“The Trials of Aghnar” Writer: Alexandro Jodorowsky Artist: Juan Gimenez Publisher: Humanoids Publishing
Plot: Aghnar faces his final obstacle in becoming the Metabaron and begins his revenge against the Shabda-Oud.
Alexandro Jodorowsky, in his other persona as Euro film director extraordinaire, many years ago attempted to put Frank Herbert’s novel, Dune, upon the silver screen, intending to base the set design on the work of H.R. Geiger. Though history now shows that it was David Lynch who would ultimately bear that cross, Jodorowsky still seems fascinated with the themes that made the saga of House Atreides so irresistible because they appear throughout the Saga of the Metabarons, but driven to breathless extremes by his madness.
The concepts central to this sixth issue are typical of the series overall. We begin with a Freudian battle between father and son for ascension, a conflict based in proving Aghnar’s worthiness to avenge his mother’s sacrifice. Amidst the ancient archetypes, Jodorowsky tosses in spurts of impossible futurism, with everyone in the cast loading their already mangled bodies with bombs to show their willingness to die. This is a bleak, soulless future/past that these characters inhabit that still resonates as human, though endlessly tragic. Though the cast is driven, on an issue by issue basis, through the most horrible of circumstances (believe me, I am wondering exactly how many Metabarons we are to meet because it appears to be a brutal short life for most of them), their emotional suffering remains very human and continues to affect me deeply.
The difficult part of the Metabarons, at this point, is the viscosity of the gender conflicts, with the guys pretty much firmly against the girls. The Shabda-Oud are Jodorowsky’s version of the Bene Gesserit witches, a powerful and clandestine clan of meta-females who seek to produce a Messiah, in this case an androgyne, to rule the Universe for them. It has often been suggested that Dune was a careful and metaphoric exploration of the male psyche and its images and symbols, like in the Metabarons, have always come off to me as being, necessarily, distorted for that very reason.
The question then remains whether or not Jodorowsky (or Herbert for that matter) is using this landscape to ultimately judge or justify the foibles of the animus, with the reader’s response dictating to the individual whether this is in good taste or not. My assessment at this time is that Jodorowsky has been dynamic enough so far to justify a belief that something positive will yet blossom from this dark soil. Regardless, there is enough depth going on in plenty of other places in the Metabarons that I can overlook ideological differences that I may share with Jodorowsky, as long as they don’t overwhelm the plot.
Issue 6 is the series highlight, thus far, for artist Juan Gimenez, whose gorgeous watercolor over ink illustration are called upon to render, perhaps, the most fantastic scenes yet. Immensity of scale is a repeating motif in the Metabarons and, here, we are treated to giant floating apes who hover near the peak of a one hundred fifty foot mushroom for the bulk of their nasty lives. Aghnar, human and diminished without his legs and hands, moves like a speck among them and tames them to his service, much like Paul stood atop the worm and commanded the Fremen to their eventual glory. It’s pretty moving, with Gimenez’ exquisite artwork supercharging the battle scenes with a din of gore.
With Gimenez in complete control of the coloring, it becomes an integral and fused gear in this well-oiled engine. The moody purples and grays, especially in the flattened watercolor finish, screams Heavy Metal, though this story is much better than any I remember from the day. It is obvious to me that Jose Ladronn’s recent work in the Inhumans is heavily influenced by Gimenez and, hopefully, this detail-heavy style will continue to make inroads in the Anglophone market.
Every issue of the Metabarons leaves me in an increasingly more tangled knot of nerves, but, for $2.95 every thirty days (guaranteed…it’s already finished), I think it’s a great deal. The Metabarons #6 ranks at about eight on the ten scale of utter insanity for this series, at least, and will pretty much decimate anything else you might stack up next to it in terms of quality. In Europe and South America, the name Alexandro Jodorowsky means innovative, cutting-edge, avant-garde and carries a standard of excellence that few would dispute. We, here in the Far West, are now lucky enough to find out what the fuss is all about and I, for one, am all ears.
