Metabarons, The: Humanoids 40th Anniversary Edition (The Metabarons)

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The clan of the Metabaron's is a harsh one. It develops perfect warriors that are inured to pain. The story of these Metabaron's is amazing and epic in scope. The tragedy of their story is similar to a Greek tragedy. The entire scope of the story starts with the first Metabaron and finishes with the last-this is one of the most creative and interesting sci-fi worlds ever written for a comic. Showy Invincible Hero: Starting with Aghnar, the Metabarons become godlike in their powers. They are able to win against impossible odds, like when Aghora slaughters an entire universe in a mirror dimension. The dramatic tension of the series comes largely from the horrible tragedy that continuously befalls the Metabaron clan.

Jodorowsky προσπάθησε να υλοποιήσει ιδέες που είχε για την infamous κινηματογραφική εκδοχή του για το Dune. Εάν το "έπος" των Μεταβαρόνων αποτυπώνει τις ιδέες του Jodorowsky για την ταινία που δεν έγινε ποτέ, τότε νομίζω πως ούτε εμείς ούτε η τέχνη του σινεμά έχασε κάτι σπουδαίο. Por último tenemos el argumento, que aunque contiene momentos muy imaginativos, la mayor parte del tiempo es ridículo y absurdo, Jodorowski transmite un profundo desconocimiento científico y tecnológico, lo cual no sería problema en otro tipo de obra aún siendo ciencia ficción, pero es que Jodorowsky se pone en evidencia tirándose a la piscina mil veces sin saber si hay agua dentro. Los pequeños intentos de humor, los diálogos entre los robots tonto y lothar, son esperpénticos en el peor sentido de la palabra, demuestran muy mal gusto y en definitiva no tienen ni pizca de gracia, la primera vez que leí decir a uno que se le quemaba un diodo me entraron ganas de cerrar el libro, pero de ahí va empeorando, derivando en lo escatológico y repitiéndose mil veces los mismos chistes malos hasta la extenuación. a b Matthew Meylikhov (June 18, 2014). "Final Incal: a Book So Beautiful it Barely Needs its Legendary Writer [Review]". Multiversity Comics . Retrieved October 25, 2016. The Bushitaka is the strict code of honor followed by the Metabarons, named after the Japanese bushido. It demands that the practitioners dedicate themselves to victory in all things at any cost, wherein the only alternative to victory is death, and even forsake their own family members in the pursuit of total victory.Berard concludes his tale by revealing that he is the child of that union, and he welcomed Othon (a fugitive pirate) seeing in him a trace of his own father. Othon is now ready to receive the mark of the Metabarons (the absorbed spirit of Gangez, worn as a mark on the chest) from his father-in-law. Moebius refused to do Before the Incal, thus Jodorowsky found Zoran Janjetov. Although Janjetov had his own style, he was influenced by Moebius and imitated him. Finally, Moebius decided to do After the Incal, but beside his illness at the time he had a different style, and Jodorowsky was not satisfied by the overall work. [10] He depicted the nightmare of the tech-world with a more abundant sense of optimism, something peppered with light and hope throughout. [27] Although Jake wasn’t completely sold on the story, his interest in the universe and lore surrounding the Metabarons was piqued enough to read The Incal, which features the first appearance of the Metabaron character. Nicolas Winding Refn Says He's Not Adapting 'The Incal' After All". IWatchStuff. Anticlown Media. June 24, 2016 . Retrieved October 25, 2016.

The Metabarons' rite of passage, where their fathers maim parts of their bodies while they must show no pain under penalty of death, is reminiscent of the Bene Gesserit test of humanity. Othon forces his son to fight a killer robot to prove that he's worthy, and gets angry because Aghnar "cheats" by taking off his weights, but still satisfying the terms of the deal (blow up the robot). a b c d e f g h Anthony Paletta (August 26, 2013). "A Change of Path: Alejandro Jodorowsky's "The Incal" ". Los Angeles Review of Books . Retrieved October 25, 2016. In December 2010, Humanoids released a limited edition oversized hardcover edition of The Incal, with 750 copies printed. It was sold out and soon the series was out of print in the United States. [23] In 2011 more hardcovers were released by Humanoids Publishing in the US and Self Made Hero in the UK. Smaller than the oversized hardcover edition, they resemble it in that they restore the original colouring and remove the censorship. [26] In 2012 Humanoids Publishing released 9.4 x 12.6" limited deluxe edition of Before the Incal with a foreword by José Ladrönn, artist on the upcoming Final Incal. Between January 2013 and 2014, they released a sold-out 12 x 16" limited coffee table edition of The Incal six volumes. Heroic Sacrifice: After losing to Nameless, Steelhead happily sacrifices himself to kill the cosmic louse that is threatening to eat the universe.I felt like this graphic novel was amazing in its own way, but felt fairly "old" in certain aspects of its worldbuilding. John Difool, protagonist: a Class R licensed private investigator and occasional bodyguard. Difool is reluctant to assume the role of hero, and suffers mood swings, self-doubt, and temper tantrums. He has a fondness for cigars, " ouisky", and "homeosluts" ( gynoid prostitutes). He is an everyman character, both unusually damning and praising of the human condition, kindly, sacrificing and selfish, likely to run away. [15] His story is presented in "Before the Incal": he is the son of a prostitute, and started as a PI while investigating on the children of the red ring prostitutes.

