Among the stories and characters based in the mythos of bygone cultures, there almost deserves to be a separate sub-genre in comic culture for Nordic inspired stories.  Usually centered around either the Norse mythological or Vikings, these stories are so prevalent in the industry that they give a good challenge in terms of exposure to the stories of the ancient Greek pantheon, even though the Greek stories are much more embedded in the public consciousness. Among the more obvious cases of Nordic inspired characters is Thor from Marvel Comics, but it is a popular enough setting elsewhere as well, such as in the stories of How to Train Your Dragon or even parts of the recently released series Sirens.

Brides of Helheim, from Oni Press, is another entry into this world of the north, where the harsh winters and dangerous conditions are faced by men of rugged strength and women of rugged beauty. The setting is common enough here, but the story is maybe a little different. It introduces two characters seeking help against a menace to their small town, and while fans of the previous series (Helheim from 2013) will probably be quickly familiar with some of the characters, this previous knowledge is also not necessary. As I was reading this issue I was struck by two things. The first was that it was quite light on actual literal writing, by which I mean that there are few words here to guide the way for the reader. The second thing that struck me was that this didn’t matter. The story was strong enough in its layout that it didn’t really need the actual words so much, and instead relied on artwork which was extremely complementary to the setting and the characters. The artwork was a bit of a surprise as well in the sense that there is a general approach to the smaller publishers to their choice of covers. Generally as they have less attention, they go for the idea that “sex sells” and the covers are also therefore usually the best artwork of the entire issue, but this is flipped on its side for Brides of Helheim as the interior is far more engaging than the exterior.

This ends up being a simple story, heavy on the artwork and not so much on the dialogue, but also one which was engaging enough with the visuals and the characterization to make it easy to jump right in. While reading this the story flew right past, but it left me wanting more right away. It is pretty fun, and definitely worth a look.

Story: Cullen Bunn Art: Joëlle Jones
Story: 7.8 Art: 9.0 Overall: 8.2 Recommendation: Buy

Oni Press provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review