Written by: Adam Smith
Art by: Matthew Fox
Publisher: Archaia
Long Walk to Valhalla marks Matthew Fox and Adam Smith’s first foray into the world of full length Graphic Novels. The book carries on at a rather slow pace and leaves you wondering what you’re supposed to take away from it, but you do feel connections between characters (even if you don’t feel any for them) and the story does have a few sweet moments which are greatly helped along by a innocent and endearing humour.
The story revolves around Rory, a twenty-something year old who grew up in a small town in Arkansas, and his older brother, Joe, who has some form of mental disorder which leads to him having a rather childish demeanor, voluntary mutism and seeing creatures that aren’t there which are referred to as, ‘the pretty things.’ Rory and Joe’s relationship is one of the highlights of the book (just as well as it’s the main focus) and you can feel the love and trust one has for the other, despite the fact that Joe’s presence does create problems for Rory (through no fault of his own) and I am greatly reminded of Lenny and George from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. It is here that my main problem with the book arises as I feel like I’ve seen or read most of the themes and plot points that come forward, leading me to the point where I was able to predict accurately most of the end of the book.
Most of the story is told as flashbacks, looking at various points in Rory’s life, from adolescence to early adulthood, and we see the people who play important roles. We see Rory and Joe’s spiteful, deadbeat dad who constantly belittles Joe and is an all round butt in a vaguely threatening way that makes us feel worried until the last time we see him. One of Rory’s friends are introduced to us as a child and he seems nice enough but is rather cruel to Joe in that way children can be when faced with someone different that they don’t understand, calling him a retard and then getting into a fight with Rory for it. Later we see the same boy grown up and treats Joe the same way Rory would which I thought was a nice little round up to that side plot that shows that people can move past their preconceived notions as they mature.
Memories such as these are tied together by using present day Rory as a framing device. Rory is leaving the town he spent his whole life in (and everyone there, including Joe) in order to go to a new job in Memphis when his car breaks down and his phone dies just outside his hometown’s limits. After investigating some noises in a cornfield nearby Rory comes across a small girl covered in some cardboard armour, called Sylvia, who claims to be a Valkyrie for Odin that has come to take Rory to Valhalla for he has fought hard and bravely throughout his life and then scenes as examples of this are shown to us. I quite liked this part of the book as it rose the question of what was it Rory was fighting, as Sylvia makes it clear she didn’t mean a literal, physical fight. Was he fighting his father, not wanting to become him? Was he fighting the influence of other’s perception of Joe? Was he fighting to protect Joe? And my personal favourite, was Rory fighting the temptation to blame Joe for the problems in his life? I really enjoyed that there was never really any definite answer given to this (although it is heavily implied to be one) and all are equally valid but the ending of the book does unfortunately fall flat on how it delivers the answer and resolution of the story to the point where I question what it was all for.
‘What the hell was that?’
Sylvia, by far, was my favourite character in the book, she was funny with a somewhat dark sense of humour, had a simple but cool design and whether or not she was legit as her claims of being a Valkyrie was always in question in a manner not dissimilar to Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Actions like spouting out things that she would have had no way of knowing one minute and then having to get Rory to tie the laces on her boots the next are what really drive this feeling of uncertainty in her power across. One of the things that weirds me out about her role in the story is that she is basically taking Rory to die, Valhalla is never said to be just a location so it must be as it is in Norse mythology, but this is never questioned, a fact that only gets more bizarre and feels more out of place in the events of the conclusion (which I am trying to stay vague about to avoid spoilers). It’s a very odd case here where I feel like Sylvia and the whole Valkyrie-Valhalla side of the story saves the first half of the book by adding laughs and questions to be asked but ruins the conclusion by getting in the way of the emotional pay off between characters.
The main thing that perturbs me about the book is ‘the pretty things’ mainly because I don’t see any point for their existence other than as a plot point to the climax of the story, as far as I can tell they don’t represent anything but I might be missing something as there’s a scene where present day Rory is made to see them but I don’t understand any reason for why it was included. As for the climax of the story, the reason why Rory is trying to leave town, it’s pretty obvious what it is the moment it begins to get set up (Rory has a pregnant girlfriend, they plan on leaving town with Joe to escape, Rory’s dad has only been getting worse on him and Joe and when Joe is scared the pretty things turn aggressive and attack him). When the actual climax is reached Joe starts talking to explain his actions and I get the feeling his first words are supposed to have a great impact on us but really that’s lost due to the predictability of the scenario; I feel that if he had just remained silent there and his first words for us to see were when Rory saw him in the conclusion, THAT would have carried more weight.
Now onto the art, Matthew Fox’s linework looks pretty simple but I like it and think it fits perfectly for the style of the story. His shading is pretty cool and definitely adds life to the page while his facial expressions and backgrounds set the tone perfectly especially in the final conversation between Rory and Joe. There are a couple of minor issues where proportions don’t seem quite right but I’m nitpicking here and overall I loved looking a each and every panel. I especially enjoyed Sylvia’s design, with the cardboard ornaments and armour that I felt rounded off her character perfectly. My only major fault would have been with the colouring of the comic and do wish that we could have seen something more vibrant than shades of blue but I understand that this was a rather independent venture and in parts this limited colour palette does pay off.
Reading through this review I think I come across as rather hard so I feel I must end by saying that I did enjoy the book, although it did take me a few rereads and some time to think about it to appreciate it. The characters are enjoyable and you do genuinely feel the warmth between Rory and Joe although there are some issues with the framing devices of Sylvia and Rory intruding too much and I still question what I was supposed to leave thinking and feeling. Overall I think that Long Walk to Valhalla is a promising enough beginning to what I hope will be two exceptional careers.
