Andrew MacLean’s “Head Lopper” finally returns with its second story arc: ‘Head Lopper and the Crimson Tower’, published in the same quarterly format, ensuring you’re getting maximum content for your dollar. Mike Spicer has been replaced by critically-acclaimed and Eisner Award-winning colorist, Jordie Bellaire, another aspect to be excited about. But does Andrew MacLean’s followup have the same overflowing energy that was contained within the first arc?
Written and Illustrated by Andrew MacLean
Colored by Jordie BellaireNEW STORY ARC “IN THE SHADOW OF THE TOWER” Norgal and Agatha are back! A daring new adventure awaits, looming like the Crimson Tower, home of Ulrich the Twice Damned, sworn enemy of Zhaania Kota Ka. With old friends and new, our heroes boldly enter the bloodied pinnacle with bare steel and steady hearts. The quarterly series HEAD LOPPER has returned!
The world of “Head Lopper” remains just as vivid and full of life as you remember it. Andrew MacLean starts by introducing us to the people of the Fonga Leaf. At first, they seem to effectively take the same role as Ewoks from Return of the Jedi, however MacLean pens them with a lot of tragic irony as they live in awe of the ominous Crimson Tower, the center of this story arc. He almost seamlessly makes this story work as a standalone series. Thanks to the setting, most of the plot is based on newly introduced elements, even as MacLean retains a lot of his old character cast, including the titular Norgal, and continues developing them here.
MacLean has already established himself as a master of visual storytelling, and it doesn’t let up here. One thing about this issue is how deftly he is able to produce intrigue. Characters and villains aren’t introduced with a massive wall of text, but leaders learn about them with experiences in real time. A great example of this is when we’re first introduced to Ulrich the Twice Damned and Berserkr. The scene plays out over a single page, not giving us names or origins, but simply depictions of both of them bathed in shadow, amidst a doorway covered in decapitated heads. And really, is there a better way to say that these two are villains?
But what I really enjoy is MacLean’s ability to seamlessly weave in humour to make “Head Lopper” #5 more engaging. As in the first arc, much of this comes from the disembodied witch-head, Agatha, a figure who serves as both someone to point out the absurdities Norgal commits and also to somehow be the most powerful entity in the comic thus far. When Agatha and Norgal first interact with the Fonga Leaf people, MacLean has Bik (a child of the Fonga) try to offer Agatha a flower, while she spits at him to ward him away. The scene uses MacLean’s signature multi-panel sequences to play out to great comedic effect, and helps to make the book a thoroughly pleasant read.
The real treat I’m sure everyone’s here for is MacLean’s art, and this may be his best offering yet. His sense of scale is clear right from the start, when Norgal and friends massacre a pirate ship crew and discover the Crimson Tower. MacLean uses panel angles just right to make everything feel grand, especially impressive because he never resorts to massive one page spreads. The storytelling doesn’t feel cheap in this way: every page looks packed with content, yet as MacLean functions as both an excellent writer and artist, we’re given just the right amount of dialogue and story telling that it’s not bloated with content.
My favourite sequence in the book is when the large cast of characters enter the Zelda dungeon-esque Crimson Tower. True to form, the cast must solve a puzzle to move forward, in a way that feels very much inspired by the aforementioned video game. MacLean paints the setting with arcane detail, yet still retaining the simplicity of his art style: right from the debut page, we’re given just about everything we need to solve the puzzle just in the visual content. It’s just as satisfying as completing a puzzle too, as MacLean drops hints but doesn’t directly allude for a long time what the solution to the puzzle is.
Continued belowHowever, as this is a story first before a beautifully rendered puzzle, MacLean gives us some heart wrenching action, as brutal as an entire Game of Thrones season compressed into a few pages. Characters that we might just have grown to like are torn away from us with utter prejudice. Visually, it’s pretty brutal, yet it never feels exaggerated or unnecessary. Every limb torn has suitable gravity, as MacLean pens each character with an expression of desperation. One particular character is impaled on a set of spikes that’s particularly harrowing, generally with violence of this kind, it can come off as shallow to a generation of readers desensitised to it, but this scene really had a sense of impact and loss.
Bellaire is one of the most consistent coloring names in modern comics nowadays, and it’s easy to see why with the work she’s done here. She uses a set palette to give each scene a distinct feel: the best example of such being the Ulrich introduction scene. The page is lit by an eerie green light, and filled with uneasy muted colors that really support the uneasy, foreboding tone set by MacLean. Bellaire uses these color overlays to great effect throughout the whole book. The flashback scene told by Zhaania is lit by a selection of rustic orange and browns, giving it a nostalgic feel. Similarly, the dungeon puzzle scene is marked by a distinctive dark blue that makes it really feel subterannean and otherworldly.
Final Verdict: 9.4 – With Jordie Bellaire in tow, MacLean once again proves his mastery of the comic book format. “Head Lopper” #5 is an incredibly engaging, moving and fun story that throws us back into Norgal and Agatha’s adventures.
