Three immortal warriors leave the fabled halls of Viken and travel to modern-day New York City for a grand adventure.
Their names: The Glorious Knox! Greghorn the Battlebjörn! Jhago the Irritator!
Their cause: laying siege to the very thought of sobriety and showing all the known universe and every single sentient in it EXACTLY how revelry is done.
It will be epic. It will be legendary. It will be the stuff from which tales are told and yarns spun from now until Ragnarök itself!
The time of the Gluttonalia is at hand!
You can partake of the festivities right alongside them in “Valhalla Mad” #1 by Joe Casey (“Sex”) and Paul Maybury (“Sovereign”) either by reservation (using the Diamond order code MAR150484 to preorder a copy) or queuing up when it hits shelves on May 20th from Image Comics.
I’ve been waiting for this ever since I saw that teaser. So when the opportunity came to chat with the party planners about this bar crawl to end all bar crawls, as well as read a copy of the first issue, I jumped at it!
Let’s get the set-up question out of the way: tell me what “Valhalla Mad” is about and what hole it fills in my comic-reading life I never knew existed?
Joe Casey: Well, let’s assume that you *have* a hole in your comic-reading life… which would be a real shame. But I think VALHALLA MAD brings a certain joy, a certain spirit that you’re not gonna get anywhere else right now. Except maybe at an all-night kegger occurring somewhere in middle America…
Paul Maybury: I like to think that while VALHALLA MAD is humorous and at times silly, there’s a nice emotional gravity to this story that makes these characters really endearing.
“Valhalla Mad” isn’t your first party together. How did the two of you come together on “Catalyst Comix” prior to this, and when did you each know you’d found someone you’d want to work with again?
JC: I’m not sure what it was — or is — about Paul’s art, but it’s just an approach and a style that I’m really into. I’d seen the other things he’d done, but he hadn’t drawn the kinds of things I thought he’d be really good at. The Amazing Grace strip was a fantastic first step, in terms of us collaborating. I think Paul really killed it there. But what he’s doing on VALHALLA MAD has taken his art to the next level. And the fact that he’s coloring it, too, it’s like the ultimate version of Paul’s style.
PM: Joe and I had a couple of projects we tinkered on before we arrived at CATALYST COMIX, all of which saw us working with other people’s characters. There’s a certain satisfaction that comes from doing your own thing. I think that enjoyment shines through on a project like this. There’s so much value in working with and learning from someone as seasoned as Joe. It inevitably makes me a better creator.
The Gluttonalia seems to be not only a cool turn of phrase but an actual codified event. Kinda like the pub crawl from “The World’s End”, only with much cooler alcohol and, you know, gods. Can you let us in on some of the event’s tenets?
JC: Well… first you arrive on Earth from a distant, cosmic realm. Then you find a bar and you drink. Then you find another bar and drink some more. Hit the next bar, knock a few more back. Lather, rinse, repeat as necessary.
PM: Verily.
JC: I like the archetype of the “god on Earth”. It’s really the magic that you find in those Kirby THOR comics, that specific juxtaposition of god and man. In my opinion, comicbooks do that kind of shit better than any other medium out there. That’s where it started for me.
Continued belowPM: Ay, we’re able to easily invoke a very specific reality that’s a lot of fun to play around in. We sure did labor over these character design, tho.
Were you as familiar with those comics as Joe was prior to this, Paul? And if not, what made up the crash course that brought you up to speed?
PM: Joe sent me a bunch of specific images that he really liked. He also recommended a few essential books for me. At the time, the only Kirby material I owned was a single issue reprint of FANTASTIC FOUR issue 1 and a trade of BLACK PANTHER. I’ve since amassed a fairly large collection in my small apartment. I also have a new found love and appreciation for Walt Simonson. I’m kicking myself for not asking him for a sketch when I tabled next to him years ago in Baltimore.
You both co-own “Valhalla Mad”. It’s easy for people to still think of comics as “writer dictates to artist”, so to help dispel that, what’s something Paul brought that you were unprepared for but incorporated into the series?
JC: Well, it all comes down to style. On first blush, Paul’s style is not something you would normally associate with this type of story. Comicbook readers — and oftentimes editors — tend to pigeonhole artists based not on what they can do, but only on what they’ve done. But artists like Paul can do all sorts of comics. He can draw just about anything so I didn’t hesitate to pitch this kind of story to him because I knew he would at least see it as an opportunity to do something different than anything he’s done before.
PM: I have to admit that I was intimidated by this project. When we’re talking about the source of our inspiration for VALHALLA MAD, we’re really talking about the essential building blocks of all mainstream North American comics. If I’m paying tribute to a classic pose or composition, I know there’s a hundred people that have done it before, and understood it better. That said, I’ve adopted many of these techniques, however my desire isn’t to strictly emulate, but to have an original conversation. The conglomeration of all these ideas results in something that’s cooler than a polar bear’s toenails.
Can you pick, or give us an idea of what to look out for, something you’re particularly proud of as your contribution to that artistic conversation, other than just ‘everything’? (I know the book’s not coming out until May, but I want to give you a chance to toot your own hjörn a little, as it were).
Do you work full script? Marvel style? Somewhere in between? Did that change from “Catalyst Comix” to “Valhalla Mad”?
JC: I’ve worked all kinds of ways. For this one, we went with full script, mainly because of the particular comicbook storytelling vernacular we’re using to tell this story. It was something I was a little more familiar with than Paul, so a full script helped get things across so Paul could do his thing with it.
PM: I think working Marvel style would have been interesting, however maybe not the best fit for this particular project. I think one of the greatest strengths of “Valhalla Mad” is Joe’s concise sense of timing, as well as his natural love for the era of comics we’re paying tribute to. Joe even composes the panel layouts for me before hand which has kind of spoiled me.
