The Incal: The Epic Conspiracy
Some 25 years ago, film director Jodorowsky and French comics artist Moebius collaborated onThe Incal,a mind-blowing sf epic centered on a crystal with incredible powers. Now DC Comics is gathering the series, retranslated since its 1980s first U.S. appearance inHeavy Metalmagazine. The story starts as a futuristic hard-boiled detective caper. Low-rent dick John Difool takes an assignment from a mysterious beauty and, when the job goes awry, seeks refuge in the city's nether regions, where he encounters a dying alien creature who slips him the Incal. Here the tale becomes a cosmic space opera, lightly touched by Philip K. Dick weirdness. Difool gets in the middle of a conflict between the galaxy's greatest warrior, the Metabaron (star of a separate series by Jodorowsky), and the Technopope, leader of a strange cult. In the loopy roller-coaster ride that follows, Jodorowsky introduces one dizzying new idea after another. Moebius' elegant art, with its towering metropolises, bizarre alien landscapes, and heroic figures, is fully equal to Jodorowsky's grandiose saga.Gordon FlaggCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved