Last year, Oni really kicked down the door with a series that teamed “The Sixth Gun” writer Cullen Bunn with artist Joelle Jones to blend horror and fantasy and tell the story of a man snatched from the jaws of death and cursed to live his life as a Draugr. Now, Rikard returns in this continuation of Bunn and Jones’ story in “Brides Of Helheim” #1 so check out our spoiler free review of the issue to see if you should pick it up.
Written by Cullen Bunn
Illustrated by Joelle Jones
Years have passed since Rikard’s victory over Bera and Groa. In defeating the witches, Rikard saved his people. And yet he cannot rest. He is still denied the promise of Valhalla. The warrior is condemned to wander the living world as an undead draugr. Now, a new challenge lies before Rikard: to face the demon beast Mórðvíg in a brutal conflict.
The idea of telling a story in comics through a number of linked miniseries is a really fascinating one. Usually, creators’ only options are to go for broke with an ongoing series and tell their story in one linked string of instalments until it ends or to tell it all in one go through a limited number of instalments like with a miniseries or graphic novel. A number of linked miniseries, then, almost feels like cheating as it gets the best of both worlds; the stories are often contained in the number of issues they have to tell the story in and so force the creators to be smart about pacing and structure, but are also allowed to expand on the story and world they are creating beyond the scope of the limited series. “Brides Of Helheim” sits firmly in that space as it uses the well crafted and solidly told “Helheim”, which would have existed as a good series in and of itself, as a jumping off point to take the characters to completely new places.
“Brides Of Helheim” is, smartly, the kind of issue where if you missed out on “Helheim” and you wanted to check it out, you could very easily start here. Sure, the collected edition of the first series released earlier in the year makes for an excellent companion to this issue and gives you a look at the events that inform this series, but if you were to start with this issue you would not be lost. A lot of that comes down to Cullen Bunn as he takes this new #1 as an oppurtunity to chart a new course for Rikard and build upon the mythology of the series. What happened to him in “Helheim” does inform the character and taken as a whole, it looks to be an interesting character study, but this new series is definitely set in a new direction.
While that does come with a few drawbacks as the pace really slows down for this issue and there’s almost a feeling of the series resetting to zero to build the story once more. The plot of this issue is rather simple owing to the fact that the character of Rikard must be reintroduced to new readers. However, while the plot itself is a little thin, Bunn uses it to introduce new characters to shake up the dynamic and hint at a larger, dark plot to come. While getting to that larger plot may take some patience, especially on the part of established readers, Bunn’s writing here is solid and makes for an enjoyable #1 that can be enjoyed by new and established readers alike.
The real stand out here, however, as with the first series, is the artwork from Joelle Jones. Jones is simply fantastic here. Blending a sense of realism in setting by staying true to the landscape and architecture of Scandinavia in the early A.D. times with a sense of fantasy through her use of a heavily inked and stylised portrayal of the characters and their use of magic, Jones grounds Bunn’s script with a dark and oppressive atmosphere. There’s also quite a fair bit of gore as Jones ups the brutality with this issue, especially with the confrontation with the Mórðvíg. While I’m not at liberty to reveal the nature of the Mórðvíg as that falls firmly into the spoiler category, trust me when I saw that Jones pulls no punches and errs on the side of brutality with this one. Yet, there is a beauty to the violence in Jones’ art.
Continued belowJones’ inks are heavy and her shadows ever present and oppressive, which allows her to bring a real sense of movement to the fight scene through use of the inks to fill panels with harsh speed lines and ink splashes. The style is very reminiscent of the inking style of Matteo Scalera, especially in his work on “Dead Body Road” and it really kicks the issue up a notch. This is helped by the colours by Nick Filardi. In keeping with the blending of realism of fantasy, Filadri employs a neutral palette throughout most of the issue, but uses a sickly off-green to render the night sky and the background of panels, bringing an off-putting sense of unreality to the fantasy. In the fight scene, Filardi begins to employ a palette of warming colours to punctuate the violence of Jones’ art and Bunn’s script. While Bunn’s writing asks for patience as the story once again builds, Jones’ art asks no such thing and goes for broke immediately with an intense and brutal action sequence to punctuate the issue and hook you back for more.
Overall, this was a really solid issue. While Bunn’s deliberate pacing and patient storytelling is once again employed, that’s not exactly a bad thing; it’s just counter-intuitive to how we’ve been taught comics should be. A slow burn comic does not automatically equal a bad one, it just requires that extra patience to let it builds its momentum. Thankfully, Jones’ art requires no patience as she exits the gate at break neck speed and puts her all into the issue to build a world that is not often explored in comics with her own, fantastic and brutal spin on it. Whether you read “Helheim” or not, “Brides Of Helheim” is intriguing and exciting, just don’t go into it expecting instant gratification. All good things come to those who wait.
Final Verdict: 7.2 – Not for everyone, sure, but something that should definitely be on your radar if what you read about it intrigues you.
