Thorgal: Book 9 – The Guardian of the Keys

Thorgal: Book 9 – The Guardian of the Keys, By Jean Van Hamme & Grzegorz Rosinski, Cinebook

THE GUARDIAN of the Keys is besotted with Thorgal, but this voluptuous version of a young Linda Ronstadt is tricked and has her magic belt stolen by him. Only it isn’t really our Viking warrior but another who has taken on his form.

That character is Volsung of Nichor, and the creature responsible is the snake demon Nidhogg who wants to use the belt to spread chaos across the assorted dimensional worlds. However, the scheme doesn’t go as planned for Volsung uses the belt himself, becoming invincible, and under the pretext of being Thorgal prepares the village to prepare to board their longboats and make war upon all he meets.

Meanwhile, Thorgal moves between the worlds, aided by yet another character from previous books, Tjshzi, a dwarf by any other description, intent on returning home to save the day.

Surprisingly, despite the roll call of earlier friends and foes this book still works as a standalone tale, one that ranges from Viking traditional lore to enigmatic fantasy.

I truly enjoy Rosinski’s art on this series – though my reasons won’t be to everyone’s tastes – I thoroughly adore the fact that you can feel the pages were drawn, not digitally processed, that they evoke the skill of draughtsman from 30 or even 40 years ago; and to know that such skills are not lost is a great personal relief.

Who wins in the end? Oh, come on!

For more information on Thorgal visit Cinebook.

Sponsored by Target Media.