As everyone know,Conan is the king of the barbarians, just as the lion is the king of the jungle. This does not mean that pop culture has not invented other fibroids that are worth getting acquainted with. The best example is the Decapitator.
The first two volumes of Head Lopper (argh, I am pained by the lack of a translation of the title into Polish – it would fit beautifully in the tradition of Terminators or other Liberators ) were joyfully carefree. They were a kind of heroic fantasy pastiche, showing relatively closed stories in which the main character, Norgal, performed missions drawn straight from an RPG. The third volume turned into more serious areas, focusing on the eponymous decapitator’s past and how he came into possession of the head of the witch Agatha (the second star of the series). World-creating benefited from this, but it happened at the expense of the lightness of storytelling.
Stairs, stairs, stairs
Head Lopper & the Quest for Mulgrid’s Staircase ranks between the first two and third volumes. The adventure here is more adventurous than in the predecessor, but there are also many more serious interjections and political threads. Norgal and his team are looking for the title stairs, because at their top there is a sage who knows the answer to every question asked. The decapitator does not know the identity of his adversary, so taking shortcuts and obtaining this knowledge indirectly is convenient for him. And although this thread was highlighted in the title, it has a conclusion in the middle of the volume and plays a minor role. In the fourth Head Lopper much more space has been devoted to royal intrigues in the city of Arnak Pluth, where the aging ruler is getting ready to step down from the throne. And here the “growling” returns, as Norgal comes to look for two artifacts, one of which is guarded by spiders (what is this RPG without peanuts?). And the … reptilian demigods also play a part in it.
Four head are better than…
An ancient proverb says, “Before setting off, get your party together.” Fortunately, this stage is already behind Norgal, because apart from Agatha, his company was joined by the Goat of the Greybeards and Vrishka of Venoria, known from previous volumes. And this aspect works very well. We’ve seen the main character act solo in previous volumes, so watching him being forced to act as a team is fun and well led. Eventually someone can temper his chained head.
Enough about the plot, because what really “does the job” in Head Lopper is the graphics. Andrew Maclean’s feats are a championship. I am able to believe that many people will not like the absurd minimalism (in some frames, Norgal has only a chin with marked eyes instead of his face), but how beautiful it all is. However, I have the impression that, surprisingly, the first volume fared even better in this respect due to more games with framing.
We just can’t believe…
Head Lopper & the Quest for Mulgrid’s is more pleasant reading than the previous The Knights of Venora , although at the same time it is still a bit worse than in the first two volumes. However, I do not hold it against Andrew Maclean – I like it when the creators do not rest on their laurels and try to continue to develop their story. And that not all changes are always right? Well, that’s the creative process. Nevertheless, Head Lopper remains at the forefront of the entertainment comics currently released.
