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.
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