Welcome to Valhalla Conversations podcast. I'm your host Becky Hill,
otherwise known as Soul Chaser Becky and I am
a proud Viking geek. I fell in love with the
history, culture and mythology of the Viking
Age and I have been on an endless quest for more
ever since. Join me as I discuss all things North
with those who have been inspired by Viking Age
history and North mythology in their creative
works or those who have studied the sagas and
archaeology and review. how such subjects are
being presented to modern audiences today. If
you like Viking stuff you are welcome in my Valhalla
and I hope you stay for the conversation. This
episode of Valhalla Conversations is dedicated
to comic artist Tim Odland who sadly passed away
this summer of 2025. Tim's lifelong dream was
to illustrate a comic published by Image Comics.
Beware the Eye of Odin is that comic, that dream.
I will treasure it always in Tim's memory for
an example of his amazing talent. Thank you for
your dream, Tim. Rest in peace. Welcome everyone
to Valhalla Conversations podcast. After a bit
of hiatus through September and October for a
wonderful variety of reasons, we are back. Valhalla
is open and our newest guest, I am delighted
to announce, is Doug Wagner. And he is here to
speak to me about his wonderful comic book, because
I have the combined edition here, called Beware
the Eye of Odin. Now, if that doesn't scream
Viking to you, then you need glasses. So, welcome
Doug, welcome to Valhalla. Well, thank you so
much for having me on, Becca. I've been looking
forward to talking to you. So this is awesome.
Brilliant. Would I be safe to say that maybe
this particular comic series is one of your lesser
-known titles? Because I know you've kind of
got a wonderful serial killer, fashionista comic
arc going on that's only recently finished, I
believe. That would be fair. Yeah, Beware of
the Odin is definitely probably one of my lesser
-known titles. I've kind of become known. whether
I wanted to or not for doing serial killers and
cannibalistic furries so that's kind of like
what I'm known for but you know I do love to
dive into other stuff so this is one of my favorites.
Oh well I'm pleased but I don't know how it came
up on my algorithm on socials and it's like I
need to have that that looks amazing so it's
straight to my local comic book shop and thankfully
Kapow comics were able to get it in for me and
I've reread it at least twice now and I just
absolutely love it. So I guess we should start
at the beginning. Where did the idea for this
amazing original North story, in a way, come
from? Well, I mean, Tim Odlin, the artist and
I, we started out, I moved here in Utah probably
about 10 years ago, and he and I just started
going to, I met him at, I'm getting confused,
let me start over. We met at what we have down
in Salt Lake, a drink and draw. So a lot of comic
book artists and other artists of animation and
stuff get together once a week and just kind
of like sit and talk business and doodle and
that kind of stuff. And we found out like we
live like five minutes from each other. So we
started like, I was like, hey, why don't we just
start writing together and save the gas money?
Because it's like a 30 minute trip for us. And
we started driving together and quickly became
friends. Tim was like one of the sweetest human
beings that ever met, you know, and he was an
artist. I loved his work. And then we decided
we wanted to meet together just one on one. So
strangely as it is, we started meeting every
Wednesday for lunch at Taco Bell. And we'd been
there for like three or four months. And then
one day he goes, hey, why don't we work on something
together? I go, dude, I'd love to work with you.
Like, I love you. I love your work. Let's do
something. I was like, do you have anything in
mind? He goes, all he said was, I want to do
Trolls versus Vikings. Oh. Yeah. And I was like,
so. It was an easy like, oh yeah, dude, let's
do that. And our first plan was to do like a
40 page one shot. You've obviously read the trade
now. It got kind of, we kind of got away because
we just loved the characters and what we were
doing on the book. And he'd add pages and I'd
add pages and it just became like this 200, you
know, kind of magnum opus. You know, and we were
gonna release it online at first, you know, that
was a plan But you know, that's that's how it
came to be. That was the basic premise was I
want to do trolls versus Vikings It's sometimes
the simplest ideas are the best ideas and I love
that and there are definitely trolls and there
are definitely Vikings in the books So you still
take that off? wonderfully well and And I must
say kind of like Tim's art is absolutely gorgeous.
