supported by the same company that created the popular Crypto.com software, issued the first Crypto.com Visa Card, operates the Crypto.com Market, and developed the Crypto.com DeFi Wallet. About twenty people make up the Heavy Metal crew, and they collaborate with two hundred different musicians.
