Bride of Heavy Metal is a weird beast, even by the standards of the early Heavy Metal specials. One of the more unusual items in it was Crepax’s Hello, Anita. Hello, Anita is clearly a series of two or three page stories, which would have been perfect for inclusion in Heavy Metal over the course of six or seven months. Instead, it is presented here in its entirety without any real explanation that it’s a serial; this leads to some small amount of cognitive dissonance when the story resets every two pages for no real reason.

As with Crepax in general, the work is more about the general impression and feeling rather than a definitive narrative. In this page, Crepax’s better-known character Valentina makes an appearance long enough to give Anita a flat man that she can play dress-up with.

Art-wise, I especially enjoy the drawing of Valentina in the last panel, especially the lack of a jawline. The absence of definition is very appealing.

(Bride of Heavy Metal Special Issue, 1985 – Page 15 Hello, Anita by Crepax)