Thorgal is a science fantasy adventure series created in the Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées (BD) tradition by Belgian writer Jean Van Hamme and Polish graphic artist Grzegorz Rosiński. Debuting in 1977, it has incorporated elements of Norse mythology and the legend of Atlantis, as well as science fiction and horror.

In 2002, it was adapted as an adventure video game, Thorgal: Curse of Atlantis, by Cryo Interactive Entertainment.

Development

The comic first appeared in serial form in Tintin magazine in 1977, with the story La Magicienne Trahie.

Covers for all comic albums are drawn by Rosiński, even for the spin-off albums which sometimes are drawn by other artists.

Reception and significance

Thorgal is critically acclaimed and one of the most popular French language BDs, with more than 11 million Thorgal books in print. There are currently three ongoing successful spin-off series, in addition to the continuation of the main Thorgal series.

It has been called the most popular series published by Le Lombard.

D. Aviva Rothschild in her 1995 book Graphic Novels: A Bibliographic Guide to Book-length Comics praised the series, stating that it is "better than an American swords-and-sorcery comic" when it comes to both art and stories. Commenting on The Archers volume, Rothschild described it as "one of the finest pieces of heroic fantasy I have ever set my eyes on".

The series has also been credited with popularizing the BD in Poland.

The first album in the series La Magicienne Trahie is number 22 in the Danish series.

Yves Sente (story) and Grzegorz Rosiński (art)

  • 30. Moi, Jolan (2007)
  • 31. Le bouclier de Thor (2008)
  • 32. La bataille d'Asgard (2010)
  • 33. Le bateau-sabre (2011)
  • 34. Kah-Aniel (2013)

Notes

Following the 29th volume, the series was written by Yves Sente. These albums initially focussed on Jolan rather than Thorgal.

Xavier Dorison (story) and Grzegorz Rosiński (art)

  • 35. Le Feu écarlate (2016)

Yann (story) and Grzegorz Rosinski (art)

  • 36. Aniel (2018)

Yann (story) and Fred Vignaux (art)

  • 37. L'Ermite de Skellingar (2019)
  • 38. La Selkie (2020)
  • 39. Neokóra (2021)
  • 40. Tupilaks (2022)
  • 41. Mille yeux (2023)
  • 42. Özurr le Varègue (2024)
  • 43. La vengeance de la déesse Skædhi (2025)

Les Mondes de Thorgal - Kriss de Valnor ("The Worlds of Thorgal – Kriss of Valnor")

Yves Sente (story) and Giulio De Vita (art)

  • 1. Je n'oublie rien! (I Forget Nothing!, 2010)
  • 2. La sentence des Walkyries (The Valkyries' Judgement, 2012)
  • 3. Digne d'une reine (Worthy of a Queen, 2012)
  • 4. Alliances (Alliances, 2013)
  • 5. Rouge comme le Raheborg (Red as the Raheborg, 2014)

Xavier Dorison and Mathieu Mariolle (story) and Roman Surzhenko (art)

  • 6. L'Île des enfants perdus (The Island of Lost Children, 2015)

Xavier Dorison and Mathieu Mariolle (story) and Fred Vignaux (art)

  • 7. La Montagne du temps (The Mountain of Time, 2017)
  • 8. Le Maître de justice (The Master of Justice, 2018)

Spin-off Les Mondes de Thorgal - Louve (Thorgal - Wolf)

Yann Le Pennetier (story) and Roman Surzhenko (art)

  • 1. Raïssa (Raissa, 2011)
  • 2. La Main coupée du dieu Tyr (The Severed Hand of the God Tyr, 2012)
  • 3. Le Royaume du chaos (The Realm of Chaos, 2013)
  • 4. Crow (Crow, 2014)
  • 5. Skald (Skald, 2015)
  • 6. La Reine des Alfes noirs (The Queen of the Dark Elves, 2016)
  • 7. Nidhogg (Nidhogg, 2017)

Spin-off Les Mondes de Thorgal - La Jeunesse de Thorgal (Thorgal - The Youth of Thorgal)

Yann Le Pennetier (story) and Roman Surzhenko (art)

  • 1. Les Trois Sœurs Minkelsönn (The Three Minkelsönn Sisters, 2013)
  • 2. L'Œil d'Odin (Odin's Eye, 2014)
  • 3. Runa (Runa, 2015)
  • 4. Berserkers (Berserkers, 2016)
  • 5. Slive (Slivia, 2017)
  • 6. Le Drakkar des glaces (The Frozen Drakkar, 2018)
  • 7. La dent bleue (2019)
  • 8. Les deux bâtards (2020)
  • 9. Les larmes de Hel (2021)
  • 10. Sydönia (2022)
  • 11. Grym (2024)

Thorgal Saga homage series

In this series, started in 2023, other writers and artists create a separate story set in the Thorgal universe but outside the canonical series, and without the 48-page constraint the regular albums had, occasionally even exceeding the 100-page count.

