Valhalla: Den samlede saga 2

Valhalla: Den samlede saga #2

by Peter Madsen, Hans Rancke, Per Vadmand

Indeholder: Historien om Quark, Rejsen til Udgårdsloke, De gyldne æbler og en hel del ekstramateriale.

Genres: Comics, Mythology, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Danish

193 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Peter Madsen is a drawing artist and illustrator, an author, a filmmaker and a lecturer. He was born on 12 May, 1958 in the city of Århus, Denmark. As a boy he moved around Denmark with his family until they settled down in the city of Roskilde. Peter Madsen had his first strips published at the age of fifteen, then chose to study medicine. During the years 1980-84 this was his main occupation until he gave up his studies to be able to concentrate on directing the animated feature film Valhalla. He is probably best known for the series of comic albums called Valhalla (1979 -), humourous comics about the gods of Norse mythology. You can read the history of Valhalla here. In 1995, Peter Madsen published The Son of Man, a graphic novel of 136 pages in water colour, based on the four Gospels in the New Testament. In 1999, he contributed to the interpretation of The Book of Job by publishing an expressive graphic story for adults, The Story of Job. In cooperation with Johannes Møllehave, Peter Madsen wrote Signe's Christmas (2003), which is a familiy book on Christmas, illustrated by Peter Madsen. In 2004, Peter Madsen published a new interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Story of a Mother" in the form of a graphic novel called The Story of a Mother, based on a tale by Hans Christian Andersen, in water colour and gouache. In 2008, Peter wrote and illustrated The Journey to Jersualem, a book about Easter. In 2009, the first books in the picture book series, Troll Life were published. Troll Life is co-created by Peter Madsen and his wife, Sissel Bøe. So far 9 books have been published.
On top of this range of comic albums and graphic novels, Peter Madsen has created a lot of artwork for book and LP/CD covers, posters and illustrations for magazines and periodicals, newspapers and associations; storyboards,T-shirt designs, stamps and murals. He has illustrated several books, among them the Troll Story, (Troldehistorien) by Henning Kure (1989, rhymes by Rune Kidde) and the School Bible by Bodil Busk Sørensen from 2000. Peter Madsen is also a prolific lecturer. Over the last fifteen years, he has given more than 700 lectures. He is married, lives in Silkeborg, Denmark, and has two children and two step-children.

Reviews

[Julie Bettina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once I got used to the style and the frequency of poor translation decreased, my reading experience improved. I also found these stories more interesting than in the first volume, and I particularly liked Iduns epler.

I discovered that there's been made an animated film based on these comics, which I guess I'll pick up at the library along with volume 3, 4 and 5. Go Valhalla!

[Leo Horovitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Del två av samlingsvolymerna fortsätter på samma vis som den första. Vi får en en gång se tre av de ursprungliga albumen samlas tillsammans med skisser, kommentarer och redogörelser för de gamla myterna från vilka historierna har hämtats. På denna sista punkt finns det här en berättelse som sticker ut: historien om Quark. Denne har ingen som helst basis i den fornnordiska mytologin och är därmed, såvitt jag vet, helt unik bland karaktärerna i Valhall-albumen (givetvis under förutsättning att vi utesluter allehanda bakgrundskaraktärer). Dock lyckas Madsen och gänget med att föra in Quark i myten om resan till Utgårdaloke på så sätt att denna resa får en logisk förklaring och att det hela binds ihop på ett snyggt vis. Detta skapar också den första (och, jag tror, enda bland albumen) följetongen vilken påbörjas i del 4: Historien om Quark och avslutas i del 5: Resan till Utgårdaloke.

Denna berättelse utgjorde även handlingen i den tecknade film som producerades om Valhall, och en stor del av bonusmaterialet i detta album utgörs av berättelsen om hur denna kom till, av skisser och om hur arbetet fortlöpte för denna film specifikt samt hur det fortlöper för animerade filmer i allmänhet.

Den sista historien är starkare förankrad i två relaterade myter om hur Loke lurar bort Idun och de äpplen som hon årligen delar ut till asarna för att dessa ska hålla sig unga samt hur dottern till den jätte som får äpplena gifts bort med en av asarna. I redogörelsen för hur denna berättelse kom fram och hur den baserades på de gamla myterna görs tydligt att Madsen och de andra har gjort ett mycket bra jobb i att få två vagt relaterade berättelser att flätas samman på ett mycket fint vis.

Man ser här att berättarna har blivit allt skickligare på att väva samman en bra historia. Speciellt imponerande är även att det inte i början fanns någon förutbestämd plan för hur kommande album skulle se ut, men att tidigare etablerade förhållanden och relationer karaktärer emellan ändå lyckas passa in så bra i berättelserna här, utan att varken påtvingade, krystade förklaringar måste hittas på eller problem med kontinuiteten uppstår. På denna sista punkt finns dock ett problematiskt undantag: Tors fisketur med Midgårdsormen som mål har redan i första albumet (ingående i den första samlingsvolymen) placerats i det förflutna, något som kommer orsaka problem senare då skaparna vill få med denna berättelse i ett senare album. Den problematik som därmed uppstod har redan kortfattat nämnts i kommentarerna, men detaljerna kring detta lämnas till samlingsvolym 3, i vilken denna berättelse ingår. Dessvärre får vi i Sverige vänta några månader innan denna volym utkommer…

I övrigt gäller samma åsikter som jag uttryckte för förra volymen: fantastiskt välberättade och illustrerade historier som samtidigt utgör en utmärkt introduktion till de fornnordiska myterna!