I just love it. And if I could have that cover
but in a frame and a wall I definitely would
have not that I have many walls in this house
that I can put my Viking stuff on because I live
with a family so pretty much it's all family
photos. Alas I will have a Becky cave one day.
Obviously let's dive into the first the three
protagonists because there are three and there
is Helgi a North Prince who has some father issues
some issues with self -esteem and possibly a
cursed axe. I'm trying not to give away too much.
There is Stigar, who is a one -armed smith who's
Pratch's Prime, as your own term says, and he's
trying to, again, re -find himself as a warrior
because people see him as an ex -warrior because
he's only got one arm, as you would understand
because you can't really do much with one arm,
but he finds a way, a very genius way, I absolutely
love it. And my favourite character of all because
Valkyries are my catnip. is Caitlyn who in the
words of the blurb is a female warrior convinced
she is a Valkyrie and I just love that hint of
doubt kind of like is she the crazy isn't she
the crazy lady of the village or is she real
and I just absolutely love her absolute kind
of like just childlike joy and the fact that
she has a little one -eyed mouse as a companion
I thought that was just a lovely twist so how
did you come about with these three characters
then? I mean, it all started with Helgi, obviously,
since he's the main character. And we're kind
of, OK, what can we do with something that's
a little different with Vikings? We came up with
Helgi. And then Tim was the one that was like,
hey, I got this idea for a one -armed character.
And I was like, OK, I don't know what I'm going
to do with that, but let's do it. Tim and I would
just kind of throw out crazy ideas. And then
I was the one that was like, hey, I'd like to
kind of have a female character to kind of finish
out the little team we made. And, you know, just
kind of started going, hey, I want something
a little different, a little off center. And
Caitlin came to mind. I was like, oh, what if
she thought she was a Valkyrie? Like, what would
that look like? And how would the town treat
her? So it was really important to us to have,
like, Helgi, who's clearly, I mean, in regular
society, would be a prince. So, you know, he'd
be a lot more echelon, surrounded by kind of,
like, two misfits. You know, the kind of the
town kind of have dismissed these people as maybe
not the normal worthiness you'd see in a in a
society. And so it's very important to us to
throw that into Helgi, because as you mentioned,
he thinks he's cursed. And so he's like, oh,
of course I get these two. Because I'm a crazy
person. He thinks she's a Valkyrie and a guy
who's a warrior, which makes no sense. That was
really just us throwing around ideas. And then
Tim, he ran off with Caitlin immediately and
came back with that cloak that she wears. It
was just magnificent. Again, don't want to spoil
too much. where we want to go with that but then
like I was like man we need a little animal in
the in the in the mix and that's where the one
I came in that kind of like she thinks whispers
sweet stuff in her ear. Well I must admit kind
of like it was only after the second reading
that Helgi really stuck out to me as having definite
connection with genuine Norse sagas. I don't
know if you ever kind of like read the poetic
edder or the prose edder and come across the
saga of Helgi Hunding's vein. Yep. Yep. Yep.
Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, what was fantastic
about this whole thing is Tim is actually like
he's first generation Norwegian American. Tim
is a Viking. So, you know, it's kind of fun because
he would start talking about stuff that necessarily
here in America when we learn Norse mythology,
they didn't. much into so like I knew a little
bit about trolls but not as much as you know
like Tim grew up is like that's a major part
of their mythology elves and all these kind of
things that he had you know and how they celebrated
Christmas was different than how I celebrated
Christmas growing up and so I have to get a lot
of that to Tim because he would he would hand
me books and go hey read this and let's use this
for inspiration he goes I want to do something
that's that's based on myth you know Norse mythology
but not necessarily is retelling Norse mythology
like spin on it because that's kind of like holes
became the main villain because you know obviously
everybody's kind of done the frost giants and
you know you know we can go on and on with the
things that have been used so we kind of wanted
to touch on stuff like you know earthy and smiths
and elves but not necessarily make them the focal
point that's a good point about the earth and
smiths as well because i thought oh this is a
really fresh take on dwarves and i really really
like it i actually love because certainly kind
of in the kind of like original tellings they
say with the edders mainly kind of describe how
the races came to be. The dwarves are always
described as being kind of like being earthy
or underground like from the underground layer
