NorsePlay.

The NorsePlay of the Vikings TV series will expand in a spin-off on  Netflix  scheduled for 2021 titled  Vikings: Valhalla . Executive Producer Michael Hirst has granted the streaming media giant to contract his new series, which takes place 100 years after the original show, probably centered around the events leading up to and past the Norman invasion, and featuring the figures of explorer  Leif Erikson, notable North American female settler Freydís Eiríksdóttir, Harald Harada (his moniker meaning "hard ruler"), and the Norman King William the Conqueror (current series' Rollo's descendant). With the property's move away from History Channel to Netflix, some will be curious as to how the new show will re-manifest in terms of some of the criticism towards its predecessor's accuracy, costumes, and adherence to historical events, though none of those variances so far have bothered us as the show tends to stay true to the spirit of things, which...

We have followed the work of artist P Craig Russell from First Comics' Elric , that anti-hero a runesword slinging Alfar-type sorcerer, through his stirring adaptation of The Ring of Nibelung , an excellent deluxe one-shot of Doctor Strange , and now for his take on Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology . There's an iconic art nouveau core mixed with expressionism in Russell's unmistakable style that makes it a suggestive ly hedonistic Klimt -esque visual thrill to look at. Single issues are set to release July 1st, though we'll probably wait for Dark Horse to collect them for us in a graphic novel. #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in  the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires'  Norse Gods and Giants  at age seven. Since t hen he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the  Map of Midgard  project, ...

In a moment of curiosity, Freyr sits on Odin's high seat from which all the worlds can be seen. [ Freyr on Hlidskjalf   (1930) by Kather ine Pyle.] Because who wouldn't want a chance to see everything? But as Odin sits there to seek wisdom, Freyr instead beholds all through eyes of desire , and in looking, he sees the most beautiful thing he's ever seen, Gerðr of the Shimmering Arms, a jotuness so pallid in form, and comely in beauty that Freyr's stricken with a lovesickness he's never known before. [ Skirnir's Message to Gerd (1908) by W. G. Collingwood.] In that moment Freyr sees all the worlds, and beholds the one he wants most of all. The climb into that forbidden seat allows him the advantage of seeing the best possibility of out of all the women in existence, and in that very same instant he knows his Wyrd is hard forged. The action of sitting somewhere high for insight could be referencing the Nordic magic ritual of útiset...

In Orkneyinga: The Saga of the Earls of Orkney there's total guff being spoken about Shetlanders (and pretty much everyone else who isn't Orcadian, really). A long time ago, the wee archipelago  of Shetland was colonized by Vikings, used as a launching point for their raids, and then was a longtime property of Norway.   So I've been watching my Tucson pals DJ on Twitch, and while seeking other content have pleasantly stumbled into the NorsePlay storytelling stream of Shetland comedienne Marjolein Robertson , who is relating the Eddic tales in her own earnest & winning way. [so I keep linking this other more appropriate photo, but its unlinked like six times, so dubble f' it, I'm posting this more inappropriate photo which is sooooo epic the internet is too scared of to even touch much less move.] Marjolein's pretty much a current cultural ambassador for her northern homeland. W e think her accent is to die for, and her expressive dialect makes listening to...