Thorgal: The Blue Plague
Thorgal Book 17: The Blue Plague, by Jean Van Hamme & Grzegorz Rosinski, Cinebook
STILL SEEKING a safe place to call home, Thorgal and his family are attacked by warrior pygmies on a coast where marshland and jungle merge only to be saved a by a Prince Zarkaj who takes them to a palace of magnificent beauty in a suddenly arable landscape. They are bestowed with finery and all they can eat, and the prince is most hospitable, but then cracks start to appear.
Zarkaj doesn’t seem upset that Thorgal’s the better archer in a contest among other things, but he does believe Aaricia is too good for the Viking, and that she should be his so offers to make her his princess.
However, Aaricia pulls away from his advances and in so doing he notices the blue plague on her flesh and he becomes terrified that he too might catch it. Within moments she and her family are taken from the city to a valley of no escape, to die with others so cursed…Or so it appears.
Thorgal escapes by way of an underground river surfacing in the jungle marshland, fights a monstrous squid, comes back into contact with the pygmies and finds their leader to be Zarkaj’s twin brother, stolen away at birth so only one could claim the throne. From there we move onto an old mage with a potion to cure the disease, and while the ending veers in the direction you expect, the end as a twist all its own.
A self-contained 48 page story, it entertains, has a feel-good end, and great art throughout, but faithful readers may feeling we are treading water here and still await Thorgal’s next great adventure patiently.
Sponsored by Target Media.