of Midgard not from the top like mortals and
humans are. I thought that's a really clever
twist on it, really clever twist and it certainly
explains why they're so good as myths because
they know they're metalers and they're all. That's
and then you went right down the same path that
we did when we were thinking about like how is
this a little different? It's like, well, they're
kind of like mountain people. They live inside
mountains. Like, what would they look like? You
know, like, humans need light. You know, we need
outside. And so, like, that's where we kind of,
like, wanted to do a little shift and go, Oh,
wait a minute. What if they're, what if they're
real mountain people? Like, we take that little,
you know, and so that's kind of like, we kind
of dove down that, that rabbit hole. But it's
wonderfully done and certainly it is a refreshing
change from having Vikings versus Giants because
of course Giants are always the enemies, at least
for the gods at least, so it kind of makes sense
that make them the enemies of the humans, not
that you ever read about that much in kind of
like original or even contemporary sources. And
certainly thinking back to how prominent trolls
are, it's made me remember that when I went to
Norway for the first time last summer, for my
little humble academic debut I did bring back
a children's story about a little troll and there
were lots of trolls in there including some with
multiple heads and multiplies or even one with
three heads and sharing one eye which was really
weird but it just shows a variety and the variety
of trolls you guys have come up with in this
book I mean they're all incredibly grotesque
well genuinely not nice characters are absolutely
applaud the variety of grotesqueness you've invented.
I mean, I have to give all that credit to Tim.
And I was thinking classic, you know, forearm,
or, you know, forelimb, one -head falls. And
Tim came and he's like, man, I want to do something
crazy. And he started showing me all these things
that he'd been doing for years on trolls, because,
you know, it's one of his favorites. And I was
like, dude, we have to do those. Like, there's
no doubt. And then it was just like, how do we
fit them in there? And how do we, like, interpret
their society? you know, and how can we have
fun with like, you know, as you see in the book,
when we have to hit, you know, sometimes when
we have a hit with more than one troll, I mean,
a troll head, you know, they're trying to talk,
you know, those kinds of things. It's fun with
like, hey, let's play with this, make it a little
grotesque, make it a little bit horrific, but
at the same time, how can we still have it? It
is, it's, it's wonderful. I would like to touch
a bit on perhaps the cursed, well, say the curse.
the cursed axe that Helgi has and I just love
the name mischiefs whisper because it's just
such a gorgeous name and the fact that you then
tie it in to how it's come from deeper than the
earth near Loki and of course nothing good ever
comes from Loki that's why Loki's always been
tainted with mischief and mayhem and chaos and
I really love that because of course there's
lots of elements of cursed items in Norse mythology
like I only recently this sprinkler and worry
about the curse or tear thing and that whole
saga of kind of like killing one generation off
after another because it's just that's what it's
destined to do um and I really like that and
it really suits his character in trying to find
his own identity and strength and confidence
in that in that because he thinks he's cursed
because of all the sad unfortunate circumstances
that happened around him growing up and hence
that's why no one really wants him. in the village.
But then, because he's good with the axe, that
gives him that false kind of confident over -reliance
on it, in a way. And I really liked how you explored
that narratively and, of course, within Tim's
wonderful artwork. Yeah, I mean, we had so much
fun with that character and the axe, too, because
like you said, Helgi is so desperate to be successful
and be accepted. that finding something that
makes him feel more powerful, he's immediately
going to be drawn to it, which I think leads
into Loki in my head. He's not going to be the
guy that just comes out and says, hey, I'm going
to help you, but I'm going to destroy you at
the same time. He's one of those guys that whisper
in your ear and make you feel more confident
and feel more confident and get you to a point
to where you feel invincible and then take it
away from you. Our whole thing with the axe was
like, hey, how can we use this against Helgi,
and it's going to continue to make him feel more
and more confident and, and get him closer to
what he thinks he wants. But hopefully what,
you know, we pulled off in the story, he learns
like, Oh, wait a minute, that's not really what
I wanted all along. Yeah, it's wonderful and
I really appreciated Stigar's kind of archival
thing, kind of like his, and he said it so many
times, of course, particularly to Helgi, kind
of like, you don't decide my fate, I decide it.
