Norse Mythology #2 Review

Story and Words by: Neil Gaiman

Script and Layouts by: P. Craig Russell

Letters by: Galen Showman

“The Treasure of the Gods”

Art by: Jerry Ordway

Colors by: Lovern Kindzierski

Published by: Dark Horse Comics

The second issue of Norse Mythology continues the last story from issue one which saw Loki playing a nasty prank on Sif, Thor’s wife, by cutting off her hair, and then trying to “fix” it, by pitting two dwarven families against each other in a contest to see who would create the three best treasures. 

Because the tale is pretty straight forward, this issue has three basic acts. 
 

• Act 1: the creation of the treasures by the Dwarven brothers Brokk and Eitri - with some interference by Loki as they had only agreed to participate if Loki put his head on the line if they won. 
• Act 2: the presentation of the treasures to the Asgardian royal court. 
• Act 3: Loki’s comeuppance for his meddling. 

As you can see, it’s not the most detailed of storylines, but what fable/tale is? As this is adapted from Gaiman’s wonderful novel of the Norse tales, the point of this issue, in my opinion, is to visually express the tale, and with an artist such as Jerry Ordway, you already know you will get a great looking comic. Ordway’s eye for details are punctuated by his brilliant inks and are served well by Kindzierski’s color work. My favorite sequence is probably Brokk versus Loki as a fly while the brothers are working to create the treasures as this is the one point in the book that Ordway can show a little bit of action - not much mind you, but enough to make it fun to see. 

The first two issues of Norse Mythology have been fun to read and look at the magnificent art. As someone who had previously read Gaiman’s book, it’s been nice to see his words “come to life” as it were. It’s also a great read for anyone interested in the tales from Norse mythology who may only know the likes of Thor and Loki from Marvel’s perspective.