Heavy Metal's first YA story Starward concludes with an all-out celestial brawl

Starward Chapter 11 — (Image credit: Heavy Metal)

When you think of Heavy Metal you might think of dark sci-fi or even erotica, but the magazine has also ventured into a new market: young adult fantasy.

Heavy Metal #318, which is available now, includes the 11th and final chapter of the comic Starward, which Heavy Metal describes as "She-Ra meets Sailor Moon and Wonder Woman." It's the first YA story the magazine has ever published.

Written by Steve Orlando, illustrated by Ivan Shavrin, and lettered by Saida Temofonte, Starward follows Stephanie Cohen, a pre-med student whose future was decided by her parents.

Although she's headed to medical school, Stephanie's interests lie firmly in literature – specifically mythology and folklore. And the night before her 20th birthday, she's thrust into one of the stories she loves so much when she's suddenly tasked with uniting the reincarnated Seven Starward Sisters to defeat Kaos, a world-destroying villain.

It's maybe more than she bargained for.

Check out a preview of Starward Chapter 11 below.

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In addition to being serialized in the pages of Heavy Metal, Starward is also being published as a traditional comic series. Issue #1 is available now, and issue #2 will be available September 21. The entire story will be published as a trade collection in 2023.

Heavy Metal #318 concludes the Starward saga in this format, and also includes Entropy prelude story 3320 written by Christopher Priest, a new chapter of horror comedy The Axe by Brian Posehn and Joe Trohman, and a new Cold Dead War story, among others. The issue is available now.

Stephanie Cohen may be new to saving the world, but the best female superheroes are used to it by now.

Samantha Puc (she/they) is an editor at Newsarama and an avid comics fan. Their writing has been featured on Refinery29, Bitch Media, them., The Beat, The Mary Sue, and elsewhere. She is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative nonfiction at The New School.