And that kind of like, that self -determinism
is so strong. It comes through in so many different
sources to do with the Vikings, kind of. And
it's certainly, it's hard to say whether it's
one that we've enhanced or elaborated on. being
kind of like so many centers removed now, because
that's an ideal of the Vikings, that they kind
of like go to death with a sword in their hand
or nothing at all kind of thing. But I really
liked that. And of course, that was the other
thing I was going to ask, actually. What made
you decide? I mean, I know you said Tim came
through with the design for Katelyn, but was
there a clear... Was it always clear from the
start that you were going to have her as a Valkyrie
wannabe? Or were you going to possibly make her
go down the shield maiden type route? Oh, from
day one, we wanted her to be like, go down the
Valkyrie path. Like, you know, I'm about to become
a proud warrior. You know, like I've been to
be the one on earth, you know, kind of thing.
And follow that path all along and make it so
that, like, hopefully throughout the whole story,
even the reader is not sure because. you know,
Helgi and Steiger definitely aren't sure that
she's saying, you know, your Valkyrie, like,
you know, okay, you know, this touching on for
us, it was like touching on religion as a whole.
You know, it's like, even in the in unseen things,
and like, what is your religion based on? And
then that faith in Katelyn to us was like, the
ultimate person of faith. She's like, she knows
that this is all true. You can kind of tell Helgi
and Steiger like, They do have their faith. It's
not necessarily like, you know, there's there's
moments where you're like, hey, I'm not sure
I believe all of this. You know, like, I'm not
sure I believe in all of the stuff that I hear,
you know, because it's, you know, as children,
we hear these tales, you know, like, I don't
know if an invisible person can do that. You
know, that's what we kind of really wanted to
lean into with her. But that that brings me to
be kind of like those first few lines on those
first few pages about hell You cannot say kind
of like my father told me tales of this I'm not
happening kind of like okay stinger that I put
a dead giant in my throne room Can you please
tell me are they all true? And I'm like, wow,
that is such a brilliantly hook a brilliant hook
to bring the reader in and you do hit the story
running. There's no great narrative build up
or even background set up for these characters,
but we kind of like they they're so well defined
that we don't really need to know any great detail
you get the odd bits from them all in conversation
with each other and that's enough to still help
them feel fully embodied so to speak even though
I personally would love to see kind of like how
Kaylin first decided to declare herself as a
Valkyrie wannabe and what happened with Stigga
and his father and of course ideally how that
giant came to be in the village and how Helgi
killed him of course. Well, that's fair because
I remember when I was we were talking about the
initial that was supposed to be 40 pages So with
only 40 pages, we were thinking we had to dive
in quick And so we passed all the typical narrative
that you normally get in a build -up You know
in the first act of a story and so we kind of
had to just go Hey, we're gonna dive deep in
first and then somehow 40 pages turned into 200
So you're fair and saying that because we were
just doing 40 like we were convinced we were
only doing 40 and just got carried away Well,
what you guys have achieved is sensational and
I definitely would, if there was a prologue or
even a sequel to this, I would be all for it.
It would get my money from the word go. Most
Viking things do, to be fair. So, interestingly
enough, kind of the idea of Odin's eye being
involved is something I've never actually come
across before, because of course, most people
who have this basic understanding of how I didn't
know that you gave up an eye for wisdom. Traditionally
or canonically it's just sat in the bottom of
a well somewhere and doesn't do anything but
I love how somehow it's come out of that well
and passed around hands like a cursed object
as it does and of course it tells Helgi that
if you don't return me to my rightful owner then
I will curse you with the death of blisters and
boils and decay and all sorts. did make me think
back to of course the ring from Lord of the Rings
and I think that's what one of the reviewers
on the back of the book ComicCon .com says it's
one part Lord of the Rings and another part Netflix
is Norseman which I think is a really out really
out description and which it has got some lovely
humor to it as well as kind of like the kind
of deeper exploration of just being a human in
this fantastical world which is sensational.
But interestingly that you guys kind of then
must have discussed and decided that it wasn't
going to go back to Mimi as well as such but
go back to Mimi who is alive and well albeit
King of the Frost Giants in this universe. Yeah
I mean for us you know when we started uh oh
we're gonna get a visitor I've got Abraham my
cat's gonna come join us. Cats are always welcome!
