After his dark comedy/horror comic miniseries Vinyl from last year, comic creator Doug Wagner is teaming up with artist Tim Odland and colorist Michelle Madsen and letterer Ed Dukeshire to explore Norse mythology in the upcoming Beware the Eye of Odin 4-issue miniseries from Image Comics this June.
According to the official press release, “Beware the Eye of Odin follows a Viking prince who, when he discovers the Eye of Odin, must embark on a harrowing quest to return it to its rightful owner—or face a death of boils and decay. By his side are a one-armed warrior past his prime and a female warrior convinced she’s a Valkyrie. Monstrous mayhem ensues.”
It appears that Wagner and Odlun have been working on Beware the Eye of Odin for almost a decade, and according to the project’s Facebook page it was originally planned as a graphic novel.
Moreover, Wagner revealed in the official press release that the genesis of the project occurred at Taco Bell of all places:
“I can’t wait for people to see this book. This whole thing started with Tim and I sitting at a Taco Bell trying to come up with something for he and I to work on together. He spouted out he’d like to do something with Vikings and monsters (Tim is actually descended from real life Vikings by the way). I was like, ‘I’m in, but only if we get to put our own spin on all those Norse monsters, creatures, and especially dwarves. I want my crack at dwarves.’ We didn’t leave Taco Bell for four hours after that.”
Odland added:
“This was a lot of fun for me! It was the perfect opportunity to revel in the world of Norse Mythology and pay tribute to those Ray Harryhausen adventures that I love so much.”
Check out preview pages below. Beware the Eye of Odin #1 arrives in stores and digitally on Wednesday, June 22.