Zoran Janjetov

Update, Dec 28th 2021:

Metabarons are my guilty pleasure. Story so great (especially first volumes with Gimenez as artist) that falls apart for what I can only say is Jodorowsky's constant attempt to shock and awe that results in some of the most childish acts in story that literary .... lets try to be polite, so I will say spits on rest of the story.

So when you read the story and you come across tragedy, loss, pretty weird SF environment and then come the pages of "paleo....techno, arrrgh, arrrgh, blam blam" [fight scenes are so ... jerky.... once Metabaron shows up every body else can just lie down and die for all the good combat against him will bring them] it truly looks like a loss of paper, great artists' talent, and quite a few interesting ideas (that Jodorowsky seems to be ashamed of, because his entire treatment of the story is of a man ashamed of what he likes so he needs to stamp on it for the public to see).

But again, this series is my guilty pleasure - just look at the combat scene where No-Name takes the mantle of Metabaron from his parent, pure beauty. I just imagine pages by Gimenez driving some more ..... sane? consistent? ..... story......

If only this epic series took its epicness in more constructive ways...... one can only dream I guess .....

In any case recommended to fans of the series. For newcomers start from the beginning, this one is side-show story that might ruin things for you.

Original review, Nov 1st 2018:

Been eyeing this own for a while and finally got it.

This is story about Metabaron [as they say the current one, No-Name] and his actions aimed to obtaining his miraculously powerful weapons while fighting off alien invasion on an almost exclusively spiritual plane.

We also get No-Name's story retold again this time in form of memory recovery done by the Sleepers (as always Metabaron story goes x-treme esoteric and entire story line is very much like a dream - veni, vidi, vici). Art in this book is excellent, especially memory flashback part which is in my opinion on-par with Gimenez's work from original series.

Interesting story, great art (especially memory flashbacks).

Recommended to all fans of Metabaron saga (and epic SF of course :) )… (altro)

Interestingly, these prequel comics for the Incal are rather more exploratory for character development, starting with John's childhood and showing another side to him that is rather more proactive and interesting than the buffoon he later becomes... and it also shows us the reason for the change.

I'm actually rather impressed that it bothered to take its time... unlike the main Incal cycle that rushes through huge events like we're watching a reader's digest of a galactic war between good and evil. :) This one has a little of everything... a romance of nonsense, a love of love, and a very cool pair of robots, mystery, and massive corruption to combat.

What? John Difool the hero?

Well, it happened! ... until he got lobotomized. Oops!

Quite fun. I don't know if I'd recommend this before the original comics, however. It is slow and methodical and it gives away some surprises early while deepening the core story. I honestly don't know. It might give the wrong impression and it might make the MC more sympathetic. *shrug* Still happy I read it. :)… (altro)