As long as he doesn't press the stop recording
button. Yeah, I mean, for us, like, what was
cool is when we started thinking about, like,
what's going to be the driving force behind this?
And we wanted, you know, obviously got to come
up with something to keep, keep the characters
moving forward. And, you know, we just kind of
bumped around on the eye of Odin. I was like,
Hey, imagine if that was real. And like, what
would I, somebody like Odin do to it? To make
sure that, like, because to us, I mean, having
Odin's eye would be like a weapon, like an unimaginably
magical, unstoppable weapon. And so we came up
with that kind of idea and it's like, wait a
minute, Ode wouldn't let anybody just have it.
So like he gave it to somebody and then he's
going to curse it so that nobody else can ever
have it and use it. Interesting. So that was
our whole, you know, again, our own Norse mythology
at that point. But, you know, the president was
like, hey, this would be kind of a fun, you know,
translation of what we've seen before. And, you
know, we loved playing with that eye and having
to like actually move around in the liquid. a
look at stuff and yeah so that that's kind of
it was just the driving mechanism for our whole
story. It works really really well and it's something
I've always really admired about the Norse mythology
that because it's not treated as almost like
a sacred set of stories such as like the Bible
or in Hinduism or in Buddhism there is that freedom
to play, that freedom to manipulate, to readjust,
to reset things and I must say kind of like since
the 18th century with Wagner of course, people
have just taken it and just run and the things
people have come up with it both respects and
also reflects the time that it was done. And
I absolutely love what you guys, I just love
it, I absolutely love it. I was going to say
Did you ever discuss plans for maybe doing a
sequel from all the page that you couldn't quite
fit in or Was there ever an option for that?
Oh, yeah, I mean with Tim and I obviously there
was I mean I talked about this to them unfortunately
Tim passed away this year So, um, you know, obviously
I wouldn't touch it without him, you know to
me It's you know, and I know that might make
some people sad it kind of makes me sad too But
it wouldn't be right for me to continue to do
something with this without Tim. You know, it's
just, it wouldn't be right. It wouldn't feel
right for me anyway. And so yeah, we had talked
about like, oh, what else could we do if we kept
going? You know, and it, cause there's just so
much more, you know, it kind of left them a cliffhanger
of like, you know, and you kind of learn some
new stuff and it's like, yeah, we could definitely
do some more. And so there was definitely plans
of possibly doing another sequel, but unfortunately
Tim just got sick and we had to put that on the
side. Yeah. I was very, very sad to learn Tim
had passed, because if I could have had him on
as well, it would have made this twice as fun.
It really would have. And it's a shame, but I'll
never get to tell him personally how much his
art is amazing. But I hope, and I know from the
way you talk about it, he enjoyed doing that.
And if he enjoyed doing this, then that's all
that really matters really. Oh yeah, Tim. loved
nothing more than drawing, and loved nothing
more than comics. He had a really fun picture
that he showed me. He started reading comics
at age 10, and he bumped into Spawn and Youngblood,
the Image Classic stuff. And he went out and
bought a drawing desk that week and said, someday
I'm going to draw comics and work for Image.
And we kind of didn't talk about how this all
came about as far as the Image side of things.
But Tim's ultimate dream was always to do a book
for Image. And so that happened. And so luckily,
before Tim passed, he actually had got a chance
to make his dream come true. It's not always
a special place in my heart, too, that Tim just
wanted to draw comics and nothing more than drawing
for Image. And somehow he managed to make that
happen. So it's pretty exciting. I mean, you
got time for me to tell you that story? Yes,
please do. Please do. Tim and I had been working
on this book, and we're doing it on our free
time. So we've been working on this book probably
for a year, maybe two. And he ended up moving
to Minnesota. And so we talk online and stuff
like this. And he goes, hey, I want to go to
this tiny little convention in Minnesota. And
then he calls me, and he's like, hey, I went
to this little convention. And Eric Stevenson,
the president of Image Comics, was there. And
I showed him the painting. And I was like, oh,
OK. He goes, I hope you don't mind me just showing
it as part of my portfolio. And I was like, of
course not. Well, then the very next day, I get
an email from Eric, because I've been working
with the image since 2014. And he goes, hey,
how come you haven't told me about this Viking
book? And I was like, I didn't know. There was
no plan. I hadn't even thought about it. And
so Eric called me, and he's like, hey, dude,
I want this book. And so it was just like this
random, like Tim showing up to this tiny little
convention in Minnesota and showing his pages
to Eric and Eric calling me the next day going,
hey, I need this book. And that's how Tim managed
to somehow, through blind luck, get to do his
first image book. Well, it sounds like fate,
the norms, the good vibes of the universe were
leading him. step by step to the right people
at the right time. First meeting you, finding
that connection, and then of course finding Eric
at that comic con. Oh wow, I'm so pleased he
did get to achieve this, as untimely as his parting
was. Because kind of like having achieved my
dream only last year of talking about Valkyries
in Norway, of all places, that I never thought
I'd ever get to set foot on. It's immensely fulfilling.
