When I first got the collection of Heavy Metal from my father, I flipped through the lot and identified the cover of this issue as the point at which the tone of the magazine changed. At the time, I did not know that this was the first issue after the ouster of Ted White as Editor-in-Chief, which was a very tangible change in the look-and-feel of the magazine – this month’s editorial promises less pages of text taken up with columns and more artwork, overall, in future issues.

This page, in particular, is interesting, because it’s the first time that the publication admits that the cover had to be partially censored so that it would meet the standards of distributors. It’s also the first time that the original, uncensored artwork is reprinted in the interior of the magazine – on page 4, no less.

I read this as a tacit admission that the primary audience (as seen by editorial) of the publication is boys who want science fiction and/or fantasy with tits and/or ass and nothing that will make them have to sit and read tiny words of dubious interest.

(Heavy Metal issue #45, December 1980 – Page 4 Take Another Look)