Technoprzedszkoła

The Technopriests #1

by Alejandro Jodorowsky

Pierwszy tom cyklu, łączącego konwencję space opera z elementami wirtualnej rzeczywistości. Technokapłani są kolejną serią autorstwa giganta komiksu zachodnioeuropejskiego, Alexandro Jodorowsky'ego, znanego m. in. z sagi Incal. Akcja tego cyklu także rozgrywa się w uniwersum Incala, wykorzystując przede wszystkim wątki związane z tajemniczą i mroczną sektą-zakonem Technokapłanów, twórców gier wirtualnych, którzy okazują się jednak czymś więcej niż tylko pracownikami firmy produkującej gry...

Genres: Comics, Bande Dessinée, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Also credited as Alexandro Jodorowsky

Better known for his surreal films El Topo and The Holy Mountain filmed in the early 1970s, Alejandro Jodorowsky is also an accomplished writer of graphic novels and a psychotherapist. He developed Psychomagic, a combination of psychotherapy and shamanic magic. His fans have included John Lennon and Marilyn Manson.

Reviews

[Lukas Sumper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technopriests shapes up to be a fun adventure origin story, you got space cows, space pirates and even talking space mice. But comparing it to the Incal is unfair because this was in my eyes a spin off with a less serious tone. You have to expect some weirdness though, after all its written by Jodorowsky and he certainly isn’t for everyone.

The Art fits the story, I loved the somewhat old look which was so rich sometimes you could zoom in all the way and it would hold up.. but again that could put some people off I guess.

I am looking forward to the next Volume. 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are aspects of this that i really like. The art, of course, is gorgeous. I like how the colors do some of the hatching. The tech designs are very cool. There are some bits that were obviously influenced by TV and movie franchises, but then there are things that i've never seen before, like the computer controls made of goop, or the stunningly odd bulk of the "Verdant Fury" warship. The "album" format of this edition complements the art very well.

The story (of which there are only 52 pages here) promises to have a lot of exciting and trippy moments.

Where this story doesn't engage is in its characters. There aren't many people here you can like. The protagonist is Albino, an unloved child who dreams of becoming a technopriest (a glorified game designer). He's the Artist. Some of his monologue sounds like the author speaking directly to us. However, by the end of this chapter, he's determined that the skills he needs to succeed include lying, stealing, swindling, betrayal, etc. So we've got one character with whom we could sympathize, but in order to achieve his dream, he has to become scum.

Then there's Panepha, Albino's mother, who is horribly abused and abandoned. I sympathized with her. But she rejects two of her three children because of their appearance. Even after that, i could have gotten somewhat behind her quest for revenge, or at least taken some satisfaction in seeing her getting some payback against her tormentors, but that doesn't happen.

Finally, there's Albino's sister Onyx--who, despite her name, is red, not black--who is even more poorly treated. At least her brother gets to leave home to pursue his dream. Onyx is stuck cleaning the factory floor. She isn't corrupted in this volume, but i'm sure that's only b/c it's such a short volume. No doubt she'll be a sadistic pirate queen by volume two or three.

So it seems in the world of Technopriests, the worse you are, the more successful you are. That could be a commentary on the real world, but shouldn't there be at least one character to form the moral center, to show the good? Without such a character, does the examination of all this darkness end up saying "the world is a horrible place, but go with the flow and you can be one of the few with a relatively cushy life"?

Maybe Jodorowsky and Janjetov just aren't interested in that. Maybe they just want a gritty, scary backdrop against which to tell this broad, sweeping epic. But for me, if it's about how horrible the world is, it makes more sense to set the story in the real world, where it would be more immediate and perhaps be a bit clearer. To me, any time you set a story in a mythic world, some part of the story is going to be about values--more specifically, what's right, what's worth fighting for and preserving, etc. That's what mythology is about right? Preserving values? Although i wonder how some of those myths about Zeus work in this scheme.

Anyway, i like to have someone to cheer for in a story, and i don't find one here. These characters seem to work at making me dislike them.

Also, what's up with Panepha making the blessing sign on the cover? Is there supposed to be a Christian allegory here? I can't see how. Or maybe it's just a generic, sloppy "throw some religious imagery in there b/c it's deep" kind of thing.