once you have that moment, no matter how big
or small or how niche it is. And yeah, I have
to agree, as sad as it is that there won't be
more of this universe, I totally respect that
it will then forever be Tim's. Yeah, it's stunning.
And hold your folk, they're always staring at
me from the cover because there's so many of
them. The Holdred folk are like little imps.
They're vicious looking little imps. And I love
the strange language that they're all muttering
as they're all taking bits and pieces when they
find these three protagonists deep in the murky
woods trying to get through. Especially, of course,
when Caitlin says kind of like, oh, yeah, kind
of like, don't trust them. They're vicious. They're
mean. And they only just see one. And then the
whole mass of them appears on the page. I thought
that is a masterstroke of comic and artistry
genus. It was wonderful, that one. Thanks. I
mean that with those guys like I struggled a
little bit because I kind of had them in my head
from the very beginning when we started doing
the story and there's no you know Classical Holder
folk in Norse mythology. So like we were struggling
a little bit But then was like, you know, we
can make up our own stuff from time to time.
Let's do it He said like he draws one on one
page and then I can't imagine how many he drew
on the next page. There's like 50 plus Page and
I'm like dude, like you don't have to draw this
many He's like, oh no, like this book has to
be perfect. And so like the fact that he spent
days drawing that page, you know, each little
holder folk that you see in there, you know,
it's amazing that he went to that extent. But
we had so much fun with those little characters
and the fact that they were just like, there's
like a force of nature, right? They'd come through,
they'd take stuff and they leave. And as long
as you mess with that, you're fine. But they
also, if they bite you, you know, like they have
the venom of um you know a world serpent you
know just stay still let them take your funny
stuff and they'll leave you alone and so we had
so much fun with those you know that that was
one of my favorite parts of the book so how long
overall did it take you both you had to be working
on it for like one and a half to two years so
is that the call that has come out now or is
that on the whole math that you then had to shrink
down a bit oh no i mean for us um we spent probably
about four years doing the book And so, you know,
obviously it's easier for me because I'm the
writer. So I could write a couple of pages to
Tim and then he'd run off and, you know, you
know, we're both working full -time at other
jobs and this on the side. And, you know, so,
I mean, I was fine with it. I told him that right
up front. I was like, hey, dude, there's no rush.
You know, neither one of us are getting paid
to do this. When we get done, we get done. And
so, yeah, it took about four years and I was
fine with that. Like I said, I was completely
happy to give Tim the time he needed to do as
you've seen the pages. these incredible pages
and sometimes where you have 50 plus holder folk
on a single panel you know and you're like this
is unbelievable like so i was more than happy
to give them him all the time he needed well
it really shows it i mean the length of detail
just kind of like it's it's just astonishing
it absolutely and wonderfully is um Were there
any other protagonists that you considered when
you were developing this narrative, or did you
always have in mind it would be kind of like
an old guy, young guy, and then at least a woman
of some description type or other? I mean, pretty
much it had always been, I mean, we never went
past three. I think it kind of just fit, you
know, when we got, like, we initially came up
with Helgi, and then he, it was Steiger, and
then we came up with Caitlin, and I was like,
you know, I think this is the perfect trio to
kind of carry out the story. We don't need more.
