#409: heathen
norse mythology from a queer perspective
heathen (2017–2020, 12 issues, w. natasha alterici/p. #1–8 alterici /#9–12 ashley woods): aydis is a tough kid, raised alone by her father, kicked out of the village for kissing a girl, and now she’s on a quest to rescue the queen of the valkyries from her imprisonment atop a mountain.
it gets weirder from there.
heathen is a 12-issue maxi-series published by vault comics and written by natasha alterici, who also drew the comic until #9, when ashley woods (who’d previously done art for the tomb raider comics) took over due to alterici developing hand pain.
in short, it’s a coming-of-age story about a queer woman fighting a patriarchy so insidious that it was handed down to society by the norse god odin himself, a paranoid, vengeful, misogynist wreck who adopts a “might makes right” philosophy to justify his hatred of women (after all, who is more mighty than men?) aydis, and a host of friends both mortal, immortal and deity, work to put a stop to his oppressive reign. along the way she’ll meet lady pirates, carnivorous selkies, trolls, and valkyries. and also find out her horse can talk.
alterici pulls double duty as writer and artist and excels at both: the first eight issues are beautifully drawn, alterici’s work sharp and jagged and roughly colored in, giving it an old-world visual style. ashley wood takes over for the final arc of the storyline, and while she does her best to make a smooth transition to the new art style, it lacks some of the chunky colored-pencil vibe of alterici’s pages.
the story is, in part, a story about stories; aydis is always telling stories, handed down to her by her father. they’re typically heroic stories full of violence, a fact that she gets called out on by her pirate friend, but they’re all she has, or so she thinks. as she reaches odin’s realm, and learns the truth about her mother, she realizes that there’s room for new stories, better stories— her own story.
it’s not all about aydis, of course. large chunks of the book focus on brynhild, queen of the valkyries, the norse goddess freya (who has her own issues with odin,) and their mortal and should-be-mortal friends. a recurring theme that keeps popping up is the relentless misogyny and xenophobia of ordinary society, exacerbated by— but by no means originating in —the spread of christianity . in one scene, a young woman of color, who’s been chased out of village after village, is accused of witchcraft by a young gay man trying to cover his ass after being caught with his boyfriend, but brynhild steps in to defend them both from the angry villagers.
it’s not a long story, nor is it a very dense story, but it’s a satisfying one, a sort of queer power fantasy in which aydis doesn’t quite get what she originally wanted, but instead is given the chance to grow into the role she wants to be. when misogyny and xenophobia are handed down from on high, she’s there to spit in odin’s eye. what’s more satisfying than that?
