Raimo (Character)

Raimo was a leader of the trogosocialisk forces and a spokeman for the United Colonial Planets. He uncovered the Ekonomat's and Techno's conspirancy against the Emperoress but was unsuccessful in stopping the coup. He was sent to Aquaend, the prison planet, where he eventually came into contact with the Emperoress and joined the loyalist forces. Later he would aid The Seven Companions in storming the War Star and defeating the Techno-centreur.

His first appearance was in the third issue of The Incal, What Lies Beneath.

Early life
Raimo was born in Kamar, one of the Colonial Planets, eventually joining the trogosocialisk faction and forming a family.

Revealing the plot against the Emperoress
At one point, Raimo discovered that the Techno-techno were building another Shadow Egg in the Magma sector, and let his trogosocialisk comrades know that he would bring the news of his discovery to the General Assembly as soon as possible. Landing his Hope starship in the middle of the Assembly Raimo made a speech before the Emperoress, accusing the Techno-technos of creating the Shadow Egg and corroding a sun with it.

He requested an embargo against all the ruling powers and support for the troglosocialik united colonial forces, and a reduction of the Technoguild's and the Ekonomat's privileges. He managed to convince the emperoress but Greyfield proceed to execute his coup, killing the Emperoress and arresting Raimo and his crew.

In Aquaend
As punishment, Raimo and his crew were sent to Aquaend, the prison-planet made up completely of water. However, once ther, they were rescued by a medusa controlled by Edo, who welcomed them and took them to the underwater capital Vitavil H2O,the secret imperial citadel, where they found the real Emperoress and his/her loyalists. The Incal would later guide The Seven to Aquaend too, where they met with Raimo. In order to convince Raimo of the Incal's power Deepo performed miracle, making a rose appear in Raimo hands. Together, they devised a plan that would need major coordination, which involved hunting wild Medusae using telepathic hooks and joining forces with the Bergs to attack Technogea.

Victory in Technogea
With the help of the Bergs and using the Medusae's solid plasma to render the Shadow Egg harmless the loyalists managed to neutralize the Shadow Eggs, as well as disband the Technos and banish the Magnates However, after the victory, news arrived about a mysterious virus affecting the Emperoress… she/he had been infected by Greyfield with the tenebrae virus, and the great Darkness had taken over.

Race against time in the War Star
A Medusa was summoned by the Incal and was able to neutralize the darkened Emperoress. However, if loyalists wanted to effectively destroy the Darkness they needed to find is true source, so the Incal proposed going after the Techno-centreur, a being totally devoted to the Darkness, who escaped the destruction of Technogea and was now hiding in the War Star, a massive military complex. Although initially unwilling, DiFool ended up going to the War Star along with Greyfield, pretending that they were defecting to the other side. In the meantime, Raimo explained before the Assembly the new state of the Emperoress.

Greyfield betrayed the Emperoress’ loyalists once again, confessing their plan. Now that they had been discovered The Techno-centreur attacked John with black plasma and began to be consumed by the Darkness. But the Incal, which was miniaturized inside John, wanted to wait until the Imperial Fleet arrived. Then, Raimo decided to make a risky maneuver: They were going to go into subspace despite not having the exact coordination, making the rematerialization extremely dangerous. Predictably, the Imperial Fleet ended up rematerializing too close to the War Star. The circumstance looked suicidal, but instead of withdrawing their forces, Raimo decided to wait a little bit longer for the Incal destroy the main processor of the War Star.

At the last second the War Star's main processor was destroyed, and the enemy surrendered. Raimo met up with DiFool and the rest of the group congrulating them for the victory. Meanwhile Solune faced the Techno-centreur, which he managed to beat, but the barrier of the Light was broken in the process, which made it possible for the Darkness to spread its negative force through a new pathway.

Electing the new Emperoress
Back in the Assembly, the political factions were arguing about what to do next, when suddenly the darkened Emperoress, who had killed the last Medusa, appeared. Solune mutated into an Energy Egg to counter her/him, but before dying the darkened Emperoress warned that in 22 days the Darkness would fall across the heart of the galaxy. Impressed by Solune’s power, Raimo and the Assembly elected him as the new Emperoress, under the title of “Patmah”.

Solune proclaimed that humanity had to enter a state of deep slumber called the Theta Dream to avoid falling under the influence of the Darkness and empower the Incal. Raimo made a speech before the Assembly supporting the plan, which was eventually successful.

Raimo's family
Raimo's family was made up of seven members -five adults and two childs- serving as a mirror of The Seven Companions. They all come from an ecologist colonial planet, and want to rid the universe of the Techno technology that has invaded the world.

Compared to Raimo some of the family members had more pronounced alien-like features e.g. pointy ears. Like Raimo, they entered the General Assembly denouncing the Technos and were later arrested and sent to Aquaend.

They appear briefly in What Lies Beneath and What is Above.

Hope starship
Raimo and his family traveled through space with their starship Hope. The starship had seven seats in the control room for each family member, the power to use tridimensional propulsion, and the ability to pseudo-disintegrate. It also had a smaller shuttle, which Raimo used to burst into the middle of the General Assembly.

The starship had its first and last appearance in the third issue of The Incal, What Lies Beneath.

Symbolism
Raimo is presented as the archetypical classic hero, in contrast with The Metabaron (a modern take on the hero) and John DiFool (an antihero). Unlike DiFool, Raimo is a positive and honest character. In contrast with the individualistic John, Raimo also symbolizes the collective hero, traveling with his family, his tribe.

Etymology
Raimo is the name of an ice cream shop ("glacier") on the Boulevard de Reuilly, in the 12th Arrondissement of Paris, which Jodorowsky often visited while living in Vincennes. Originally the name was also a reference to Jean Giraud's father.