Picking up from last week’s Head Lopper story, this week I’ll be discussing issues nine through twelve which are collected into the third trade paperback. These issues cover the Knights of Venora story arc which picks up a few months after The Crimson Tower.

In the aftermath of Zhaania’s death, Norgal wanders the land in a drunken rage slaughtering any monsters who dare cross his path. He eventually comes across a pair of wounded knights who have just escaped a goblin assault. After tending to their injuries, the Knights bring Norgal to the great city of Venoriah. The city is home to a massive egg that is said to hold the spirit of the goddess Venora, while other races like the Goblins believe it to be a herald of the apocalypse.  Shortly upon arrival, the city becomes besieged and Norgal is once more caught up in a conflict while sinister forces plot to steal the head of Agatha.

As I predicted in my review of volume two, this story delves deeper into the backstory of Norgal and Agatha. We learn the circumstances surrounding their initial battle as well as the reason Norgal refuses to relinquish her head. Norgal’s character continues to develop throughout this story and I found his arc here to be especially engaging. I also enjoyed how this story arc sets up a major villain who seems to be the final threat and manipulates things from behind the scenes.

Unfortunately, this means that the villains who do take center stage in this story are by far the weakest thus far. Archcleric Florentine is nothing more than a pawn that poses little to no threat and is simply a background element for much of the story. This story arc as a whole is definitely a transitional piece to a larger climax.

However, the city of Venoriah certainly makes for an engaging and epic setting. The action is still as grandiose as ever and the large-scale battles here make for some truly epic full-page spreads. Even smaller action scenes are peppered with large panels that demand your attention while giving each scene an air of majesty.

One detriment of this story arc in particular is the fact that at times the artwork can be rather hard to read. There are some key narrative elements here that are drawn so similarly to one another it can leave you feeling confused. For example, there’s a specific tower within Venoriah that holds special significance to the Knights, but Maclean draws it to be virtually indistinguishable from the other spires.

This makes it hard to determine just where the characters are in the city. This isn’t the only part of the story guilty of this and as a result, I was often forced to flip back and forth and reread certain sections. Additionally, the overall plot here is rather weak at points. Certain side characters aren’t given enough attention making me wonder why they needed to be there in the first place. There’s also just a few plot details that simply felt sloppy to me and some setups don’t receive enough payoff during the climatic final battle.

Overall, I still enjoyed my time with this story. Even if Knights of Venora is the weakest chapter by far, for me the parts it does succeed at lands quite powerfully. I’m certainly still invested and am hoping that the next chapter will bring about the start of a satisfying conclusion.

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Head Lopper and the Knights of Venora

$16.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Engaging setting
• Intriguing setups
• Norgal's backstory

Cons

• Artwork can lack clarity
• Villains are weak