The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

Thorgal Volume 10 – The Sun Sword

By Jean Van Hamme and Grzegorz Rosinski

Cinebook

Oh I do swing too and fro with my enjoyment of Thorgal; Van Hamme and Rosinski’s legendary sword and sorcery saga. Here’s my first take on it – Volumes 1-6:

So Thorgal was enjoyable enough, indeed it was a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be, to the point where I’d quite happily settle down with more volumes in this series, but not exactly my thing. However, for those of you reading this who do enjoy your swords with a little sorcery thrown in, I imagine you’ll be absolutely thrilled by each and everyone of these Thorgal volumes.

But then Volume 7 impressed with it’s weird time travel storyline:

I’m going to tell you that Thorgal really is going out of it’s way to be an excellent book. So something very good has obviously happened with Volume 7, something that’s rather befuddled my expectations of Van Hamme’s sword and sorcery epic.

After Volume 8 I was almost reluctantly admitting I liked it:

Like all previous Thorgal volumes, we get a little sword, a little sorcery, a lot of action and some lovely artwork from Rosinski. At the end, with everything satisfactorily concluded, I found myself closing the book and finally admitting to myself that I actually do enjoy Thorgal, and am looking forward to the next volume.

But then Volume 9 set me against it again:

it’s a fair(ly) enjoyable, if cliched rush, but I couldn’t help thinking that it didn’t have the invention or the enjoyment of the previous two volumes. It felt a little bit like Van Hamme doing a Thorgal story strictly by the numbers.

And now, after Volume 10, I just think I might have finally had done with it. If Volume 9 felt like Van Hamme doing Thorgal by the numbers then this is simply Van Hamme phoning it in.

The story doesn’t really amount to anything and throughout the volume it reads almost childishly, this happens, then this, then something else, then this again…. over and over, a parade of moments with none of the style or skill Van Hamme has shown himself supremely capable of in other stories and indeed in previous Thorgal volumes.

(Thorgal learns of the story he’s about to be dropped into. From Volume 10; The Sun Sword by Van Hamme and Rosinski)

But here, it’s a nothing tale. A wandering Thorgal is captured and enslaved by Orgoff the Invincible, who wields a powerful weapon he calls the Sun Sword, but it’s obviously going to turn out to be something else, something tied into Thorgal’s extra-terrestrial origins.

After this it’s a simple pattern of conflict, escape, capture by the last group of rebels against Orgoff’s reign of power. And the return of an old enemy, conveniently and lazily written into the story with a simple skating over of previous troubles:

(Kriss of Valnor returns. Doesn’t matter how, Van Hamme quickly skate over that one. From Thorgal Volume 10, The Sun Sword)

And from there it’s just a by the numbers Thorgal story of defeating the bad guy. It’s just too slight, too obvious, and just reads poorly. Okay, everyone has a bad day, but this one is enough to put me off Thorgal completely I’m afraid. It’s been up and down throughout, but this really is the volume I have to give up on the story. You may all now get together and tell me I’m wrong, tell me how it really turns into something brilliant and epic after this. Have fun telling me I’m wrong, but I just got nothing from this.

Rosinski’s artwork throughout is as polished and interesting as ever. He’s on fine form here. It’s just a shame Van Hamme didn’t match the efforts of his artist.