The Metabarons Ultimate Collection #1

European science-fiction comics have a unique trait: it's a disturbed mix of technology, ambiguos cultures, incest and sex exploits, all that with high doses of war, blood and overstatement of some ideas that board ridiculous and absurd. The Metabarons is Jodorowsky & Gimenez ultimate allusion and masterpiece of all these concepts, resulting in a story filled with different worlds and universes that have their own cultures, moral conducts, politics, economic and social behaviors. The creative team builds tons of societies, weapons, technologies, languages, monetary system, religious beliefs, it's a very rich sci-fi tale, all that with great delusions of epic battles and impossible missions accomplished. The Metabaron is the ultimate fighter, it's a clan whose origin is told in this Omnibus collection, beggining in the planet Marmola, rooting from the family named Castaka, passing it's title from generation to generation, with cruel and bloody rituals. The motto in this clan is victory and suffering, something the authors optimize to the limit: this isn't a happy story, it's filled with hate, grief, treason, passion, heritage of war, nobility, greed, even when love happens it's distorted and misguided. Like I said, this is the ultimate collection of the Metabarons family and this is told from the perspective of two robots, Tonto and Lothar, inseparable "friends", loyal servants of the Metabarons. Perhaps this narrative dynamics is the best thing about this story, since Jorodowsky makes them the official narrators of the Castaka's legacy. Tonto and Lothar have amazing and funny dialogues, while Tonto tells Lothar all about the Supreme Metabaron's history (the present Metabaron). It's not such a long progeny (what conflicts with the timeline extension) and goes like that: 1) Othon Von Salza (The first Metabaron - Great-Great-Grandfather of the current one); 2) Aghnar (The second Metabaron - Great-Grandffather of the present Metabaron); 3) Steelhead/Melmoth (The third Metabaron - Grandfather of the current one); 4) Aghora (The fourth Metabaron and father of the current one) and 5) No Name (the current Metabaron). The first chapters are great to read, since the dynamics of the book and it's concepts are all news, but as you evolve the reading, things can get a little tedius and repetitive, nonetheless Gimenez' incredible art and some twists of the plot prove that this compendium is really worth the price! The art is gorgeous, the ideas are very interesting, but again, this is an european title, so it's very different from american comic books, it's completely different really, so many people will find it weird or strange. Fans of sci-fi will love this, there're many battle scenes, spacecrafts of all kinds, time travel, universe's theory and this will also please the ones who enjoy family drama and greek tragedy kind of literature. This is recommended for mature readers!