Comic Book / Rork

”Everything that we are doing here is just a cheap mysticism”

A semi-surreal, dieselpunk-ish comic book series written and drawn by German artist Andreas Martens. The story focuses on the enigmatic white-haired wizard Rork and his Verne-esque adventures. It started off as a collection of short stories originally serialized in the Belgian edition of Tintin magazine, then - after the magazine was cancelled - published as a graphic novel series in Le Lombard. After that, the comic began introducing a long term Story Arc, which included, among many other things, Eldritch Abominations, Lost Technologies, Starfish Aliens, Time Travels, Dimensional Travels and owls.

There are eight volumes in the Rork series:

• 0. Les Fantômes (The Ghosts) - prequel
• 1. Fragments
• 2. Passages
• 3. Le Cimetière des Cathédrales (The Graveyard of Cathedrals)
• 4. Lumière d'Etoile (Starlight)
• 5. Capricorne (Capricorn)
• 6. Descente (Descent)
• 7. Retour (Return)

The Rork series is (in)famous for his complex, Mind Screw-level Kudzu Plot, many unexplained plot points and just glorious, jaw-dropping art. It’s also a Cult Classic among many European comic fans.

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This comic provides examples of:

• All There in the Manual: In Capricorn, Astor finds a book that explains Rork's powers and even spoils the last two volumes of the series. It self-destructs when Rork attempts to read it, but not before a crucial piece of information prevents his possession by the Numerical Cube.
• Angsty Surviving Twin: Manga, via Cain and Abel situation, no less!
• Ambiguously Evil: Yosta. In his first appearance he absorbed one of the expedition members (although apparently not intentionally) to regenerate himself from a semi-coma state. He's pretty enigmatic and, although he is one of Rork's allies, his motives are rather unclear. Finally, he was one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse (...well, sort of), so in the grand scheme of things it's really hard to say anything about his true nature.
• Amnesiac Hero: Downplayed. Rork remembers his past, but not what he is.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Capricorn doesn't believe in astrology (although he is an Astrologer) despite the fact that he lives in a world full of Functional Magic, miracles, Eldritch Abominations, Humanoid Abominations, Starfish Aliens, Dimensional Travelers, Giant Monsters and all sorts of other weird things. Bonus points for him being Blessed with Suck telekinetic.
• Art Shift: From quite realistic to a somewhat cartoonish style after Fragments.
• Artifact of Doom: Quite a few of them.
  • The Numerical Cube is bigger on the inside and inhabited by a demonic spirit that will attempt to possess anyone foolish enough to enter. On top of that, its shell is so incendiary that the Cube melts through several floors after its scaffolding fails.
  • The Luminous Stone has the power to skew the course of events through the machinations of the Liars of Vree who live in its pocket dimension, and people who get stuck while crossing between worlds can be abducted into it.
  • A red typewriter discovered by Bernard Wright in Passages somehow controls a sand-like substance that traps Wright in his own house and ages him to death.
  • A spider-shaped amulet in Pharass' possession maps out the entire course of Rork's story, letting its holders intervene with Deus ex Machina precision. Being stuck in a stable time loop, it also has no point of origin.
• Astrologer: Capricorn.
• Back for the Finale: Almost every named character (with the mysterious exception of Adam Neels).
• Big Applesauce: Rare non-american example (the author is German).
• Big Bad: Dahmaloch.
• Bittersweet Ending: Dahmaloch may have been thwarted, but Deliah, Wilbur and Yosta are dead, Rork has left the universe, and there will be no more adepts of the crossings.
• Body Horror: Shamah gets a dose of this in Starlight.
• Canon Discontinuity: The short story Forgotten.
• Co-Dragons: Pharass and Gott to Dahmaloch.
• Creepy Cathedral: Exaggerated in The Graveyard of Cathedrals
• Crossover: With Capricorne, another Andreas series.
• Deal with the Devil: Mordor Gott strikes one with Dahmaloch.
• Decompressed Comic: Descent. Starlight, to a lesser extent.
• Demonic Possession: In Capricorn, Sy-Ra gets a bad case of the demons when she's brought inside the Numerical Cube by Mordor Gott. Rork narrowly avoids the same fate.
• Diabolus ex Nihilo: Barely averted with little Foreshadowing here and there, but essentially Dahmaloch is one.
• Dimensional Traveller: Adepts of the crossings can pass between different worlds at will, with some stipulations: they can only do this three times before they forget the secret forever, and they cannot initiate others without the help of a magical creature called the Passmaster. True adepts are allowed ten crossings, but this turns out to be a red herring.
• Dirty Coward: Mordor Gott will flee at the slightest whiff of danger. Borders on Pragmatic Villainy in that it actually does save his life both times he's shown to do this.
• Distress Call: Rork was sent out from another universe to help the world against some kind of great danger. It was a trap.
• Dream Within a Dream: Used to eerie effect in the finale.
  • "The gate belongs to the Dreamer."
• Eldritch Location: The Starship from Descent.
• Empty Shell: Sy-Ra becomes one after attempting to cross between worlds without having undergone a proper initiation.
• Eternal Recurrence: Directly invoked by Dahmaloch in ''Return''.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Captain, Guardian of Light and Carrier (whale-like Eldritch Abomination).
• The Faceless: Rork becomes this after surviving an explosion at the end of Fragments. When Raffington Event meets Rork, he assumes him to be disfigured from the blast, but Rork is actually projecting his spirit from another location.
• Gainax Ending: Seriously, what the Hell actually happened there?
• Guardian of the Multiverse:
  • Pharass or, at least, he claims to be one.
  • Actually, Rork is implied to be one.
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse: In the Grand Finale.
• Humans Are Bastards: Discussed, played straight and, eventually, subverted in Starlight. Some humans indeed are bastards, but not all of them.
• Identity Amnesia: Deliah loses her identity in her first appearance. She gets better.
• Kudzu Plot: So, there's Rork himself and his mysterious powers, strange young woman named Deliah Darkthrone with her psyhic powers, weird race of Chessmasters, that enigmatic demon Dahmaloch, oh and Mad Artist Milton Burke, lost and apparently sentient Eldritch Starship... and don't even get started with Capricorn.
• Large Ham: Mordor Gott takes it up to eleven.
• Mad Artist: Milton Burke.
• Magical Native American: Andreas really like this trope. There's at least two Magical Native Americans in Rork (Blue Face and Guardian of Light) and many more in Capricorn.
• Master of Disguise: Pharass is eventually revealed to have adopted several identities over the course of the series.
• Master Swordsman: Manga.
• Meta Fiction: The series swerves into this in the final volume.
• Mind over Matter: Deliah is a powerful telekinetic, at one point even lifting a skyscraper with her psychic powers.
• The Multiverse: In Return, it's revealed to include the reader's world.
• Mystical White Hair: Rork.

• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Mordor Gott and Deliah Darkthorn. Neatly subverted in the latter case.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: One of Capricorn's telekinetic fits causes the Numerical Cube to start a catastrophic fire that eventually overruns the New York City sewers. Technically he couldn't control it, but damn.
• Nice Guy: Despite his mysterious appearance, Rork is pretty nice, helpful person.
• The Not-Love Interest: Deliah has an outstandingly platonic relationship with Rork.
• Occult Detective: Rork occasionally helps out with cases that are too unbelievable for professional detectives. The Ghosts is entirely focused on one of those.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Capricorn (subverted in his spin-off series).
• The Owl-Knowing One: Or rather two, in this case.
• Paranoia Gambit: Dahmaloch's plan essentially relies on selling the belief that the Devil has launched an apocalyptic plot against humanity. After his original goal is thwarted, he turns it around as a nasty Failure Gambit that would have succeeded had Rork not refused to play along.
• People Puppets: In Fragments, Deliah and Ebenezer get bodyjacked by alien life forms. The same happens to a team of scientists in Return.
• Physical Hell: Seen in Fay's and Levec's hallucinations in The Graveyard of Cathedrals. Later revealed to be located beneath Cordimer Skiffel's mansion.
• Prison Dimension: Rork is caught in one following the events of Passages.
• Psychic Powers
• Real-World Episode: In Return, Dahmaloch's minions manipulate Rork's powers to open a passage to the real world. Deliah and Yosta briefly explore it before the portal is shut down.
• Really 700 Years Old: Rork himself, Tanemanar, Yosta, Captain and Pharass.
• Recursive Reality: In tandem with metafiction. Notably, Ash and Capricorn realize that the signs on Tanemanar's tombstone are a visual guide to how the story is constructed.
• Sanity Slippage: Wilbur rapidly undergoes one exploring his grandfather's mansion.
• Sapient Ship: The setting of Descent.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Dahmaloch.
• Shout-Out: Bernard Wright is a shout out to Bernie Wrightson. Adam Neels is one to Neal Adams.
• Spanner in the Works: Deliah unwittingly messes up the Liars' ability to manipulate events by irradiating the Luminous Stone they inhabit.
• Spin-Off: Capricorn (somewhat Darker and Edgier, action-oriented series) and one-shot Raffington Event.
• The Stoic: Rork stays calm in situations where most people would drop everything and run, but there are a few times when he panics in the face of danger. Deliah is a more straightforward example.
• Temporal Paradox: In Return, a mysterious amulet stolen from Pharass' laboratory is transported to the 17th century, where it's discovered by Pharass.
• Thanatos Gambit: Rork commits suicide to stop Dahmaloch's machinations, but while this act allows Rork to complete his task and return to his home dimension, Dahmaloch all but promises that the next time, the odds will be in his favor.
• Time Crash: Rork's use of the Dreamer's gate is implied to have created an alternate timeline where Tanemanar has no magical powers. Or something.
• The Watchmaker: Cordimer Skiffel's mansion contains a grandiose clockwork mechanism that sends out "vibrations of time" once activated.
• The Watson: Raffington Event fills this role in Passages.
• Weirdness Magnet: Rork, obviously. Capricorn, too.
• World of Badass: Nearly every named character is badass in some way. To name a few:
  • Rork: Mysterious Really 700 Years Old Ambiguously Human mystic with strong psyhic powers and Badass Longcoat.
  • Capricorn: Adventurer, Astrologer, Badass in a Nice Suit.
  • Manga: Mercanery Dual Wielding Master Swordsman with - strongly implied - Dark and Troubled Past.
• Your Magic's No Good Here: In Return, Deliah and Yosta both die from their attempts to use magic in the real world.