This is one of the craziest sequences I’ve ever seen in this publication. In case it’s not clear, our protagonists see this man chase down a boy of indeterminate age (although he looks pre-pubescent from here) and pull down his pants to prepare to rape him. The main character’s sister is understandably upset and begs her brother to do something and he’s all like “eh.” On the next page, the sister attacks the big burly Mongol and her brother comes to her aid, if reluctantly.

It turns out later that the boy is actually the long lost Czar Ivan. At one point, he actually tries to kiss the sister in the middle of the night in an attempt to get her to fall for him. Which seems like a weird way to thank someone for stopping your near rape.

Almost missed in all of this (and partially cut off by how tightly the art is pressed into the crease of the perfect binding) is the fact that the main character’s name has changed from the previous installment. There, he was called Gypsy, but here he’s called Tsagoi (bottom left panel). It’s not clear if someone pointed out that calling the main character Gypsy was offensive, but he’s called Tsagoi throughout this story. And yet, the title is still Gypsy.

(Heavy Metal issue #171, November 1997 – Page 95 Gypsy: Siberian Fires by Marini and Smolderen)