And you know, I mean, obviously we could have
put a bigger band together, but again, at the
same time, as I said before, we're thinking 40
pages, so we wouldn't have to early dive into
all the characters. And so luckily three was
exactly what we needed, and I think it ended
up being perfect. So since kind of like working
on this, did you develop more of a taste or a
curiosity for North mythology and Viking -y stuff,
or was it pretty much just during this window
working on this book? No, I still read stuff
from time to time on it, but Reading through
them was just amazing for me, because I did not
realize the impact and the reach that Norse mythology
had had across the world. And you start talking
about this stuff, and you go, you know, we've
mentioned it before, like, you're like, Oh, wait
a minute, Lord of the Rings is Norse mythology.
And so, like, you know, people think of it as,
you know, almost like a European thing. But then
we start digging deeper into, like, Norse mythology
and stuff. And you hit that, and you see the
influences in Greek and Roman mythology. And,
you know, we start talking about the days of
the week. And you're like, oh, wait a minute.
Most days of the week, you're named after Norse
gods. And you're like, I don't understand the
huge impact I think that Vikings and Norse culture
had on the entire world until you start diving
into it and going, oh, wait a minute. There's
even some tales from Norse mythology that leak
their way into the Bible. And you're just like,
oh, wow. I did not realize the reach this tiny
section of the world had on the entire world
and still does. And so you love reading about,
honestly, all the mythologies are, I love them
because they're all, you know, some of them are
so strange. Especially these ones and African
ones. And you're like, oh, I'd never heard of
any of this. And this is crazy. You know, I think
being, obviously being European, more European
influence, you know, with Europe and in the U
.S., we get a little bit of Greek mythology.
So we're like, oh, an eight legged horse, who
cares? We've seen it before. You're like, wait
a minute. Doesn't make any sense. So I love it.
I love it all and it's so fascinating. It's fun
to read You know, I know why they made Thor the
main character, but it's funny to read Norse
mythology The Thor and then we get you know,
like the the Marvel Universe when we're yes,
not a complete bumbling Man of nothing, but I
love the fact that the son of Odin is basically
complete moron mythology and you love him for
it because he's so dumb you root for him and
I think that's what's fantastic about that character
in the Norse mythology but like I said I love
it all I love diving into it and it's so fun
and wonderful and weird you know based on you
know what I've been experienced to previously
and like I said he talking with Tim like you
know like they're a little Christmas elf that
lives in the barn and brings him a gift Santa
Claus you know those kind of things and how his
dad and Tim did this until he passed as well
like They dressed up as the elf on Christmas
Eve and they come in and that's how they celebrated
Christmas. And I was like, wait, what? I'm very
classic, like American trained, like hey Santa
Claus, tonight, blah, blah, blah. To see them
do that was amazing. That's really nice to hear
because it's always interesting because it's
a question that I got asked myself at my little
academic debut last year. as much as I've loved
reading all things Norse, especially in fantasy
fiction, but I'm definitely dying more and more
into comics, wherever I can find them, like there's
another comic coming out in October, no, we're
already in October, November, November called
Viking Moon, and it's basically Vikings versus
werewolves in the newly discovered Americas,
which again is a crazy idea, but somehow it works
narratively, because hey, why not? It's kind
of like, has anyone ever found themselves going
back to try to find out more about the original
sources that inspired these mod interpretations,
whether they're interpretations or retellings
or complete fictional fabrications with North
elements. And it's nice to hear that you've found
equal fun and enjoyment in them as much as I
have. Well, I mean, Tim and his mom would bring
me books that we can't get in America. that were
Norse mythology. And so it was like a totally
different take, right? Because it's from those
people in that area versus, you know, the Americanized
version that, you know, oh, well, we'll accept
that here because this is the only text we're
going to use for Viking mythology. And they had
tons of books. And so that was, I mean, that
helped me so much to kind of get the feel for
everything in the book itself, because it was
like, oh, wait a minute, we need to put this
in there, you know, because like it was just
but like I said it's an amazing I'm getting lost
in thought you know just because you know my
my head is just stewing and all the wonderful
things that I learned and how amazing it was
and how magical it was and I was like I wish
I'd have learned this stuff when I was a kid
I mean it is interesting point because of course
in America you have leaf ericson day I assume
kind of course courses you discovered the Americas
before Columbus did Of course, in the UK, we're
kind of riddled with Viking references historically
because they invaded us so many times and changed
our culture so much. But then we've got so many
layers of other invasions and other peoples.
