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[[File:valhalla_3111.jpg|frame|Thunder... thunder... Thunder god, ho!]]
'''''Valhalla''''' is a Danish comic series by Henning Kure (script) and Peter Madsen (script and artwork) that chronicles the stories of the [[Norse Mythology|Norse gods]] in a mostly lighthearted and humorous way. It started out as a [[Newspaper Comics|newspaper comic]], the first story, ''Cry Wolf,'' being printed as a serial strip in the Danish newspaper ''Politiken'' in 1978 and then the following year being collected and reprinted in album format.▼
▲''Valhalla'' is a Danish comic series by Henning Kure (script) and Peter Madsen (script and artwork) that chronicles the stories of the [[Norse Mythology|Norse gods]] in a mostly lighthearted and humorous way. It started out as a [[Newspaper Comics|newspaper comic]], the first story, ''Cry Wolf,'' being printed as a serial strip in the Danish newspaper ''Politiken'' in 1978 and then the following year being collected and reprinted in album format.
From 1979 to 2009, fifteen albums (and one [[The Movie|animated feature]]) were produced, during which all the major and most of the minor known myths are covered in one way or the other.
The albums are
# ''Ulven er Løs'' ("Cry Wolf")
# ''Thors Brudefærd'' ("Thor's Wedding")
# ''Odins Væddemål'' ("Odin's Wager")
# ''Historien om Quark'' ("The Story of Quark")
# ''Rejsen Til Udgårdsloke'' ("The Journey to Utgards-Loki")
# ''De Gyldne Æbler'' ("The Golden Apples")
# ''Ormen i Dybet'' ("The Serpent in the Abyss")
# ''Frejas Smykke'' ("Freya's Necklace")
# ''Den Store Udfordring'' ("The Big Challenge")
# ''Gudernes Gaver'' ("The Gifts for the Gods")
# ''Mysteriet om Digtermjøden'' ("The Magic Mead")
# ''Gennem Ild og Vand'' ("Through Fire and Water")
# ''Balladen om Balder'' ("The Ballad of Balder")
# ''Muren'' ("The Wall")
# ''Vølvens syner'' ("The Sibyl's Visions")
{{tropelist}}
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* [[Art Evolution]]: Naturally, given that the last album was published thirty years after the first one. Even so, the style stays remarkably consistent from the fourth album and onward.
* [[Ascended Extra]]: Thor's servants, Tjalfe and Roskva, are very minor characters in the original myths (Tjalfe only appears in a couple of stories, Roskva only in one), but have been given major roles in this series, serving as [[Audience Surrogate|viewpoint characters]] for several stories.
** Also, Utgards-Loki only appears in one original myth (coincidentally the same one that introduces Tjalfe and Roskva), but is a recurring villain in the comic and possibly the closest the series has to a [[Big Bad]]. While not actually a threat to the gods for the most part, he does pull off quite a few [[Batman Gambit
* [[Attractive Bent Gender]]: Subverted ''hard'' with Thor, who does ''not'' make for an attractive woman.
** Both played straight and subverted with Loki: When he dressed up as Freya's handmaiden, he ''thinks'' he's incredibly sexy but is the only one who thinks so. However, when he's disguised as a mare in order to distract the jotunn horse Svadilfare, the horse finds him irresistible.
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* [[Brilliant but Lazy]]: Loki. When Tjalvi tells Röskva that Odin doesn't do any work because he's a king, Röskva asks if Loki's a king, too.
* [[Canon Foreigner]]: Quark, the ill-tempered Jotunn kid, does not appear in any of the original myths but was invented for the series. He appears in [[The Movie]] and the two albums based on it, as well as some background appearances in other albums. For a while was considered the [[Breakout Character]], starring his own animated TV series and newspaper comic, but he avoids becoming [[The Scrappy]] largely because his actual appearances in ''Valhalla'' are so sparse.
** A somewhat amusing development. In the second album the author plays around with Jotunn names along the lines of "H[insert dairy product]". The reason for this is the existence in the myths of the jotunn "Hymir", in modern danish "Hymer". [[wikipedia:Ymer (dairy product)|Ymer]] is a dairy product ... alright stay with me fellows ... so Madsen inserts a series of names based on soured milk and the like. These include a single background gag involving a misbehaved jotunn brat someone calles [[wikipedia:Quark (cheese)|Hquark]] ... Dang, [[Don't Explain the Joke|a joke just isn't much fun when you explain it]] is it? ... Anyway this kid seems to have lodged himself in Madsen's brain, springing to life in the aforementioned albums etc.
