Gods of Asgard, Eric Evensen’s adaptation of several classic Norse myths, is a tough sell for me right out of the gate in that Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire’s classic “Book of Norse Myths” is so definitive and indelible in my mind with these stories and characters that it’s hard for me to imagine any other version equaling, let bettering that book. (To say nothing of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s approach, or even Neil Gaiman’s attempts in Sandman and American Gods.)
Not that Evensen doesn’t give it the old college try. He’s done a goodly amount of research in preparing this book, and he obviously has a great interest and love for these stories. Certainly, the idea of retelling classic mythological tales in comics is a winning one. The problem lies not with the conecpt, but with the execution. In his notes at the end of the book, Evensen says he attempted to ground the stories in a “logical, realistic world.” The trouble is, that approach drains the tales of a good deal of their epic grandeur. These don’t seem like gods battling monsters with all they hold dear at stake, but rather a bunch of guys at a SCA re-enactment.
Evensen seems incapable of turning his volume up to 11. His figures, though well drawn, seem static and stiff. Everyone is shown in mid-shot at eye level and only rarely do we get a dramatic entrance or worm’s eye view. His characters seem rarely perturbed or lustful or any of the emotions they claim to be experiencing. The death of Balder towards the end of the book is met with more of an “Oh crap” than the garmet-rending event everyone seems to imply it to be. There’s no sense of anything serious ever at stake in these stories, which is exactly the wrong tack to be taking when your dealing with mythology.
I mean, let’s face it, even compared to some of the other ancient religions and myths, the Norse created some really warped and freaky-ass tales, full of not just blood and sex but incest, cannibalism, people turning into horses and giving birth to eight-legged foals and giant cows licking people out of the ice. Too often it feels as though Evensen is restraining himself, holding himself back, when he should be going all out and not allow traditional views of what a dwarf or monster should look like dictate where his pen takes him. Perhaps he wanted this to be an all-ages book and was concerned about giving the kids nightmares. If so, he needs to do a better job of perusing through the titles that make up the children’s section of his local Barnes and Noble.
Another problem is what Evensen chooses to focus on. There’s an awful lot of exposition in “Gods,” and sequences that you would think would garner a full-splash page get barely a panel. For a completely unfair comparison, here’s how Evensen chooses to display the image of Audumla the cow licking the first man out of a block of ice (note that it only takes up a very small panel at the bottom of the page):
And here’s how the D’Aulaires chose to portray that scene:
Does that give you a sense of what I’m talking about? I’m not saying that I want Evensen to imitate the D’Aulaires (like I said, it’s an unfair comparison) but I do want him to blow me out of the water. I want there to be a strong, definitive, visual reason why I should pick up “Gods of Asgard” instead a prose collection of the same material. “Gods of Asgard” didn’t give me one.
Note: this review was based on a pdf version of the comic which was read haltingly, a panel at a time, with a lot of annoying scrolling taking place. Factor that in for what it’s worth.