It's all kind of a mix. But I've never really,
I don't have many friends that are properly,
fully kind of like Norwegian or Danish or even
Swedish. So I've never really encountered anyone
to see how the actual like home nation of the
Vikings see the Vikings, because we learn about
English history, you learn about American history,
and I don't know if they learn that much more
about their own complicated history in the Viking
Age, or just focus on how the nations evolved
into the nations they are today. Because of course,
they were as splintered as England was back in
the Viking Age. There wasn't an England in the
Viking Age at all for a long time. I mean, you're
right. It's great to dive into that kind of stuff.
Like Michelle Madsen, the colorist of the book,
she's also first generation. Oh really? Yeah,
so we'd get on conference calls and they would
talk, which I just referred to as Viking. I didn't
know a single word of it. We'd talk for a couple
of minutes in Norse, and it was just amazing.
And then they'd start telling you tales of stuff
like, I think we're... they passed it down more,
like, through, through families. Like, they passed
their history down, I think, more so than, say,
we do, or we learned it in school. They would,
you know, this is the things we, they, they learned,
and they just kind of took it for granted, you
know, as, as far as like, Oh, we thought everybody
knew this. And I was like, Nobody knows this.
It's like, I've never heard of any of this stuff.
This is fantastic. Because, you know, I'm one
of those people that just loves to learn new
stuff. So getting to tell me tales of stuff of
like, you know, Oh, well, my parents did this,
and this is how they were raised. And you're
like, That's insane. So it was really cool, like
I said, it was fun hanging out with both of them
doing this book. Oh, that's really nice that
there's such like that is that strong heritage
influence and connection coming all the way through.
And I do implore anyone who's listening or watching
to find Beware the Eye of Odin, whether it's
a single issue or the combined paperback form,
go to your local comic book shop, check out your
library, see if it's on Amazon. download it,
borrow it, read it, it is absolutely phenomenal.
I absolutely love it and there's so much more
I could talk about but I'm trying not to spoil
it for everyone. Excuse me, had my cough people.
That's another reason why things have been difficult
for the past week or two but oh yes it's... It's
been such a pleasure speaking to you about this.
Are there any other projects that you might be
working on that you might like to share with
viewers and listeners today? As I'm sure you
know, my publishers don't like me to talk about
anything until they announce it, so I'll be a
good person to keep my jobs. So I can't really
talk. Obviously, I've got, I mean, if anybody's
into cyberpunk, but I've got a cyberpunk 2077.
mini -series coming out through Dark Horse in
January. Very good. We'll talk about that, yeah.
The rest of the guys and I, we just keep working
on books and there'll be more books out next
year. Wonderful, I'm so glad that you've got
constant projects coming through and hopefully
you're enjoying all of them as much as you enjoyed
this one. Yep. Thank you so much for joining
me in Valhalla today Doug. It's been a real pleasure
and I'm sure I will be emailing you again with
any more questions and I'm just trying getting
observations about this wonderful book. Thank
you. The pleasure has been all mine. Thank you
for reaching out and doing this and always feel
free to reach out with more questions. Thank
you. I will do. Quite often as I say to most
people in my normal life who meet me, very often
you do escape. You don't often escape once you've
met me. Once I've got your email address or your
WhatsApp number I'm on you. especially if it's
about Vikings or Valkyries, are yes, definitely,
definitely interested. And of course, thank you
to your cat for her wonderful showcase. Every
podcast he shows up for. So he's my biggest podcast
fan. Thank you so much. My pleasure. This episode
of Valhalla Conversations is dedicated to comic
artist Tim Odland, who sadly passed away this
summer of 2025. Tim's lifelong dream was to illustrate
a comic published by Image Comics. Beware the
Eye of Odin is that comic, that dream. I will
treasure it always in Tim's memory for an example
of his amazing talent. Thank you for your dream,
Tim. Rest in peace. Thank you very much for listening
to this episode. I hope you enjoyed the discussions
between my special guests and myself. Please
do check out the episode blurb for links to their
works and websites. If you liked this episode,
let me know by giving it a thumbs up. Let me
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