Norse Mythology vol 2 by Neil gaiman

Adaptation by P. Craig Russell, illustrated by Gabriel Hernández Walta, Sandy Jarrell, and Mark Buckingham, colors by Lovern Kindzierski, letters by Galen Showman

In this volume, Russell adapts several stories. We see the death of the God of Poetry by the hands of two dwarves, and how the Odin gets revenge on them.  In another story, Thor and Loki travel to the land of giants and are put through several tests of their abilities that turn out to be major illusions. Loki mistakenly gives away the goddess who guards the Apples of Immortality and has to get her back before he's tortured by his aging family. We follow Frey and how he found and married his wife, but gave up the sword that might save him during Ragnarok.

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These gods get up to some really crazy things. Mythology is usually used to explain the way the world is, but Norse mythology is more so just funny stories about the crazy antics the gods find themselves in and out of. Occasionally, there will be something that explains a bit of the earth; in tone story, a giant uses a mountain to shield his head from Thor's hammer when he hit him 3 times, and that's why it has three big cracks down its peaks. But the overall silliness and debauchery of the gods is entertaining and keeps readers coming back to these ancient stories.

I really enjoyed Gabriel Hernández Walta's illustrations in the fifth and sixth chapter of this volume. The other chapters took a lot of cues from classic comics with very dark outlines, bolder coloring without shading, and strict panel structure. Walta uses more modern panel structure in that it's not always square/rectangle panels, and his coloring has a lot more softer tones.

There is one story that includes Odin in disguise wooing and bedding a fair maiden in order to trick her. There's no nakedness, but there's a lot of flowery, suggestive language and some panels of them from the shoulders up, and they're clearly naked.

Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1

Publisher: Dark Horse
Publication Date: March 15, 2022​
ISBN: 9781506722177 (Hardcover)

Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: High School, Comicbooks, Mythology, Dark Horse