The First Kingdom - Migration!

As it turns out in The First Kingdom Volume Four- Migration we finally it seems get to the point of this extravagant story which has occupied nearly twenty installments and a decade of labor on the part of the creator Jack Katz. Katz's artwork continues to get bolder and bolder, with his lush figure work becoming ever more enticing. His earliest renderings tended to make his people very slender but a voluptuousness has taken hold which adds much. 

The story of Tundran and his mate Fara seeking to overthrow the despot Vargran reaches a climax in the nineteenth issue when finally the opposing forces confront one another. Tundran escapes to lead his army into conflict, having bypassed an option to not seek vengeance for the deaths of his father and mother so very long before. 

In the twentieth issue the game changes utterly as in a matter of mere pages Katz brings the conflict between Tundran and Vargran to a conclusion. The Transgods themselves find an explosive solution to thier endless bickerings. The world is on the edge of a new age when suddenly Tundran and Fara disappear. They are taken aboard a space ship named "The Galactic Hunter" by an extremely powerful alien named "Queltar". Queltar reveals himself to them and begins a long narrative explaining his motives. 

The people of Moorengan look in vain for their lost leader Tundran and his mate Fara. Meanwhile the story told by Queltar continues as he weaves an expansive narrative filled with man's promise and his destruction. It seems that generation after generation of intelligent humans find ways to destroy even the most promising civilizations by the tendency of people to harp on differences and divide into factions. Tundran and Fara listen to this tale as it progresses from geneation to generation. 

Our story in Moorengan develops slightly when a regent is put in place of the lost Tundran, though the search for him and Fara never ceases. Queltar's long story continues with more generations with more hopes seeming to fall beneath the inevitability of warfare despite great promise. We see couple after couple find love, build societies only to see those crumble after long years as man's worst aspects reveal themselves. 

Queltar brings his story to a climax as way to be is finally at last found, at least tentatively. It is in no small part owing to the hopefulness of youth, which is still ripe with idealism. The realities of life and ambition are always nipping at the heels of man's progress, but finally it seems a way is found to put a stop to it. These are people with vast powers, able in some cases to teleport across the cosmos. 

As the twenty-fourth and final installment of the saga concludes we get a resolution, but not remotely the one we've expected for so very long. This last chapter was published in 1986, twelve long years after the debut of the series. With one or two chapters a year released in the backwater headshops or through Bud Plant's operation, readers have diligently followed the saga only to find that the plot was never the point. To be honest, that was apparent probably at least midway. Events stacked up over time, but the forward momentum was often lacking. Katz was more interested in the how and the why than the what's next. But we are given a resolution to the story, one which sees a destiny for Tundran and Fara, as well as other characters who have been with the saga from the beginning. The fate of Moorengan is secured though Katz does suggest new struggles in the near future. But our focus remains with Queltar's mission which begins in earnest on the very last page of the last book. To find out what it is, you'll have to read The First Kingdom. I'm not spoiling it. 

Next time -- new stuff from Jack Katz! 

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