A graphic novel by Marek Mandzinski

As you know, I scour Kickstarter for Pagan and Viking-related comics all the time, and have come across quite a few great ones. One that recently caught my eye was this new series by Marek Mandzinski that seeks to re-create many poems and short stories of Germanic Lore in comic form. So far there are two volumes, I actually missed this the first go-round so I have both from the Kickstarter campaign for volume two, and am awaiting an announcement for part three. The topic at hand today is part one, which is based on the Eddic Poem Rígsþula. In this poem, a Norse god named Ríg or Rígr, described as “old and wise, mighty and strong,”, fathers the classes of mankind. This is usually attributed to being Heimdall, as in this comic, but there is contention as to who Rigr was – some think the acts done more closely resemble those of Odin.

“The comic book series INCREDIBLE NORSE MYTHS AND LEGENDS is a collection of myths arranged in chronological order, full of magic, joy, exciting adventures, but also cruelty and violence. These are the stories of the Scandinavian people written in an interesting and funny way, they’re intricately supplemented with amazing drawings and most importantly they’re – UNCENSORED! “By describing the stories of the Norse Gods with the help of illustrations and the raw dialogue in them, I tried to, as faithfully as possible, reflect the soul of the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson’s work (he lived in the years 1179–1241). This work titled Edda was created in the years 1215 – 1223.”

Book description

In this story, Heimdall posing as Rigr, goes around meeting with various people he meets. This generally involves him going to someone’s house, eating a meal, hypnotizing the couple and having his way with the wife. Nine months later, a demigod is born that embodies a Norse social class (Thrall (serf), Karl (craftsman), Jarl (lord)). With this being branded as UNCENSORED at every turn, I assumed that it would have naughty stuff inside, and it does. It doesn’t go overboard or anything, but with many bits of Norse Lore (and honestly any gods), a lot of bedroom activities happen at all times. It’s not done in a gross way, so its not gratuitous, but it is there, so this is definitely not for kids.

I only had one big issue with an otherwise enjoyable book – this really needed to be proofread by a native English speaker at some point. That isn’t to say that this isn’t understandable, it’s done fairly well. BUT….there are grammatical mistakes and typos abound, especially at the beginning. Sometimes, for example, you have instances on the same page of uses of “Odyn” and “Odin” running interchangeably. I can’t imagine this was done on purpose, so its unfortunate that it’s in there. I’m hoping volume two does a better job with this, as this could be awesome. If the author ever decides to do a combined edition, that might be the time to clean it up.

Despite the above, I enjoyed this and can’t wait to read more. I have volume two on my computer as well, perhaps I will; read it fairly soon and get a review up. If this looks like something you’re interested in, head over to Kickstarter for more information from the project’s creator. I will try to keep an eye out for volume three and keep everyone updated. Watch out for handsome Nordic Men that try to sleep with you in your bed, you never know what mischief he may be up to!