In the Heart of the Impregnable Metabunker

***In the Heart of the Impregnable Metabunker*** is an eight-page short story, written by Alejandro Jodorowsky and illustrated by Moebius in 1989, to accompany the release of *Les Mystères de l'Incal.* This story served as a starting point for *The Saga of the Metabarons* spin-off, and was in fact retold in its first issue: *Othon the Great-Great-Grandfather*.

## Overview

In 1989 Jodorowsky was asked to write an extra story for the release of *Les Mystères de l'Incal.* Since *The Incal* worked as a closed loop (although it would later by expanded by Jodorowsky himself), he didn't have a lot of room to work with. At the end, he decided to write about Solune's adoption, an event that had been briefly mentioned in *What Lies Beneath* but that could be further developed.

## Plot

It's been three months since the Metabaron left the metabunker. One of his service-robot is bored, so he aks the android Tonto to tell a story about his master. Tonto reveals that the Metabaron's bionic lobes in the right half of his brain are due to the initiatory tradition that the meta-warrios have had since the dawn of time.

According to Tonto, the Metabaron's own father destroyed his son's right ear and part of his brain as part of the initation, in the same way that his grandfather had cut his father's left hand. The other service-robot considers the story absurd, and says he would prefer a good tale.

Tonto proceeds: After the battle in the west continent against the post-vandals, the Metabaron realized he had had enough with massacring enemies, and that there were no longer worthy foes to combat. The Metabaron swears to never have a child, so that the cruel initation ceremonies of his family can end. But suddenly, a figure holding a child appears inside the metabunker, is Animah, who the Metabaron seems to vaguely remember from "long ago". Animah wants him to be Solune's guardian and teacher, so that he can become the new meta-warrior.

The Metabaron breaks down, memories of the final trail of his initiation run through his head: he was sixteen, and after two days of duel he managed to kill his father. The Metabaron refuses to take the child, because he knows he won't be able to defeat the mighty warrior in the future. Animah, however, proves that the baby is indestructible by asking the Metabaron to plunge a dagger into the child's chest, When he does it, the baby isn't hurt. In fact, the child mentally communicates with the Metabaron, asking him to take him in and nourish him. The Metabaron, touched by what has just happened, agrees to take Solune in. The Metabaron was once the bringer of death but now he pledges to be the bringer of life. The Metabaron goes out into the night in search of a glass milk.

## The Metabarons

For *The Saga of the Metabarons*Juan Giménez reused Moebius' art and Jodorowsly's script to make his own version of the events for the first 14 pages of the first issue, *Othon the Great-Great-Grandfather*.

All 14 pages were featured in the original french edition of the *Othon* issue, however, in the english edition only the first 4 pages were featured, skipping over the Animah apparition (probably because they didn't want to confuse readers unfamiliar with *The Incal*). In 2002 these 10 pages were finally published in english by Humanoids, as "The Lost Pages" in the *Alpha/Omega* volume (which was a collection of different short stories and unreleased material in english).

## Recoloring

The short story was digitally recolored by Valérie Beltran, significally changing its aesthetic by favoring a more "modern" look.

## Incal Volumes

* *The Incal*
* *Before the Incal*
* *After the Incal*
* *Final Incal*