Obscure
Comic of the Month is a column where I take a look at a comic or
series that hasn't really been talked about. This covers independent
comics, zines, weird spin-offs, webcomics and more.
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Sagas of the
Shield Maiden Volumes 1 and 2 by Asa Wheatley, Daniel Coloma, Kay
Baird, Kevin Keane, Michelle Marham, Sammy Ward, Alex Moore, Alex
Schlitz, Katie Fleming and Fabi Marquez - 2021
Contains
Mild Spoilers
It feels
like the last decade or so has almost completely buried us underneath
stories of the Viking Era. From Vikings to The Last Kingdom on TV,
Valhalla Rising to The Northman in film, Assassins Creed Valhalla to
the more recent God of War in video games and Northlanders to Heathen
in the world of comics. It can leave a person wondering what there is
even left to explore in the stories of this world.
Asa
Wheatley's answer to that conundrum, in the form of his comic book
anthology, Sagas of the Shield Maiden, is to really not worry too
much about it, and simply write from the heart. Which has been a
pretty effective strategy so far.
Currently
at two volumes, Sagas of the Shield Maiden tackles the titular Shield
Maiden as a folkloric figure and tells a series of short stories with
loose connectivity. Some stories are action packed, while others are
comedic or suspenseful. There is not a long, ongoing plot, and indeed
it is completely possible to read the stories in any order and still
understand them perfectly.
What
Wheatley is doing here is walking in the steps of the folkloric
tradition. His comic is not interested in setting up some grand
sweeping epic, but instead using it's protagonist to explore a time
and a place that can be difficult to parse through the modern lens.
In some stories the Shield Maiden is a noble hero standing up for the
downtrodden, in others a frightening force of nature, and in others
still she is purely mercenary, doing what she does merely to make a
living.
Wheatley
uses this freedom to tell a whole host of engrossing stories, and
because they jump to different tones and perspectives we are never at
risk of getting board. As one story finishes, another begins, like
expertly crafted courses being served as part of a Michelin star
taster menu.
And
expertly crafted they are. Wheatley has brought together a veritable
dream team of artists who bring their own individual flair to the
character, and every story in both volumes is bursting with life.
Whether it is a burning village or snow capped peaks, every story has
striking visuals that make the comics worth picking up alone.
Each story
across both volumes is great, but there are some particular
standouts. A Bounty Paid, in which a Jarl's cocky son tries to wrest
some form of satisfaction over a perceived insult, is as clever as it
is witty. Three Spears of Ravens Blood, in which a lie told quickly
escalates into needless bloodshed, is dark and brooding with a sense
of weight few stories can manage.
Every story
has a strong moment. A dark twist. A surprise turn. A tense stand
off. It makes these bite sized tales feel longer and deeper than
their page counts would normally allow. There's an economy of
storytelling here that, again, draws from the folkloric tradition,
and is well suited to be executed within the medium of comics.
Does Sagas
of the Shield Maiden run the risk of telling stories that have been
told before and been told better? Maybe, but as I've probably made
clear Wheatley and his team of expertly selected artists deliver
these stories with such a deft of craft and confidence of voice that
you're just going to thoroughly enjoy the ride.
With a
third volume on the way, I think Sagas of the Shield Maiden is under
no risk of becoming a redundancy, and if you've been on the fence,
feeling that stories about the Viking world are currently
oversaturated, fear not. This comic is well worth your time.
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Jack
Harvey 2023. Sagas of the Shield Maiden (c) 2021 Asa Wheatley. Images
used under Fair Use.
