A 12-issue graphic novel centering on Aydis, a young Viking woman who has essentially been exiled from her small town for kissing another girl. With nowhere to go, Aydis and her loyal not-an-actual-horse Saga set off to free the imprisoned former leader of the Valkyrie, Brynhild.

It turns out rescuing a goddess from a ring of enchanted fire on top of a mountain is the easy bit, because before long., Aydis is whisked away by another Valkyrie. meeting vicious man-eating mermaids, and battling Odin, the king of the gods.

Natasha Alterici wrote Heathen and did the art for issues #1-8. Her linework is purposefully, artfully messy, which lends itself well to the roughness of the Scandinavian landscape. Ashley A Woods tags in with issue #9, and though her lineart is more delicate and precise, less scribbly than Alterici's, she keeps to the already developed style and matches the character designs so there's no jarring bump when we segue between the art of Alterici and Woods.

Alterici's colours work in tandem with the art, the cool blues and greys contrast nicely with the warmth of the neutral beiges and browns, all of them muted to evoke the starkness of the landscape. The dreamy watercolour aspect helped bring out movement and shadow, adding depth to the panels.

The story ends a bit abruptly for my liking but I really liked the theme of stories inspiring heroics. Aydis was a great protagonist, easy to care about and root for. And I thought the character design was fabulous - memorable and simple. ( )

Forgettable is the only word that comes to mind for this series. Each time I started feeling invested in the protagonist, some random new plot point would come along that seemed only to serve as extra "adventure." None of the themes in this series are handled with nuance or deeply explored. Reads more like a fanfiction of Viking mythology than anything else.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss. Trigger warning for misogyny, homophobia, nudity, and violence.)

When the Viking maiden Aydis is caught engaging in "unnatural acts" (kissing her best friend Liv), the village elders (all men, natch) call on her father to choose Aydi's punishment: death or marriage. He chooses death, but instead spares his "little warrior" by taking her to the woods and banishing her from the village forever.

His last words to her: be brave. Brave, like the mother who gave birth to Aydis, alone in the woods, and clung to life just long enough to ensure her daughter would be found.

And so Aydis undertakes the greatest feat of bravery she can imagine: freeing Brynhild, the leader of the Valkyries, from her mountaintop prison. As legend has it, when Brynhild dared defy Odin's orders, he banished Brynhild from the realm of the gods and cursed her to marry a mortal. But only a worthy suitor: one who could conquer the fiery wall that guards the mountain. Brynhild, who once struck fear into the hearts of men, has sat waiting for her savior for centuries. But what if he is actually a she?

In freeing Brynhild, Aydis hopes to break Odin's iron-fisted rule over her people - the women, especially. But an already impossible task becomes all the more labyrinthine when Odin sets his spies, slave armies, and curses against Aydis, Brynhild, and their allies.

I first read the three-volume trade paperback version of HEATHEN, and loved it - right up until the end. I don't recall why, but I remember being a bit disappointed by the final few chapters of Aydis's story. (I gave Volumes 1 & 2 a solid 5/5 stars, whereas Volume 3 merited 3.5/5 stars.) Reading them all in one omnibus, sixteen months later, I'm ... not really sure why? The ending still feels a bit anticlimactic, sure, but it's not terrible. And I can't bring myself to give the omnibus anything other than 5/5 stars (and add it to my favorites shelf, at that).

The artwork is gorgeous; the world building a thing of beauty; the large, diverse cast of supporting characters, utterly compelling. There are all-women pirate crews who sail the seas, searching for trafficked humans to liberate; toothy mermaids with a hankering for apples; doomsday wolves; a sassy wight disguised as a miniature horse; and a pansexual orgy pile led by Freyja herself, now leading the Valkyries since Brynhild's exile.

If your favorite part of VIKINGS was Lagertha, have I got the comic book for you.

Bonus points: the omnibus dropped just in time for pride month! ( )