Norse Mythology III, the third six-issue series in writer/artist P. Craig Russell and Dark Horse Comics’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s reimagining of classical Norse myths, kicked off last week with the release of its first issue. The fourth issue of the series is due out in May, and today The Beat is pleased to offer an exclusive first look at the covers for Norse Mythology III #4.

Here’s the main cover for the issue by Russell, with Lovern Kindzierski, both with and without trade dress:

And here’s the variant cover by David Mack, with and without dress:

The Norse Mythology series has seen Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Russell team with an all-star line-up of artists including Jerry OrdwayMike Mignola, Jill Thompson, Mark Buckingham, and many more to adapt Gaiman’s prose stories about Odin, Thor, Loki, and the rest of the Norse Æsir. Norse Mythology III #4 has Russell joined by artist and series letterer Galen Showman with an adaptation of the story of Loki’s banishment and ultimate fate.

In an interview with The Beat ahead of the release of the first Norse Mythology series, Russell described his process for adapting prose to the comics form:

I first tear all the pages out of the book, totally destroy it. Then I go to Kinkos, lay facing pages on the copier and print them out on 11×17’ paper. That gives me giant margins to make notes and draw tiny ‘thumbnail’ drawings as I work out the script. I underline most of the dialogue and make my first pass at fitting a chunk of prose into a page of art. After decades of doing this one gets a rough sense of what will work.

Norse Mythology isn’t the first Neil Gaiman prose book to be adapted into comics by Dark Horse and Russell. The publisher and writer/artist previously worked on a three-volume adaptation of American Gods, with art by Russell and Scott Hampton.

Look for Norse Mythology III #4 (of 6) to arrive in stores and digitally on Wednesday, May 11th.