[Carl Bacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Det er jo bare for fedt, serien begynder rigtigt at finde sit fodfæste med lidt mere seriøsitet, men stadig rigtig sjov.

[KSena · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Same review on all 5 parts)

These comics are absolutely fantastic! They were what drove me into my huge interest in nordic myth and legend. Here you’ll meet them all! Odin, Tor Loki (mostly), but also all the other gods and goddess! And the two human servants living with Tor and Sif.

It’s clear to see how the creators have gone from the very bulky drawing style in the beginning to the refined and beautiful drawings that quickly show up the more of these stories you read.

And the stories don’t follow the myths and legends perfectly, it’s mostly Madsen and his team and their take on them. So they are a bit kinder than they really were, but that is an understandable change.

These are some HIGH QUALITY comics that everyone should read! Especially in these luxury collections, where you got so much behind the scenes stories!

[Anita Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avg. rating for the volumes is: 4.5 stars

I have given this edition 2 separate ratings. Vol. 4+5 is the same story that continues from volume 4 into 5, and so I rated that as one. Volume 6 is its own story, and is also rated on its own.

I really loved volumes 4 and 5, they were the best from this series I've read yet. The friendship between Quark, Røskva and Tjalfe is really well written. - 5 Stars

I found volume 6 to be quite slow after the other 2 volumes. I did enjoy how they incorporated the original myth into this volume, and there were some great moments. I was surprised to see that Loki having such a big part was not to his favor - 3 stars.

This gives an overall rating of this collection of 4.5 stars.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a little bit less than the first one. Maybe it is because these comics (at least the first two) are mainly the ones that were adapted into the movie that I have watched many times as a child, and they were therefore not as interesting to me as i already knew them quite well?

I still absolutely love the fact that the editions include the original myths from norse mythology that the stories are based upon. It is great to see that the writers did their research and made an effort to portray the mythology in a authentic way. It also gives you a look into which aspects they just made up to connect the stories.

I still very much enjoy visiting this universe any time.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another absolute masterpiece, lovingly rendered and with attention to detail.
The language is a beautiful and endearing slightly older variant of Danish than we speak in the streets, quite fitting for the high-yet-low quality of the Norse gods.

I would give it five stars, but I never liked Quark - not as a child and not now - and I never thought he did anything good for the Udgårdsloke saga. He's an unnecessary element and they didn't make him fit in a satisfying way.

[Thorbjørn Sølver Lange · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic.
A collection of graphic novels from my child hood.
My path into norse mythology

[Søren Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great trip down the road of nostalgia.
This time around with stories about Quark, the contests with Udgårds Loke and Iduns apples.
Quark has never been my favourite, but the story Rejsen til Udgårds Loke is perhaps the story I remembered the best from my childhood. I love the way Udgårds Loke brings out the most impossible opponents for all the contests and how our gods and human children struggles to stay in the battle.
Other than that a lot of the (super sweet!) extra material is about the making of the Valhalla movie, which was really fun to see how many things worked behind the scenes.

[Marlene Bentsen (Boggrippen) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valhalla Den Samlede Saga 2 handler en del om tiden omkring tilblivelsen af tegnefilmen Valhalla, der havde premiere i 1986. Tænk sig at Troldspejlets Jakob Stegelmann, som dengang var tegnefilmsjournalist, i stor grad var med i produktionen.

Tegnefilmen blev til to albums - 'Historien om Quark', som udkom i 1988 og 'Rejsen til Udgårdsloke', som kom i 1989. Quark blev monster populær og fik blandt andet sin egen stribe i BT, men han ville ikke blive en fast bestanddel af Valhalla universet. Peter Madsen og Co. ville tilbage til de gamle nordiske gudemyter og i dem var der ingen plads til Quark (hvilket ikke gjorde mig synderligt meget, da jeg ikke var den store Quark fan).

'De gyldne æbler' udkom i 1990 og er den sidste historie i det andet samlebind om Valhalla. Her kommer Loke gevaldigt i fedtefadet.

[PleaseJustLetMeRead · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly love these comics. I was still a small kid when my mother took me to the library where I found the Valhalla-comics in no time, and I haven't been able to let them go since. They're epic! Both the style of drawing and the storytelling is fantastic.

[Kitty Red-Eye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samme som med bok nr. 1: Gledelig gjensyn, elsker ekstramaterialet. Skulle det være noe, er det litt irriterende med enkelte danismer i oversettelsen til norsk. Men men.

[Pippii]

A wonderful comic book series about the Nordic Gods and Valhalla ♥