  • 1. Adieu Aaricia (, 2023, )
  • 2. Wendigo ( & , 2024, )
  • 3. Shaïgan (Yann & Surzhenko, 2024, )
  • 4. De givre et de feu, 2025
  • 5. La cité mouvante, 2026

Supplementary print publications

Source:

  • Multimedia releases by publisher Seven Sept; concerns background information books elaborating on historical settings and characters of the Thorgal series, enhanced with artwork by Rosinski, interviews, and an included DVD showing the artist at work on the covers of the releases
  • Entre les faux dieux ("Amidst false gods", , 2005) - dealing with The Land of Qa story-cycle
  • Dans les griffes de Kriss ("In the talons of Kriss", , 2006) - dealing with the Kriss of Valnor story-cycle
  • Aux Origines des mondes ("Thorgal: Origins of worlds", , 2012) - a collection of interviews about the creation of spin-off Thorgal series, interviews by with Grzegorz Rosiński, Giuliano de Vita, Yves Sente, Roman Surzhenko and Yann Le Pennetier.
  • Rosinski artbook - Thorgal 40 ans ("Rosinski artbook - 40 years of Thorgal", , 2017) - a 224-page art book that also features other Rosinski's BD artwork besides Thorgal alone.

English releases

All English-language Thorgal album releases have to date adhered to the approximately standard European BD A4-format, a book format US and UK readerships have historically not been accustomed to, they instead being born and bred with the much smaller, standard US comic book format. The closest format resembling the European one, US and UK readership are traditionally familiar with, is that of the US graphic novel format, though it too is somewhat smaller.

Donning Company Publishers (US) had the earliest three English-language titles published in the 1980s

  1. Thorgal, Child of the Stars hardcover was published in 1986 with
  2. The Archers hardcover was published in 1987 with (a softcover version was a year later published under the company's "Schiffer Pub" imprint with
  3. The Sorceress Betrayed a 96 page softcover omnibus collecting the series' first two volumes La Magicienne Trahie and L'Ile des Mers gelées, was published in 1988 with under the company's "Ink Publishing Company" imprint

Cinebook Ltd (UK) released the English-language (main) series up until volume 24 in the softcover print format starting with Child of the Stars and Aaricia in 2007. Europe Comics, partnered with Cinebook along with other publishers, took over the English language publications following their formation in 2015 and released the main series (including rereleases of older titles) plus the spin-off series in digital format only. They started in 2019 with the digital release of the main series, starting with volume 21 which was as the only one released under the same ISBN for both formats. With volume 22 digital releases had from 2020 onward overtaken Cinebook's print releases, which from then on was lagging far behind with their print releases, aside from the circumstance that Cinebook did none of the spin-off series.

Mainline series

:Note: Where two ISBNs are mentioned, the first one concerns the digital release whereas the second one concerns the print release by Cinebook.

::0. The Betrayed Sorceress () - Collects La Magicienne Trahie and L'Ile des Mers gelées [1 and 2])

