First published from 1986 to 1987 in black and white, and later republished in color and translated to several languages, it mixes the genres of fantasy, science fiction and Biblical parables.

Van Hamme agreed and initially wrote it as a fantasy story, which later gained a more unique character when he decided to mix in references to Christianity.

[13][14] Given the commercial success of the series, the publisher had considered plans for a sequel and van Hamme had some preliminary ideas, but ultimately the authors refused, so the only new publication was the release of the color edition.

[2] Chninkel's story is set on the planet Daar orbiting a double sun, where there is a constant war between three immortal beings: Jargot the Fragrant, Zembria the Cyclops and Barr-Find the Black Hand.

In the end, an angered O'n brings an apocalyptic rain of fire that destroys almost all life on the planet, including the chninkels, and is presumed to abandon the survivors (a race resembling apes) to their fate; the latter eventually reclaim the recovering world, but in turn forget about O'n and the world before, although the monolith of U'n remains on the surface of the planet and is worshipped by the apes.

[1][18] In 2020, Cédric Pietralunga, writing for Le Monde called the book Rosiński's masterpiece, describing it as a "a disenchanted version of the New Testament with Tolkien sauce".

[1] A 1989 review in The Comics Journal concluded that "here is the Thorgal team on a great story: elves, Amazons, dwarves, allegory, religion, and philosophy.

[23] In 2005, Wojciech Obremski, in his monograph on the history of Polish comics, concluded that the complex story of Chninkel, mixing numerous cultural references, results in a product that should satisfy most demanding readers.

Oramus praised the comic book as "excellently drawn" and for a valuable script that presents unusual action twists as well as "important observations about human nature" and "the eternal struggle between good and evil."

[25] Ksenia Chamerska, in a preface to the 2020 Polish edition of the graphic novel, which she translated, pointed out that the "god" of Chninkel, appearing in the form of a black monolith, bears an uncanny resemblance to the artifact from Clarke's Space Odyssey.