The first chapter of The Nikopol Trilogy, The Carnival of

Immortals, begins with an exposition of the problem of co-existence

between humans and extraterrestrial races that are Egyptian
Divinities. Despite it seems like these gods and goddesses are
unbeatable, their bodies are in the form of a human body except
their heads and they have their own weaknesses just like human-
beings. There is a lot to say about that because this situation and
Enki Bilal’s realistic illustrations make the base of what he wants to
say about life and human beings through his art. The illustrations are
in the realistic form because he does not want the readers to feel
integrated with comics characters, he wants to objectify the
characters so people can contrast and compare the different traits
of different races. Once we feel the different perspectives that
Enki Bilal lets us have, human and divine characters’ changing
personalities, psychologies, and ideas come to the forefront while
reading the trilogy.
The situation that the divinities also have weaknesses led
people to contrast these two races easily, if the gods have absolute
power, there would not be such a conversation between them. Hence,
the differences between the two races can be easily noticeable when
they encounter. The divinities always evoke the feeling of “they are
above humans” by both humiliating people and praising themselves.
For instance, the gods abase mortality, the need for love and
procreation with a wise, calm and serious attitude and, in the comic
book, Horus has a square-shaped speech bubble which makes his
words weighty and sharp while Nikopol has general circle speech
bubble. Also, one of Enki Bilal’s strongest arguments about
deficiency of people is that Nikopol’s failure when he tries to carry
the iron leg which is given by Horus and he will not be able to walk
unless Horus has taken possession of Nikopol’s body. These
attitudes, events, and action to action transition of panels while
Horus and Nikopol are on the stage in the first chapter definitely
make the reader feel the divinities are superior to our race.
In addition to differences between deities and mortals, we
encounter them doing the same things like playing board games,
watching television, gossiping, etc. but the essential similarities and
conversations they share expose when Horus and Nikopol both
become losers. Nikopol gets confused and shocked after the 30
years of hibernation and following political issues that he feels out
of touch with them. Horus, on the other side, has personal issues
about divinities just like humans have and he wants other deities to
fall on their knees, yet his unbridled ambition and rebellious
attitudes make him a loser too. Losing help them to get closer by
developing empathy and while they are making a deal Nikopol states
that “…for you to stop blind killing by becoming, well, more human”
which means their behaviors begin to resemble. Furthermore, in the
middle of Horus and Nikopol’s final conversation, Horus declares that
he would always remember the experiences like the sensations,
smells, sounds and, love in the friendly ambiance with subject to
subject transitions. So, their relationship ends with a peaceful
conclusion.