This week I return once again to the Head Lopper series for the final published story arc as of now. This collection covers issues 13 through 16 which follows the Quest for Mulgrid’s Stair. There is no word as of now as to when the next issue will be released for the series. However, this volume certainly isn’t the definitive end as there are still many plot threads to be resolved.

This storyline follows our hero Norgal and his new allies, Brishka and Goat of the Greybeards who join him after the conflict in Venoriah. Norgal searches for the fabled Mulgrid’s Stair, the ancient domain of an immortal all-knowing scribe. Once he finds the stair, Norgal plans to ask Mulgrid for information on his hidden enemies to take the fight to them. This quest takes him to the troubled kingdom of Arnak Pluth where he is entreated by the ruler to recover two lost artifacts.

This story arc makes for an exceptionally fun structure that feels like reading through a personal Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Norgal’s new band is just as charming as his previous allies and the interactions between friends make for a delightful back-and-forth throughout the story. I also enjoyed some of the worldbuilding, though at times it can lean too heavily on exposition dumps. With a visual medium such as comics, this is a detriment, especially given the action-heavy style of Maclean’s past storylines. Nonetheless, I found the deeper focus on the deities of this world to be engaging. No doubt it will lay the groundwork for more epic storylines in the future.

At times this exposition can also bleed into some of the characterization. For example, the Manderbolt family are the rulers of Arnak Pluth and act as the primary antagonists throughout this narrative. However, almost all of their personality traits and background information are shown to the reader through direct exposition-heavy dialogue.

As a result, most of them are quite flat, meaning they can be boiled down to simple personality traits and undergo little change. Now this most likely has to do with the fact that they aren’t meant to be anything more than a passing threat that merely provides external motivation to our core characters. However, it’s still an overall negative aspect of this section of the tale for me.

The artwork remains especially strong in this volume. I enjoyed seeing Maclean incorporate classic monsters such as Medusa into his style while continuing to bring exciting new creatures to the forefront. Background elements are also much more detailed than in the previous arc, which certainly improves the flow of the book. The light bits of scattered comedy also stuck out to me here as being more memorable than in the last few issues. The inclusion certainly helps build endearment between the reader and this unlikely group of adventurers.

Though Head Lopper still hasn’t managed to succeed for me in every aspect and certain storylines are much stronger than others, I still find Maclean’s work to be overall worth the read. I’m looking forward to more issues of this story whenever they are released and I consider the series a must-read for hardcore fans of action fantasy comics such as Conan the Barbarian.

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Head Lopper and the Quest for Mulgrid's Stair

16.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Fun, hack and slash plot
• Norgal's new friends
• Clean, stylized art

Cons

• Lots of exposition
• Transitional villains