Thorgal: Update #11 – How to talk about the incredible world of Thorgal?

Thorgal is well known to European comic book readers, but how to promote it to our friends from other continents?
Thorgal is a popular Belgian comic book series created by Belgian writer Jean Van Hamme and Polish graphic artist Grzegorz Rosinski. The series has been published since 1977 and has become one of the best-selling European comic books of all time, with over 15 million copies sold worldwide. So far, 40 albums have been released in the main series and nearly as many in spin-off series.

Most of you know this perfectly, you love Thorgal, and you can’t wait to play the board game set in this universe.

At the same time, most fans of Portal Games and generally most fans of board games in the US have never heard of this comic and its heroes. The international comic market dominated by Marvel and DC does not allow for random geeks to be aware of other characters besides Spiderman, Batman, or Superman. Someone may have heard of Hellboy, may recognize Watchmen or Judge Dredd. That’s all.

But Thorgal? The most famous comic from Europe? Do they even have comics in Europe?

We are facing an exciting challenge. On the one hand, we want to give you a game that draws heavily from the Thorgal universe, presents you with heroes you know and love from the comics, and we want to wink at you every step of the way, whether it be through an item that played an important role in one of the albums, or even an iconic frame woven somewhere into the game’s cards.

On the other hand, we don’t want to scare those who know nothing about Thorgal. We don’t want to create an esoteric game where Thorgal fans will be in seventh heaven, but for those who don’t know the comics, the game will be a collection of incomprehensible references, allusions, and easter eggs.

We are walking a tightrope. To give you what you love and not turn off those who don’t know who Jolan, Aarica, or Muff are.

In today’s Update, I want to call on you to collaborate. I would like to ask you to participate in the Thorgal promotional campaign; I would like to ask you a question – how would you convince board game fans to pick up the comic book series, to become interested in this world, to want to play a game in a universe they have never heard of!

Tell me, why is it worth entering the world of Thorgal?

P.S. We want to use your statements on our social media – we want to give you a voice and use your statements about Thorgal to convince those who have never heard of it to try it out. Thank you in advance for your participation.

P.S. 2! And today, as a gesture of appreciation to all of you who are with us already and who showed your interest in the game and passion, we’d like to announce a special gift for all followers to the draft page! If you decide to back the game, each of you will receive this mini-expansion that is highly tied to the lore of Thorgal, and you – those who appreciate the lore of Thorgal the most will add to your game some of the beloved characters from Thorgal universe! Thank you. I appreciate you a lot.

Find more about Thorgal here: https://gamefound.com/projects/portalgames/thorgal-the-board-game

Welcome to PORTAL GAMES

We are bookworms. Movie maniacs. Story addicts. We grew up reading Tolkien, Howard, Herbert, Dick, Lem… We were watching Willow, Blade Runner, Never Ending Story, Robin Hood…

And yet, we don’t write books… we don’t make movies. We don’t make those things, because we make games. We make games that tell stories.