Continued belowWell, I can’t lay off THAT one: composing panel layouts? Are we talking very spatially detailed panel descriptions, or actual lines-on-paper drawings?
PM: Nah, just the drawn out panel format for each page. What’s inside the panels is all me, apart from the instances where the panel is a homage. Now that you’ve brought it up, I wouldn’t mind working off someone else’s layouts some day. I’m always down to try something new.
Going back to your mention of Joe’s concise sense of timing. Can you (or Joe) elaborate on that a little?
JC: I wish I could, but I don’t have the time…
PM: I personally feel like a lot of comics tend to string you along with concept and set up, but ultimately meander quite a bit. The scripts for VALHALLA MAD are all meat. I think readers will really appreciate that kind of content right off the bat.
JC: Good question. Honestly, I can’t decide between Wagner’s “Rienzi” Overture and Van Halen’s “Women and Children First”. Either/or, I guess.
PM: As long as it’s not a Chumbawamba song, you can imagine music whatever you’d like.
In a talk during the build-up to “Sovereign”, you mentioned how much you were looking forward to doing a monthly comic. What did you learn from that experience & “Catalyst Comix” to apply to “Valhalla Mad”?
PM: SOVEREIGN and CATALYST COMIX were produced simultaneously. Among other things, they taught me time management, which allowed me to take on a bit more this time around. As Joe mentioned, I’m coloring VALHALLA MAD. I haven’t fully tackled coloring since my first comic, PARTY BEAR.
Was there anything you noticed in how other colorists have handled your work from then until now that you feel like incorporating into your own approach?
PM: Definitely.
In general, my first instinct is always a thoughtful palette over rendering. Working with talented creators like Brad Simpson, Olli Hihnalla, Russ Lowery and Afu Chan have really pushed me to be more bold and less precious with my line work. Brad in particular got me over my fear of lens flare. For a few years I took on interns on projects like DOGS OF MARS and EAT THAT FROG. While I played the role of a mentor, I also learned a lot from watching the younger creators who worked under me grow and develop their styles. They also really helped me understand the difference age makes when it comes to influence, and I couldn’t help but mutually absorb what they were into. Shout out to my past interns who are currently doing great work. Ricky Valenzuela, Victoria Grace Elliott, Will Mendez, Katy Riggs and Jordan Gibson.
It’s one thing to pick the right elements to play off each other (Kirby Asgard meets 2015 New York City); it’s something else to balance them this well. “Valhalla Mad” almost feels like a second cousin to “G0dland” in evoking the feel of those old comics without being just a recycling of Kirby poses and Lee catchphrases. How do you keep both let so much of those influences in while still keeping it all fresh? What do you use as a barometer for knowing when you’ve gone too far in any particular direction?
JC: The best part about tapping into whatever Kirby-inspired DNA I might actually have in me is that there’s absolutely no such thing as “gone too far”. Although, I think VM is a much more intimate story than GØDLAND ever was. To me, that’s the freshness of this book… the level of emotion we’re willing to get to with these particular characters. Despite their godhood, there’s a lot of humanity to be found within Knox and his god-pals.
PM: I’ll take that G0DLAND compliment. I think keeping creators I’m influenced by on this project, like Kirby, Simonson and even Scioli strictly in my periphery, I was able to do move ahead and do my own thing comfortably.
Continued below
JC: In this particular instance, the internet is correct. She’s a bona fide graphic design guru, and she comes in after the fact and makes us look respectable. The covers in particular are a full-on collaboration between Paul and Sonia and I think they’re looking fantastic. Really distinctive stuff.
PM: Sonia does most of the heavy lifting on those covers. Our process is more like I ally-oop to Sonia and she slam dunks and shatters the glass all over me.
Image made a big deal last year (and rightly so) about the Brubaker/Phillips ‘carte blanche’ deal, but looking back over the years, you’ve used the “I” for a pretty wide range of projects yourself. One could even point to some of your other gigs at mainstream publishers (like “Catalyst Comix” at Dark Horse or “Captain Victory” at Dynamite) almost as much as test-driving future Image collaborations as doing those books themselves. Since you’ve worked on most of the corporate icons by now and have such free reign at Image, is that talent-scouting one of the few things that can get you away from making comics solely at Image at this point in your career?
JC: Y’know, God bless Brubaker for turning what I always thought was standard at Image into good PR. At least, it’s been standard for me. But that’s probably because I’ve been doing books there regularly for the past ten years or so, building up what I hope is a healthy level of trust with guys like Eric Stephenson to finally enjoy a level of freedom that I always wanted in comics. When it comes to other WFH gigs, I suppose if I can get paid and get artists paid to test drive creative collaborations, I’m certainly up for it. But I’ll also say that those projects you mentioned came from a purely creative place. And if I happen to find collaborators along the way that I have a certain rapport with and we’re both keen to take it further, Image does seem like the natural place to go.
Anyone looking at your work for any company can see it all comes from a purely creative place, and I hope people check out all the books we mentioned here as well as “Valhalla Mad”.
Finally, given the godly constitutions of everyone (or almost everyone) involved, this party could go on for quite a while. Do you already have a last call for the series in mind, or are you going to see who passes out first: you or the gods?
JC: Well, the concept of immortality is a major factor in this series. In other words, the idea of things going on forever and ever. Feel free to get as meta as you want with that statement…
PM: Our plan has always been to tell a good story and take it from there. It’s incredibly frustrating for me to have a couple of past projects not see their conclusion for various reasons that weren’t the reader’s fault. I guarantee that Joe and I aren’t going to leave you hanging with VALHALLA MAD.