  1. Child of the Stars () - (collects Child of the Stars and Aaricia [7 and 14])
  2. The Three Elders of Aran () - (collects The Three Elders of Aran and The Black Galley [3 and 4])
  3. Beyond the Shadows () - (collects Beyond the Shadows and The Fall of Brek Zarith [5 and 6])
  4. The Archers () - (collects Alinoë and Les Archers [8 and 9])
  5. The Land of Qa () - (collects Le Pays Qâ and Les Yeux de Tanatloc [10 and 11])
  6. City of the Lost God () - (collects La Cité du Dieu Perdu and Entre Terre et Lumière [12 and 13])
  7. The Master of the Mountains () - (contains Le Maître des Montagnes [15])
  8. Wolf Cub () - (contains Louve [16])
  9. The Guardian of the Keys () - (contains La Gardienne des Clés [17])
  10. The Sun Sword () - (contains L'épée-soleil [18])
  11. The Invisible Fortress () - (contains La Forteresse Invisible [19])
  12. The Brand of the Exiles () - (contains La Marque des Bannis [20])
  13. Ogotai's Crown () - (contains La Couronne d'Ogotaï [21])
  14. Giants () - (Contains Géants [22])
  15. The Cage () - (Contains La Cage [23])
  16. Arachnea () - (Contains Arachnéa [24])
  17. The Blue Plague () - (Contains Le Mal Bleu [25])
  18. The Kingdom Beneath the Sand () - (Contains Le Royaume sous le Sable [26])
  19. The Barbarian () - (Contains Le Barbare [27])
  20. Kriss of Valnor () - (Contains Kriss de Valnor [28])
  21. The Sacrifice () - (Contains Le Sacrifice [29])
  22. I, Jolan () - (Contains Moi, Jolan [30])
  23. Thor's Shield () - (Contains Le Bouclier de Thor [31])
  24. The Battle of Asgard ( - (Contains La Bataille D'Asgard [32])
  25. The Blade Ship - (Contains Le Bateau Sabre [33])
  26. Kah-Aniel - (Contains Kah-Aniel [34])
  27. The Scarlet Fire - (Contains Le Feu écarlate [35])
  28. Aniel - (Contains Aniel [36])
  29. The Hermit of Skellingar - (Contains L'Ermite de Skellingar [37])
  30. The Selkie - (Contains La Selkie [38])
  31. Neokora - (Contains Neokóra [39])
  32. Tupilaqs - (Contains Tupilaks [40])

Kriss of Valnor

  1. I Forget Nothing! - (Contains Je n'oublie rien!)
  2. The Valkyries' Judgement - (Contains La sentence des Walkyries)
  3. Worthy of a Queen - (Contains Digne d'une reine)
  4. Alliances - (Contains Alliances)
  5. Red as a Raheborg - (Contains Rouge comme le Raheborg)
  6. The Island of Lost Children - (Contains L'Île des enfants perdus)
  7. The Mountain of Time - (Contains La Montagne du temps)
  8. The Master of Justice - (Contains Le Maître de justice)

Wolfcub

  1. Raissa - (Contains Raïssa)
  2. The Severed Hand of the God - (Contains Tyr La Main coupée du dieu Tyr)
  3. The Realm of Chaos - (Contains Le Royaume du chaos)
  4. Crow - (Contains Crow)
  5. Skald - (Contains Skald)
  6. The Queen of the Dark Elves - (Contains La Reine des Alfes noirs)
  7. Nidhogg - (Contains Nidhogg)

The early years

  1. The Three Minkelson Sisters - (Contains Les Trois Sœurs Minkelsönn)
  2. Odin's Eye - (Contains L'Œil d'Odin)
  3. Runa - (Contains Runa)
  4. Berserkers - (Contains Berserkers)
  5. Slivia - (Contains Slive)
  6. The Frozen Drakkar - (Contains Le Drakkar des glaces)

In other media

Source:

  • In 2002, Le Lombard published a video game for Microsoft Windows entitled Thorgal: Curse of Atlantis (La Malédiction d'Odin) and developed by Cryo Interactive Entertainment.
  • In 2016, it was announced that the BD is going to be a series directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. In 2018 von Donnersmarck said that the project is "at the top of his list".
  • In 2022, Citel Games published Thorgal: Qâ – Le Jeu (in French only), a cooperative board game based on a specific Thorgal adventure.
  • An elaborate and multi-lingual (English, French, German, Italian, Polish, and Spanish) board game was under development in 2023 by Portal Games. A crowd-funding drive was organized to finance the development of the game. The popularity of Thorgal was once again amply demonstrated when the crowd-funding netted the company nearly nine times the funding goal, which was reached within one-and-a-half hour after the start of the drive. The game was set for an April 2024 release and delivered in October of that year.
  • In 2024, Polish game developer Mighty Koi announced that they were developing an action-adventure video game titled Thorgal for Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
  • In August of 2025, a (non-collectible) card game (Thorgal: The Card Game, Thorgal: Gra karciana, Thorgal : Le Jeu de cartes in English, Polish, and French respectively) was released by Lucrum Games/Studio and Don't Panic Games.

References

  • English publisher of Thorgal - Cinebook Ltd
  • List of comics, cover gallery