Othon finds out his son Aghnar is perpetually anti-gravity because of the darts and his first thought is to kill him because he can't be a good fighter if he's weightless.Motifs: Physical gender combinations or changes, including androgyny, hermaphroditism and castration. Othon is castrated by a laser blast. The galaxy is ruled by conjoined male and female twins. Honorata is supposed to give birth to a hermaphrodite to usurp the Empire. Aghora is a male brain in a female body. Joe Mcculloch (August 24, 2011). " "I Feel Myself Like a Genius and a Sacred Whore": A Few Questions for Alejandro Jodorowsky". The Comics Journal . Retrieved October 25, 2016. The story of this trade centers around the origins of The Metabaron dynasty, their place in the galactic history of The Incal and the traditions that will define the later generations of Metabarons. It is an understatement to say Jodorowsky "borrows heavily" from Frank Herbert's epic DUNE. The Shaba-Oud witches are the Bene Gesserit. The ritual mutilation of the young Metabaron-to-be mirrors the pain box, Honorata (a Shaba-Oud witch) bears an offspring of the wrong gender... At least we get space whales instead of sand worms and epyphite instead of spice. (It should be remembered Jodorowsky tried to make a DUNE movie in the 70s.)

Like any prequel/history spanning several generations, the metabarons is a bit repetitive and pretty dark (each generation having to die). It also fails to make any real point other than to lead us up to the present. As a narrative its not as interesting as say Incal or Megalex which is why it only gets 4* However It is still brilliant - The characters are all wonderfully well developed and this does an excellent job of exploring their psyche, Its also twisted, dark and set in a fully realised SF universe ranking up there with the greats. The story narrated by Tonto explains how Dayal of Castaka settled in Marmola and the origin of the crest of Castaka. This short story served as the basis for the Castakaseries, which chronologically takes place before this story.

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Animal abuse: Most of the Metabarons kill their pets at some point. I think it's supposed to show that they're too cool for feelings. One of the kids had to kill his wooly TALKING frog pal, because his mom is like "Love is for plebs." When the little critter goes "Master, why?" I really wished someone would have punched THAT kid's head off before he made tartar out of super cute little friend. Incurable Cough of Death: Othon von Salza takes terminal damage to his lungs when he destroys the Shabda-Oud cetacyborg. He coughs up blood for the rest of the issue until he dies. Clearly, this is Jodo spitefully ripping off Dune: Your movie failed, so why not steal from a better book to make your own "epic"? There's ridiculous galactic empires, weird mutants, space-whore priestesses trying to control the genetic fate of the galaxy, and good guys that aren't likeable or actually good. If you're going to shamelessly crib from one of the most beloved sci fi classics, please god do something creative or unique with it. Don't make the Metabarons. The sole human in a hostile world, Aghnar befriends a single primatoid, and becomes its tribe's messiah. He then seizes a Shabda-Oud cetacyborg battleship with which to carry out his vengeance; but is distracted by the Cetacyborg's crew's original objective: to capture Princess Oda, to use her for the sisterhood's breeding experiments. After a telepathic confrontation with the sisterhood, Oda suffers debilitating injuries; whereupon Honorata, kept alive by her own mental powers, transfers her own soul to Oda, who thereafter bears Aghnar a son. Disgusted by his incest, Aghnar attempts to kill his son, whom Oda/Honorata gives a cybernetic head to replace his own, for which he is called Steelhead. Steelhead later kills his parents. At his claim to the title of Metabaron, the Princess Doña Vicenta argues that his offspring must be unworthy of the title. Therefore, Steelhead assumes the disembodied head of Zaran Krleza, the last poet in the galaxy. United in body and head (but somehow maintaining individual personas), Steelhead and Zaran become Melmoth, which declares Doña Vicenta as the object of his affections, and resurrects her father, along with a rare, titanic tree (both destroyed by Steelhead himself). Doña Vicenta consents to the match; but the clone of her father attempts to take her by force, whereupon Vicenta gives him her eyes. Mollified, he permits Melmoth and Doña Vicenta to marry; but Melmoth discovers that Tonto, his robotic servant, has replaced her eyes by cybernetic sensors, and shuns her. Eventually, he reverts to the form and character of Steelhead, and takes care of his bride. When unable to preserve both of Vicenta's twin children alive, Steelhead removes the male twin's brain and implant it in the female child, and trains the androgynous Aghora would be trained as a warrior, who eventually faces his/her father in single combat to become Metabaron. To conceive an heir, he/she extracts the male cells from his/her own brain and implants them in his/her womb, thereby creating a male clone: the Nameless Metabaron who reigns in Incal. Each Metabaron draws upon an array of advanced weaponry. These include cybernetically implanted lasers, nanotech nuclear warheads implanted in the body, swords which can disintegrate in bursts of flame, and advanced spaceships. Many of the Metabarons also exhibit powerful psychic abilities.