Aghora the Father-Mother

Aghora the Father-Mother is the seventh issue of The Saga of the Metabarons (the main series of The Metabarons franchise). It was written by Alejandro Jodorowsky, illustrated by Juan Giménez and released by Les Humanoïdes Associés in 2002. In the english version it was released in three issues: Aghora, the Father-Mother, The Mirror Effect, The Return of the Shabda-Oud.

Aghora, the Father-Mother
Near death due to tuberculosis, Doña Vicenta, learns that due to complications only one of the twins in her womb can be born. Doña Vicenta assumes that Steelhead will save the male child to perpetuate his clan. Steelhead surprises her by offering to save the female child despite the fact that the tradition of the Metabarons can only pass from father to son. Steelhead saves the siamese twins by transplanting the boy’s brain into the girl’s body, storing the boy’s body in a stasis chamber. Just as Doña Vicenta sees her daughter, Aghora, she suffers a pulmonary hemorrhage and Steelhead preserves her in a state of near-death.

Steelhead finds a Tarantuwolf to nurse Aghora with its milk and by the time Aghora is five years old she tames the great beast, calling it Deyanira. During the first Metabaronic rite of passage, Aghora’s left hand is replaced with a bionic hand, Oko mini-boms are implanted, and her body is altered so that her breasts will never grow and she can live as a male. Aghora’s first assignment is to serve as executioner on the prison planet Khaliyuga, killing criminals from the deadliest species of the galaxy. Overcome with grief for Doña Vicenta, Steelhead replaces his flesh with Storlon an industrictible metal. Unable to slay her father in battle for the title of Metabaron, Aghora destroys Doña Vicenta’s body and seals Steelhead in a stasis cocoon launching him into deep space. For three years Aghora waits for the Imperial Court to grant her an assignment, but not summons ever arrives. Even when an alien race’s Mirror Ships invade the universe and destroy the Imperial Fleet, the Empire fails to summon Aghora. Determined to defend the universe, Aghora heads for the Golden Planet to find out why no one has asked for the Metabaron’s help.

The Mirror Effect
Aghora, daughter of Steelhead, has a female body but the brain of her siamese twin brother. Her breasts altered so that they will never grow and she can live as a male. Aghora waits three years for the Imperial Court to grant her an assignment. Even when an alien threat invades the universe, the Empire fails to summon Aghora. Aghora heads for the Golden Planet to find out why no one asked for the Metabaron’s help. When she arrives at the Imperial Court, Aghora is mocked, for no woman can be a true Metabaron. The Imperial army attempts to rape Aghora, who lets her tarantuwolf, Deyanira, destroy the troops.

Meanwhile, in the present, Lothar combusts and is repaired into the body of a humanoid robot. Back in the past, Aghora turns down an offer to command the Imperial fleet, and goes to face the enemy on her own. She sees the fleet’s ships being destroyed by mirror images that reflect every attack back on them. Using her psycho-mimetic aura, Aghora penetrates the enemy’s defenses to confront it directly attack, knowing that her enemy can copy flesh and bone, but not her soul. When the enemy reveales itself to be the nucleus of an entire universe and tries to surrender, Aghora remains true to the code of Bushitaka. She destroys her enemy, wiping out an entire universe,

During the ceremony in which Aghora is awarded the Pluri-Galactic Medallion, Deyanira  is suddenly possessed with a savage fury, eating the Techno-pope alive. In the Metabunker, Tonto determines that Deyanira has a brain tumor, one that will kill the tarantuwolf slowly and painfully. Shedding a single tear, Aghora kills Deyanira mercifully. Her emotions revealed for the first time, Aghora realizes that she is filled with deep sadness, for she knows how to create only death, not life. In a moment of clarity, Aghora decides to have a child. Unable to bear the thought of intercourse with a man, Aghora probes her own brain and extracts male cells to impregnate herself, Aghora gives into hiding on the garden planet of Flos so that she can give birth in peace.

The Return of the Shabda-Oud
However, the four surviving whore-priestesses of the Shabda-oud, now aboard an Octocyborg wake the Kantyloper (that they late insert in the female warrior Zombra, giving her the ability to endlessly multiple) are still planning to seize the throne.One of them has already transferred her spirit into a genetically modified pre-historic animal that will serve as the perfect androgyne, but the need to take out the metabarons first. Just when Aghora is giving birth she’s attacked by thousands of copies of Zombra.

Meanwhile, in the present, Lothar gets tired of Tonto taunting him and breaks his torso. Back in the past, when Aghora realizes she can’t triumph over all her enemies, she employs the bushitaka law: “a warrior must sacrifice part of herself to survive”, so she directed the metablade’s battle-thirst in towards itself. As the weapon disintegrates, she mentally steered its self-destructive force downwards, using it as a rocket that allowed them to reach the metacraft in the sky, and uses it to incinerate all the zombras.

Aghora rushes back to the Imperial Palace, which is being attacked by the witches, and uses her mental power to defeat them. Even her baby gets between the two mental beams and also helps to finally disintegrate the witches. The infant is regaled with all the greatest honors, however, when they ask the baby’s name Aghora tells them that he has “no name”, since his role as the perfect warrior is greater than even his identity.

Other Issues

 * 1) Othon the Great-Great-Grandfather (1992)
 * 2) Honorata the Great-Great-Grandmother (1993)
 * 3) Aghnar the Great-Grandfather (1995)
 * 4) Oda the Great-Grandmother (1997)
 * 5) Steelhead the Grandfather (1998)
 * 6) Doña Vicenta Gabriela de Rokha the Grandmother (1999)
 * 7) Aghora the Father-Mother (2002)
 * 8) Nameless, the Last of the Metabarons (2003)