* [[Character Development]]: Heimdall undergoes this in Freya's Necklace. Previous volumes cast him as a pompous, cowardly fool, but Freya's charms cause a more sensitive, chivalric, and even thoughtful side of his character to come to the surface. Not to mention the fact that when he realizes the extent of Loki's mischief he goes on a rampage, finally proving that the titles he keeps harping on about(The All-Seeing Aesir, The All-Hearing Aesir) aren't just for show.
** Tjalfe and Roskva also go through noticable [[Character Development]] over the course of the series; Tjalfe gradually becomes less foolish and insensitive, and more inclined to think before he acts, while Roskva goes from a naive little child to a far more insightful and intelligent young lady.
* [[Chaste Hero]]: Balder. A lot of women are interested in him, but he's saving himself for the right one.
* [[The Chessmaster]]: Odin, [[Anachronism Stew|in addition to have a fondness for the actual game,]] is portrayed as such in several of the stories (though not in the ones where he's the main character).
* [[Closer to Earth]]: Frigg and Sif are definitively more grounded than their husbands. In Frigg's case this was pretty much her role in the original myths as well, ans is carried over.
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* [[Nice Guy]]: Balder, which should come as no surprise to anyone.
* [[Pet the Dog]]: Loki gets a few in the first volume, Cry Wolf. He pleads with the Aesir to allow the Fenris wolf to roam free (note however that in that volume Fenris has the temperament of a loveable pooch who just happens to be oversized, even if being chained up is his [[Berserk Button]].) Also near the end of the volume when he tells Roskva she can take Fenris out for walks as long as she isn't seen. Makes sense if you know that Fenris is Loki's son.
* [[Polly Wants a Microphone]]: Huginn and Muninn, Odin's ravens, are full-fledged [[Talking Animal
** In [[The Movie]], the "Cryptic advice" part is [[Flanderization|emphasized to the point]] where the other characters seldom understand what in the world the two ravens are even talking about.
* [[Pragmatic Adaptation]]: Since there are so many versions of the legends, this becomes a necessity... but it's pulled off well, often paying homage to even the versions that turn out incompatible with the comic's continuity. Most importantly, the [[Jerkass]] tendencies of the gods are toned down (though by no means done away with altogether) in order to keep them from becoming too unsympathetic.
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** Same with the two dwarf brothers, Fjalar and Gjalar. Two other dwarf brothers, Eitri and Brokk, act like this in their first appearance in ''Cry Wolf,'' but not in their second appearance in ''Gifts for the Gods,'' where Brokk gets far more screen-time and attention.
* [[Shout-Out]]: Several, often to myths that for reasons of characterization and continuity are not part of the comic.
** The third album also includes a notable [[Shout-Out]] to the [[Marvel Comics]], when Odin meets
*** Not sure if it was an intentional [[Shout-Out]] or not, but you can definitely see some traces of [[The Mighty Thor|Marvel's Thor]] in Tjalfe's dream sequence in the ninth album, where Thor passes Mjolnir on to him and tells him that from now on he is to be the "new Thor." In this sequence, Tjalfe is wearing a winged helmet and a red cape (and of course he's already blonde and beardless), making the parallels
** Also in the third album, a mortal woman named Thora, who is said to be "the fairest of them all" looks almost exactly like Disney's [[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White]].
** In the second album, the band that plays at Thrym's wedding looks suspiciously like [[The Muppet Show|The Electric Mayhem.]]
* [[Spared by the Adaptation]]: Several characters who die in the original myths live in the comic.
** Loki deserves special mention. In the original myths, after killing Balder and taunting the gods, he is bound and imprisoned in an underground cave with a snake dripping poison in his face, and does not get free until Ragnarok, when he leads the attack on Asgard and is killed by Heimdall. In the comic, where Loki is far less malicious, these things are all alluded to and given [[Shout-Out
* [[Suspect Is Hatless]]: Subverted in "Odin's Wager", when Thor tries to describe his encounter with a
* [[Tagalong Kid]]: Roskva starts off as a pure example of this. Tjalfe, to a lesser degree. They both come into their own over the course of the stories.
* [[Traumatic Haircut]]: On two separate occasions, both of which bring notable plot developments. The straightest example (and the only one that's actually mentioned in the original myths) is Sif's haircut by Loki, but on a separate occasion Tyr also gets one after an argument with his hairdresser -- it's played more humorously, but when his new short hair reveals that he has the ears of a jotunn and a scar on his forehead {{spoiler|because he was the son of a jotunn who abused him as a child}}, it's suddenly [[Mood Whiplash|not as funny anymore.]]
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Comic Books]]
[[Category:Valhalla (comics)]]
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