Thorgal Book 13: Ogotai’s Crown

Thorgal Book 13: Ogotai’s Crown, by Jean Van Hamme & Grzegorz Rosinski, Cinebook

VIKING HERO Thorgal has lost his memory: our hero has been tricked into believing that he is a pirate warlord called Shaigan, that Kriss of Valnor is his wife, and his real one, Aaricia, along with their daughter Wolf Cub are their slaves. Meanwhile, his industrious son Jolan has escaped with two young friends and is intent on rescuing all concerned.

In part Jolan achieves his goal, and as long time Thorgal readers will guess by this volume’s title, the outcome of how that happens is based on events from the past; namely the lad’s own grandfather’s mental telepathy helmet, or Ogotai’s crown as it became known. Yes, for all intents this may appear to be a Viking adventure, but its creators do like to throw a curve or two; the fact that this family are descended from aliens for outer space being just one of them. This time round, the crown is basically a plot requirement, the real tool needed for the job is a traveller, which looks like a sword, but helps you travel in time, and initially it is accompanied by a guy who helps Jolan.

There are the usual assortment of time paradox laws and mix-ups thrown in along the way, some areas where you think things would’ve been easier doing things a bit differently, and an overall feeling that this is a throwback to a comic from the 70s (not a bad thing in itself). Not the best in the series, but by the end of the story, there is a family reunion of sorts, though it is not complete.

For more about Thorgal in English visit Cinebook.

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