Aghnar the Great-Grandfather

Aghnar the Great-Grandfather is the third 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 1995. In the english version it was released in two issues: The Snare of Okhar and The Trials of Aghnar, both in 2000.

In this issue, Othon and Aghnar leave Okhar after they face the Shabda-Oud witches, Aghnar kills his father following the metabaron tradition, and meets Oda.

The Snare of Okhar
Tonto is making breakfast in the metabunkerfor the metabaron, despite the fact that he hasn’t returned yet. After Lothar accidentally activates the bio-electrogram of the Metabaron, the electrogram slices the metabunker in half. Tonto and Lothar use ant-robots to re-unite the two halves. Lothar notes that the Metabaron has a scar in his right eyebrow, proving that he’s not invencible. Lothar is interested in the story behind the scar, but wants to hear the story of Aghnar first.

The story continues in a flashback: The mother Superior of the Shabda-Oud witches arrives on Okhar aboard a Cetacyborg, a gigantic semi-organic vessel, that will attack if the witches aren’t back in two hours. Escorted by two of her assassins, she immediately submits Honorata to a closed interrogation. Honorata lies, claiming that her child is indeed a hermaphrodite, but that an accident led to the amputation of his feet. She promises to deliver him to the priestesses as soon as he is fit to travel. The witches insist upon examining him, but just when they are about to discover the hoax, Aghnar attacks them with his claw-tipped prostheses. Realizing they’ve been tricked, the witches try to kill him, but Aghnar manages to overcome the assassins in midair because his prosthetics are tipped with epyphite. Next he faces the Mother Superior in a telepathic duel. Honorata links her power to that of her son, and together, they obliterate the Mother Superior. Othon climbs into his Metacraft to destroy the sleeping Cetacyborg, which has been programed to destroy Okhar. The outer skin of the cosmic whale repels all his missiles, so Othon plunges the Metacraft into the beast’s mouth and is able to destroy the Cetacyborg from the inside. However, the Cetacyborg’s intestinal acid corrodes Othon’s lungs in the process.

To evade reprisals from the Shabda-Oud, they must now leave Okhar aboard the metabunker so that they can re-emerge later. Before leaving Honorata tells Aghnar to never forget the hypnotic scent of Okhar’s carnivorous flowers, and reveals that a micro-H bomb has been implanted within her from the beginning. She cannot leave with those she loves, for to do so would bring about their destruction. Moreover, the surgeon-robots cannot remove the implant from her, as it is her own artificial heart that is the bomb. Powerless, father and son depart in the Metabunker, and witness, from space, the nuclear annihilation of Honorata –and of Okhar. They vow to avenge her.

The Trials of Aghnar
Othon and Aghnar find refuge on Planet Perdita, which is dominated by a powerful gravity. There, giant mushrooms grow, inhabited by floating apes, and the planet’s surface crawls with flat, voracious animals which lie in wait for the occasional ape that falls like ripe fruit. In 10 years’ time, the spy-needles dispatched into space by Othon will send information that will permit them to locate the Shabdda-Oud witches. But Othon is dying, his lungs poisoned by the gasses of the Cetacyborg he destroyed. He wants to make sure that his son will be capable of avenging Honorata and demands that Aghnar kill him in single combat. His father has implanted his entire body with Oko mini-bombs, so Aghnar kills him by piercing his father’s brain. After that, he implanted his father’s mini-bombs into his own body.

One day Aghnar saves one of the floating apes from falling into the clutches of the flat land animals, and then injects him with epyphite. The ape, a Magon named Kiawoutai, can speak and has a soul. Together, they fly up to the top of the mushrooms where Aghar confronts and defeats the leader of the Magon, thus fulfilling the prophecy that foretold of a little white ape who would lead them to the Diamond Planet. Aghnar finally learns of the whereabouts of the Shabda-Oud, who are living on an ice asteroid transformed into a comet, guarded by their Cetacyborgs. He is able to locate a Cetacyborg and take its control with the help of the floating-apes. He submits the three Shabda-Oud pilots to his will and they real the objective of their secret mission: to kidnap the beautiful princess Oda, whose genes can engender the hermaphrodite that the Shabda-Oud witches still seek to produce. The whore-priestesses show Aghnar a holovid of Oda, and the young man immediately falls in love with her. He then sets off for Amahdis, alone and unarmed, to join the line of Oda’s suitors who are bringing the princess the blue rose that she desires. Aghnar is able to win Oda’s heart by telephacally projecting a blue rose. Oda’s father offers him the kingdom, but Aghnar is only interested the princess. The angered father wants to arrest Aghnar but Oda calls off the soldiers by threatening to kill herself. Finally, her father lets them go.

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)