Steelhead the Grandfather

***Steelhead the Grandfather*** is the fifth issue of *The Saga of the Metabarons* (the main series of The Metabarons franchise). It was written by Alejandro Jodorowsky, illustrated by Juan Giménez and released by Les Humanoïdes Associés in 1998. In the english version it was released in three issues: *The Clash of the Meta-Warrios*,*Steelhead's Quest*, *Melmoth's Plight*, all in 2001.

In this issue Steelhead battles and kills Aghnar, and conquers Doña Vicenta's heart using the head of the poet Zaran Krleza, naming himself Melmoth.

## Plot

### **The Clash of the Meta-Warrios**

Tonto and Lothar keep waiting for the Metabaron
despite the fact that’s been centuries since the last saw their master and City
Shaft is empty. They check that the bio-electrogram is working by having the
Metabaron’s eloctrogram fight 180 cerbomaks. After that Tonto proceeds with the
metabarons story.

The story continues in a flashback: Steelhead
is appointed champion of the human galaxy. A duel is arranged between him and
Aghnar. Steelhead and Aghnar, each within his own Metacraft, begin their fight
to the death. They pass from dimension to dimension, neither capable of
eliminating the other. At last, Aaghnar’s greater experience puts him in the
lead. Honorata and Steelhead surrender. But at the last moment, Steelhead
seizes Honorata and begins to savagely mutilate her by cutting her fingers.
Aghnar cannot bear to watch and Steelhead is revealed as a cold and treacherous
monster. Even Oda/Honorata is appalled at his actions. She chooses to rejoin
Aghnar, and the two of them commit suicide by setting off the mini-bombs that
riddle their bodies.

Even if Steelhead is despised for the methods
he used, he’s saved the human race and the Pthagureans decree collective
suicide. While the soldiers celebrate the victory, strange vampires come
through the walls and devour the brains of the guess, including the Imperial
Couple’s. The Emperoress begs Steelhead to help them: the entities have entered
their universe through a breach opened by his cross-dimensional battle with
Aghnar. Steelhead accepts but demands in exchange for his help the title of
Supreme Metabaron and the Medallion of High Nobility, for which the agreement
of all the planetary ambassadors is required. Steelhead must therefore
eliminate the only one who would stand against the ceremony, Don Nicanor
Rosamel de Rokha, President of the Trogolosocialik Confederation.

Steelhead easily defeats the vampires and
reseals the breach, then makes his way to Philodendra, the natural and
beauteous Troglosocialik capital. He arrives at the Halerce Tree, the oldest
tree in the galaxy, where millions of dulcet-voices yukkas sing, and
cold-bloodedly executes Don Nicanor in the middle of his morning meditation.
Steelhead then goes back to the Imperial Palace to receive the medal he covets.

### **Steelhead's Quest**

As Steelhead receives the Medallion of High Nobility,
Doña Vicenta, accuses him of killing her father, exterminating millions of
Dyukkas, and vaporizing the 250.000-year-old Halerce Tree. She casts her vote
against the decoration, and intends to commit suicide immediately afterwards,
depriving Steelhead of his award forever. Her words sting Steelhead to the
bone. Most importantly Doña Vicenta predicts the end of the metabarons clan,
for as a machine without a human brain, he will never know true love. So
Steelhead rises to the challenge and immediately sets out to find a master who
will teach him love.

Steelhead goes to omni-library in the remains
of Terra Prima to research ancient texts on love without success, until he
comes across the image of Zaran Krleza, the last poet, who disappeared long
ago. Once Tonto has located his coordinates in the galaxy’s edge, Steelhead
passes through rains of acid and a shield of hurricanes to find him. Zaran has
been waiting for Steelhead. Before entering Krleza’s fortress he must pass a
trial: defeating an octo-tiger using only a bow, which he uses as an instrument
to put the beast to sleep, proving that love triumphs over death. Steelhead
succeeds and discovers that Zaran is no more than a 5.000-year-old head, which
sacrificed its body to live for so long. The poethead now wants Steelhead’s
body. Steelhead accepts, for emotions cannot be learned, but only felt. The
Endo-robots dedicate themselves to the very delicate operation, and the two
personalities, poet and warrior, not without great pains of the soul, merge
into one new and complete personality, which they self-baptize “Melmoth”.

So Melmoth discovers that he is in love with
Doña Vicenta, and wants to right the wrongs that Steelhead has done to her. After
replacing the Halerce Tree with a tree from Gzaynon, he goes to Philodendra and
then speaks to Doña Vicenta with words of the poet, which astound and seduce
her. But when she discovers that the man she has just fallen in love with is
her father’s murderer, the heartbreak is so great that she tries to kill
herself with a revolver.

### **Melmoth's Plight**

Thanks to the Shabda-Oud powers passed down by his
mother, Melmoth slows down time and deflects the bullet, knocking Doña Vicenta
out. While she is unconscious, Melmoth creates a clone of Don Nicanor, hoping
to wipe out his crime and obtain the forgiveness of his beloved.

The father
and daughter reunite. Melmoth and Doña Vicenta are free to love each other. The
young woman wants to give the warrior and poet. Metabaron the heir he deserves,
and also intends to go and vote for his Medallion of High Nobility on the
Golden Planet.

But Don
Nincanor’s clone has lost a portion of his memory. He remembers everything and
everyone except his daughter. He shuts himself up alone with her and there
declares to her that he wants her as his wife. He is about to throw himself up
her when Melmoth separates them.

The
President rallies his people to the cause. Yet Doña Vicenta refuses to let
Melmoth kill her father again, or attack her people. But if the Metabaron does
nothing, he will be destroyed and Don Nicanor will rape Doña Vicenta.

 Other Issues

1. *Othon the Great-Great-Grandfather*(1992)
2. *Honorata the Great-Great-Grandmother*(1993)
3. *Aghnar the Great-Grandfather*(1995)
4. *Oda the Great-Grandmother*(1997)
5. ***Steelhead the Grandfather***(1998)
6. *Doña Vicenta Gabriela de Rokha the Grandmother*(1999)
7. *Aghora the Father-Mother*(2002)
8. *Nameless, the Last of the Metabarons*(2003)