Reviewed: Saga of the Metabarons #5, "The Snare of Okhar" By Alexandro Jodorowsky and Juan Gimenez. Published by Humanoids Publishing.
Plot: Honorata makes her loyalties known as the Shabda-Oud come to verify that Aghnar is the Androgyne, as promised.
If the above plot description makes any sense to you at all, you are either a) reading Saga of the Metabarons (SOTM) already or b) tragically hip and will probably find it all passe. In any eventuality, I urge you to press on because SOTM is the great unheralded independent comic out there right now.
Storywise, SOTM has two streams running concurrently, with a future setting framing the telling of the Saga in question. Interestingly, Jodorowsky uses two droids who live to serve the Metabaron, appearing in holographic form to intercept or, in some cases, create dangerous situations. Though we learn more about the relationship between the robots and their disembodied master with each passing issue, the Metabaron's current status is a mystery that yet unfolds.
The inner story is the more fascinating of the two as the Saga of the Metabarons reaches a climax with the sacrifice of Honorata for her son and husband. The story, thus far, has been tragic to a degree that would make Grant Morrison envious, or, at least, a fan. The symbols used in the plot are graphic and adult in nature, occasionally involving genital mutilation, tantric sex rituals, and unfathomable violence. However, these extremities are fused within a highly literate structure of lyric narrative and well planned dialogue, giving the events depicted their proper weight and emotional value. It makes for a pretty powerful story.
Which would be plenty to keep my attention even if the artwork wasn't amazing to boot. Juan Gimenez is a veteran penciller in the Euro comics' set, in addition to an accomplished illustrator of sci-fi and fantasy book covers. His contributions here are unbelievably detailed and sumptuously self-colored in a watercolor like finish. Any fans of Jose Ladronn's recent work on the Inhumans will see, at the very least, another masterful example of a shared European style in SOTM #5.
I guess I am impressed on a monthly basis by the range of wonder that SOTM manages to evoke in only thirty pages. Number five was actually the first comic I read on Wednesday and, while probably pretty inaccessible at this point to someone wanting to jump on, I only love it more with each issue. I heartily suggest starting this one from the beginning, with all five issues still available for re-order through Diamond at press time. In Saga of the Metabarons, Jodorowsky and Gimenez create a universe that looks and acts like nothing I have ever seen and, when done with class, that will almost always get my $3.00.
