Writer and creator Asa Wheatley’s Sagas of the Shield Maiden anthology series has from the outset taken a very different approach to its historical tales. Rather than exploring a linear timeline it has instead jumped across its titular protagonist’s life, from her early years as a warrior through to her last days. While on the one hand it ties its hero’s life into a pattern of events that we know are destined to occur, on the other it gives each volume an appealing unpredictability.
Cover by Matt Smith
Wheatley’s storytelling structure, then, asks the audience to piece together a kind of narrative jigsaw as the Shield Maiden travels not just across Scandinavia and beyond but through the decades as well. On the way she’s fought bandits, defended villages, faced her own death, and made startling discoveries about her lineage. The action is bloody and intense with odd supernatural elements thrown into the mix of what the book’s promotional material fittingly calls a “Viking western”.
Joining the writer across these four editions has been a stellar line-up of indie art talents on interiors, covers and pin-ups. In the first three issues that has included artists like Alex Moore, Erica Henderson, Sammy Ward, Tango, Megan Huang, Skylar Partridge and so many more. That continues in #4 with Laura Helsby illustrating the Shield Maiden’s participation in a raid on England alongside fellow warrior Magnus Bloodeye. This first story (below) follows up on a dramatic twist in the character’s life from Book Three and Helsby’s visuals capture the brutality of the moment with a stark rawness. One single-image page dramatically reminding us of the cheapness of life in this world, with JP Jordan’s moody colouring giving added solemnity to events.
Alice Leclert tenderly (apart obviously from the obligatory battle scene) illustrates the second story which is about the closest thing to a quieter interlude as you will see in a Shield Maiden offering. Here Wheatley explores her relationship with her lover Queen Åsa in a short character study that is all the more revealing for its understatement. Finally, 2023 Broken Frontier Six to Watch artist Rachel Tubb provides the visuals for an atmospheric tale set in a snow-swept forest (below), as an older Shield Maiden and her captive Eskil the Betrayer face overwhelming odds. This one is a testament to Tubb’s versatility, giving a grittier edge to the work of an artist so far primarily known for her fantasy and humour work. Tubb impressively provides a flowing sense of motion to the conflict here which pulls us firmly into the heat of battle.
While Sagas of the Shield Maiden originally felt largely self-contained, as it dipped in and out of events in its lead’s life, it has now reached the point where the fullest reading experience is to be gained from reading the entire run to understand the nuances and callbacks to previous events. It’s well worth that investment of time though to get to grips with this epic, sprawling series and its ever remarkable list of artistic talent.
Asa Wheatley (W), Laura Helsby, Alice Leclert, Rachel Tubb (A), Matt Smith (CA), JP Jordan, Fabi Marques (C), Sheryl Rodriguez, Nilson Lopes (F), Ken Reynolds (L/D), Heather Palmer (E) • Self-publshed, £15.00
Review by Andy Oliver