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the kind of story I would read on Heavy Metal magazine. Eventhough the tech on this is borderline ridiculous hard sci-fi stuff, it made me interested and wanted to read the next volume. And just like any Heavy Metal magazine story, character development is weirdly done, the growth of the protagonist Albino is told by his future self. I guess it is really hard becoming the character and write the story in their p.o.v. as a narrator.

[Tyler Lutz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh, Jodorowsky has better

[Quiver · Rating 1 out of 5]

Written around the 2000s, the story and graphics feel like they are trying too hard to predict the future or simulate an alternative world. The set-up (three children born to a virgin out of rape by an invader, and the mother’s subsequent enslavement of two children and love for one) was executed as a cliche. I don’t see an obvious potential for a stunningly interesting development—if any promising seeds have been sown, they have been sown too subtly.

[Alessandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disegni che dire belli è limitarli, di chiarissia ispirazione moebioussiana, ma comunque meravigliosi ed adattissimi all'ampiezza della sceneggiatura dell'altro Maestro dell'Incal, Jodorowski.
Una prima (di otto) puntata che fa presagire una saga meravigliosa.

[Donyae Coles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pirates!

I really liked the art and smooth story telling here. Its milch more basic in a way to his other works but its engaging.

[Valentina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Х

[A · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

[Mikael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good art makes this otherwise dumb and unnecessary series readable.

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le début d'une nouvelle sage de Monsieur Jodorowsky. Niveau BD, je n'ai lu que ses méta barons et ça ressemble à ça avec des éléments plus modernes, dont un protagoniste qui veut devenir développeur de jeux vidéo.

Intéressant pour un début.

[Beatrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

C'est le deuxieme ou troisime fois (marques que je ne sais pas comment tapper l'accent grave!) que j'ai lue ce BD. CHaque fois il m'interese dans une mode nouvelle. Cette fois je suis Albino et son espoir devenir un dirigeur des jeux. Le livre resonne plus aujourdh'ui qu'avant avec les realités modernes du mondes virtuels - internets, jeux etc.
J'ai acheté ce livre en Montréal ou Paris je ne me rappele plus. J'ai lu les volumes 1 -4. J'étais deçue quand le planete des femmes guerrieres fut introduit. Cétait typiquement macho et stupide. Je voudrais lire le suite de la serie, mais je ne les ai pas en Français et je ne voyageais plue aux pays francophone aussi regulierement qu'avant.

Its the second or third time that I read this graphic novel. Each time I am interested in a new way. This time I am seeing the story of Albino who wants to become a game designer. THe book resonates more today than before with the modern realities of virtual worlds- internet, games etc.
I don't remember if I bought this book in Montréal or Paris. I have read volumes 1-4. I was dissappointed when the all female warrior planet was introduced because there were all muscle-bound ugly and stupid. I'm not sure if I will like the whole series. It may take me a while to track down the rest because I only read them in French and that whole typical lesbian planet thing dampened my interest.

[Clicque]

Sur l'Ast�ro�de Sacr�, ma m�re la pr�tresse accoucha d'abord de mon fr�re Almagro, splendide enfant, � la peau sombre qui s'appropria aussit�t, ses seins. Je naquis apr�s, la peau plus blanche que le marbre, �triqu� � cause de mon fr�re qui, dans le ventre de ma m�re, m'avait d�j� vol� tout l'espace. Mais plus monstrueuse encore apparut ma petite s?ur Onyx, rouge avec quatre bras. Moi, Albino, � pr�sent devenu Supr�me Technop�re, je peux raconter mon histoire.

[Rodolfo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hard to say what I've liked about this one...
The plot isn't that bad but it lacks better explanations or reasons to stuff to be what they are, even in sci-fantasy...
The art is so awful it makes the whole thing seem it wasn't taken serious by the creators... Like it lost its credibility because of the amateurism of the art...

[StrictlySequential · Rating 3 out of 5]

24×32 ¦ A.I. 11/2000 ¦ D.L. 03/2000 = Free » EDITION SPECIAL «

The story is too Jodoweird for me to continue but the art is stunningly drafted!